CURRENT NEWS

CURC Summer Round-up

Cardiff University rowing club had an extremely successful season on both the national and international circuit this summer.

At Henley Women's regatta,Nel Castle-Smith, a Cardiff University Rower competing for the Welsh Rowing Squad, raced in senior single sculls. Nel came eighth, eventually being knocked out in the second round by the overall winner, a phenomenal achievement by a novice sculler in her first season. 

We had two coxed fours in the intermediate academic division. Both Cardiff crews qualified on the Friday morning; after a superb effort, the second four, (Emily Evans (cox), Sarah Goodison, Laura Dentith, Alex Tennant, Francesca Hinds) were knocked out in the afternoon by Osiris C. The first four (Sarah Davies (cox), Jessica Wood, Helen Roberts, Rebecca Girling, Cari Davies), made it through their heat and into the Saturday races, where they put up a gallant fight against Osiris B crew, but sadly lost by half a length. Nonetheless, good results for both crews. 

Henley Royal Regatta found the Men's 8, sadly being one of the fastest non -qualifiers inThe Temple Challenge Cup.

The season may have finished for many, but for some, the competition was heating up. Atthe British Rowing National Championships in Nottingham, the university had athletes in two coxed fours.  Peter Robinson and Joshua Holmes rowed in the four which represented Wales and faced stiff competition in their first heat. They narrowly missed qualifying for the final by quarter of a length to Leander Club but advanced to the repechage as the fastest non-qualifiers, where they came up against the other university rowers - Matthew Hetherington (Cox), Ryan Price (Stroke), Tom Allen, Chris Morris and James Magee (Bow). The race saw the Welsh team take an initial lead, only to be overtaken in the final 750m by a Bath crew they'd previously beaten in the first heat by half a length.  Despite putting in a strong effort, the Cardiff University crew finished fourth, beating the Armed Services and Aberdeen crews convincingly.

The Championships also saw Joshua Bugajski and Gregory Smith, new to the club and Welsh Rowing, take Bronze in the U23 Men's doubles. 

The Welsh four was then selected to represent Wales at the Home Internationals Regatta held on Strathclyde Loch, Scotland, coming second in the coxed four, beating both the Irish and Scottish crews, and third in the coxless four beating the Irish team. Peter Robinson also represented Wales in the men's eight, which came second in an exciting finish to the season with only bow balls between all four crews as they crossed the finish line. Overall, the Welsh team finished in second place losing out to the English by 5 points. Well done to all our athletes.

The rowing club continues to grow stronger each year with excellent squads for both total beginners and experienced rowers.

If you are interested in joining the rowing club please come find us Wed 28^thSeptember at the Freshers' Fayre, in the Great Hall, Students Union, or emailpresident@cardiffuniversityrowing.com.

CURC Boat Naming

On Sunday 5th June, Cardiff University Rowing Club, named their senior women's coxed four after a much missed fellow crew member and friend; Jenny Bucknell. Jen was a final year medic who passed away suddenly in April this year. Jen was an active member of the rowing club managing to juggling both her degree and rowing.

Jen started rowing with C.U.R.C in September 2009. At this time of year, we train in small boats and learn to scull. Jen had a distinct over many of the senior rowers, as she had spent her summer learning to scull at Ross rowing club. With the start of the academic year and a new intake of novice rowers, Jen became a member of the novice squad, always maintaing her place in the boat in the bow seat. It was within this squad that Jen developed the name of 'Mum'. She looked after and encouraged the younger the girls, even housing them for a few weeks when their contracts at halls had expired. Jen had many successes with the novice crew; beating Swansea at the Welsh Boat Race, gaining a silver medal at BUCS Regatta, and making the quarter finals at Henley Women's Regatta. In her second year of rowing Jen joined the senior squad. Her placements made training difficult for her, often requiring her to drive across Wales to be back in Cardiff for a weekend of training. Regardless of this Jen managed to secure a seat in the first eight for the women's eights head of the river, the most important race of the winter season. This was Jen's final race before she took time off to study for her finals. It was the best performance by the senior women and we were all thrilled with the race. After the race Jen said 'it was the perfect end to her rowing'.

It is hoped that all crews racing in the boat, now named 'Mum', will be able to enjoy races as good as Jen's last one. She was an enthusiastic member of the club and she will always be remembered. This summer the opposition had better watch our because C.U.R.C Senior Women are doing to for mum!

BUCS Regatta

All squads were in Nottingham for the may bank holiday weekend. The National Water Sports Centre produced far from perfect conditions on any of the days with some of the racing shortened to a 1km stint on the Saturday and Monday. Overall the club put in a respectable showing, with both the novice men and womens squads making it to A-Finals. Now concentration is switching to exams and preparing for both Mens and Womens Henley. A more detailed report will follow soon.

CURC 24 Hour Erg in Aid of Help for Heroes and CURC

On the 8th of April 2011, Cardiff University Rowing Club (CURC) set about completing a mammoth task, a 24 hour ergathon in Cardiff University's Student's Union . All proceeds from the event are to be split 50/50, half going to CURC as we are in desperate need of extra funding and more importantly, half going to the military charity Help for Heroes. The challenge was to row on ergs (rowing machines) for 24 hours; from 8pm, through the night and following day until 8pm on April 9th. Three dedicated teams and two insane individuals put their physical stamina and mental strength to the test in what was to be a rewarding but exhausting experience. Tom Campbell and Joe Avery both completed the 24 hour row individually, resting only for a maximum of ten minutes each hour, and both rowing over an impressive 210,000 metres (the equivalent of over 5 marathons back to back). Despite being kept well watered and fed by the hard working support teams throughout their endeavour, Joe and Tom each lost over half a stone in weight during the 24 hours, having rowed for a 20 hours in total. Sleep deprived, muscles burning and heads pounding, both still managed a sprint finish to the 24 hour mark whilst family, friends and teammates gathered to congratulate the boys on what was a truly inspiring achievement.

Rowers' Revenge - Varsity Review

There was surely a no more convincing varsity victory than that produced by Cardiff University Rowing Club. Held as the warm up event for the rugby at the Millennium Stadium crews raced from University Stone to Channel View, a challenging course of 1800m. The tone for the afternoon was set by the Novice Women crew of Ellen Bright, Fran Hinds, Sam Amos, Beth Christie, Beccy Girling, Alex Tennant, Sally Wilson, Helen Iliff and cox Sarah Davies who rowed a clean and accomplished race to beat their opponents by 5 ½ boat lengths. The most one-sided race of the day came from the Novice Men (Dom Breen-Turner, Chris Morris, Josh Bugajski, Shawn Howell, Jeremy Littlejohn, Rory Thompson, Huw Davies, Mike Ramselaar and cox Emily Evans) who led Swansea from the start and in the closing stages showed their immense horsepower to cruise to a victory by an outstanding 38 seconds. Despite admitting afterwards to not having had their best row the Senior Women of Jessica Wood, Cari Davies, Helen Roberts, Sarah Faull, Amy Hill, Phoebe Hall, Laura Dentith, Sarah Goodison and cox Emma Fitzpatrick showed their superior class and experience to still dispatch their rivals by 3 lengths. Finally the pinnacle of the day came with the Senior Men's crew who had revenge on the agenda as they set out to restore the pride of the men's squad having not won this fixture since 2009. With the crew of Ryan Price, Tom Tilston, Tom Allen, James Magee, Pete Robinson, Fred Hardman, Andy Warren, Vince Deluca and cox Anna Miles they controlled their race from the start and never looked back as they went onto win by a comfortable 4 lengths. Overall an incredibly successful day for the rowing club and with pride restored the women's squad now move into the regatta phase of the season whilst the men's crews can travel to London for the Head of the River Race brimming with confidence. We wish them all the best of luck as they take on the 400 crews on London's gruelling tideway course this weekend.