First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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Trinity College Annual Record 2006

Account of the year by Pia Schafer, Captain 2005 - 2006

The year 2005-06 was one of the most successful years in recent history for the Boat Club, as was reflected in our winning the Michell Cup, awarded by CUBC to the club with the best overall performance on the river during the course of the year.A large and highly motivated squad of senior rowers presented themselves in the Michaelmas Term 2005. Training during this term focused first and foremost on the University IVs, Cambridge's prime IVs event - a strategy which paid off. First and Third won both the Light IV (coxless event) and the First Women's coxed IV categories. This set up the senior squad for a solid performance in the Fairbairn Cup races at the end of term, in which we entered six crews, with both our First Men's and our First Women's crews coming third.

Another victory of the Michaelmas Term, and indeed the year, was to win the support of ].P. Morgan under a new sponsorship deal. This enabled us to secure consistent coaching for the top men's boats through Henry Adams and Charlie Allen for the Second Women, alongside boatman Iain Law's supreme reign as Head Coach of the First Women's VIn. Our new sponsors also provided pneumonia protection by supplying us with extra-warm splashtops and fleeces during the Lent Term.

The Michaelmas Term is traditionally the recruitment term for new rowing talent, and 2005-06 was no exception. Our talented and enthusiastic team of Lower Boats Captains (Albert Cheung, Harriet Booker, Clair Birbeck, Seb Pancratz, Tom Andrews, Katie Birley, and James Scott) and Coxing Captain Magnus Jones sacrificed much of their spare time organising countless beginners' sessions for about 150 interested novices. By the middle of term these novices were rowing in three women's and five or six men's crews, who performed well in the Fairbairns and most of whom we managed to enthuse to join the senior squad in the Lent Term. As has become canonical in recent years, our mighty alumni club, Black Prince Boat Club, were very active during this term, sending two Men's VIIIs and one women's VIII to Boston's Head of the Charles, entering Head of the River and visiting their Alma Mater for the Fairbairn races. The term was rounded off with the Fairbairn Dinner, held at the boathouse, with much self-congratulation.

An on-Cam training camp was held at the beginning of the Lent Term to ease us back into our exercise schedule after the indulgences of Christmas. We then ran a squad system to integrate the novices as efficiently as possible into the senior squad. The results were fantastic, with the First Women's VIII winning the Cambridge Head-to-Head and Robinson Head and finishing three places up to finish fourth in Division 1. The Men's First VIII also performed admirably, winning Pembroke Regatta and finishing the Lent Bumps in second place again after pushing a strong Caius crew hard on the last day. The lower boats also performed strongly; in particular the Men's Third and Fourth VIIIs were evenly matched and were both in the top few Third VIIIs in all their races, the FourthVIII eventually winning their blades.

The Club had had various members participating in the University Boat Club Development Squads over the summer, some of whom stayed on to trial for a seat in aBoat Race. Lilie Weaver won a seat in the CUW Lightweight VIII, who went on to win their race against Oxford at Henley in an exciting and hard-fought battle. Seb Pancratz raced against Oxford's reserve lightweight men's VIII with Granta, who unfortunately lost their race.

The May Term was, as always, the most pleasant term for rowing, albeit academically stressful. The Club began the term with a fantastic training camp on the immense Berlin waterways, courtesy of our host club Tegel RC.The week in Berlin was a rowing, as much as a social, success and the Club are very grateful to the Major Knight Fund for pecuniary assistance.

The May Bumps were again a display of our size and depth; the Club fielded ten VIIIs, eight of which secured a place on the river. All crews performed well, with the First Men's VIII finishing two places up at fifth, the First Women's VIII three places up at twelfth, and the Second Men's VIII maintaining their position at seventeenth in the First Division.

Our excellent performance throughout the year and at all levels of rowing was recognised in the Michell Cup intercollegiate league table, and we managed to win the Cup for the best overall club performance in 2005-06. The captain would like to thank all Club members for their enthusiasm and great technique, the Committee for doing their job with such commitment, and all those who helped with coaching and other things throughout the year, among others Simon Blackburn, Dan Darley, Neil Talbot, Rich Dewire, and Chris Ingram for coaching, the Catering Department (especially Cornelius and Ian!) for catering and patience, Nick Kingsbury and David Hkio as Senior Treasurer and Accountant, and Iain Law for all his great contracted and overtime commitment to the Club!

We wish next year's Committee good luck under Erica Thompson's leadership.

Index of all Annual Records

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