Tideway Scullers School

While the men left for training camp, the Senior Women continued to race.

Jacqui Johnston, the lone accepted entry, travelled over to Reading Amateur on Sunday to race WIM2 1x. In the heat she was up against Peacock from Maidenhead, who had shown a lot of speed at the Met last weekend. Having never competed on the Reading stretch before it came as a surprise just how steep some of the bends were, and sure enough Jacqui's skills were put to the test as she bounced from side to side of the lane trying to follow the course! A good start put her in the lead by over length at halfway, then as the headwind picked up the Maidenhead sculler regained half a length, but Jacqui refused to give up the rest of the length and then at the end of a hard race led by a length to go through to the final.

The final was against Fukushima from MAA, the winds had picked up and there was a little calamity on the course as a passing tugboat ignored calls from umpires to slow down, which created wash for several races. Despite a near capsize due to the wash mid-race, Jacqui managed to steer a much better course the second time around to win with an 'Easily' verdict.

Thanks to Putney Town for trailering, Stan Livy for all his support, and Reading Amateur for their fantastic flag signalling to guide Jacqui's steering …

At Barnes & Mortlake last Saturday the club won four junior boys' single-sculls events: Shepsi in J17, Ollie J16, Bertie J15 and Theo in J14, the last was in an all-TSS final raced neck and neck to the finish, where Theo pipped Ambrose by just a few feet.

Stevan raced well in Novice singles, losing by half a length to the eventual winner - who won all of his other races easily. The Novice eight was not quite quick enough to catch a good crew from King's Canterbury.

The J15 quad also raced well, losing by just half a length, and the J15 double had a good race but lost out to the same opposition from Tiffin, who are a class act at J15. The WJ15 quad had an emphatic win in their heat, but went out to Latymer in the semi-final.

Finally, in the last race of the very long day Ollie and Freddie sculled excellently in their double to win IM3.

The Tideway Scullers School Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday 9th July 2013 at 8pm in the Tideway Scullers School boathouse. All members are invited to attend.

The provisional agenda is as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Safety
3. Chairman's report
4. Captain's report
5. Treasuer's report
6. Proposed budget for 2013-14
7. Election of officers for 2013-14 and confirmation of trustees
8. AOB

Nomination forms for club officers are on the noticeboard in the clubroom. 

The senior squads and junior women raced on both days of the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake.

Saturday brought a win in IM1 for the women's coxless four of Judith Schulz, Rowi Mortimer, Caroline Matthews and Elaine Johnstone, and both days provided useful experience ahead of Henley Women's Regatta.

Saturday

The weekend started for the Senior Women with Jacqui's heat in WIM2 singles. Having being told by coach Stan she wasn't racing the rep, she proceeded to row through the field in the second half of the race to finish second and grab the last spot going directly into the final. In the final she had a good tussle, again showing good cruising speed among non-lightweight opposition to finish fifth of seven.

Elaine and Caroline warming upThe coxless four of Elaine, Caroline, Rowi and Judith were in a curious race of three events, with the finals of Elite, Senior and IM1 rolled into one race. They were a little slow off the start, but a bruising second 500 put them back in the race and they proceeded to row down Nottingham's Elite boat to finish third in the race and winners of IM1 by 29.6 seconds.

Sunday

The Met organisers had thoughtfully put all the TSS races together which made spectating much easier. First up was the coxless four in Elite, and having learnt from Saturday the crew went out much harder, resulting in Upper Thames, the GB u23 composite and TSS in a line at 250. UL had not read the memo, though, and had a half-length lead over the field. The first planned push took care of Upper Thames, and in the second they rowed through UL, taking four seconds out of them in the third 500. Second in Elite fours behind the u23s is a long way from where the novice member of the crew started in early September and is a great testament to the work the crew, and the women's squad as a whole, have put in.

Jacqui's straight final in WIM2 singles was the very next race, and she again showed great mid-race speed. With a target of fifth secured, she then rowed through two more scullers to exceed expectations.

Two hours later, fuelled by a combination of jelly babies, tea and ginger biscuits, the four were back on the stakeboat to race Senior. Tired legs from the earlier hard race were evident as the start wasn't as explosive and as Durham slipped out front TSS started to slip out the back. However, as the boats settled on to race pace the long, patient 'sexy rowing' rhythm the crew have spent so much time developing started to pay dividends, first checking the other crews and then rowing through UL before halfway, followed by rowing through Nottingham and UCD, but not quite having enough course left to catch Durham or Thames (with sometime TSS member Carrie Thomas on board).

A really useful weekend's racing with both boats showing good mid-race speed - we just need to get the first 500 right now and have three weeks to do it ... SL

Thanks to Stan Livy for coaching and support, and to Tom Gale for towing, and coaching input, over the weekend, and to Judith Schulz and James Traynor for the photographs.

GB Selection

Alan Campbell has been selected to race the single at the second round of the World Cup, to be held at Dorney Lake from 21st to 23rd June. Click here to read the full team announcement.

Sculling Courses

The Alec Hodges Sculling Courses are now fully booked for 2013. Places are still available on the Advanced Sculling Courses - for competitive scullers who wish to improve their racing performance. See the Sculling Courses section for further details.

OUWBC President

Congratulations to former TSS junior Maxie Scheske, who has been elected President of Oxford University Women's Boat Club for the 2013-14 season.