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.
2
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.
4
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.
6
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.
7
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.
8
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- [email protected] 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.
9
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.
10
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.
12
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
13
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
18
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
19
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
20
Bradford Amateur Rowing Club - Company Limited by Guarantee
(Registration No. 9662095)
Enjoy the Festive Season
& Happy Rowing in
2016