Charlotte, who only took up sculling seriously at the end of last summer, won a thrilling Intermediate 3 race at the end of the afternoon division, having finished third in Intermediate 1 in the morning.

In unusually benign conditions at the Olympic venue, races ran to time throughout the day with a morning crosswind the only annoyance. It was a stark contrast to last year’s event, where racing was cancelled at midday.

Putney Town’s women’s senior squad found themselves in the fastest Intermediate 3 heat of the morning but the time of the crew - stroked by Rochelle Morrissey and with several of last year’s beginners’ squad on board - showed them to be right at the front of the chasing pack.

A crew featuring a slightly different line-up took further lessons for the rest of the summer from their afternoon IM2 heat.

Four crews from the Town’s men’s squad faced tough opposition throughout the draw at an event dominated by schools in the build-up to next month’s National Schools Regatta.

However the first eight, stroked by Jack Mellish-Dix and featuring several oarsmen who have graduated from the club’s Learn to Row programme, recorded the fastest time of the day by a club crew at Intermediate 3. A second eight competed at IM3 and a coxless four at IM1.

In the afternoon division, an eight put together recently on training camp in Banyoles, Spain, featured at Intermediate 2, beating the only other club crew in their heat.

Words by Martin Gough

Charlotte Taylor and her coach, Martin Gough

Highlights of the week included a 2k race against fellow campers -  Worcester and the Putney Town top eight.  Having been neck and neck for the first 1,000 metres after an exciting start, the girls successfully pulled away at the 1,100 mark and by the final 60 strokes had a good length clear which lengthened considerably by the time they hit the finish line.   Thanks to our sporting friends for such an enjoyable race!

The week was rounded off with the usual annual ‘minging kit’ games (all still rowing focused of course!), interspersed with more hail and thunder.  With the 2 coaches Gary and Emma each heading up a team, Em comfortably took the glory this year with some impressive 360 spinning in sculls and a four and some unusual coxing efforts!

The squad drove away from Brive feeling confident for the coming months with regattas at Wallingford, Metropolitan, Reading & of course Women’s Henley to look forward to.

PTRC Women's Squad in Brive, France

Minging kit day (aka coach's normal kit)

There will be two open days held on the following dates: -

• Open Evening: Tuesday 1st May 2012 from 7pm
• Open Day: Saturday 5th May 2012 from 2pm

The Open Days will give you a chance to have a look around the club, take part in the Ergo Challenge and meet previous graduates of the course.

More information on the Open Days and the women’s beginners rowing course is available on the learn to row page.

Tickets, priced £35, are now available for The Annual Putney Town Rowing Club Dinner and Dance which will be on Saturday 14th April 2012, from 7pm until late. Dress code is Black Tie/Evening Wear or Club Blazer.

9 piece professional session band

The dinner and dance is a celebration of the success of the club over the previous rowing year, and is a chance to enjoy a formal dinner in the clubhouse, with awards ceremony, speeches and a highly recommended 9 piece professional session band, with dancing until the early hours.

The event has been a sell out for many years and we’re pleased to announce that we are able to increase the number of attendees from 110 to 120 this year without sacrificing quality or atmosphere.

Tickets

For tickets, please check your club email or contact bar@putneytownrc.co.uk for details of how to make payment.

A menu will be available at PTRC shortly. Please have a look, and if you have any specific dietary requirements, let Lucy Brennan know on lucybrennan7@hotmail.com only after you have made your payment and got a confirmation.

See you there!

The digger was manoeuvred into place through the compound and the once grassy bank outside the club is no more. Part of the ramp is pre-cast ramp and will be arriving soon and in a matter of weeks the ramp will be in place, firmly placing Putney Town on the Tideway map.

Ramp building commences

Ramp digging - 1

Ramp digging - 2

Roast Dinner, yum!

• a cheque with the strip in the Membership Secretary’s tray or
• cash or cheque along with the strip behind the bar.

Any questions should be sent to the chef membership secretary member_sec@putneytownrc.co.uk.

Zac Goldsmith presents the cheque to president John Comer

As well as some great racing from the women’s squad at WEHORR this weekend, Saturday also saw PTRC presented with a cheque for £25,000 which will go towards the PTRC ramp fund. The cheque was presented by local MP Zac Goldsmith on behalf of Sport England.

The ramp has been the biggest pipeline project for The Town for some time now and thanks to some incredibly hard work from a dedicated group of PTRC members (and some very generous donations), the construction of the ramp will finally begin.

Club captain Duncan Emery commented, “It’s a very exciting time to be a member of Putney Town, both men’s and women’s rowing is thriving at the club and the ramp will allow safer access to the river and add more convenience to the already great facility we offer to all of our members.

“Our learn to row courses continue to succeed in introducing more and more people from the local community to the sport we love and we hope that the ramp will help us offer greater opportunity to those wishing to take up the sport and develop within it.”

Permissions are well underway, including the need to set up site compounds, get PLA licenses and divert the existing towpath access to carry out the works.

Current projections aim to get the works substantially complete by the end of March 2012.

Further details about how this will affect the boat club during construction will be posted, but we are assuming 100% availability of boats and launching throught the construction phase.

All matches shown on a MASSIVE screen in the Bar

Saturday 4th February

14:30 France - Italy
17:00 Scotland - England 

Saturday, 11h February

16:00 Italy - England
20:00 France - Ireland

Saturday, 17h March

(Head of the River – Race starts 11:00)
12:30 Italy - Scotland
14:45 Wales - France
17:00 England - Ireland 

Bar open for every game - Family and Friends welcome!

Sunday 29 January 2012.

12:00 midday onwards Duke’s Head Pub, Putney

All welcome

Duke’s Head

Putney Town Rowing Club was born on 29 January 1922 and until 1986 rowed out of the basement of the Duke’s Head pub in Putney.

Putney Town at the Dukes Head

To celebrate our 90th anniversary we will be returning to our spiritual home in Putney.

We have exclusive use of the basement bar

Food will be available to order from the normal menu

With kind support from  Young’s & Co Brewery.