Seville Rowing Camp
The Boat Club continued their preparations for the season ahead during the Christmas holiday with a winter training camp for seniors in Seville. Sixth Form pupils Scott Bain and Hermione Brewster report on the trip.
Scott Bain, Captain of Boats, writes: To start our Christmas holiday the boat club were fortunate enough to have an eight-day training camp at Seville in Spain. This involved completing two or three sessions a day, as well as a day to visit the interesting attractions within central Seville. A typical day started with breakfast, quickly followed by a long 15K paddle on the brilliant river positioned right next to the hotel. This was followed by lunch and then another one or two sessions in the afternoon.
Being the national hub of rowing in Spain, the facilities were brilliantly tailored to athletes. This also gave the opportunity to be constantly surrounded by various international level rowers; such as the Spanish and Irish Olympic teams. It was fascinating to see their training and how they recovered between sessions, as well as asking them various questions about their rowing experiences during the lengthy lunch queues.
The first weekend of the camp also involved an international regatta, where 1600 crews competed over the weekend. Teddies crews performed amazingly, with various top ten finishes in a mix of events, with the SESBC finishing 9th out of the 62 clubs competing and the highest ranked school. This weather was damp but warm, and everyone really enjoyed the week and certainly our speed on the water has progressed, and subsequently we look forward to the return to racing in the new year.
Hermione Brewster, Captain of Boats, writes: The senior girls’ squad had a strong week of training in Seville making noticeable progress. To begin with, we had a couple of days training before the weekend regatta. Despite the poor weather we managed to get out on the water, practicing technique in smaller boats and doing some faster pieces in the eight.
The first day of the regatta the girls put out five boats; the eight, two quads a four and a pair. The eight did especially well in the morning coming fourth in the senior women’s category, the quads also did well, the first quad beating Shiplake and placing third overall. The J16 pair, Emily Orpen and Fifi Pucks-Fazel, also did considerably well in their event. Unfortunately, the second day of racing was cancelled due to the weather, but we managed to get out to race Shiplake in the afternoon. The girls went out in the quads, the first quad again beating both Shiplake boats.
For the remainder of the camp the girls were training in mixed fours, practicing technique and doing some pieces before getting in the eight. On the last day we managed to do a 5k piece where the girls proved their fitness and showed how much we had improved as a squad over the camp. As well as showing massive improvements on the water the girls squad became closer as a team, improving and strengthening our relationships. Overall the whole team is now very well prepared for the season ahead and ready to tackle the tideway and other head races in the coming months.