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HORR PRIZE GIVING |
A few blurry pics from the 2006 HORR prize gving which took place at London RC last week can be seen below.Attendees were a bit thin on the ground what with lots of training camps in full swing in the run up to Easter and most winners only had one or two representatives on show at the reception.
Interestingly, the Vernon trophy, which goes to the fastest Tideway crew, was eventually awarded to London RC, after organisers decided that IC's "rent-an-italian" effort didn't quite comply with the "awarded to the fastest club crew normally rowing on the Thames Tideway (between Teddington Lock and the mouth of the Thames)" description...
The prizes were presented by Mike Williams.
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STRUTTING HIS STUFF |
It would appear that Black Death stalwart Mike Reynaud is having problems keeping his clothes on again.For the finalist in GMTV's 2005 "hunks in trunks" competition has managed to come third in a US male model contest put on by The Tyra Banks Show.
USC student wins a spot on 'top male model' show
As part of the competition, the male contestants had to dress up in corsets and wear women's make-up, something which Mike has undoubtably learnt how to master from watching Stinky over the years...
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TURN UP THE HEAT |
It's that old problem again, one minute you're having a nice glass of Pinot Grigio and a ciggie at Henley Royal and the next minute you're in Heat magazine being pestered by pseudo pop stars.
What's a boy to do?
The Stewards member in question is one John Service - a regular member of the HRR commentary team
The blazer, tie and hat band which he is sporting, are all from Eton Vikings (Eton College's old boy club). The blazer is quite a rarity by all accounts - so one to remember for blazer bingo this year, as the rabbit shall be adding it to his list.
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SPITTING TEETH |
It would seem that with the recent publication of the 2006 Almanac, the Hammersmith Mafia have managed to put even more noses out of joint.The reason the faux pax this time, being that they've somehow managed to leave out all results which are anything to do with BUSA - including last year's inaugural EUSA regatta in Cardiff, the BUSA head and the BUSA regatta, though quite how the governing body managed to 'forget' about the single largest regatta in the UK, is open for debate.
One thing the slug does know is that even if the ARA isn't trying to tell Nigel Mayglothling something, we can be pretty sure Nigel's been telling them quite a lot...
Ahem.
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A NIGHT OUT IN HENLEY |
The Rabbit joined the glamorous people of UTRC for their annual dinner on Saturday evening.A fine time was had by all in the rather splendid marquee put up for the occasion, at least I think it was a fine time - it's all a bit hazy thanks to a self-filling wine glass and some gin laced carrots...
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HOT OFF THE PRESS (NEARLY) |
Apparently, all you need is an atlantic rowing boat and lots of ready meals....and even better - you can even "Watch the author talk about this book in Windows Media" via the handy link
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WELSH BOAT RACE DETAILS |
The inagural Welsh university Boat races between Cardiff and Swansea at the end of March, were both won by the mighty Cardiff Uni in the end.
Swansea were well beaten in the men's race but the women's race was a much tighter affair and the steering was particularly important on one of the bends, as like the Tideway, the Taff comes with its own big yellow marker buoys.
The cox in the women's Cardiff boat did hit the stage after her race... even though it is her own local water (ahem)
As with their Oxford / Camridge counterparts, plenty of wash was produced by the safety & press launches following tne races. Good job therefore that the event had the blessing of the Cardiff Harbour Authority, and big thanks are due to the ever wonderful Mike Hnatiw for being the main organiser and to WARA for supporting the event.
The sponsors, Tomos Watkins, provided a generous sponsorship package that provided clean clothes, food and refreshment at one of their local hostelries.
After the last stroke had been pulled and the last call made, it was down to the nearest pub -- and time for the real boat race to start... Cardiff also won that one.
As the festivities closed, the students set off for a night in the student union and, such is their want, tried to drag the race umpire with them. Though perhaps fortunately for said Umpire's head (and self respect? - ED), he mangaged to resist the temptation, claiming he had something called "work" in the morning.
More details can been found at:
Stephen calls shots in first Welsh Boat Race
and
CARDIFF WIN FIRST WELSH BOAT RACE
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DEJA BLUE |
Seeing the boat race on Sunday brought a sense of dejá vu for a few of the boys in blue.Two LRC eights had been asked by ITV to stage a rehearsal of the race on Saturday, so they could test their broadcasting equipment - So the crews went off with the full in-board cameras and sound, helicopter footage, racing comment, etc.
Interestingly, by Hammersmith, with "LRC-Oxford" on the inside of the bend and "LRC-Cambridge" on the outside, the race developed almost exactly like the real thing.
"LRC-Cambridge" did take on a lot more water, and despite only being ˝ length down on "LRC-Oxford" by the end of the island, they couldn’t manage to take advantage of the bend and pull the distance back...
The funny thing is that (as well as hearing the LRC-Cambridge stroke man shouting at the other crew "F*cking move over, we're sinking!"), during the mock race commentary one can even hear James Cracknell saying how "LRC-Cambridge is carrying an extra 150 Kg of water and it will have a hard time pulling back the distance"... again, just like in the real thing.
If only the crews had thought about asking ITV for a copy of the mock boat race... just to check what it was going to be like in advance.
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CREW GETS WET |
Millions queued along the banks of the Thames on Sunday to watch the 152nd annual occurrence of weather.Met Office Controller of Media Presentations Rex Roskilly told the slug
"There is a great Tradition of Spring weather on the Tideway at this time of year. Everybody knows that there is a large British and Worldwide audience who are fascinated by the historic aspects of this annual event, which is why ITV was willing to dedicate so much time to Sunday's weather forecast.
James Cracknell was brought in because we felt that his considerable knowledge of intense Atlantic level weather, made him the ideal person to present the programme, whilst Gabby Logan looks quite good in wellington boots.
"Weather experts agree that the quality of Spring weather has increased in recent years, but one question remains unanswered: why was anyone rowing in such rubbish conditions?
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WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT |
Oooh, scandal from the Northwich Spring Head, where King's Chester 1st VIII were DQ'd on Saturday after using "foul and abusive language". Yes, it would appear that their cox'n used the f-word rather too liberally in the last 400m of the race -where all the spectators were standing.Rumour has it that King's would have finished 2nd, a second or so behind Agecroft, and a second or so in front of Northwich. However, apparently, said cox is going to be reported to the headmaster for bringing the name of the school into disrepute.
One can only suggest that, following Sunday's ITV broadcast, it's just as well that the Ox-Cam boatrace doesn't DQ for similar reasons, though no doubt both Mini's parents and ITV are going to have some apologising to do.
Mind you, The slug can't help but feel a bit guilty about that one, as I did assure him last week that the
broadcasters used a time delay to edit out any foul language... Oops.
Mind you, not that bad language is a topic far from the hearts of the Thames Regional Umpires' Commission at the moment as ex-Oxford boat-boy, Acer Nethercott, almost got his crew of Molesey squad lovelies disqualified from the recent HORR thanks to his overly Fruity language...
Rumour has it that a regional crack down on such un-sportsmanslike behaviour is in the pipeline, so best get your small loud people practising their "Shhh-ugars" and "FFFF-ungus" calls...
You have been warned.
