Waitrose 'local good causes' scheme

Tiffin Boat Club is one of the 3 'local good causes' in Waitrose, Kingston for the month of September. This means at the checkout you will get a green token which you then place in the box of the cause you wish to support (obviously Tiffin Schools Boat Club). Then the more tokens the cause gets in relation to the other causes, the bigger percentage of the £1000 monthly donation we receive. Hopefully meaning we will be able to get the landing stage!
So if you're shopping in Waitrose Kingston in September if you wouldn't mind dropping the token in the Tiffin box it would be much appreciated, Thank you.

I thought I'd make a general notice covering some rowing terminology for parents as mine are still muddling up doubles and pairs.

The age group comes first and it's predominantly done in school years. the number is the maximum age of the rower in that year so someone may be 14 yet rowing as a J15 as they are in year 10.
J14 - year 9
J15 - year 10
J16 - year 11
J17 - lower sixth
J18 - upper sixth
Most of the time they will merge lower and upper sixth together under the category J which stands for Junior. Anyone can row in a category above them (i.e. a J14 rowing as J16) but you're not allowed to go down a year.

If entered at adult level a points system occurs making things harder. One win at adult level (not a J category) and it is one point. 1 pot, 1 point.

N - Novice - you cannot enter with 1 point

IM3 - Intermediate 3 - you cannot enter with 3 points

IM2 - Intermediate 2 - you cannot enter with 5 points

IM2 - Intermediate 1 - you cannot enter with 7 points

S - Senior - you cannot enter with 10 points

E - Elite - no limit

Here's a summery of the boat types and their respective symbols:

1x	2x	2-	4x+	4x(-)	4-	4+	8+	8x
Single	Double	Pair	Coxed quad	Coxless quad	Coxless four	Coxed four	Eight (always coxed)	Octo (always coxed)

I hope this helps with understand what boats have been entered

House Regatta

As of every year with house regatta there was a a great spirit on a hot day. This house regatta had a few changes involved. This year saw girls involved in house regatta. It also saw J12s involved in their own division over a division racing over 250m. I apologise if I am seen to be taking sides as my house is the magnificent Scott.

We always talk about how great the integration with the girls school has been this year but to really show it within the boatclub the first girls pot EVER was handed out this year to Anna Porteous. Coxing the Senior quad winners, Scott, to a great win. This victory also marked the end of a 5 year domination for George and (big) Jonny for Scott in the quads category, as they are leaving this year they got the victory they deserved, which continued into the Senior singles, Jonny winning the 'A' category, and George winning the 'B'. However I realise it would be a little unfair just to mention the winners. Myles, always a great laugh, turned up to beat Daniel Teh in the first round and came 2nd to Jonny in the Final. Third place in that race was Mo Farwana, which in all honesty no one expected, we hope Mo will continue his rowing into sixth form. The 'B' event saw Sam McArdle beat Joel Nulsen for 2nd position, proving that it'll be tough competition at the start of next year.

To the Juniors. Where the quads raced with great skill in the final for Scott to just pip Raleigh. The junior singles was won by Ed Hale of Scott. Although the battle for second place saw Elliot Salmon come from behind after his trademark "my start wasn't very good" and beat Sahib to the line by a whisker. This again will provide an excellent challenge to form crews next year. The 'B' category was won by Raleigh, Charlie Harrison. The J15s have a great squad moving into next year where the game really steps up.

IMPORTANT!!!!!!

The end of house regatta saw Captain of boats announced which will not be easy for the coming year. However I believe that the right man has been chosen in the form of GREG STREET, well done

Kingston Regatta

A huge thank you to the mass support Tiffin received on both days. As I reached the enclosure and the shouting began it gave me the boost I needed to sprint the final 250m. If this continues into next year the crews will be delighted. Everybody gains confidence when they hear support for them.

As a brief round up to the weekend, Tiffin won three events, J12 doubles, J18 singles and J15+ quads so well done to those who gained a pot (in total 2 more victories than KGS).

Well done to all of the crews racing, there are too many to name and out of fear of forgetting one I won't list. We achieved countless wins in the heats and semis to reach the final many times only to be knocked out by a narrow margin. The unfortunate people who experienced this were; Anna in the WJ15 singles, Ed in the J15 singles, the other J12 double, Richard in the IM3 singles and the J14 A quad of Isaac, Jack P, Elias and Jack H, coxed by Thadius. These were absolutely fantastic results for many crews that have not raced much and so all should be proud!

My special mention goes to the J14 girls who raced. I was pleased to be able to cheer on the first J14 Tiffin girls doubles who rowed extremely well and I think that if they continue as they are, a win next year is almost definite. Huge congratulations to Gillian and Anika, Beni and Darcey for their great efforts and training recently. They shouldn’t be the only ones next year so hopefully we’ll have lots of girl crews racing at Kingston Regatta for the Tiffin Schools Boat Club!

To conclude, a massive well done to all people that raced; all winners, finalists and those that didn’t reach that far. It was a great 2 days with fantastic support from friends, parents and members of the club. Let’s keep up the good work going into the winter season and see how many pots we can add to our collections!!!

Henley Royal Regatta

This event is the pinnacle of the year, with the best crews internationally competing for a title in the historic event. Tiffin participated in the quad divisions this year. Entering the senior quad in the Prince of Wales, for university and club crews. Also entering the school boys quad in Fawley, for under 19s into the qualifiers, held the Friday before the regatta begins.

Both crews are relatively new together but all hopes were high during training. The Senior quad had to be within the top 5 of the 15 wanting to qualify. After an intense 2112m race, they were 2 seconds off the pace and finished 9th in an event eventually won by Leander. The junior quad had their work cut out as 9 qualified out of 41. Unfortunately they were up against huge crews who had been together for the year, where as we were in our 2nd week of training together. A brave effort put them 29th. With a crew that can enter again next year.

Everyone had a great time watching and we hope that we can qualify next year as the regatta itself is a spectacle.

The Senior composite quad of James Hanson, George Nottidge, Michael Hannaford & Chris Ellam won Senior quad sculls at Marlow this weekend - they led from the start and completed the course in a time of 3.02.99 - well done boys!

Meanwhile this Friday is Henley qualifiers and TSBC has the Prince of Wales quad entered (as above) plus a Fawley Challenge quad consisting of Joel Nulson, Greg Street, Richard Clarke & Johnny Williams. That's 4 days to qualifiers and counting!

Met And Marlow

A composite crew of Tiffin/Henley/Kingston raced in Elite and Senior Quads on both days of the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake last week. They did not make it through the semis of Elite on either day, suffering with the pace caused by the older senior crews, racing a TSS boat in their sunday semi-final containing ex-Olympians and Boat race stars.

The crew did however finish a creditable 4th in Senior Quads on Sunday, putting together their best row of the weekend. The crew of Michael Hannaford, James Hanson, Chris Ellam and George Nottidge will race next at Marlow Regatta, again at Dorney, this weekend.

Barnes and Mortlake regatta

On Saturday we approached the middle of the Tiffin Boat Club regatta campaign. Barnes and Mortlake. Held on the same stretch as Chiswick regatta, crews raced hard over 1000m with the stream with the chance to win a pint tankard.

The J14s are looking to be a huge prospect of the future thanks to their dedication and their coaching under Jonathan Williams. They picked up a win in their B quad, showing that Westminster can in fact be beaten! Their A quad showed a lot of endurance when their final was called a dead heat they rowed back to the start and raced a strong Dulwich crew for a second time, and although it looked too close to call gain, unfortunately the win went Dulwich's way. And not to be forgotten, Jack, for bravely taking on the tideway in his single but unfortunately not managing to make it through.

The J15 singles look to be getting better as Elliot won his first race and almost made the final in a closely fought race. Unlucky to Ben and commiserations to Declan who battled and lost to a giant. The J15 quad made up of Guy, Neil, Anna, Sahib and Aaron coxing beat 2 London Oratory quads to win their division, just proving the standard the whole crew is at and the success for Anna continued in her single, winning another pot.

The J16s have had a successful regatta season so far with and this continued. The double of Will and Dai Rui beat Globe in the semi and met Matt and Daniel in a Tiffin vs Tiffin final. No one on the side could call it but The judge's verdict was 3 feet to Will and Dai Rui, winning their first pots. Richard proved a point that brute power can still win a race at J16 level, clocking in at rate 22 in his straight final. Making a total of 14 pots and 5 wins for Tiffin out of 8. Well done!

World Class Start

Anna Porteous has been selected to take part in Great Britain's World Class Start program at Molesy Boat Club. The world class start program is a talent ID program with lottery funding, aiming to identify and develop future olympians.

3 female Olympians in Beijing came through the program, and more featured in the 2009 world championships and recent Bled world cup events. No pressure Anna!

National Schools

Thanks to everyone for their efforts over the 3 days of National Schools whether it be in competing, supporting or driving - all much appreciated!

I have attached a file which gives details of each of the events in which Tiffin were represented, qualifying times, semi times and final times.  You will see from this that there are some real peculiarities in terms of heat times v semi times and in some cases final times and particularly on the last day - the impact of the extreme cross head wind is evident.

• The j14's beat Dulwich, Kings Canterbury, Bedford Modern & Kings Wimbledon, but while they did not qualify for the next round will be hopeful of doing better next year.
• Anna's competed in girls singles, the first Tiffin girl to represent the school at the championships. 
• After all of 3 weeks in a single Eds qualification in J15 singles was impressive, making the semi-finals.
• The J16 quad came 6th out of 12 qualifiers in what everyone agrees was not their best performance, and will travel back to Nottingham for the GB vs France race off.
• J15 quad had one of their best rows, against what were described as "scarily big" opposition, and will hope for a growth spurt in-between now and next may!
• Richards J16 single qualified whilst under rating most other competitors........he then became a victim of the extreme cross head wind.
• Champ quads  - qualified with three J17's in the boat, though the cross head and some classy opposition made staying in the race a tall order.

Jon leading his semi-final entering the regatta enclosure

• The final sculler of the day was Jonathan in Champ 1x, probably the hardest event at the regatta. He raced very well in the time trial and then won his semi to reach the final which was stacked with scullers who were in previous GB teams and certainly will be in this year's team. In the final the first four scullers were within four seconds of each other in an excellent race. Jonathan was disappointed not to win, but this was a great fighting result in the last five hundred metres and he collects an excellent bronze medal. 
• Myles, racing for Molesy Boat Club, earned a silver medal in Championship 2- being rolled over in the last 500m by an excellent pair from Maidenhead.