The Senior Men’s squad aim to compete at the major domestic head races and regattas. The main head races we race at include pairs head, fours head, scullers head and VIIIs head. We also compete at a number of regional races in preparation for these events. After the VIII’s head, we turn our attention to regatta racing. We kick start this with a training camp, and then race at Wallingford, Met, Reading, Marlow and Henley Royal Regatta. After HRR, we usually enter a few crews into Peterborough Summer, where we take the club BBQ and camp over.
Over the past few years the club has gone from strength to strength. We have qualified at least one boat in HRR since 2004, have had regatta wins at Reading and Marlow, and have had wins in pairs head, sculler’s head along with some credible performances in the fours and viiis head.
We train on the water at weekends and Thursday evenings. Some of the squad also scull in the mornings before work. We have a very large catchment area so we tend to do most of our land training individually. Depending on the circumstances of the squad, we sometimes run circuit and weight sessions at the club house.
We have a diverse squad. The VIII that won IM1 at Reading Regatta recently contained both the youngest and oldest members of our squad – a range from 16 to mid forties!
We are always looking to recruit new rowers and people are welcome to join our squad at any time during the year.
With the help of the Lea Rowing Club, Broxbourne managed to get its boats to Strathclyde Park for the 2010 British Rowing Championships. (Many thanks Lea!) Broxbourne initially entered three crews but that later rose to four. The junior quad unfortunately went out in their heats. Alex Goodwin not only won Bronze in the Open Junior 16 Single Sculls, but also sat in a coxless four for Durham School at the eleventh hour and won a Bronze medal for that too! The senior men, after a diet of Rivita and Skinny Latte’s entered the lightweight coxless fours and came away with a Silver medal, missing out on the Gold by 1/2 a length. Well done boys! Congratulations to all involved!
Medals
Open Lightweight Coxless Four: Chris, Craig, Adam, Graham – Silver
Open Junior 16 Single Scull: Alex Goodwin – Bronze
Open Junior 16 Coxless Four: Alex Goodwin (composite with Durham School) – Bronze
Perhaps inevitable after drawing London RC ‘A’, but the VIII kept the pressure on the London crew all the way, in the end loosing by 2 1/4 lengths. A difficult day for the lads but we’re all proud. Getting 2 boats through to Henley is a great achievement and perhaps next year we might have some luck with the draw!
Whilst the women of Broxbourne ponder their dress choice for this years Henley and whether the shuffle technique will have to be deployed, the senior men are quietly preparing for Wednesday’s heats. The draw is out and fortunately for the IV there is a nice big gap of 10 hours between races.
Wednesday’s Timetable
9.15am: The IV will be racing in the first heat of The Wyfold Challenge Cup against Star Club.
7.00pm: The VIII will be racing in the first heat of The Thames Challenge Cup against London A.
A full timetable of Wednesday’s racing can be seen here: http://www.hrr.co.uk/pdisp.php?pid=318
Best of luck to the crews and watch this space for live results (assuming the iPhone doesn’t malfunction)
