Captain’s Report for 2011 Season
I have very much enjoyed my first season as Captain. First of all, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to you all for your support, the time and help you have given to run the club, attend the social activities and compete in the regattas. We could not have done it without you! Now, let’s review the season in more details.
The introduction of the Vetran 50+ status race was an exciting new addition to the CARA programme. Jim, Tim, Oliver, Richard, Ron and Tony put in the training and performed solidly over the season, their win at the Viking Shield was thoroughly deserved! Our veterans should be proud of their 3rd place. This is a great result, well done! As for winter training, they are most certainly taking the lead in this respect and are already putting the hours on the ergos. I know you can get that trophy next year boys!
2011 saw the introduction of the Junior League as well, consisting of mixed J14 and J16 quads. Shoreham is fortunate to have a strong junior section which proves unbeatable this year. Our ‘kids’ claimed overall 1st place in the mixed J14 quad. Please congratulate Chloe, Imogen, Rowena, Harry, Mark, Dan, Mal and James and their cox Sally for their great rowing season and their formidable success!
The J16 boys namely Mark, Dan, Mal and James have been the highlight of the season. It has not always been plain sailing (pardon the pun!) as they have had their fair share of disappointment, injuries and even a sinking incident! But what great wins at the Folkestone regatta in the quad and at Dover in the four with Ollie Lees subbing in for an injured Mal (video footage of Mal’s injury can be seen on demand…) The boys went on to become South Coast Champions in the J16 coastal quad at Dorney Lake. I am sure that you will all agree with me that it is a fantastic achievement! Watch out CARA – here come next year’s J16 champions! Tegan Moot, Rachel Povey and Jackie Whiteside also won their novice pins convincingly, a great start to their racing career. Great work ladies and all the best for 2012!
Late performers in the season were the senior women. They had a slow start but stepped up the training and became real contenders in the senior ladies’ fours and pairs (next year ladies!). Sally Hills and Sarah Bareham stormed over the finish line to take the trophy at Eastbourne regatta with a convincing lead over the Bexhill current champions. I am certain that we will witness more wins from the senior ladies soon.
CARA allowing men to regress to Junior/senior saw our very own Luke Elphick coming back to competitive racing. Joining Tom, Adam and Mike, the four had a positive season and a mixture of second and third places. I have the feeling that we will see more of them next year.
I also have to acknowledge Ben Board for his national and international achievement. Ben was part of the first coastal crew to secure a win at Henley Royal Regatta this year. His hard work paid off and he was selected to represent Great Britain at ‘La Coupe’ in the summer. Ben’s success continues to grow as he is now trialling for the U23 squad and has just become the 19th fastest lightweight in the country. Well done Ben – we are all really proud of you!
Congratulations to Ollie Lees who won his novice pins for both sculling and sweep this season. Ollie continues to sustain great performances at Leander. We are convinced that with Shoreham’s continued support and his own hard work Ollie will go from strength to strength and will be our next rising star!
It has been a joy to see so many people compete this season and dedicate their time to attend the regattas. I am pleased with our 4th place in the league and firmly believe that we can do better in 2012. The squad is growing, bringing new talents to the club, more crews on the water during regattas, hopefully more trophies and results for next year too! Did you realise that we had 36 people competing at the South Coast Championship? We had more crews than any other CARA Clubs.
The introduction of the duty crew rota and the shared responsibilities amongst the club members will enable us to maximise our training sessions. I am positive that if we put the time, effort, and emphasis on training, it will pay off and we will be able to add to our new Trophy Cabinet next season!
Last but not least are our successful non-racing events: I was so pleased to see the Easter Dashes so well attended and what a great day! Thank you to all of you who turned up for the cleaning and boat maintenance days as well – I’m sure you’ll agree they turned out to be more fun that imagined! I know that many of you like the improvements that have been made to the club so far and we all appreciate your positive comments. Hopefully we can carry on the momentum as we still need to finish the kitchen, changing rooms, get some new racking, and look at getting the downstairs windows replaced in the near future. Work will be prioritized during 2012 so that we can keep on improving the club to make it a really inviting place to train and socialise in.
To help us achieve our goals, we are looking at a few fundraising events: we are hoping to have a Pier to Pier row (Brighton to Worthing) and are in touch with the Brighton council to set up a 24-hour ergo row in the spring; as well as planning a party to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our Club House next year!
Thank you all for making this season so enjoyable and a special thank you to the dedicated supporters and parents who have been with us at every regatta this year.
I am looking forward to an exciting 2012 and hope you are too!