Putney Town Rowing Club

This year saw members from across PTRC’s men’s squads descend upon The Blue Anchor in Hammersmith. This riverside location provided the back drop for a fantastic festive shindig. The Blue Anchor has played host to PTRC parties in the past and were well prepared for the level of boisterous behaviour that ensued!

With the civilised(?!) three course meal out of the way, attention soon turned to the variety of small gifts given to each of the guests on arrival, these ranged from a gyroscope to help improve wrist strength (useful for strengthening that feathering arm!) to modelling balloons which were subsequently moulded into many different shapes – all of which were very…imaginative…

A further highlight of the evening was a rendition of ‘we all row in a yellow submarine’ a tribute to a recent, unfortunate incident involving an Empacher 8+, a cruiser causing a HUGE amount of wake and some very soggy rowers! Happily, all involved were unharmed aside from being a bit wet and cold! The song was expertly led by men’s captain John Hickling on acoustic guitar however I’m sorry to report that the singing was anything but expert! Stick to rowing lads!

Many of the party goers continued the fun in Citizen Smith in Putney where the festive cheer continued to flow amid some interesting dance moves (I use the word ‘dance’ loosely).

Apart from the odd sore head the next day and a few lost personal belongings, the night was a storming success and has put all of us very much in the festive spirit. Next up it’s the PTRC girls turn to paint the town a festive shade of red on Friday followed by the PTRC presidents’ cheese and wine party happening on Saturday 10th December open to all PTRC members and their friends and families. Merry Christmas from us all at PTRC.

Words by Nick.

The Town was out in force at the recent Teddington Head. A total of 18 crews raced across the 2 divisions, including some doubling up, and came away with pots in W.IM3 2X, MAS D 1X and MAS A NOV 1X.

Particular congratulations to our mens novice squad, who learnt to row at the Club in May of this year and performed admirably in their first race, competing in both divisions.

Official photos and some taken by club member Peter Rossi.

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Open Day for all experienced rowers and coxes – both male and female - interested in joining Putney Town for the 2011-12 season

Saturday September 10th 2011 at 11am

Are you looking for a rowing club in London and have previous rowing or coxing experience?

As the ‘friendliest Club on the Tideway’, Putney Town welcomes experienced coxes, oarsmen and oarswomen to an Open Day on Saturday, September 10th, at 11am.

The day is an opportunity for you to see Putney Town’s facilities, to meet our rowers and coaches and to learn about the Club’s history and activities. The Open Day is also an opportunity for us to get a feel for your level and ambition so that were you to join the Club, we can match you with the appropriate squad.

We will meet at 11am in the main hall of the boathouse (upstairs) and based on numbers you may be going on the water.

If you will be attending, please register your interest by sending an email to Ben menscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk (for men) and Elizabeth womenscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk (for women).

Please bring kit for water or indoor training, a water bottle and wellies (you can borrow wellies at the Club if you don’t have any at hand).

To learn about our squads, please visit the Squad sections on our website.

Any questions in the meantime, please contact Elizabeth McLoughlin, Women’s Captain or Ben Burston, Men’s Captain.

The Putney Town Women stormed through to a win in the WIM2 8+ category at the Wallingford Regatta, May 1, 2011.

In windy conditions at Dorney Lake, coxed by Chris Carlson, the 8+ settled into a steady and effective rhythm. With a very strong second half of the race the winning time came to 07:49:97 minutes. Eight seconds before Vesta in second place and Molesey in third place.

Finishing 26th overall, the Putney Town senior women achieved the best result the Club has ever recorded in recent times in the Women’s Head of the River Race on March 19, 2011.

Finishing 6th in the IM2 category, the result positions the Putney Town women in the top 10 of pure club crews in the country. Following on from wins in IM2 in the Quintin Head and the Hammersmith Women’s Head, the senior Putney Town women are now looking forward to continued strong performances during the summer regatta season. As  one of the most vibrant clubs on the Tideway, Putney Town had three additional boats in the race finishing 130th, 283rd and 288th. In particular the novice crew showed great potential, having started rowing only six months ago.

Putney Town has been running learn to row courses for over five years and is please to announce that we will be running another course for Men starting in May 2011.

We’re looking for men wishing to train and compete for the club for the course which will cost £100 and run for 6 weeks with both land and water sessions included. Once the course is finished, the group will join the novice mens racing squad.

An open day will be held early in May 2011, which gives interested guys and opportunity to come and see the club, try out the equipment and speak with recent graduates of past learn to row course.

If you are interested, you can find our more details on the learn to row page, or simply sign up and we’ll contact you with details of the open day. If you have any other questions, please contact Peter Rossi on learntorow@putneytownrc.co.uk.

Under Head Coach Martin Gough, the Putney Town women continues to show their strength on the Tideway and picked up the WIM2 8+ pennant in the 2011 Hammersmith Women’s and Junior’s Head. With a time of 12.44.5 minutes, the crew, coxed by Emma Linthwaite, fought off strong competition from clubs such as Tideway Scullers and Molesey. The women’s squad at Putney Town is one of the most active on the Tideway and promising results were also shown by the WIM3 8+ and the WN 8+ crews finishing 8th and 3rd in their respective categories.

Putney Town women won the WIM2 pennant for a 4th consecutive year at the Quintin Head. The race, over 4000 metres, from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge, took place in cold and windy conditions. The Putney Town women, coxed by Emma Linthwaite, were the third fastest female crew and took the victory in the WIM2 category at a time of 13.11.5 minutes.

On Saturday 19th February, the inaugural President’s Dinner for Veteran’s will be held from 6pm until late.

There will be a curry from the Munal in Sheen, guest beers on the bar and a disco run by a club DJ (who will have hopefully updated their record collection since the 70s).

If you are interested in attending, please contact Ron Eggleton or John Comer (the President) so that they have an idea of numbers:

• Ron - tubpair@blueyonder.co.uk
• John - john.comer@hotmail.co.uk

In addition there are plans for a raffle so if you have any unwanted booze, gifts or other contraband you would like to donate please pass it on to John, Ron or any of the committee.

The various different squads will be holding their season kick-off meetings in the coming few days, to discuss the coming season, aims and ambition and to postpone doing an ergo for one more evening.

The meeting is for all those returning from the summer break, and we welcome all experienced rowers who are choosing a London based rowing club to attend or are considering trying out another club.  We have active groups for all levels of rowing (including an active veteran men’s group) so you are sure to find one group suits your level.

Meetings are as follows:

• Men – both senior men and intermediate men: 8pm Tuesday 14th September
• Senior Women: 8pm Wednesday 15th September (7:15 for existing club members)
• Intermediate Women: 8pm Monday 20th September
• Veteran Men: Sunday 19th September at 12:30pm

Enquiries should be directed to

• menscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk
• womenscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk
• veteranmen@putneytownrc.co.uk

Note that this is aimed at those who already row. For details of our Learn to Row courses, please see the notice about open days.