This is Your Captain Speaking

Hi all, and welcome to a special Lord Mayor's Cup edition of the WARC Newsletter.

Over the next five weeks you're going to notice we have an extra 128 - yes, ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT! - novice rowers in and around the club for the 23rd annual Lord Mayor's Cup.

For the uninitiated, the LMC is our annual corporate regatta; novice crews spend five weeks learning the basics of rowing in coxed fours, culminating in a series of 500m races against each other in a regatta. It's also the club's single biggest fundraiser of the year: without it the club cannot run, so your support during this period is crucial. It's an enormous undertaking and will need a small army of volunteers to make it a success.

Below you'll find an outline of what to expect over the next five weeks, and what you can do to help. If you have any queries not answered in this newsletter, drop a line to LMC@warowingclub.org and one of the team will get back to you.

Cheers,
Mike Jones
WARC Captain

Coaching LMC Crews

Each LMC crew will receive four weekly on-water training sessions during the training period (the training period is five weeks long in case one of the sessions is washed out due to poor weather). Each crew will be assigned a coach, who will coach from the coxswain seat of a 4+.

Coaching the LMC is great fun - you'll find the athletes are all enthusiastic, competitive and keen to learn. I can also tell you from personal experience that you can be an effective coach even if you've only been rowing for a year, and that yes, sometimes the competition between the coaches does get the better of us (you can expect to be challenged to a scratch race by any nearby crew in the last couple of weeks of training).

It is an expectation that all WARC members who have been with the club for a year or more volunteer to coach at least one crew. (The total time commitment is only four mornings with either a 5:30am or 6:00am start, which really isn't much in the grand scheme of things!) Nationals program rowers: due to your training schedule you get a free pass out of this one, but will be called upon to help out after Nationals is over.

The good news is that if you get your coaching preferences in early, you get to choose which day you'll coach on! Otherwise you might find yourself assigned to a day that might not suit you. To register your preferred coaching day, send an email to LMC@warowingclub.org.

Crew Orientation & Coach Training Night - Wed Feb 22nd

There is an orientation night for the LMC competitors on Wednesday February 22nd at 6:00pm, held upstairs in the club's function room. LMC coaches are also encouraged to attend so you can meet some of the participants and join them for a drink, as well as learn a bit more about the event itself. The evening's formalities will take around an hour.

For first time coaches, following the athlete briefing I will also provide a short info session and coaching notes describing in detail what to cover for each session, so if you'd like some help coaching please approach me on the night.

Busy Bee and Boat Moves - Sat Feb 25th

On the morning of Saturday 25th we'll be having a club busy bee to clean up the shed before LMC training starts. After the Saturday morning row (about 8-8:30am) we will need to clean up the ground floor of the shed, the top floor of the shed and also get some of the LMC boats rigged and ready (note: the LMC riggers are mainly 11mm, so make sure you bring 10mm and 11mm spanners).

All club members are asked to come down and lend a hand, even if you can only stay a short while.

Following the busy bee we'll have a bit of trailer driving to do: we have to put most of our fours into storage, and drive to a number of different clubs to pick up a few boats that we'll be borrowing. This is likely to take a few hours, and any help at all will be greatly appreciated. If you can help out, please email Sam at mensvc@warowingclub.org.

Rowing During the Training Period (Mon Feb 27th - Fri Mar 30th)

Summer Nationals Program - training as per usual, although please ensure you're away from the deck before 5:30am. LMC crews also take priority when returning to the deck. In the case of rough weather, be aware the LMC crews will monopolise the ergs.

Squad X and iRow - Relax! You don't have to do anything just yet, and your sessions will run as normal. However please make sure you get off the deck in a timely manner, before 5:30am.

Casual Summer Rowing Program - If you want to row during this period, it is expected that you are also coaching at least one of the LMC crews. As long as you're coaching an LMC crew, you're welcome to row as per normal on the other days of the week.

Regatta Day - Sun Apr 1st

Finally, the big day is Sunday April 1st. Put it in your diaries now as it'll be all hands on deck for the full day - the regatta will run from 7:00am through to midday or so, after which we'll be spending most of the afternoon moving the boats back from storage. I'll elaborate on the regatta day itself over the next few weeks.

And that's about it - thanks in advance for your volunteer work and your patience during the Lord Mayor's Cup. It's a very hectic time of the year - particularly with the National Championships slap bang in the middle of the training period - but without this event the club could not afford to stay afloat, so your support is critical.

Pennant Table

(2011 Final Standings)

FRC 138.8
WARC 130.6
SRRC 114.7
UWABC 103.0
ANARC 57.1
CUBC 36.1
BRC 33.1
CLBC 19.1
MURC 11.2
PRC 6.1

Next regatta: 
Australian Rowing Championships,
March 5,
CHAMPION LAKES

For the Diary...

Wed 22 Feb - LMC Information Night
Sat 25 Feb - Busy Bee
Mon 27 Feb - LMC Training Begins
Mon 5 Mar - National Championships Begin
Sun 11 Mar - National Championships End
Fri 16 Mar - Eat a Cow Night
Sun 1 Apr - LMC Regatta