119
Bo r l a s i a n 2 0 1 3
Sport
Munich regatta team but unfortunately couldn’t attend as
he was injured.
In the Easter holidays, and after a record length of time
still not making it to the water, the Borlase senior squad
went on a rowing camp to Rotterdam, to get us up to
speed (literally) in our individual national schools crews. It
was my first Borlase rowing camp experience, and I was
apprehensive of the eat, sleep, row, work, repeat that
followed for the next nine days of our so called‘holiday’but
it turned out to be an incredibly fun and valuable nine days
fromwhich I learnt somuch.We arrived inRotterdamafter a
nine hour coach journey, made bearable by the fact we got
our new ‘Team Borlase’ onesies, fast becoming the general
attire of all the rowers the whole week. We arrived at our
accommodation, Landal park resort, with chalets fifteen
minutes away from the brand new, Olympic standard,
rowing complex we were to row at, WilemAlexander Baan.
The chalets were quickly renamed ‘the dwellings,’ a name
that stuck throughout the camp. Everyone settled into the
daily routine well, making the most of the valuable water
time, with the amazing conditions and the luxury most
Borlase rowers aren’t used to having: a boathouse. The
lake was amazing, the weather was good and our hosts at
the complex were extremely accommodating, making us
amazing healthy food, (rower size portions). The highlight
of the meals was when we all got two Mars Bar ice creams
each, (simple pleasures). The dining room doubled up as
our revision room, and personally, it is my favourite place
I have ever revised, the big glass windows looking out
onto the lake in the sun, an amazing view! (There was
also hot chocolate making machine which the J16 girls
frequented) Everyone got down to training hard in their
national schools and Henley regatta boats, and each day
at dinner Robin gave out awards (you got to wear one
of his old hats) to recognise people’s efforts. There was a
Superman hat, the Evil hat, the Olympian hat and the Shark
hat, representing people’s behaviours on the water. Camp
relations were running smoothly, until the girls decided to
mix it up a little, and steal the boys’ bikes, starting a bit
of a feud. Their retaliation; to steal our shoes. (‘You steal
our mode of transport, we steal yours.’) The coaches put an
end to the ‘war’ however when we couldn’t return to the
dwellings from the complex with no bikes or shoes, and
our search for our shoes ended up with a minor casualty
on the girls’ side. When it came to time to leave, it was sad
to leave the complex and the dwellings, which had started
to feel like home, also we had to get up before five in the
morning: not fun.
However the excitement and competitive prospect of
racing at Ghent international regatta on the way home
made up for this, as we all piled into the coach to drive
to Ghent, Belgium and pick up some valuable racing
experience at the end of our camp. Ghent was a surreal
experience, a lake in themiddle of a city, literally, andmany
people’s first international event. Everyone performed
well, J16 girls double of Schmit and Stoddart kicking off
the first race and coming 6th, first great British double,
then the J18 girls quad dominated their event to pick
up gold, (Becca Taylor, Alex Flynn, Jess Hughes, Kelsey
Stoddart,) and with the boys’ quad racing in the men’s 4x,
the tables had turned, as senior girls’ coach Harry Lyons
filled in for Chris Lawrie at the last minute, and it was
Borlase boat club’s chance to shout at him from the bank,
and not the other way around. The J16 girls four also won
gold (Georgia Mulraine, Megan Barry, Grace Bolton and
Emma Barnes) and ex Borlase rower Ellie Lewis picked up
silver in the elite lightweight 1x. It was a fantastic way to
end the training camp and I wholly believe that everyone
made up the vital seconds at this training camp that got us
closer to our national schools success.
Returning to school and normal training, the regattas
kicked off; last preparation for the big day (national
schools) Wallingford saw some promising results, with
WJ18 girls quad , boys quad and J16 girls eight all placing
third, and the J15 boys eight coming second at Bedford
regatta.
Finally, this May, the event we had all been training for
came around, and Borlase had the tough act to follow of
being third in themedal tables last year. It did not kick off to
a great start, as Nottingham, known for its bad conditions,
was experiencing 21mph winds and the lake was more apt
for white water rafting than rowing. Disappointingly all
the J14 races were cancelled, and the rowers did not get to
experience their first schools but they deserve recognition
for the training they’ve put in and their attitudes. The rest
of the weekend was a different story, the calm after the
storm, in this case. The weather was amazing, the flattest
and best conditions I have ever seen Nottingham and
everyone was excited to race and win in these record
breaking conditions.
Results:
J18 1
st
4+: 4
th
out of 21: Angus Warren, CamMurray, James
Evans, and Ryan Haines
J18 2x: 5th out of 27: Harry Shimmin and Hugo Coussens.
Bronze
WJ18 2x: 3rd out of 31: Helen O’Riordan and Alex
Flynn. 5
th
out of 31: Tess Roberts and Jess Hughes.
Bronze
WJ16 2-
3
rd
out of 13: Olivia Radcliffe and Kelsey
Stoddart.
