Boat Club 1977-78

BOAT CLUB 1977-78

Christmas

This term was almost totally devoted to maintaining and renovating the boats and equipment in the boathouse. A team, under Mr. Duncan, worked very hard to prepare the boats for the oncoming season and a lot of very useful work was done. On the rowing side of things — at York

Spring Regatta—the club had no success. Easter

Once again it was decided not to form a 1st VIII and the Senior river

oarsmen concentrated on Fours with a view to Head of the River races. A training weekend was held in York during the term to decide crews for

the inter-regional championship under 18 events for the North-East of England region, and several School crews entered. In the Yorkshire Head of the River there was some good rowing, especially from the 1st IV

w:-to entered Senior B and came second, but in a time faster than that

of the crew who won Senior A. The Novice Four also had a very promis-

ing row. Summer

On the first Saturday of term the School was represented at Sheffield Regatta by two crews, the 1st IV who lost in their first race, and the Colts

1st IV who lost in the final to Bradford. York Spring Regatta also proved to be unsuccessful in terms of School Boat Club wins.

However, the 2nd IV showed the way by a memorable win over

Durham School at the Durham Wear Regatta. The same evening the Boat Club Dance was held, which was very successful, raising £360 for the Boat Club funds. Many thanks to all who came and gave their sup-

port, and especially to all those who helped with the preparation and tidying up.

At our own Invitation Regatta for the Junior River crews, we had

no wins but the experience proved to be very useful and at Bradford Schools Invitation Regatta the Colts 3rd IV won, and the Club won the

Macleod Trophy for the most successful club to enter the regatta.

Bradford City and Tees Regatta were both held on the same day and

School crews went to both. The Colts 1st IV were beaten in the final of the Under 16 event by St. Leonard's, and the first Pair ever to row in

competition for the School won its first race but capsized in the second!

The Novice Four were beaten in the final by Durham A.R.C. at Tees

Regatta.

Over half-term two crews, the 2nd IV and Colts 1st IV, went to Cambridge Regatta and although there were no wins it was very much enjoyed; and many thanks to all the Old Peterites at Cambridge for their

hospitality.

Another fund-raising activity was the York to Goole long distance row which was completed in 5 hours 2 minutes and 20 seconds and raised

just over £100.

At Durham Two-day Regatta the Novice Four quite deservedly got their status and David Cooper (Stroke of the 1st IV) won the Novice

Sculling event.

Successful Colts Crew at Sheffield Regatta.

At York Summer Regatta, the following weekend, the Colts 1st IV won by beating Lancaster Royal Grammar School, and at Leeds Spring Regatta both the Colts 1st and 2nd IVs were finalists in Junior Under 16 and Novice respectively.

After a rather slow and unsuccessful start to the season the Boat Club has built up steam and in all has won six trophies. It was also good, and sometimes amusing, to see a pair racing for the Club, namely Ken Murray and Simon Wetherell.

The theft of two outboard motors in the Christmas term meant that coaching was very restricted and although a new engine was soon bought it was not put into use until special locks were fitted in the Boathouse. The Club also purchased a hard-shell coaching boat. Many thanks to all the very hard-working coaches who nevertheless overcame the difficulties and put in many long hours of coaching on bicycle and on foot.

It is a very great loss both to the Boat Club and to the School that Mr. Patrick Duncan is leaving us. We will miss his guidance in boat maintenance and especially his, sometimes a little obscure, coaching! After all, they do it at Cambridge — or so he says! Anyhow, on behalf of the Boat Club and their colleagues, I should like to thank him most sincerely for all he has done for the club over the past 12 years. We wish him all the best for the future.

R.M.

Club Officers 1978-79: Captain: Paul McCarter. Vice-Captains: Andrew Leckenby and Stephen Lister. Boatswain: Jonathan Drinkwater. Senior Coxwain: David Brooke. Senior House Rowing Cup: Dronfield. Junior House Rowing Cup: Rise. Senior Sculling Cup: D. Cooper. Junior Sculling Cup: J. Drinkwater. Coxes Sculling Cup: A. Gillett. Open Pairs Cup: J. Clayton/C. Irwin. Andrew Sherris Cup for Coxing: J. Gillett. Cup for most improved oarsman: I. Budge.

THE GOOLE — YORK, OR YORK — GOOLE ROW

In 1977 various crews helped row a total of over 120 miles in a 24hour period to raise money for the Boat Club equipment fund. As some found the repetitive course a little boring, the venue was changed this year — only to face a threatened cancellation due to a bore of another kind: the Yorkshire aegir (or aegre).

The Ouse is not a particularly pleasant river in its lower reaches — at least as far as its banks at low tide are concerned — so it was planned to row upstream from Goole towards the beauty of York. Unfortunately, given that the weekend of Sunday, 4th June was the only one free in the regatta calendar, the course in the end had to be reversed to use an ebbing tide and to avoid the aegir.

Gerry and Shirley Gray, two of our ever-faithful supporters, very kindly accompanied the crews for security as well as interest in their 55 h.p. launch. Accompanying them in turn were 'coach' Andrew Gray and the timekeeper-cum-photographer extraordinaire D.J.H. B.M. drove 75