Rowing!! Oh yes......

Oh to get up when the land is still dark
to cycle along the wondrous contours of the Cotswolds
And facing a gorgeous hunky man of the most perfect proportions
watching the sun rise over the dark moors
The gentle waters of the Cherwell washing against my sides
whilst my man pants and sweats
My eyes half-closed, watching him pushing and sliding
feeling him squeezing and stroking
and I scream with exhilaration at the sheer sensation of his mighty power
Feeling my control over him
telling him exactly what to do to please me

And seven more studs waiting in line to outdo him



(the joy of coxing)

Hey, what better than to get up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning, jump up with enthusiasm, wrap up in layers and layers of tight lycra trademarkclothing, topped up with a splashtop proudly displaying the Wadham colours, and jumping onto a rusty old bike, cycling for half an hour (uphill -- Wahey!!) to get to the boathouses at Godstowe, and sweating furiously (despite the snow), trying not to feather the blade with the outside arm, whilst watching the sun rise over the dark moors of the Cotswolds?
If you wanna know who the members of this esteemed boat club are, have a look at the page of our Wadham Boat Club

But of course, rowing in Trinity term is a different experience altogether.
As the sun shines on your face and you develop a nice tan (or a nasty burn), you get to know what it is like to be really in Oxford. there are a variety of boats you can go in. The most popular is of course, the eight, where eight rowers of either sex (or of mixed sex in the oriel regatta), ideally larger if you are in the middle of the boat, sit one behind another and pull very hard (not THAT kind of pulling no), in time with the commands of that little person crouched in front of the stroke-man, screaming at the top of his/her voice (most of us, however, have this wonderful device called the cox box, with an in-built microphone system, as well as measuring instruments for the rating and timing of the stroke-man).

In Eights (a sort of bump race, compare with Torpids, which take place in Hilary term), boats in different divisions try hard to CRASH!!! into the boat immediately in front, usually one that got them the year before. It is a wonderful feeling, if you are at bow (at the end of the boat) to feel your blade cutting into the back of the other boat's cox (the screaming little man/woman steering and commanding the crew), or, as the cox, to say, "We have bumped!!!!Wind down!!" It is actually an experience most difficult to describe, and I can only suggest you try it out to feel the rush of adrenaline no other sport can provide. Look how happy we are after the race!!

I think this page is getting rather messy and all so I have started a new page for my Summer 97 First Eight crew, which you can access by clicking HERE

On similar lines, I have just created a new page for the Michaelmas 97 squad HERE

And do have a look at our Christchurch 1997 Crews.

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Wadham women's first eight, with Rod our marvellous coach, after Torpids in Hialry term '96.

Now won't you say that is something eh? It makes everything else worth it -- all the training, hardwork, early mornings, run-till-you-drop jogs, lift-till-you-die weight sessions, and most of all, the cox's constant sarcasm and abuse, and the coach's cynical grin. Any rower thinking back after a good race (and you don't have to win to have a good race) would consider all those ordeals fun in fact. I, for instance, gained considerable pleasure out of being chucked into the Isis, though I nearly sank in my heavy trainers and tracky bottoms, and had to paddle surrounded by floating duck shit, goose droppings, germs, and the other unknown elements of the river.....

Perhaps punting might be safer......

Before you go any further, do not forget to take a peek at Oxford's very own Rowing page, which also happens to be the top level server of rowing in UK.

And here is another lovely rowing picture:

And below are lists to my crew (Wadham women's first eight):
And all other BCs are afraid of them, for they are HUGE!!

Torpids 96

• Bow : Carolyn Chadwick -- she is now in the windrush crew
• 2 : Sarah Nelmes -- hopefully she will do her D.Phil. here!! Wahey!!
• 3 : Erin Dotson -- going back to Duke this summer, she will be sadly missed
• 4 : Hester K-Ates -- she disappeared off to Holland without saying goodbye!!
• 5 : Kath Thorton -- fellow PPEist, aka the 1st Eight phantom
• 6 : Eleri Wood -- Women's captain Trinity term onwards
• 7 : Emma Simms -- Women's captain last year and an excellent one too!!
• Stroke: Helen Dixon -- frowns helluva lot. She is going to the other place next year
• Cox : ME!!!!!!!! -- unnecessary to say much more really

Eights 96

• Bow : Erin Dotson -- Bow Wow!!
• 2 : Sandra Roscoe -- BC treasurer, a very safe, technical rower (rare these days)
• 3 : Hester K-A. -- leant to row in one week, and swapped sides after a term!!
• 4 : Mary E-Hughs -- huge Aussie from down under (meaning her room is underneath mine)
• 5 : Emma Payne -- what IS up with her and her flatmate??
• 6 : Eleri Wood -- only wears shorts, even when it snows
• 7 : Carolyn Chadwick -- moving up eh? in every way!!
• Stroke: Sarah Nelmes -- the Women's President finally ate the chocolate I gave her!! Wahey!!
• Cox : ME!!!! -- I am a better cox now. Might even row next term

Michaelmas 96

• Bow : hm
• 2 : well
• 3 : Jeanine Lally-Jones --
• 4 : Laura Dance -- a BULLY
• 5 : Brenda Czaban --
• 6 : Tracy Blanchard --
• 7 : Emma Payne --
• Stroke: Eleri Wood -- she has lost her pair of Flowery DMs apparently
• Cox : This is boring but it's still me!!

I know that the profiles are somewhat brief, i shall expand on that at a later date.
there will be more to this page when I have more piccies and more time, and when I have a new crew.

Of course, I mustn't forget to mention Rod's Racers!! The 4's crew consists of, from bow, Emma Simms, Sarah, Kath and Helen, with me as cox. We were planning to go to all these regattas, including Henley, but as the crew were having finals and hence had little time to train, and we don't seem to have a boat for the race, the idea has been abandoned. I was, of course, very very disappointed, as they had all been to Henley in an eight but I haven't. But we did compete in Oriel Regatta and got ourselves Tankards by shitting on our opponents!! Wahey!!

Right I am finally updating my pages so here are the crew lists for 1997.
Torpids 1997

• Bow : Alison Priestley (matriculated 1996)
• 2 : Patricia Coates (m. 1996)
• 3 : Helen Boyd (m. 1996)
• 4 : Laura Dance (m. 1996)
• 5 : Brenda Czaban(m. 1996)/Emma Payne (sub, m.1994)
• 6 : Tracy Blanchard (m. 1996)
• 7 : Caroline McCurtin(m. 1993)/Brenda Czaban
• Stroke: Sarah Nelmes (m. 1993)
• Cox : Alpha Lau (m. 1995)

As you can see we have loads of first years in and it is really impressive that we have reached our standard. We do our best to promote rowing and encourage more novice-participation in the boat club and to build a stronger women squad. We rowed over all four days, maintaining our 4th position in the top division, and the top four crews in the division all rowed over all four days so we are all pretty good!