Curlew is a rowing club in East London and is open to all ages and abilities. Although very successful, with crews at Henley for 10 of the last 11 years, we pride ourselves on our friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
HEAD OF THE RIVER 2012: Curlew A 76th Curlew B 256th
WOMEN'S HEAD OF THE RIVER RACE: 88th
KINGSTON HEAD: Curlew A 21st Curlew B 51st
READING UNIVERSITY HEAD: Curlew A IM2 - 16th Overall Curlew B IM2 - 57th Overall Curlew WIM3 - 88th Overall
WEYBRIDGE HEAD: Curlew IM3 VIII - WON Curlew WIM2/WIM3 - WON
It’s fairly safe to say that the 2012 head season has been Curlew’s most successful ever. Our Men’s 1st VIII not only overtook more boats than the previous three years combined, they also managed not to be overtaken by anyone…taking coach Ray Cassidy’s command that “NO ONE PASSES” quite literally, even when being chased by likes of Brookes, Southampton and Thames.
Our women’s VIII have surpassed all expectations and have built on their Women’s Henley Semi-Final last year by finishing 88th at the Women’s Head of the River. This achievement is all the more remarkable remarkable considering two years ago the women’s 1st VIII finished 262nd and women’s Henley wasn’t even on the cards for all but two of the squad. It’s a tangible sign of the progress the ladies have made, going from fielding a double to boating a top VIII, and laying the foundations for what could be a noteworthy Women’s Henley campaign.
The women’s performance at the Head, was just the encouragement the men needed. They knew they would have to pull something special out of the bag if they weren’t to lose their bragging rights in the bar. Having previously been hoping for a spot in the top 100, the men’s aim was now simply to finish 87th or above at the Head.
Our men’s 1st VIII has been steadily improving for the past three years, rising 10 or 20 places each year, meaning the crew were starting number 158. They needed to make up 70 places to beat the women – a quantum leap by anyone’s standards. The final outcome? 76th. The best placed Curlew Crew since records began, beating all our local rivals and setting ourselves up as the crew and the club to challenge the more established clubs come regatta season. What made the result even sweeter was the fact that our 2nd VIII were equally competitive against other club’s 2nd VIIIs.
These results show that we are improving massively as a club. We continue to punch well above our weight and outperform much larger clubs, proving that you don’t need new boats, large squads or an endless pot of money to perform at the highest level.
Now bring on regatta season!.
Curlew had a great start to the new year and built on earlier successes in the season at Weybridge Winter head on the 21st January. We entered 3 crews: women’s and men’s eights and a men’s coxless four, who all doubled up to race IM3 and IM2.
The first race on the unfamiliar stretch led to a few hairy moments – the women’s VIII had a clash with a veteran VIII who crossed in front of them, probably spooked by the express train that is Curlew Ladies steaming in their direction, and the men’s VIII managed to have a near miss with the bank. Luckily Jeremy’s steering in the IV- saw them safely through the course. The second division saw our crews through without incident, taking advantage of the stiff headwind that had blown up (otherwise known as ‘Curlew Conditions’ because we’re so used to it from the docks).
The women’s VIII won IM3 and IM2 (and recorded a time a full 37 seconds quicker than the winners of IM1), the men’s VIII won IM3 and came second in IM2 and the men’s IV were fastest IM2 and IM3 coxless four. Both VIIIs posted the second best men’s and women’s times of the day – with some pesky school crews beating us to the top spots. We got plenty of practice overtaking crews and sitting in the dirty water of their wash as we bore down on them, which is certain to be useful in future head races!
Afterwards we headed back to the club house to celebrate in style with a bar night, reminding the good people of Greenwich that we can dominate proceedings on and off the water. We definitely painted the town red, and some of our more artistic members helpfully redecorated the chip shop with mayonnaise... We’ve even added some nice new shields to our trophy collection, although it’s unclear whether the women’s trophy survived its night in Desperados intact.
The Curlew Christmas Party was a huge success! Thanks to all who attended and to those who volunteered their time in helping put it together. With the boys in snazzy suits, tuxedos, and Henley blazers and the ladies in their own brand new Henley blazers and gorgeous gowns, the Curlew lot cleaned up nicely! A great time was had by all, especially while dancing into the wee hours of the morning!
January Bar Night coming up! The next bar night will be on Thursday, January 12, 2012. Come to the clubhouse after training and enjoy a big dinner all for £5! The bar will be open as well. Our lovely Debbie will be treating us with some culinary delights fit for any rower's ravenous appetite.
See you there!
Since it was a grey, cold and windy morning on the docks where Curlew men and women train, it was unsurprising that it was also a race day. Being on home water, the Curlew Women's squad was hoping for some good results from the two boats entered to race for the club.
Curlew had a Women's coxed IM3 eight racing in the first division, and a Women's coxed novice four racing in the second division, in what was the first race for the majority of oarswomen in the boat. Although the race course was shortened this year due to repairs to the adjacent dock for the Olympics, the race would still be a gruelling row given the conditions and particularly since the Curlew Women felt they had something to prove!
The rolling start was well-executed by both boats, and they went on to row good races, encouraged at every stroke by some great home-grown curlew coxes. The eight went off second behind a strong mens coxless four and followed by several mens quads and sculls. Despite there being little chance of overtaking ahead, the women successfully held off all but one quad during the race, and once they were past they girls didn't allow clear water to build. The women in the four composed themselves excellently and rowed a good race, battling with a novice four which went off ahead for over a kilometre, which they ultimately overtook convincingly. A special mention to some excellent steering from the cox of the four.
The event gave some good results for the womens squad, with the four finishing third in their event and the eight first in their event and as fastest womens boat over the course. There were pots for the eight and, with a very competitive race rowed by all, the Docks Head provided a great platform for the squad to build on for the rest of the head season.
The new season has brought 9 or 10 new and eager oarsman to Curlew. With these reinforcements our aim must now be to truly compete at HRR 2012.
Our first goal of winter season is to glue these rowers together, creating a squad mentality – getting everyone rowing the way Head Coach, Ray Cassidy wants them to row. This is well underway with long ergs, long water sessions and plenty of fun on and off the water. With the men’s captain at the helm, Curlew is pushing harder, and training longer to achieve our goal of competing with the top clubs in the country.
With that in mind, IV’s HoRR was probably a race too soon with 50% of slots in both boats being filled with new guys. Both IV’s placed well in their category, considering some near misses and a lot of time not spent in the stream. Those who know the Tideway, know those crucial minutes in unfavourable waters really reflect in your overall position. Now is the time to consolidate and prepare for the HoRR in March where we will be looking for a substantial improvement on past season’s results.
For those who are interested in rowing for Curlew Rowing Club – please get in contact. We are looking at building on our 2011 squad, last year we had two VIII qualified for Henley Royal Regatta. Only three clubs in the UK managed to get two VIIIs into the Thames Challenge Cup, London Rowing Club, Thames Rowing Club and Curlew Rowing Club.
It’s like being back at the first day of school, I was standing there ridiculously early because knowing the unpredictability of the London transport network I allowed twice the time it should take (according to Journey Planner – what do they know, what if there’s traffic, over running engineering works or the dreaded ‘severe delays’ occurring on the line), I was beginning to regret the absence of coffee in my system and was beginning to wonder if the multiple layers I decided necessary last night were actually needed. After checking and rechecking the emails sent in the preceding week, just in case I’d misread them wrong, a bunch of similarly weary people started to arrive. It’s always hard when as an experienced rower you’re used to the comfort and safety of your old club to come along to a new one, but thankfully I needn’t have worried as without exception everyone was very friendly and welcoming!
And then down to the business of rowing. It is something of an experience rowing on the 2km course, which is right next to City Airport runway, and after a while the planes get less distracting – and even with the best efforts you can never beat them! Catching the DLR to training is always something of an experience, especially when going past the ExCel centre. So far I have experienced very excitable delegates for the World Trade Fair, comic book fans in full gear and fans of Britain’s Next Top Model – it always makes the journeys a bit more fun!
The training is what you would expect of a club with ambitions – but they understand that with work, it’s not always easy to make training sessions at the gym (which is Greenwich not the docks). I inevitably ended up doing most of my training at my gym, but missed doing the ergs with people – it’s just not the same.
I was lucky enough to be selected for the Fours Head crew, which saw us decamp over to West London for the event. Although the Dock can get busy, it is nothing compared to the sheer scale and ‘organised’ chaos of Fours Head! Almost 500 crews of varying ability (although the minimum point requirement means that crews should be fairly competent) on a course of xxx miles certainly makes for some interesting rowing. We were fortunate enough to boat from near the start, which meant we didn’t have to boat too early and got to see the first hundred crews race past before we even needed to get on the water – however, it did then mean we had to row the course all the way back! The race itself went in a blur – we took one crew quite early on and were chasing another for much of the course. It also helped that we had a crew chasing us down, and one thing I have realised about the club is that we are stubborn and refuse to be taken down easily (they didn’t overtake us, or in fact get close enough to overtake). After an even more exhausting row back, we derigged the boat at a fairly impressive pace – but then when the call of hot showers and alcohol is calling it’s amazing what you can do! The boys had packed away hours before, but had waited in the bar (so selfless of them!) so we could swap war stories! Typical post Fours Head activities followed – decamping to another bar and then as it was Bonfire Night the apparent tradition of Blackheath fireworks, followed by a well needed rest!
I would honestly say that as an experienced or novice rower, you will be hard pressed to find a more friendly and welcoming club in London. After only a few weeks of being here they have made me feel as if I have been a member for years. They maybe a small club in numbers but more than make up for it in spirit – Go Curlew!