As this year’s social secretaries of Newcastle University Boat Club, we take immense pleasure in inviting you to the annual Jim London Memorial Dinner. This will be held on the 29th November.

We would be honoured to receive you and any guests that you may wish to bring along. Why not bring a group of old friends? Piers Pye-Watson and Bill Hilder would be happy to put you in touch with other past members of NUBC through the alumni office. They can be contacted at p.h.r.pye-watson@newcastle.ac.uk

We would be grateful if you could inform us of any dietary requirements and indeed send your reply by the 10th November so that we can instruct caterers on numbers. This year we are lucky to have Newcastle University Jazz Band providing musical entertainment throughout the evening. We also have a surprise guest speaker joining us for the evening. The cost per ticket is £60 (£35 for current students) and this includes an aperitif on arrival, dinner with wine, dancing, and varying forms of evening entertainment.

Please make cheques payable to “NUAU” and send them with the names of those attending to the address below.

We look forward to receiving your reply and welcoming you on the night.

Yours Faithfully,

George Densham and Toby Winch

Mr G. Densham
25 Lily Crescent,
Jesmond,
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 2SP.

Last weekend 6 NUBC athletes attended the 10th World University Rowing Championships at the Ada Ciganlija course in Belgrade. This was a mix of both current Newcastle University Boat Club athletes and those who graduated last year.

Fred Gill and Mason Durant were representing Great Britain in the mens pair event. Also in this event was NUBC athlete Charles D’Onceiue who was competing in the 2- for Switzerland.  These crews first faced each other in the repechage on the saturday.  This race saw Gill and Durant pull away from the field and establish a comfortable margin which saw them win the race and progress to the A final. Charles narrowly missed out on a qualifying spot and progressed through to the B final. In scorching temperatures of 36oC the Newcastle pair finished up 4th in the A final in a time of 6.45. Charles finished 3rd in the B final in a time of 7.06.

NUBC alumni George Laughton stroked the coxless4 to a Bronze Medal in a time of 5.59 with the Swiss crew the eventual winners. Richard Francis who graduated from Newcastle at the end of last year was the stroke of the mens 8+ which finished in 4th place in a time of 5.41. Stephen Feeney who also graduated last year finished 5th in the mens lightweight 4- event.

The club would like to congratulate these athletes on this set of results and wishes them the best for the future. This includes Fred Gill who is taking up a place at Cambridge University, George Laughton and Richard Francis who are rowing at Leander Club and Stephen Feeney who is rowing at London Rowing Club.

Last week 8 Newcastle athletes travelled to Zagreb, Croatia for the 4th European University Championships. While still in its early years, EUSA keeps growing in size and this year the regatta was held at the excellent venue in Zagreb. With athletes returning from Beijing to compete and many countries using the event as a warm up for FISU, the standard of competition was high, with all the Championship records being broken by the completion of the regatta.

The Newcastle double of Alice Leake and Stephanie Barnett produced an excellent display in the final having progressed through from the rep. This double produced their best race of the year to collect the bronze medal. The women’s quad of Leake, Barnett, Jones and Johnson narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing 4th in a race where the eventual winners from Germany were granted a final spot after previously withdrawing. The mens quad of Wilkojc, O’ Reilly, Cupit and Hilder finished 5th in the final, in a race that was eventually won by the Italians in a close finish with the Germans. In 2009 the 5th European University Championships will be held in Poland and the club will look to qualify boats for this regatta at the BUCS regatta in May.

pict0046- video of womens 4x final

We would like to welcome all new members who are looking to join Newcastle University Boat Club at the start of the next academic year. Now A-level results have been released hopefully you will know which universities you are able to attend.

Newcastle University Boat Club has established itself as the most successful university club over the last 4 years. It has produced World Champions and Olympic medalists as well as recording excellent victories at Henley Royal Regatta, BUSA, Marlow, World University Championships and EUSA. The club offers an excellent Novice programme which in the past has proven to be very popular and a lot of fun for all those involved. NUBC also has an excellent social programme that runs alongside the rowing and this includes the Jim London memorial dinner, Head of the River Dinner, Henley BBQ, Summer Garden Party and many other events in Newcastle.

NUBC will have a stand at the Freshers Fair in Claremont Sports Hall during the week of the 22nd September. Please come along and introduce yourself to current members of the club and find out more information on how to get involved at NUBC. This is an excellent chance for those wishing to join the novice rowing programme to find out about training times and meet other members who will be in your squads.

If you are interested in joining the clubs senior rowing programmes in 2008-2009 having already rowed previously, please do not hesitate to email a committee member from our website and they will let you know in greater detail how you can become part of NUBC.

We hope you enjoy your summer and we look forward to seeing many new faces at the start of next year.

Newcastle University Boat Club wishes to congratulate Alistair Heathcote on winning his Olympic silver medal at the Shunyi Rowing Lake in Beijing. Alistair was part of the Great Britain men’s 8+ which won silver in the final last weekend, beating former Olympic Champions America and just being pipped to the line by Canada. This was a very impressive performance by the mens 8 and they were part of Great Britains best Olympic Rowing Performance since 1908.

Alistair Heathcote joined NUBC in 1996 and spent three years at the club before spending time at Oxford Brookes and then the army rowing club while serving in the Blues and Royals regiment.