Ross News update

Quite a lot has happened since the last Ross newsletter two months ago!

Read all about what has been going on at our club below.

Gloucester Head

4 years on from the Clubhouse Flooding in 2019, and some very last minute crew changes, 5 crews headed to Gloucester for the Autumn Head in the sunshine (a bit of a novelty for this event!!).

Jacob flying the flag for the Junior Squad in the OpJ15 1x 1750m event, coming second to a Gloucester A Sculler but gallantly holding off opposition from Gloucester B and Hereford Cathedral School .

Pam, George, Bron & Buffy took on opposition from Upton and Gloucester on the 5 km course and held there position in the starting order despite several overtaking attempts (and check in’s with canal side wildlife ????) but unfortunately couldn’t take the podium finish they aimed for, finishing within 25secs of winners Upton.

Graham, TimB, TimD & Dave coxed by Jessie chased opposition from Monmouth over the 5km course finishing just under a minute behind them, not bad for a crew that has only rowed a handful of times over last few weeks… but as the school report said “could do better!” So watch this space .

Mike & Buffy took on a Bridgenorth Crew over the 5km course in the afternoon, but the 29spm for 5km in the morning must of taken its toll…

Our stars of the day were our LowCRI Womens Coxed Quad of Sue, Bianca, Andrea & Rowena coxed by Rachel, who had to compete against a men’s crew from Gloucester but accepted the challenge and pushed their way to a 26secs lead over the 1750m course..absolutely fantastic achievement with Bianca (who starting rowing this Summer) and Rachel (who started coxing this Summer) competing in and winning their first Head event… ‘Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those doing it’…#thesegirlscan .

A big thank you to Captain Graham for towing .

MARS – Turin Regatta!

Ross were superstars at the Turin mixed ability regatta. See all the fabulous photos below:

Day 1: Winners of mixed ability coxed fours, and mixed ability quads.

Day 2: Gold for Dan and brother Josh (last row as a junior at Ross!) in mixed quad with Shandon (from Cork) and Stratford.

Silver for Nicky, Sue Blue and Sally in mixed four with Jackie from Stratford.

Bronze for Sue and Rowena.

Followed by amazing silver for Sally and Nicky in a mixed 8. Sally stroking an Empacher! Rowed from behind to win silver and very pleased with that.

Ross were presented with a commemorative plaque in a red velvet box to recognise our work in inclusive rowing, and then were awarded the President’s Award for the club that they recognised for the greatest achievement in mixed ability rowing.

Go Ross!!!

Avon Bluefriars

A Win for RRC at Avon Bluefriars Small boats Head – Saturday 7th October.

Greg and Georgie’s race report:

Thank you everyone for all your support. We have had a great day and are very pleased with the result! We have been training hard and it’s nice to see it paying off!

First of all a big thank you must go to Mike Jones, who provided a huge amount of help and advice to us for this event. He also worked his magic to get us a boat (called Debbie) to borrow  ‍♀️.

Even though it didn’t have a rudder, Greg was a superstar and steered a fantastic line down the 3250m course today. We managed to overtake our oppo after 1000m, navigate a tight bend under a bridge, (the advice given in the course briefing video for this section of the course gave us such confidence;  ‘remember it is better and safer to get through the bridge than to hit the large concrete bridge support at full pressure’) and finish strong on the final 1250m straight to the finish line. We had encouragement from our friends at Avon County as we went along, and boating on and off support from our very own George Smith. Thanks again to everyone who has helped us ‍♀️.

Raft Race

Annual raft race ending at the club. Popular event and loads of prizes!

Steps Update

Unfortunately, despite best endeavours a combination of poor weather, unpredictable river levels, contractor availability and the EA permit window closing have meant that the planned reconstruction of the river access steps will now be postponed until next year.

Today has seen the removal of the temporary fencing and pump to mitigate ongoing hire costs.

I have also had alterations made to the temporary bridge which hopefully will make it easier for members to carry boats across at shoulder height without injury.

I’m keeping a close eye on the ever unpredictable weather (it was forecast heavy rain today ???? but it’s be a nice dry Autumn day ???? ) to find a opportunity to move the stockpile of stone off the steps into the lower step area so that the steps can be used when the river level makes using the ‘boats off’ beach in accessible, which will probably become more often as we progress through winter.

I’ll update again when steps can be used for launching and what level the river needs to be to allow it.

Rowers not rowing

Greg and Georgie:

On a wet and drizzly Saturday morning in Pembrokeshire, what better way to start the day than with a Parkrun when you can’t go rowing? That’s exactly what Greg and I had planned, however when we arrived at Colby Woodland Garden, there were only a few cars around. It soon transpired that the recent rain had washed part of the path away so the event was cancelled. As we wondered what to do next, the people behind us noted our Ross Rowing club racing tops and introduced themselves as Sarah and Jez from Stourport boat club! We both decided to head off for a (not) parkrun 5k along Amroth Seafront and ended up having a nice chat post run. So, even when on holiday, you never know where you might meet a fellow rower!

Club Socials ????

November Social – Friday 24th November: Wine and cheese.

Back due to popular demand!

November’s social will be wine and cheese night, this time we will be focusing on white and sparkling wines.

Tickets will be £15 per head and only available up to 1 week before the event due to the need to order the wine and cheese.

Price will include generous tastes of 6 wines along with a selection of cheeses, bread and crackers!

Hopefully we can make this as successful as last year!

Purchase tickets here:

https://webcollect.org.uk/rossrc/event/wine-and-cheese-2023

Please make sure you get your ticket no later than Sunday 19th November at 21:00 to allow us to purchase the correct amount of cheese and wine.

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Christmas Party – Saturday 16th December

More details to follow but please save the date. Will be fairly low key and we are planning to include awards night.

Tickets will be no more than £15 (we are hoping it may be cheaper than this, but we will confirm once we have worked out the costings of food etc).

All members, seniors, juniors, parents, newbies, family and friends welcome.

@rossrowingclub

Mousey – Marc Russell – has done a great job of uniting our social media under one tag. Wherever you are you can tag Ross Rowing Club or search for what we’re doing using @rossrowingclub

We are active on Instagram, Facebook and X/Twitter

And Finally… we know how to celebrate at Ross!

#birthdaysarethebestdays

For the live Webcam showing current river levels – hit the button below.

Ross Rowing Club welcomes new rowers, young and old, beginners, experienced or returners.
We welcome campers and visitors, and have occasional opportunities to hire our clubhouse and grounds.
Key contacts:

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