Having been a long term supporter of Bluefriars and an occasional visitor to Henley and a good catch up with JMB, I suddenly find myself with a most unexpected new interest in rowing and all things boat oriented - a son who is rowing.
Two sons have both now been through non-rowing schools and then University. I had hinted strongly to the elder one that he should try rowing at Durham. Rugby was the result, so I learnt to not interfere in any way when the younger son Jake went to Cardiff where he spent 2 years playing rugby and seemed to be following his brother.
But then suddenly in the final year his shoulder had been dislocated too often and he tried rowing and liked it. Cardiff University Second Eight was the result. No coach, lots of enthusiasm and hard fitness with the Cardiff squad and trips to a few regattas but no wins, and I thought that would be the end of Jake's rowing career when he opted for being a steward at Glastonbury festival and not training with a crew for regattas after term end.
Imagine my surprise when he entered the Sporting Giants competition sponsored by the ARA and the Lottery to see what it was like. After successive rounds of testing he reached the last 60 or so of 3000 applicants and an invitation from ARA to join Molesey BC as a High Performance Pathway athlete, with a full time coach and access to a route to have a fantastic season's rowing and the possibility of more.
Being Jake, he thought he would go to Canada and learn snowboarding and think about the commitment that would be needed to move to London and train 4 hours a day with no guarantee of selection, no house and no job. The flexible coach suggested he should join British Columbia University in Canada, and he rowed with them for a month at the Head of the Charles and slept in an old Chevvy transit van or SUV.
By February with the grand title of Ski valet and a new skill of snowboarding mastered, rowing seemed nearly forgotten. But preparation for the main London head race was underway and Jake was given an ultimatum - 'start training in London with the squad or else'. Back he came, too late to make the head crew but with time enough to just scrape into the Henley crew. He was the smallest at 6' 3", and rowed at bow.
The statistics are simple and the coaches words say it all first about the Qualifying race and then about their real race:
'Last up were the two Thames Cup crews. 17 to qualify out of 27 boats. On October 6th 2007 a dozen raw recruits turned up at MBC looking to take their first steps into 'High Performance' rowing. These characters came to us as 'The Giants'. Their objective for the season was to qualify in the Thames Cup, today the B crew (Jake Lea-Wilson, Simon Jones, Tom Colyer, Jonnie Miller, Teddy Groves, Frazer Anthony-Johns, Frazer Brent, Nick Fitzgerald and cox Andrew James) was made up entirely of Giants and the C crew featured the rest, also in the C crew are two of the clubs youngest athletes, Josh Kerman (16) and coxing, Bruno Hallwood(13). After 15 minutes of nervous waiting, the tannoy crackled into life... 'Here is an announcement, the following crews have qualified in the Thames Cup, in alphabetical order... Far too many crews in the early reaches of the alphabet than is good for my nerves, London D... Molesey B (dramatic pause) Molesey C. At this point grown men in lycra hugged each other.
As the coach who had set the goal of qualifying the Giants at Henley I have to admit my first reaction was relief, relief immediately followed by pure happiness that people who have put so much in have been rewarded with qualification at Henley (and here I refer to all those who rowed). This is a great acheivement for what is effectively the club's Novice squad. What is exciting is that this is just the beginning of these athletes' journey in the sport.'
The First race
Races on day one of Henley are often mismatched affairs between chuffed qualifiers and realistic contenders for silverware, margins are regularly large, the word 'Easily' being the most odious of terms used when a crew is well and truly smashed by its opposition.
At 2pm Molesey B (the Giants, or strictly speaking, Molesey's High Performance Pathway Athletes supported by Siemens and in association with the National Lottery) were to race the selected (similar to being a seed at Wimbledon) crew Ghent in a heat of the Thames Cup. To the casual observer this was clearly going to be another boring procession, how could it be anything else? These guys started rowing in October!
At this point I struggle to explain what happened next. The result is there for all to see, Ghent won by a length. A closer look shows that Molesey B lead to the Barrier and Fawley, look again and one will notice that the time was 6.48, one of the fastest times of the day. The time to the barrier the same as Leander, eventual winners of the event.
These are cold statistics, what they do not illustrate is the determination and will that this crew showed, from the moment the Umpire's flag dropped Molesey set off at a furious intensity and never let up. The extent to which Ghent were pushed was demonstrated by the delight of their coach and the revisiting of lunch by one of his crew immediately post race.
The excellent attitude and determination to succeed demonstrated by this crew was given no clearer proof than by the immediate post race desolation. I am convinced they believed they could win it, and by 'it' I mean the Thames Cup, not just one solitary race.
This attitude was in no way a one-off. All season this squad has set about rising to every challenge put in their path and as further proof of their total immersion in the sport and the club it was excellent to see the whole crew present at the landing stage when the Brit boys won, I can think of no better fuel for future success than the inspiration of this victory. Molesey now has a winning squad complete with hungry athletes determined to return victorious. I cannot possibly begin to imagine what the equivalent report will be commenting on in 12 months time.
And so to finish this long rambling article I have an extract from Jake's own account of the year on the Molesey web site.
‘Sitting on the bank of the river Thames over 12 months ago, quietly drinking and watching the Henley Royal Regatta, I thought to myself 'I'd like to row there.' It took a national campaign, support from my family, and many months of hard work before that goal was achieved.
Joining Molesey was daunting. It's a well known club with prestigious members and this intimidated me. I was apprehensive about training but excited to take on a new challenge. Meeting the squad was worrying; would I be the smallest? Would I be the most unfit and the least competitive? It was a new experience and I was terrified that there was no way I would be able to keep up with anyone. Thankfully everyone seemed to have these worries and it was exactly these worries that bonded our squad. When a new group of people meet there is competitiveness, but the levels of testosterone around these people was ridiculous. This carried the Giants and when I joined in March I was lucky enough to sneak in. No-one backed down for a second during those early months, not at 6 am 4 times a week, not half way through a 2km erg and not even at competitive eating on training camp in Italy.
We raced at 5 regattas and won at 3 of them. An incredible feat for any crew but for a crew that's only rowed for 9 months it is sublime. I think we all realised that we had a lot to learn about this sport. The quality we lack most is depth in experience. I don't think any of us knew exactly how much we would acquire at, what was without doubt, the pinnacle of our season, racing at Henley. A staggering amount was learnt that day:
Ed Green, our Coach (referring to our first ever race at Henley): So Jake, what did the race feel like? Jake: Well, the first half of the race was the best we've ever rowed, without a shadow of a doubt. The second half I couldn't tell you, I can't remember anything.
Working a dead-end job, living like a student, treading water financially, moving hours away from the safety of home, leading a lifestyle which is brand new and busy, practically giving up my social and family life. Has the last 6 months of my life been worth it? These were the worries that filled my head previous to that race.
Sailing over that line I had felt a rush of emotion which I have never experienced. Everything I'd felt over the last 6 months came to me again at once. Upset that we'd squandered our lead in that race, glad that we'd given the crowd something to watch, gutted that we had been knocked out, but mostly proud. Proud to row with some of the most determined athletes I have ever met. Proud to be coached by such talent. But mainly proud to be a part of a club that has supported us from day one. All my questions had been answered. I will never doubt this sport again.'
So I will be back as a proud Dad watching and ready to support any way I can, especially when there is a Molesey and Monkton connection as a reason. The GB stroke of the 4 Andy Hodge is Molesey's Captain and Steve Williams (2) is Captain of Leander.