SECBC is run by a determined and hard working student committee, on an entirely voluntary basis. The club is supported by dedicated coaches and some excellent alumni relations which ensures that every member of the club receives the best possible experience of college rowing that can be provided. Being a mature college, the turnover of our members each year is high, and as such this puts an emphasis on our capability to train up new aspiring rowers year in, year out. Despite our best efforts, providing this level of coaching can be a strain on the club, both financially for the club, and on the workload of our committee.

We decided to run a 24 hour ERGathon fundraiser to help raise funds to cover the costs of races and our coaching requirements. It is imperative to the club that we are able to provide equal opportunities to all our members, whether they wish to race in the top crews, row casually, or even just row for one term to have the experience. 

The event was a great success and we must extend our thanks to all our members who got involved, and to every single one of our extremely generous donors. We covered a whopping 276.5km and raised a fantastic £1,251 (and counting - click here to donate!)

The novice men were in the first division of the day and after their first two competitors held a HUGE lead. Sadly they couldn't hold onto this lead all the way through but ended up coming a very respectable 5th in their division with an average split of 1:44.0.

Eddie's hosted a joint social with Hughes & Lucy Cavendish last night at 99's boathouse. It was run in true QERGS style as a practice run before QERGS itself next weekend. Halloween costumes were encourage and we were delighted to see some super outfits on display and a great turnout!

Mixed seniors
1st Lucy Cav (1:47.5/500m)
2nd Hughes Hall (1:48.0/500m)
3rd Eddie's women (1:50.9/500m)

Mixed Novices
1st Hughes Hall (1:45.7/500m)
2nd Lucy Cav (1:46.8/500m)
3rd Eddie's (1:54.8/500m)

Overall
1st Hughes Hall (1:46.9/500m)
2nd Lucy Cav (1:47.2/500m)
3rd Eddie's (1:56.8/500m)

We had the first two novice taster sessions over the weekend - they were fully subscribed and great fun was had by all! With ten novices & five seniors there were plenty of hands on the boat. Many hands make light work and all that....!
The sessions kicked off with a talk from either one of our women's coaches Matt/Abbie, or a senior rower explaining the different parts of the rowing stroke, and the separation of movements. After a quick demo it was the novice's turn to show us what they've got! Once the basics were established we all mucked in to get our lovely 'Lily' boat out of the boat house - no easy task given that she sits four racks up!

Once Lily was safely out and in the water we went through the basic calls/commands that our cox Alannah was likely to use in the outing, and then got some of the novices in on stroke side whilst we held down the riggers, so that they could practice taking a stroke. Once everyone had had a go at this it was time to push off. Each batch of novices got to row to Jesus lock and back - assisted by having seniors in stroke, 2 & bow. On both days everyone did extremely well & we even had them taking a few strokes in sixes!!!! 

After the outing, everyone mucked in to give Lily a thorough sponge down, rinse and dry before heading upstairs to enjoy some well deserved schnaaaaacks! The keen beans then headed to our favourite pub across the water - the Fort St George! They really should sponsor us....

As well as our water tasters we are also running some FUN ERGs in the evenings at College. These sessions spend some time going over the separation, some steady state rowing with feedback from our seniors, and finish with a fast paced, action packed ERG relay - QERG's style!

We have a busy fortnight ahead with a further SEVEN taster sessions scheduled, as well as more fun ERG's. If you've attended one already, feel free to sign up to more, and if you're totally new to this - fill out our interest form so that we can send you all the details you need to know!

• Are you a novice looking to row with SECBC this term?
• Do you already row, but want to improve your technique?
• Are you a regular gym goer looking for new inspiration?

​Check out SECBC’s ERG tutorial video to get our top tips on rowing technique!

A huge well done to the Eddie's novice men, women and senior crews who participated in Qergs today! Many achieved personal bests today, and the novice men’s team notably were the 3rd Overall fastest
Special thanks to Newnham College Boat Club (Yeah St Newmunds!) for being part of our senior crews today and to Queens' College Boat Club for the amazing organisation
Our crews’ performances today have us all excited for a solid year of rowing, so watch this space!