Chesterton Rowing Club

City Sprints

Anne Roberts writes:

I just want to share with you all a very exciting day's racing by a Women's Novice VIII at City Sprints on Sunday where we won our quarter-final and semi-final heat and made our way to the final where we were beaten by our old adversaries Champs 2. It was a good start to our new club name.

The crew was, Lisa, Ali, Me, Net, Jo, Clare L, Meg and Justyna, brilliantly coxed by Emma M.

This was a first regatta for Justyna and only the second one for 2 or 3 others.

Well done to everyone. Next time............

Anne

New Information pages

Dear all,

Two new information pages have been published:

The list of committee members has been updated and moved from the news pages (ie here) to the club information section.

A new page has been published concerning handling of boats, please read this and let me know of any errors or omissions.

Cam Clean-up

Luther Phillips writes:

A BIG THANK YOU to all who sacrificed their time and helped with The Great Cam Clean Up last Saturday 15th March 2008.

The day was a fantastic environmental success story for the river Cam and Cambridge. With the aid of more than 170 volunteers, we collected over 400 bags of recyclable and general rubbish from the river and riverbank which stretches over 12 miles from Grantchester Meadows to Bottisham Lock in Waterbeach.

Hard working Grapple teams recovered a whopping 100 bikes from the riverbed, 3 motorised scooters were retrieved from Stourbridge Common and unfortunately the odd needle found in the children's play area!

I would also like to thank the staff from Cambridge City Council who helped to dispose of the rubbish, Tesco who provided the funds for the BBQ, the Cambridge Cheese Company for hosting the BBQ and The Fort St. George for providing us with the venue, not forgetting Outspoken Delivery and Mike at sheepshank.org. Anglia Water River Care deserve a big mention for helping to organise the event with the Camboaters committee and its members.

Look forward to seeing you at the next event.

Luther Phillips

Winter League Results

James Howard writes:
Hi All,

Winter league final leg results as follows:

202 M1 S3 8+ 9:50 (on the day: won S3 8+ and was 3rd overall)*
128 M2 S4 8+ 12:04 (61st place overall, winning time: 9:58)**
407 M4 Nov 4+ 11:02 (won Nov 4, joint 17th overall - identical times to the mighty Hornets 4X)

137 W1 Nov 8+ 12:39 (83rd overall, winning time 11:50)
455 (Bonetti) Nov 4+ 13:51 (118 overall, winning time 12:54)
338 Nov 4+ 13:43 (114 overall, winning time 12:54)

*because of a status change the M1 boat was considered a separate boat for the 2nd leg and thefore not eligible for a pot. Had we entered S3 in both legs our combined times would have won S3 and left us 3rd overall.

** The 4 second improvement over the 1st leg is probably more like 25 seconds because most boats were ~20 seconds slower yesterday due to conditions, this was a good effort.

Thanks to all who took part, and to Andy for arranging and checking the boat.

cheers
James

Cam Cleanup

Luther Phillips writes:

Dear All

As many of you know, the beautiful river Cam winds its way approximately 12 miles from Grantchester Meadows downstream to Bottisham lock. We are all disgusted when we are confronted with unsightly rubbish littering the river, its banks and riverbed. Camboaters have organised the river Cam Clean Up in previous years and wish to invite you to partake. This is the perfect excuse to express your environmental ethic and collective love of rivers and wildlife. Last year over 120 volunteers turned out to make the day a huge success.

The river Cam Clean Up will take place on the 15th of March 2008, commencing at 10:00am at the recycling centre below Elizabeth Way Bridge and concluding with a Barbeque at the Fort St. George on Midsummer Common. We aim to collect and recycle all litter, glass, metal, paper and plastics found. Dredging the river for bikes and shopping trolleys will be a top priority of this exercise, last year there were more than 80 bikes and trolleys pulled from the river.

Areas for rubbish clearance from the river, banks and riverbed are: Grantchester Meadows to Jesus Green Lock, Jesus Green / Midsummer Common to Stourbridge Common, Stourbridge Common to Baits bite Lock, Baits Bite lock to Clayhithe moorings, Clayhithe moorings to Bottisham Lock.

The spoils from the Clean Up will be deposited at recycling centres and collection points along the river, which will then be taken away by Streetscene, a division of City Services who are responsible for street cleaning and grounds maintenance throughout Cambridge.

We really hope you can help, if you can assist in recruiting volunteers, provide equipment, food/water or simply require more information, contact me, Luther Phillips, details below. Already, RiverCare (the Anglian Water/Keep Britain Tidy initiative) is working with us. We are also looking for qualified First Aiders.

Let's make this another environmental success story for Cambridge.

Yours sincerely

Luther Phillips

On behalf of Camboaters
PO Box 223
Cambridge CB4 3ZJ
luther_p at hotmail.com

07980 621761

Winter League results

James Howard writes:

Dear all,

(provisional) Results for the February leg of the winter league are as follows:

202 M1 S4 8+ 9:33 (1st in class, 3rd overall)
105 M2 S4 8+ 12:08 (1st time = 9:33)
410 M4 Nov 4+ 10:51 (1st time = 10:48)
121 W1 Nov 8+ 12:33 (1st time = 11:35)
325 Wa Nov 4+ 13:27 (1st time = 12:48)
412 Wb Nov 4+ 13:25 (1st time = 12:48)

Well done to all, especially the S4 mens VIII who set a new record time for a Chesterton crew over the head course, taking 12 seconds off the previous best (set in the 2006 Xpress head).

Head to Head Results

James Howard writes:

Dear All

Results for the Head to Head as follows (full results on City's website):

W1 N 8+ 18:02 (1st leg 8:35, 2nd leg 9:27) (Won CRA Novice women)
M1 S4 8+ 14:35 (1st leg 6:51, 2nd leg 7:44) (Won CRA S4 Men)
M2 S4 8+ 17:26 (1st leg 8:08, 2nd leg 9:18)

Well done everyone, I have just carried a heavy box of pots home - this is an experience I would like to repeat!

Christmas Head Results

James Howard writes:

Hi All

Results for the Xmas head as follows (full results on the City website):
M S4 8+ 1st � 7:22 (won S4 VIII category)
M N 8+ 2nd � 7:41 (winning time 7:21)
Mx N 8+ 9th � 9:37 (winning time 7:57)
W N 8+ 6th � 9:59 (winning time 8:47)

Well done to:
M1 for winning (despite a slightly dodgy performance)
M2 for being a pleasure to row in
M3 for a great effort, especially given the scratch crew and lack of experience
W1 for upholding a proud Chesterton RC tradition by winning the fancy dress competition.

Thanks to all those who helped out on the day, especially Andy Nicol for sorting the boat hire and Paul Holland for agreeing to race twice at the last minute.

James

Sculling Blades

Please note the latest acquisition for the club - three sets of cleaver sculls, to be painted up and grips replaced in the very near future (two pairs have been sanded and primed already.)

I collected these from the Water Sports Centre on Sat 8th December while visiting friends in Nottingham.

This will allow us to use "Wild Thing" as a double without moving blades around, and to take Joy out without taking Yorick's sculls.

Winter Head result

James Howard writes:

Hi All,

Just seen the results of the Winter Head (results in full on the Cantabs website), as follows:

W N8+ 3rd - 12:17 placed 206th (winning time - 12:03)
W N4+ 2nd(340) - 13:08 placed 223rd (winning time - 13.07)
W N4+ 4th(248) - 13:16 placed 228th

M S4 8+ 4th - 10:47 placed 121st (winning time 9:26)
M N8+ 2nd - 9:29 placed 42nd (winning time 9:21)
M N4+ 1st - 10:12 placed 86th (won division)

Well done to all those who raced, these are all times we should be pleased with!

James