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News - Autumn/Winter 2009

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Junior Squad Training Day
click to enlarge this photo

On Sunday the 6th December some of the girls from the J14, J15 and J16 rowing squads turned out in the freezing early morning at the Grange Boathouse.

We were surprised that we hadn’t immediately turned into “ice cubes” once we left the warm comfort of our parents cars. We all skipped briskly along the tow path and straight into the changing rooms to grab a seat directly under the heater, only to find the Northwich rowers with the same idea. It was very cosy with all bodies crammed into the changing room!

After meeting and greeting the other rowers we listened to Grahams inspiring and motivating speech.

With our newly formed friendships everyone became excited to find out the crews and begin training. We ran out to get our boats with fresh enthusiasm and were encouraged by 6th form rowers, Rob Sherry, Rupert Wiltshire and Tom Ford.
In our first session some girls went out in an octople with our new mixed crews. The boat moved fast through the water, it was exhilarating. We exchanged small talk with our “new” friends while our training was filmed by the coaches.

The highlight for me personally was learning to “sweep oar” - traditional rowing with only one blade.

We all took it in turns rowing on the river in mixed crews. Each of us learned to work as team with individuals we had never met before that morning, individuals who shared the same love of rowing, which created an instant bond in the boat.

All this rowing on a cold morning made the toast taste better than ever. We all made new friends, and we can’t wait to hook up again for our joint session.

Poppy Hicklin, Grange School



River Weaver Frozen

Click to enlarge River Weaver
Click to Enlarge River Weaver Frozen
 With the safety of club members and with Gawin’s recommendations in mind, we have limited the activity at the club this weekend to seniors/vets and the older juniors (Kev’s and Jed’s) . The younger age groups have been told not to come down at all.

The car park is unusable except for 4x4’s and the area in front on the club particularly icy so extra care should be taken by anyone coming down.  The snow is just hiding ice underneath!

I would still recommend that people use their own gyms or ergos at home if they have them.  I don’t think I will be coming myself.

Clare Briegal, Club Captain
Saturday 09-Jan
9-10am Older Junior Girls (Kev/Mike)
10-11am Seniors (men and women – as not too many)
11-12 Junior Boys (Jed)
Sunday 10-Jan
9-10am Vets/Novice men
10-11am Senior Women
11-12 Junior Girls/Boys (Or cancel altogether?)



New Junior Captain Appointed - Becky Jones
Becky has been a member of the club for three years.  She joined the club through the Project Oarsome scheme with St. Nicholas High School where she is currently in her GCSE year.  Becky has represented the club at the National Schools and National Championships and last year she represented the North West Region in a junior pair with Chloe Weston.
 
She also represents her school in athletics.
 
Becky lives in Lostock Gralam and her other interest is horse riding.

Boxing Day Eights - Race Report
Fantastic day - excellent weather conditions, thanks to everyone who braved the icy roads/footpaths to get there and create the great atmosphere.
 The Cliff Salt Trophy
Six crews raced in the eights event with as many friends and relatives watching, almost perfect weather once we had gritted in front of the boat house.

The spectators got some excellent entertainment with some very close racing in the 350m sprint event.
 
Winning crew
Jonty Moore, Ronan Lomas, Adam Webster, Rupert Wiltshire, Matt Evans, Becky Jones, Elaine Young, Ellie Preece, Cox - Chloe Weston

Head of the Float - Race Report
Good news from The Head of the Float on Saturday 5 December.  For more detail see the provisional draw and results on:  www.lvrc.co.uk

Winners - Northwich RC/ The Grange School crew was delighted winning the Pennant for Men’s Intermediate (IM) 3 coxed Eights winning time 7:40.77 beating their closest competitors, Liverpool University BC by 2 sec.

It is raced over 2 separate legs of approx 1300 m: 1st leg 3:47.04, 2nd leg 3:53.73

This Head is unique in the area, unlike ours which has a division for each status.

The results are constantly updated through the event as status crews race in different divisions through the day from 9am to 3.30pm with conditions constantly changing

 The boys were in a large entry of 10 crews made up of university crews and local clubs from the region.

The race is held on the West Float, Wallasey; a different experience for river rowers as it is a floating dock and usually has a number of large ships in situ.

The weather conditions were good which was a pleasing change, as this event is notorious for bad weather conditions!

Winning Crew: Alex Blaney, Sam Blaney, Sam Oliver, David Eccles, Max Andrews (NRC), Jack Palmer (NRC), George Clarke (NRC), Tom Curwell (NRC), cox Chloe Weston (NRC)

The women’s crew racing WIM3 coxed 8, enjoyed the experience, despite finishing 5th out of 6 crews. The crew was made up of 4 novice women from the various Learn 2 Row programmes with 4 experienced members. It was a good “hardening experience” for the ladies!

George Musker Awards - Presented by Club Captain Clare Briegal
In 2009 at Northwich Rowing Club we clocked up 62 wins on the water and further 3 medals at the English Indoor Rowing Championships.  All squads can be proud of their achievements and I’d like to thank our devoted coaches and supporters for their inspiration and input to this haul of medals, pots and trophies.

The George Musker Award 2009


I know that Matt Langridge has won this award twice before but it seems right for him to be the recipient at this point in his rowing career.

Having raced in the national senior squad since 1994 Matt has raced in both sculling and sweep events.  He has won medals in World Cup and World Championship events and also last year, of course, won Silver in the GB 8 in Beijing.  But this year he is back on top of the world.

Matt and his crew of Alex Gregory, Ric Edgington and Alex Partridge finished a highly successful racing season by dominating the final of the World Championships at Poznan this summer in the men’s coxless four event.



Eddie Phillips Junior Award


For the best & most promising junior of the year. this year’s Eddie Phillips award goes to the J18 squad of Max Andrews, George Clarke, Tom Curwell, Jack Palmer, Alex Riddell and Peter Tolson.

Eddie Phillips Award for the Best Veteran of the year

Goes to the Vet E 4 of Simon Bannister, Mike Francis, Nev Hand, Brian Roberts and Steve Wignall.

Simon Crouchley Coaching Award


For guiding both boys and girls at J13 and 14 from their first tentative strokes on the water to an impressive haul of medals over the year I am delighted to award this prize to one of more recently qualified coaches: Tim Preece.

Dennis Mills Coxing Award


The winner of this year’s award has done just that for a number of junior boys and girls crews.  With medals at Runcorn Head, Chester LDS, Agecroft, North of England, Merseyside and coxing the WJ15 4x+ into the semi-finals at the National Schools Regatta, our deserved winner is Andrew Morrison.

Bill Cotton Award


Presented each year to recognise the person or persons who have gone beyond the call of duty for Northwich Rowing Club.  My sincere thanks go to Gareth and Yvonne Wynne winners of this year’s Bill Cotton Award.

AGM Announcement! - Jonty Moore Life Member


Presented by NRC Chairman Simon Bannister 
"The NRC Constitution allows the club to award Honorary Life Membership in recognition of a members length and quality of service.

For only the second time in my Chairmanship, tonight we are delighted to  be adding another name to our roll of Honorary Life Members.

The person in question is well known to us all as a solid and reliable club member.

In his earlier days he could be found in the bow seat of several crews but more recently has moved on to concentrate on coaching and coxing.

Over the years he has served on just about every club committee and is currently a key member of Faiths head of the river team.

Famous during his rowing days for catching the occasional crab and a legend for his affinity with beer tents he is one of the many unsung heroes of this club just getting on with whatever needs to be done without any fuss or drama.

Please join me in congratulating our latest Honorary Life Member – Jonty Moore."

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