AIREROW NEWS www.bradfordrowing.co.uk

December 2015

CONTENTS:

Page 2 - President’s Prattling - Celia Hickson

Page 3 - RDM’s Ramble - Julia Markham

Page 5 - Fundraising Events

Page 6 - Adult Learn to Row - Mark Edwards

Page 9 - Captain’s Column - Dominic McGlinchey

Page 10 - Maintenance Day

Page 11 - Safety Stuff - Mark Edwards

Page 13 - Easy ways to raise money for the Club/Weir

Page 14 - Junior Captain’s Journal - George Hudman

Page 15 - Welcome to New Members

Page 16 - Sculler for Hire - Kim Davis

Page 18 - Club Wins

Stop Press

Message from Santa:

Due to the re-arranged York SBH the Club’s Christmas Social has moved from the

13th December to the 20th December, starting around lunchtime.

Further details will be sent round via the Yahoo Group.

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President’s Prattling Dear Reader(s)

What to say? The Club is in fine fettle; we are in the closing stages of

getting charitable status, our RDMs and Rowing Group are working

hard at putting the finer points of the LTR course together for next

year, the Women are winning loads, but the river is playing hardball.

I am pleased to say that I am struggling for words, as I know that the

capable teams of the various groups and sub-committees that keep

the place running smoothly are far better placed to keep you up to date

with their activities.

The reorganised York Small Boats Head will fall on the day of our

Christmas Party so I am suggesting that it is put back a week to

Sunday, 20th December. Following the great success of the Bonfire

Do our Social Secretary and I are working to get a packed programme

of fun stuff to do throughout the afternoon, so please come along if you

are able. And watch out for further information.

The cold has arrived and caught some of us out – Winter kit is now a

necessity. Please remember to watch out for symptoms of

hypothermia in coxes and Junior athletes, as are they are more

susceptible to the cold. Also Croc wearers be warned; the icy and

muddy conditions mean your trusty footwear can be lethal; I got a

dunking on the first Sunday back after the flood when I slipped putting

a boat on the water as my grip free Crocs glided

over the mud on the submerged landing stage.

Celia Hickson

3

RDM’s Ramble Exciting times for BARC’s development

Mark Edwards and I stepped in to share the Rowing Development

Manager role towards the end of the last Club year and very quickly

found things within the Club which we felt could be improved. With

only a few months before the AGM and Committee re-election it was

clear that in order to see these improvements through we would need

to continue our roles into 2016. Although I am nominally RDM, Mark

has been co-opted onto the Committee to share the workload with me,

two heads are very much better than one!

So why the excitement? Well I feel there is a good vibe around the

Club, new faces are getting involved in a wide variety of roles and there

is enthusiasm to build a Stronger Club, a Happy Club.

The theme of our work is to Develop People, Develop the Club. If we

achieve this then we should have a Stronger Club, a Happy Club.

Some of you may remember seeing a similar chart to the one printed

here around the club and in the newsletter in days gone by. Since then

the Club has expanded and evolved so the chart has been updated

and simplified to reflect these changes. The chart shows the pathways

along which members can travel and progress no matter where their

entry point is or what their aims and expectations are. This is a very

high level view of the Club and of course for it to have any value it

needs resources and structures in place in support of it. Developing

and implementing these structures and resources will take time but we

are making some good progress towards this.

One of the changes to support this is the new format for the Learn to

Row (LTR) we are trialling next year. This is explained elsewhere in

the newsletter so I shan’t repeat the rationale here. In support of this

trial, and as a longer term resource for the Club, we are creating a

skills and competency based logbook which we hope will aid athlete

development through LTR and beyond.

We are developing a number of know-how documents and Club

protocols with the aim of sharing good practise and knowledge

throughout the membership.

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The emphasis of this article so far has been on athlete development

but that is only one element of the process. The second chart shows

the broader picture of what we hope to do including coach

development, skills development and better management. As you will

see one of the things we hope to do is identify more do-ers. If you

would like to be part of these exciting times and feel you could

contribute in some way please speak to myself, Mark or Celia. It

doesn’t matter how much or how little time you have available, you will

be making a very valuable contribution to the

Club. Even an hour every month or two could

make a big difference to the Club as a whole.

I appreciate this may sound like a lot of

change, and that change can be scary, but

change can also be a positive thing and it is

required for development. If we want the Club

to grow and develop then we must accept the

need for change.

Julia Markham

5

Fundraising Events As you will know the Club has started fundraising in earnest and the

President launched a challenge to Members at the AGM to each raise

£450 over the next 18 months. Obviously the Fundraising Committee

are investigating grant applications as well as coming up with ideas.

Several ideas are in the melting pot already, including a Boat Race

fundraiser on the 27th March (See Fixtures Card included with this

mailing). If any Club Members have any thoughts or suggestions then

these will be very welcome. Please share them with Celia and/or Julia.

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Adult Learn to Row 2016 Introduction:

In 2016 BARC is trialling a new approach to Learn To Row. This

document sets out the rationale and the outline structure.

Background

Our Adult Learn to Row courses have developed over the last 10 years

and have been well received by the beginners. From a Club

perspective they have had a mixed reception. The course is

demanding in terms of Club support, and we are hampered by our very

small river. Running the course over 8 to 10 weeks, followed by a 10

week development period means that the LTR Lead Coach spends

more time drumming up support from Club members than actually

coaching the LTR’s. The majority of participants are older adults, with

a relaxed attitude to attendance, creating another set of problems.

A Pilot Adult LTR Course for 2016

By July 2015 it had become obvious that BARC did not have a coach

for 2016 if our traditional method was utilised. This was fully discussed

at the Rowing Group. It was agreed to trial a short full weekend LTR

course supported by the whole adult section of the Club, and then

transfer the beginners to the appropriate sections of the Club, so that

the expertise of the active members could be utilised much more

effectively.

The pilot should be completed well before the Rio Olympics, so that

there could be a review and decisions taken regarding a 2016 Rio

Olympic legacy LTR Course.

Outline of Pilot LTR 2016

A questionnaire has already been sent to adults on the 2016 LTR

waiting list to gather information about their previous exercising

experience. We know that adults who have regularly played team

sports have a different attendance mind set to those who mainly do the

solo sports of running/cycling/swimming and gym bunnies. We also

know that those who only exercise once a week or less have difficulty

in attending more often and that their development within rowing is

very, very much slower. The aim is to match beginners with similar

mind sets together from day 1.

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We are already discovering that once again we have a very small

number of beginners in their 20’s and 30’s who already train twice a

week or more. With such a small number we will set up a pilot fast

track program outside this pilot LTR course to integrate them with the

men and women development groups.

All the prospective beginners on the waiting list will be invited to a

taster day. This will be run as we have always done, and they will get

a chance to do a quick quad trip, a quick yellow boat trip and a quick

how to use the rowing machine instruction.

The taster day has been provisionally set for Sun 20th March

We expect that of the 30 coming for the taster day about 18 will come

for the LTR weekend. The beginners will attend from 9.00am to

5.00pm on both Saturday and Sunday. (They are being warned that

they will be both mentally and physically tired on the Monday, and to

make their employers aware of that, or take a day’s holiday). They

will get intensive instruction, which will be 3 water sets per day, and a

land set per day. Those that decide to join the Club would then be

allocated to the appropriate groups within the Club for the next stage

of their development.

The LTR weekend has been provisionally set for Sat/Sun 9/10 April.

Support from the Club for Taster day & LTR Weekend

In the past there has been a problem with retention with LTR

participants. In the main this is because they bond together on the

LTR which is run outside normal Club training and then 4 months

later we have broken the group up and introduced them to members

that they don’t know.

The trial approach is to introduce them to their fellow club members

immediately and improve our retention rate. We are asking ALL adult

Club members to support the LTR by helping at the Taster day and

LTR weekend. This is why we are letting you know the dates 4

months ahead. Working through the Rowing Group, where everyone

already has a representative, we will be asking for support relative to

the size of your group.

So if your group is 4 strong (ie Manicom quad) we would be asking

for 1 member of your group per session, but if your group is 20 strong

(ie ladies group) we will be asking for 4 members per session.

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The aim is to get everyone to help for one session, as we are asking

each group to have an LTR lead working with me. This will enable me

to have a single point of contact with each group. The aim is spread

the load across the whole adult membership of the Club, and not just a

small percentage as has happened in the past.

Beginner support from the groups

The intention of a full weekend is to get the basics in very quickly, to

enable the groups to support the development easily. The expectation

of numbers is that each group is likely to have 3 or 4 maximum to

absorb and coach. It is envisaged that the groups will be able to run

their normal weekend session in the normal timeslot and then arrange

the development training in the following time slot in quads etc. It will

be for the various groups to work out the best way of organising this.

The RDM’s do not want to tell you exactly how and what you have to

do, as we want there to be flexibility within the system.

Support from RDM’s and Senior coaches

We are developing a logbook for the beginners, so that we, and they,

can see their progression. There will also be a full series of BARC

Know How documents to support the development within the groups.

Support for small boat work

There will be support for small boat work on Sunday

afternoons, from a small number of experienced LTR

coaches working on a rota. There will be a maximum

of 8 slots for the developing athletes. This will be

offered on a first come basis, and any empty slots

offered to any Club member. This will be very much

skill based, working on one small portion of the stroke

each week.

Mark Edwards

CLUB YAHOO GROUP

If you haven't already joined the Yahoo Group but would like to please email the Club Secretary- secretary@bradfordrowing.co.uk and she will send you the link to join in as this is a much more cost effective way of communicating with our Club Members.

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Captain’s Column My captaincy started off with the lovely weather and racing over at

Ancholme; a very friendly atmosphere and some great wins made for

an enjoyable day and kicked off the Head season in a good fashion.

The Long Distance Sculls and Small Boats Head event at Tees were

good fun if a little bendy. I’m sure all of us who were there got a bit

tired of the instructions for ‘harder bowside’ followed by ‘harder

strokeside’ and it was nice to get in some normal rowing on the final

straight.

Next up was Dee over at Chester. After some hasty rearranging of the

trailer on the Friday night (thanks to all those who came down), we set

off early on Saturday morning cautious about the conditions. Another

win for Sally and Jenny started off the morning and we all waited with

bated breath to see the tide rise over the weir and observe all the

debris it brought with it. The mixed eight, competing in an open event,

dodged the floating logs and navigated their way down in a very

respectable second place.

As a break from the racing and winter training, including the

reconvened hour long ergo Club on a Thursday followed by a lovely

meal afterward, Erin and Neil organised a wonderful Bonfire event with

excellent food and entertainment including Carlo getting his first win of

the season in the conkers!

The fireworks added excitement to the

evening and stopped us all looking too

much like picketers around our oil drum

and, most importantly, the Clubhouse

escaped intact.

Northwich was next up and despite Storm

Abigail’s best efforts the event got

underway with only a few races cancelled.

A win for the red squad’s quad added

further excitement to the race for the

Hickson-Smith trophy with Kim, Jenny and

Sally all vying for the top spot.

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I’m glad all the men have listened to last

year’s advice and have got some wins under

their belts!

After York’s cancellation, I’m hoping we can

get some wins and good competition at the

rearranged event and if the weather is kind to

us we should be able to get some water time

and productive training in over the festive

period to come back fitter and stronger in the

New Year.

Dominic McGlinchey

Maintenance Day In the past the Club has organised a Maintenance Day in March/April.

However this year it has been decided to change the format because

of all the other events going on both at the Club and further afield.

Barry—our fab Facilities Manager has decided that it might be a good

idea for him to agree with the various squads what they can do and

when, which means that the tasks might be spread over a few

weekends but the jobs get done when it fits in with Members’/squads’

other commitments. Your help, as always, will be greatly appreciated.

11

Safety Stuff Back in harness again as Water Safety Adviser, how on earth did that

happen? Didn’t keep a good look out, had a dose of reality with cold

water immersion and had to record an incident.

I didn’t keep a good look out whilst at the AGM, and realise that Bob

was giving up. Stuck my hand up, well why not: I’ve done it before and

know what it entails. The dose of reality was the shock of falling in the

deep cold water of finding that British Rowing have just changed the

Annual Club Safety Audit to include the uploading of all the

documentation, and if I didn’t get it all done by November 30th, we

would be suspended from racing in 2016. This ended up with me

burning the midnight oil, causing typewriter’s finger, and having to

record that as a safety incident. The educators amongst you will have

by now guessed what my topics are for the newsletter, by the

repetition!

Keep a good look out. It’s not uncommon for us to visit the many

trees on our river, or to snuggle up to crews going the other way on our

narrow river. Whilst it is probably inevitable that we kiss blade tips from

time to time, trying to do a Rumanian hug or shake hands is a bit too

close. 95% of collisions can be avoided by keeping a better lookout.

That’s British Rowing’s statistics, not mine. The bottom line is that we

get a little bit too blasé about our mild mid-river collisions, just as we

get very complacent about safety in general. In the main we have a

very safe piece of water to row on.

It is also a really good river to learn to steer on, because it so

unforgiving, you have to have constant awareness about your position

on it. Bigger rivers and lakes are not as demanding, and so one ends

up taking less care. I know, from the scar on my left buttock, having

been hit head on by a coxed four when I was in the correct place on a

multilane lake. So if you want to know why I view keeping a good

lookout as vital, it’s because two inches in any direction and I would

have been walking with a severe limp for the rest of my life, and not just

the four months of physiotherapy.

Cold Water Immersion. It came as a great surprise to me that I

wasn’t as knowledgeable about cold water immersion as I thought I

was.

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I read the latest guidance, to discover that as far as British Rowing is

concerned our river probably would be deemed cold for half the year.

More worryingly is that I had to look up the signs of slight and severe

hypothermia in my IA notes of 12 years ago. I have put up the

necessary sheets about hypothermia and cold water immersion in the

lobby safety area. Please try and remember to read them. More

importantly please remember where they are so that if you ever need

immediate guidance you can refer to them.

Reporting Safety Incidents. We have all got very lax about recording

safety incidents. Please write them up in the book as soon as you can.

I say as soon as you can because if not done immediately they won’t

get done at all – that’s if you are anything like me! I can think of three

incidents that I witnessed that I didn’t record this year.

Recording incidents is important partly because we can all learn, but

more importantly a spate of similar problems needs addressing. It may

be that we haven’t taught something correctly. It may be that we need

to change our guidance. It may be a boat problem. During my last

stint as Safety Adviser, we broke 5 four/quad rudders in a very short

space of time. We had received a bad batch. Luckily the loss of

steering all occurred here at Bradford, but could have been much more

dangerous if it had happened elsewhere 3 miles up river!

Please report everything in our book in the Club

lobby. I am always happy to take a view if it should

be reported to British Rowing, and follow it through.

As ever keep safe, and remember to check your boat

before going afloat, and be

risk aware all the time.

Mark Edwards

BARC

LOG

BOOK

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DID YOU KNOW

HOW MANY DIFFERENT WAYS THERE ARE TO FUNDRAISE FOR BARC?

If all BARC Members set their homepages to Easysearch.org.uk and performed only ONE internet search every day for a year that would raise over £400 for the Club. Double, triple, quadruple this if family and friends did it too! No effort required.

http://bradfordarc.easysearch.org.uk

If all BARC Members shopped online through Easyfundraising, many retailers will donate a percentage of that sale back to the Club. This has the potential to raise even more funds!

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk

BARC has its very own JustGiving webpage. Using this facility you can make a one off donation, a regular monthly donation or set up your own individual, group or maybe squad sponsorship page to fundraise for the Club. Ticking the Gift Aid box increases your donation by almost a third!

http://www.justgiving.com/bradfordamateurrowingclub

Don’t forget you can also bring down used printer cartridges (originals only) and old mobile phones which are all sold for recycling, the cash going to the Club.

PLEASE HELP THE CLUB TO FUNDRAISE SO WE CAN ORGANISE THE WORK ON THE WEIR AND ENSURE ROWING CONTINUES ON THE RIVER AIRE AT HIRST WEIR FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

14

Junior Captain’s Journal Firstly, a big thank you to Freya George, last year’s Junior Captain and

our very best wishes for university.

The year began with BARC’s regatta. The Juniors who were able to

commit made a great job of running the refreshment stall in-between

their races.

Thanks very much to all those who baked. Ethan Thornton pulled off

an impressive performance in his J18 single heat, unfortunately not

getting through to his next heat.

Our next race kicked off the Head Season with a new event at York.

The weather was absolutely amazing, probably the best weather for a

Head race I’ve ever seen. Al Holbrough was first to race in the

morning, with Ethan Thornton, George Midgeley, Rhys Mould and

myself racing in doubles in the afternoon.

What a quirky idea York had for prizes. Now Rhys and Ihave to walk

round in beanie hats promoting York City Rowing Club, having won the

J18 doubles.

Next up was Runcorn. A small number of us competed but sadly no

wins, despite an all-round good effort.

Izzy Harris and Kate Hodsman took the title in the WJ162x at Tees

Long Distance Sculls. Al Holbrough comfortably won the J16 single. It

was reported that the day was particularly challenging due to high

winds causing choppy waters.

15

Al Holbrough continues to be our strongest Junior racer. He recently

competed at the Pairs Head in London, with his brother Myles, a

4500m race on tough Tideway waters against 470 other boats. The

pair were entered in IM3 despite Al only being a J16. A very

impressive finishing place of 19th overall, only 25 seconds off the

leading boat of the day. Really well done you two.

With torrential rain and flood alerts across the

country we were lucky to be able to compete at

Northwich. In fact the racing was delayed due to

water levels being too low after lock keepers’

over estimated volumes. Well done for those

who competed and putting in a good effort.

It would be really good to see more race entries

from the Junior performance squad throughout

the coming season.

George Hudman

Welcome to New Members The following new members have joined since the last news-letter and we look forward to welcoming them into our Club.

Seniors: Hannah Hofton, Angel Lorenzo Cabello, Sean Moore, Sal Phillips, Freya Stansfield

Juniors: Gaby Core, Nick Gregory

16

Sculler For Hire!

As I opened the text from Tees Captain (ex BARC member) Jo Dora I

expected the usual heady mix of expletives/ rowing based banter.

However, having heard that I was now hawking my wares around the

north of England Jo had set upon a plan. What about a Tees/BARC

composite at Tyne LDS?

I was excited at the opportunity to row with Jo again, she was part of our

crew when we lost our sweep novice status at Northwich many moons

ago! Though we have both achieved much since then, I regard her

Tees crew to be at the epitome of Masters’ competition as they train

hard with the ambition of going one better and winning the gold that so

cruelly eluded them at Nat Champs this year.

I set off up north at 5am, swinging by Jo ‘en route’ we arrived at Tyne

United bright and early, time for coffee and cake. As we strolled towards

the river discussing the race plan I suddenly realised that I had not

steered the river on my previous visits. I was assured that it was easy,

no steering needed as it had no bends….thanks Jo!

The tide was well and truly out.

As we ‘plodged’ out to the water, carefully slurping through the mud we

17

placed the boat onto the water. Now, how to get 8 blades and 4

women into a lightweight and precariously balanced sculling boat and

4 pairs of wellies out and onto dry land? It turned out we had at least

one person with logistical sense…. Phew!

As we set off the second realisation of the day hit me; I had never

rowed in this boat, with these blades or this crew before. If all else

fails act like you’re in charge (steersman’s prerogative.) It worked, we

were off. The 4.5k flew by on the way to the start, then the long wait

began. We sat facing into the stream for safety, the tide was now

whooshing in, so fiercely that I didn’t get a moment to relax. It

seemed like only moments before the marshals began to call us to get

ready. We were in the first tranche of boats so no time to waste.

We soared off the start and immediately overtook the ‘A’ opposition.

We had the Tees ‘D’ boat in our sights as they were the crew after us.

Jo had warned us that this was the strongest ‘Tena Lady’ line up and

we’d have to push hard for the full 4.5k, this we did.

We knew we’d made up time due to the distance at the

finish, but Masters racing brings with it a handicap

system that appears to be a law unto itself.

The results were finally revealed over an hour later, but

had we done enough? YES!

Tees/BARC composite (scratch) crew: winners W.Mas

A/B/D 4x-

Kim Davis

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Club Wins North of England Sprint

Womens IM3 Eights - Sheila Gregory, Anthea Mould, Celia Hickson, Karen Sherpa, Jenny Hornsby, Vicky Acomb, Sally Wood, Victoria Powne, cox Laura Pollard

Womens Masters D Eights - Sheila Gregory, Anthea Mould, Steph Walden, Brenda Franklin, Celia Hickson, Vicki Acomb, Sally Wood, Karen Sherpa, cox Keith Myers

IM3 Quad Sculls - Ben Manicom, Neil Thackwray, McKenzie Maude, Dom McGlinchey

Womens Masters B/C Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Fran Horne, Rachel McGuinness, Emma Farmer

Mixed IM2 Double Sculls - Carlo Smith & Jenny Hornsby

Mixed Masters D Double Sculls - Sally Wood & Carlo Smith

Junior 16A Double Sculls - Al Holbrough in a composite with Mersey RC

Junior 16A Sculls - Al Holbrough

The Club won the Victor Ludorum

Bradford Autumn Regatta

Masters F Four - Sam Hotchin, Keith Myers, Mike Gaunt, Ron Drake cox Michael Hobley

Mixed IM3 Four - Nikki Oldroyd, Dom McGlinchey, Freya George, Keith Myers, cox Michael Hobley

Mixed Masters D Four - Sally Gorwits, Brenda Franklin, Sam Hotchin, Ron Drake, cox Nikki Oldroyd

Mixed IM3 Quad Sculls - Jenny Hornsby, Nikki Oldroyd, Neil Thackwray, Mike Walker

Mixed IM3 Double Sculls - Jenny Hornsby & Neil Thackwray

IM3 Sculls - Dominic McClinchey

Masters C/E Sculls - Keith Myers

Junior 18A Sculls - George Hudman

York Autumn Sculls

Junior 18A Double Sculls - George Hudman & Rhys Mould

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Chester LDS

Womens Masters B/C/D Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Fran Horne, Rachel McGuinness, Emma Farmer

Womens Masters B/C Double Sculls - Jenny Hornsby & Sally Wood

Runcorn Head

Womens Masters B/D Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Fran Horne, Rachel McGuinness, Emma Farmer

Ancholme Head

Womens IM3 Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Fran Horne, Sally Wood, Rachel McGuinness

Masters D/E Quad Sculls - Richard Dunhill, Steve Mould, Mark Edwards, Sofian Miahescu

Womens Masters B/C Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Jenny Hornsby, Sally Wood, Rachel McGuinness

Masters E/G Sculls - Keith Myers

Tees LDS

Womens Masters B/D/F Double Sculls - Jenny Hornsby & Sally Wood

Womens Junior 16A Double Sculls - Izzy Harris & Kate Hodsman

Junior 16A Sculls - Al Holbrough

Tees SBH

Junior 16A Sculls - Al Holbrough

Tyne LDS

Womens Masters A/B/D Quad Sculls - Kim Davis in a composite with Tees RC

Dee Head

Womens Masters B Double Sculls - Jenny Hornsby & Sally Wood

Northwich Autumn Head

Womens Masters B/C Quad Sculls - Kim Davis, Fran Horne, Rachel McGuinness, Emma Farmer

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Bradford Amateur Rowing Club - Company Limited by Guarantee

(Registration No. 9662095)

Enjoy the Festive Season

& Happy Rowing in

2016