18 - 26 October 2011
Over the half term 18 oarsmen went on the Boat Club’s annual trip to the USA. Once again we were kindly hosted by the now familiar boys from St Joes Prep School in Philadelphia. Arriving on Tuesday evening we recovered from the jet lag and spent two days training on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. With some challenging conditions to keep us on our toes the crews got some valuable session time in together ready for our racing at the weekend.
On Friday we travelled by coach up to Boston in time to get a paddle out on the course. There was an exciting atmosphere on the banks of the Charles river with thousands of crews going through final preparations. On Friday evening we had a great dinner with the Prep crew and parents.
On Saturday the river was closed due to racing and we spent the day sightseeing in Boston. We were shown around the Harvard boathouse and University which was great to see. After watching some racing and enjoying the atmosphere and the free souvenirs at the course we headed over to watch an American Football game between Harvard and Princeton.
On Sunday we had three crews entered, an eight, a coxed four, and a quad. The quad was racing in the same event as triple world single sculls champion Mahe Drysdale from New Zealand. Mr Currie joined Robbie Brough, Tom Browne and Alex Fisher in securing an excellent seventh place out of fifty crews. The eight of Neil McKenzie, Andrew Halls, Felix Newman, Matthew Carter, Tom Pagel, Kris Wood, AJ Hatzis, James Richards and Joel Cooper were disappointed to come 11th out of the 77 crews. The standard set last year definitely sets our expectations high but the crew will find more speed in the coming term as the crew gets the opportunity to train together. The coxed four of Max Brittan, Russell Orr Burns, Ed McLaughlin, William Horlock and Rory Brampton came 32nd out of 75 crews.
For the final two days of the trip we did some more training and went to spend the rest of our dollars at the largest shopping mall on the East Coast, King of Prussia.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and many thanks go to St Joes Prep crew and parents for hosting us and to Mr Currie, Mr Edmondson and Mr Hundermark for taking us.
Felix Newman
