{bold}{italic}Written by Mollie Arbuthnot{enditalic}{endbold}
This year’s Queen’s Ergs saw the trademark excitement, drama and exhaustion which always marks the first competitive action of Novice term. As ever, Sidney maintained a big presence in what is the 2nd biggest erg competition in the U.K. sending 4 men’s and 3 women’s boats and recording the best set of results in current Sidney memory.
Octopussy, otherwise known as WNA, were the biggest success story of the night. Half a term’s hard training under the watchful eye of their coach Mollie Arbuthnot soon paid off on the night. Their heat saw them narrowly pipped to second place (a mere half second in it) by a strong Emma crew but a fantastic crew average of 1.58.0 saw them into the final at the end of the night. After a dramatic crew shuffle which saw Hannah from WNB stepping up to help out for the final, WNA were ready to make their mark. Now cheered on by Captain of the Boats Kate Snow (never known to resist the chance to support Sidney novices) the boat obliterated their previous time by pulling a 1.56.2 average second time round.
Unfortunately this spectacular team effort was only enough to secure them 6th place, but this is truly impressive given the traditional ‘minnow’ status of Sidney Sussex College. Special mention must go to Anna and Hannah who came 4th and 5th (out of 576 rowers) with times of 1.43.7 and 1.43.9 respectively. Needless to say WNA can’t wait to transfer this form onto the water and are eagerly awaiting the coming races.
The rest of the night saw plenty of success among Sidney’s novice contingent. MNA were unlucky not to get through to the final after multiple erg malfunctions hindered their otherwise stellar attempt. They still managed to record an impressive average of 1.36.4 and finished 7th in their division (out of 15) and are even more determined to prove their real speed on the water. Special mention to Dave Heywood whose time of 1.27.4, in what can only be described as the ‘guns and guts’ approach to a 500m erg, saw him come 21st overall. Das Boot (MNB) drew on their Germanic inspiration to pull an efficient yet powerful average of 1.38.9 in a competitive division. MNC saw themselves placed 8th in their division thanks to a time of 1.43.0, aided by a do-or-die attitude which saw everyone of them smash seconds off their PBs. Finally Men’s Novice Dark Horse (MND) got an average of 1:46.8.
On the women’s side, Erg Animal (WNB) lived up to their name by coming fourth in their division with 2:05.6 and WNC came 4th as well with 02:02.4.
Needless to say, bring on Fairbairns!
{link} href=\https://www.ssbc.org.uk/gallery.php?album=42\”>Queens’ Ergs 2011 Photos{endlink}