Boat Club Sees Record Number of Members and Record Results (SEMESTER 1)

The Boat Club's first semester can be seen as a representation of a massive growth both for the club itself and for the sport as a whole. Now with 47 full-time members, beginners joined from a wide range of academic years and have helped to boost the club's profile even more so.

The senior men (Ashley Epps, Rupert Graham, Jon Rains and Robert Sherry) took to the first race of the year at Teddington Head on the 3rd November. Through an extraordinary effort they came 2nd in the IM1 4+ category, fending off masses of opposition and only being cut off by a few seconds from victory due to some rather questionable steering by another crew.

But they took this in their stride and began preparing for the much more high-profile race that was to follow in the coming weeks...

FOURS HEAD OF THE RIVER (10/11/12)

The men's senior four (Ashley Epps, Rupert Graham, Jon Rains and Robert Sherry) raced in the IM2 4+ category on the Tideway of the River Thames, competing against a diverse range of crews from all across the country. In a powerful effort, they came 25th out of the 62 crews in their category, helping to improve Surrey's profile dramatically as a force to be reckoned with on the water.

BUCS INDOOR ROWING SERIES (01/12/12)

With winds lashing viciously at the blades of anyone who dared set out on the Thames, the University of Surrey Boat Club moved to make their mark at the BUCS Indoor Rowing Series, regionally hosted by St Mary's University. Participating in a competition devised by those who enjoy watching the smiles being torn off the face of even the most enthusiastic beginner, our rowers completed an all-out mental and physical battle to complete a 2k row indoor row in the fastest possible time.

This saw massive results against the best rowers of the other participating universities, with the Men's Heavyweight 1st place being taken by our very own Jon Rains in an inhuman time of 6:09.3 minutes, with 6th, 8th, 9th and 12th places out of the 35 participants going to Rupert Graham, Matt Davis, Charles Weston, Robert Sherry and Tom Hopkins respectively.

The Women's Lightweight category was also dominated by Guinevere Wentworth and Taylor Johnson who took 1st and 2nd place in an elegant display of agility and determination. Our own women's captain Sophie Parsons too put on an impressive performance, coming 4th in the Women's Heavyweight.

The Men's Lightweight race erupted with the arrival or Nathan O'Reilly, Doug Malbty and Jack Deung, who each took the 2nd, 3rd and 5th places.

The Women's Beginner category was also swarmed by the massive presence of Surrey girls, with notable mentions going to Abi Munson, Nicola Stiddard and Hannah Stiddard for coming 4th, 5th and 6th repectfully.