We will be using this page to keep you updated regarding the rowing activities of COBRA members over the coming weeks and months.  We would also like to use it to gain an insight into how old boys have faired over the past many years.

   So if you have any current news about old boys that are rowing, or information about how old boys have done in the past, please send a copy to us, so we can build up an archive of old boy achievements.  Please send it to chairman @ cobrarowing.co.uk  (remove the 2 spaces from the email address and put "COBRA" in the subject title to avoid the spam detector).

From the BBC website.

Single sculler Alan Campbell, from Coleraine, struggled with the pace set by Czech Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek, who he has beaten regularly in the last two years. Campbell - back after a mountain bike crash in South Africa in January, which saw him hospitalised and temporarily blinded - stopped just before the line and was fortunate to hold off German veteran Marcel Hacker.

GB's lightweight new men's four combination of Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley just lost out in a thrilling battle with 2009 world silver medallists Denmark, who lifted their stroke rate over a blistering 45 per minute.

Results on WorldRowing.com

A report will appear shortly.  Results availible on the Worldrowing.com website.

The only old boy to copmpete at the final World Cup of the season was Stepehen Feeney in the British lightweight 4-.  The crew again showed their class to make it into their 3rd A final of the year, but in a very striong field weren't able to improve on the previous race and finished 6th.

Rank Boat 500 m       1000 m 1     500 m        Finish
1 DEN 01:28.95 (1) 03:02.74 (3) 04:36.47 (2) 06:05.67 (1)
Christian PEDERSEN (b) , Jens VILHELMSEN (2) , Kasper WINTHER (3) , Morten JOERGENSEN (s)
2 FRA 01:29.49 (3) 03:03.06 (5) 04:36.79 (3) 06:06.96 (2)
Franck SOLFOROSI (b) , Guillaume RAINEAU (2) , Fabrice MOREAU (3) , Vincent FAUCHEUX (s)
3 CZE 01:29.99 (5) 03:02.37 (2) 04:36.26 (1) 06:07.62 (3)
Jan VETESNIK (b) , Ondrej VETESNIK (2) , Jiri KOPAC (3) , Miroslav VRASTIL Jr (s)
4 GER 01:29.88 (4) 03:02.75 (4) 04:37.18 (5) 06:08.82 (4)
Matthias SCHOEMANN-FINCK (b) , Jost SCHOEMANN-FINCK (2) , Jochen KUEHNER (3) , Martin KUEHNER (s)
5 ITA1 01:29.27 (2) 03:02.10 (1) 04:37.05 (4) 06:09.46 (5)
Salvatore DI SOMMA (b) , Catello AMARANTE I (2) , Luca MOTTA (3) , Giorgio TUCCINARDI (s)
6 GBR 01:30.64 (6) 03:04.57 (6) 04:39.66 (6) 06:12.26 (6)
Chris BARTLEY (b) , Chris BODDY (2) , Stephen FEENEY (3) , Bob HEWITT (s)

The 2nd World Cup in the year say Stephen Feeney in the British Lightweight four again making the A finals. In a race delayed due to a damaged German boat, the Danes jumped out to an early lead and held on to the finish. The British crew were in bronze medal position for most of the race, fighting with Germany, and China the whole way. There was little to seperate the 4 crews until the finish when the Brits were squeezed into 4th place.

Rank Boat 500 m        1000 m      1500 m          Finish
1 DEN 01:29.95 (1) 03:04.97 (1) 04:41.08 (2) 06:14.40 (1)  Christian PEDERSEN, Jens VILHELMSEN, Kasper WINTHER, Morten JOERGENSEN
2 GER 01:31.11 (4) 03:05.85 (2) 04:40.58 (1) 06:15.97 (2) Jost SCHOEMANN-FINCK, Matthias SCHOEMANN-FINCK, Jochen KUEHNER, Martin KUEHNER
3 CHN1 01:30.35 (2) 03:06.71 (4) 04:41.55 (4) 06:17.09 (3) Guoyang ZHOU, Zhonghua LI, Quanbao YANG, Yajun LI
4 GBR 01:30.88 (3) 03:06.04 (3) 04:41.36 (3) 06:17.53 (4) Chris BARTLEY, Chris BODDY, Stephen FEENEY, Bob HEWITT
5 CZE 01:31.39 (5) 03:07.06 (5) 04:43.12 (5) 06:21.75 (5) Jan VETESNIK, Ondrej VETESNIK, Jiri KOPAC, Miroslav VRASTIL Jr
6 JPN 01:32.25 (6) 03:08.55 (6) 04:44.57 (6) 06:23.06 (6) Yoshinori SATO, Takahiro SUDA, Yu KATAOKA, Hideki OMOTO

Alan again represent GB in the single sculls and reached the A final in Munich, along with his friend and rival Maye Drysdale. He lead off the blocks with his characteristic quick start and maintained the lead until the 2nd half of the race, when Maye took control. Alan held on to get silver, ahead of Tufte and Synek. After the race Alan said "I am very disappointed, but Mahe just had too much on the second half. I’ll get him in Henley, it’s my territory."

Rank   Boat                   500 m       1000 m            1500 m          Finish
1 Mahe DRYSDALE NZL 01:42.46 (2) 03:30.81 (2) 05:16.32 (1) 07:00.45 (1)
2 Alan CAMPBELL GBR1 01:40.62 (1) 03:29.39 (1) 05:18.52 (2) 07:03.95 (2)
3 Olaf TUFTE NOR1 01:43.98 (5) 03:32.25 (4) 05:21.12 (4) 07:05.82 (3)
4 Ondrej SYNEK CZE 01:43.45 (4) 03:32.06 (3) 05:20.52 (3) 07:06.50 (4)
5 Andre VONARBURG SUI 01:43.42 (3) 03:33.31 (5) 05:23.43 (5) 07:13.62 (5)
6 Mindaugas GRISKONIS LTU1 01:45.39 (6) 03:36.37 (6) 05:28.86 (6) 07:17.10 (6)

The 2009 World Cup regatta season started in Banyoles Estany, Spain, with the British squad storming ahead in the points table. There were 2 CAIBC old boys competeing in the GB squad and both reached the A finals. Alan Campbell was racing in the single sculls, and leapt out at the start. Alan held this lead the whole way and watched as the reigning Olympic champ Tufte attacked the field and finished 2nd.

After the race Alan said "It was strong, feeling that you are competing with big champions. We had excellent weather too. I have had bad times so I had to ensure my form, and today has been a really nice test.”  Silver medalist Olaf Tufte (NOR) said "You fat b*****d”, with a big smile to Alan Campbell!  “My race was quite OK, I did not take the best start but was pacing hard and dying towards the end.”
Rank Boat             500 m         1000 m        1500 m        Finish
1 GBR1 Alan CAMPBELL 01:43.89 (1)  03:32.30 (1)  05:20.67 (1)  07:05.66 (1) 
2 NOR1 Olaf TUFTE     01:46.19 (4)  03:34.32 (3)  05:23.37 (2)  07:07.80 (2) 
3 BEL1 Tim MAEYENS  01:45.77 (3)  03:33.82 (2)  05:23.99 (3)  07:09.52 (3)  4 CUB  AF RODRIGUEZ 01:48.09 (5)  03:37.78 (5)  05:28.56 (5)  07:15.60 (4) 
5 BLR1 S SHCHARBACHENIA  01:44.96 (2)  03:35.80 (4)  05:28.03 (4)  07:16.67 (5) 
6 GRE  I CHRISTOU     01:49.18 (6)  03:41.04 (6)  05:34.61 (6)  07:29.59 (6) 

Stephen Feeney was competing for the 1st time in the British Lightweight Men’s Four. The first 500m were a very tight battle with little seperating the 6 crews.  Germany had the early lead but were overtaken for gold by a fast Danish sprint.  The British crew finished 5th in the first race for this crew.

Rank Boat 500 m      1000 m        1500 m        Finish
1 DEN      01:40.38 (3)  03:22.75 (2)  05:07.50 (3)  06:44.37 (1) 
  C PEDERSEN, J VILHELMSEN, K WINTHER, M JOERGENSEN
2 GER      01:38.53 (1)  03:21.80 (1)  05:07.13 (2)  06:46.10 (2) 
  M SCHOEMANN-FINCK, J SCHOEMANN-FINCK, J KUEHNER, Martin KUEHNER
3 ITA2     01:39.68 (2)  03:22.82 (3)  05:07.05 (1)  06:47.73 (3) 
  S DI SOMMA, C AMARANTE I, L MOTTA, G TUCCINARDI
4 ITA1     01:40.64 (4)  03:24.63 (4)  05:10.62 (4)  06:51.52 (4) 
  J VLCEK, F GABRIELE, L LA PADULA, M GORETTI
5 GBR      01:40.99 (5)  03:26.10 (5)  05:13.13 (5)  06:55.05 (5) 
  Bob HEWITT, Stephen FEENEY, Christopher BODDY, Chris BARTLEY
6 ESP      01:41.12 (6)  03:27.24 (6)  05:14.34 (6)  06:56.74 (6) 
  JL FERNANDEZ TOMAS, JL MELICH, AC GASPARIN, RA PEDROSA

For more info, visit www.WORLDrowing.com

With consistent A final places in the World Cup series races, the two lightweight Coleraine men, Richard Archibald and Richard Chambers, had realistic medal chances at the Olympics Regatta held at the newly built Shunyi Olympic Rowing & Canoeing Park. For heavyweight single sculler Alan Campbell, even getting to the start line was a massive achievement after having surgery on his knee and spending three weeks on crutches in June, although anyone who had met him knew not appearing was never an option, and it would be dangerous to bet against him also taking a medal back to Coleraine.

Alan won his first heat and came 2nd in the quater finals. His semi-final was a classic race. As usual Campbell led off the start with good friend and rival Mahe Drysdale (NZL) in second and Ondrej Synek (CZE) in third after 500m. In the middle kilometre they vied for places and with the top three going on, it seemed it would turn in to a simple race for lanes in the final. At 1500m, Drysdale led, followed by Synek and in turn by Campbell.

Drysdale was on course to secure the top spot and set a benchmark for everyone else when the Greek athlete, Christou, came from nowhere and brought Synek and Campbell with him. The last 200m was a desperate scramble between the four scullers for the top three spots. Ranking for the final suddenly became unimportant and simply getting there was the immediate priority. Synek rowed through Drysdale to take the lead, as did Campbell, and the three-time world champion New Zealander suddenly looked like he was going to let the Greek through as well and not even make the final. Drysdale crossed the line in third place on the line, only four tenths before Christou.

Campbell had achieved his main aim of reaching the start line of the Olympic Final and now had nothing to lose. He could now push his knee as hard as he could without worrying about the consequences for the next race. As expected, Campbell came out of the blocks hard and took an early lead; the question was, would his knee hold out till the end? By half way Tufte had taken the lead from Campbell, who in turn led Maeyens , Drysdale and Synek.

The third 500 took its toll on Campbell and Maeyens who dropped to fifth and fourth respectively as Drysdale took the lead from Tufte and Synek went from fifth to third. Although he is famous for his fast finishes, it was clear that Campbell was now out off the medal race which Drysdale was again seemingly in control of, being almost two seconds ahead of the pack, but Tufte showed why he was the 2004 Olympic Champion and powered through him with Synek in tow.

The raced finished with Olaf Tufte retaining his Olympic Champion status, followed by Synek, just ahead of Drysdale, who gave everything he had in the last few hundred meters and subsequently had to be lifted out of his boat onto a stretcher by the on-site medics – testament to how much effort it takes to win an Olympic medal. Campbell finished fifth overall, far better than any of the medical staff who
repaired his knee two months earlier would have bet on. Afterward he told the BBC "I feel I can hold my head high. I did my best and that is all you can ask." He is already looking toward London 2012 where he will only be 29, young by Men's Single Sculls standards – three of the finalists at Beijing were over 30, including the champion, Tufte, 32, “This is not the last you have seen of me. We will put together another four-year plan and I feel I can step up from here.”

The British Lightweight four of Chambers, Lindsey-Fynn, Mattick and Clark finished 2nd in their heat to directly qualify for the final, while the Irish crew of Moynihan, Towey, Archibald and Griffin were in a close heat, and finished an agonising fourth meaning they had to compete in the repechage. This was a formality for the Irish and they easily finished in first to qulaify for the same semi-final that the British crew were in.

In the semi-finals Great Britain got off to a great start and finished in a comfortable third spot. The Irish didn't fare so well, finishing in fourth and so were destined for the B-final, for places 7-12. Soon after, Gearoid Towey would become ill, and for the B-final the next day, he was replaced by Richard Coakley. A change in crew was the last thing the Irish needed, and in the end they finished fourth in the B-final, 10th overall, behind crews they'd easily beaten earlier in the regatta. Archibald, however, was philosophical, “We'll go away from here holding our heads high. From coming 12th in the World Championships last year to where we are now, it was some ride and I'm glad to have done it with these guys, they were great.”

In the A final Denmark showed their class and took the early initiative, stamping their name on the Gold medal, leaving the others to fight it out for the minor medals. Canada held second place at half way, with Britain in third and France and Poland close behind. Poland put in their push in the third 500, powering their way from fifth to second, while Canada slipped behind the British crew, still in third. In the last quarter, Denmark continued to lead, while Poland held on to the silver medal position, and Great Britain let Canada and France slip through.

On the finish line it was Denmark for Gold, Canada just beaten to Silver by Poland, and France and Great Britain (fifth) ahead of Holland. This was a disappointing result for the British Crew who were realistic Gold medal contenders after a successful 2007 season. No doubt Chambers will carry on with the young squad to London 2012 where he will hopefully compete alongside Campbell.

Alex Humphrey (an edited version of Alex's article from the 2008 Newsletter).

The week leading up to the final World Cup regatta of the year saw the Irish lightweight four with Richard Archibald on board qualifying for the Olympics by finishing second to the Germans. Our congratulations to the crew on claiming the final qualification spot.

1  GER   6:03.97  Bastian SEIBT, Jost SCHOEMANN-FINCK, Jochen KUEHNER, Martin KUEHNER 
2  IRL   6:06.34  Cathal MOYNIHAN, Gearoid TOWEY, Richard ARCHIBALD, Paul GRIFFIN 
3  SRB   6:09.57  Veljko UROSEVIC, Nenad BABOVIC, Goran NEDELJKOVIC, Milos TOMIC 
4  ESP   6:11.80  Alberto DOMINGUEZ LORENZO, Juan Luis FERNANDEZ TOMAS, Andreu CASTELLA GASPARIN, Ruben ALVAREZ PEDROSA 
5  CZE   6:12.23  Vlastimil CABLA, Adam KAPA, Jiri KOPAC, Miroslav VRASTIL JR 
6  SUI   6:13.66  Mario GYR, Simon NIEPMANN, Silvan ZEHNDER, Martin HOBI  
 

Richard Chambers was the only COBRA member to be racing at the World Cup in Poznan, in the British lightweight four. In a very tough final the reigning World Champs came 6th and will be looking to improve in the training camps  leading up to Beijing.

1  FRA  6:08.76  Franck SOLFOROSI, Guillaume RAINEAU, Jean-Christophe BETTE, Fabien TILLIET 
2  ITA1 6:09.98  Jiri VLCEK, Catello AMARANTE, Salvatore AMITRANO, Bruno MASCARENHAS 
3  AUS  6:10.00  Roderick CHISHOLM, Anthony EDWARDS, Benjamin CURETON, Todd SKIPWORTH 
4  DEN  6:13.03  Kasper WINTHER, Bo HELLEBERG, Thomas EBERT, Eskild EBBESEN 
5  NED  6:14.50  Gerard VAN DER LINDEN, Marshall GODSCHALK, Ivo SNIJDERS6 , Paul DREWES  
6  GBR  6:14.77  Richard CHAMBERS, James LINDSAY-FYNN, Paul MATTICK, James CLARKE

The 2nd World cup regatta of the season saw the CAI old boys making the A Finals.  Alan Campbell in the British single stormed into an early lead but an incredibly tight finish saw  him loose out on the medals by less than half a second!
1  CZE   Ondrej SYNEK          6:47.81
2  NZL1 Mahe DRYSDALE       6:49.20
3  SWE  Lassi KARONEN        6:52.18
4  GBR1 Alan CAMPBELL     6:52.64
5  NOR   Olaf TUFTE              6:57.91
6  SUI    Andre VONARBURG  7:01.2

The lightweight IV- again saw a clash of the 2 Richards.  After a storming race which saw the return of the legendary Danish lightweights, the British crew finished 5th with the Irish close on the tails in 6th

1  CHN Zhongming HUANG, Chongkui WU, Lin ZHANG, Jun TIAN  6:00.89
2  DEN Thomas EBERT, Bo HELLEBERG, Mads KRUSE ANDERSEN, Eskild EBBESEN  6:01.33
3  FRA Franck SOLFOROSI, Guillaume RAINEAU, Jean-Christophe BETTE, Fabien TILLIET  6:01.99
4  GER Bastian SEIBT, Jost SCHOEMANN-FINCK, Jochen KUEHNER, Martin KUEHNER  6:02.64
5  GBR Richard CHAMBERS, James LINDSAY-FYNN, Paul MATTICK, James CLARKE  6:04.86
6  IRL Eugene COAKLEY, Gearoid TOWEY, Richard ARCHIBALD, Paul GRIFFIN  6:07.89
 

Alan Campbell racing for the GB M1x  repeated his performance of 2006 to win the first World Cup race of the season in Munich. Alan got off to his usual fast start and lead the field from start to finish. 
1  GBR1 Alan CAMPBELL     7:26.68
2  CZE   Ondrej SYNEK         7:27.95
3  NOR   Olaf TUFTE             7:31.50 4
4  SWE   Lassi KARONEN      7:33.45
5  GER   Marcel HACKER       7:41.63
6  SUI    Andre VONARBURG 7:55.39

Afterwards Lammy said “I had a really good race. I put it all together. It was probably one of the best races I´ve ever had.""

In the lightweight IV- the world champs of 2005/06 China, lead the race from the start and kept their nose in front to claim the gold.  The World champs from 2007 GB with Richard Chambers on board, had a fight with Germany but finished strongly to claim the silver.
The Irish crew with Richard Archibald had failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics at last year's world championships regained some of their earlier form, returning to A finals. Two other non qualified boats were racing alongside the Irish; Germany and Serbia. The Germans showed excellent form to take the bronze medal, while the Serbians were 9secs behind the Irish who finished 5th.

1  CHN1 6:27.81 Zhongming HUANG, Chongkui WU, Lin ZHANG, Jun TIAN 
2  GBR  6:28.40 Richard CHAMBERS, James LINDSAY-FYNN, Paul MATTICK, James CLARKE 
3  GER  6:28.78 Bastian SEIBT, Jost SCHOEMANN-FINCK, Jochen KUEHNER, Martin KUEHNER 
4  FRA  6:32.26 Franck SOLFOROSI, Guillaume RAINEAU, Jean-Christophe BETTE, Fabien TILLIET 
5  IRL  6:33.90 Eugene COAKLEY, Gearoid TOWEY, Richard ARCHIBALD, Paul GRIFFIN 
6  SRB  6:43.18 Veljko UROSEVIC, Nenad BABOVIC, Goran NEDELJKOVIC, Milos TOMIC

Richard Archibald said "We've used this as a learning experience; we had an okay heat, being honest a pretty ropey semi-final and then today. I think we thought about it, and we experimented and we came out of it with a good row today. I think with the conditions still unfair we put in a good performance, and put ourselves in a good position."

More info can be found at WORLDrowing.com

The 2007 World Rowing Championships were held in Munich, Germany with 3 COBRA members competing. Alan Campbell representing Britain in the 1x; Richard Chambers representing Britain in the lightweight IV- and Richard Archibald representing Ireland in the lightweight IV-.

Alan progressed quickly through the heats and semi-finals to claim his place in the final.  The final saw the best scullers in the world fight it out for the medals with Alan (GB), Drysdale (NZ), Synek (CZE) and Tufte (NOR) fighting it out for the top 3 places. The positions changed often throughout the race with Alan loosing out on a medal in the final stages of the race.  Drysdale retained his title as World Champion, with Synek getting the silver and Tufte the bronze, leaving Alan in fourth ahead of Hacker (GER) in fifth and Karonen (SWE) in 6th.

The lightweight IV- semi-finals saw the COBRA clash with Richard Chambers in the British crew and COBRA captain Richard Archibald in the Irish crew fighting for the 3 qualifying places. The British crew saw off stiff competition to win the semi-final with the Irish crew only 4 seconds behind missing out on qualifying for the A final.

The B finals saw 6 crews, including the Irish, fighting out for the 5 Olympic qualifying positions. The Irish crew started well, but were pipped at the post to loose out on qualifying for Beijing 2008. The crew has one more chance in the World Cup at Lucerne next year to claim one of the 2 remaining Olympic qualification positions.

The lightweight IV- A final was a brilliant race to watch with little separating the crews throughout the race. The British crew with Richard Chambers were in the thick of it from the start but left it late (the last 250m!) to edge out ion front. None of the other crews could deal with the British sprint, and the British crew won the gold, making our own Richard Chambers a World Champion in 2007.

Our congratulations to the 3 COBRA members racing at Munich, and especially Richard Chambers for a well earned Gold Medal.

The third and final World Cup regatta took place in Lucerne and saw medals for two COBRA members. For more info on the racing visit www.WORLDrowing.com

With the World Champions China not attending Lucerne, it left the British lightweight IV- with a chance to stamp their authority on the field, which they did from the start. they stormed of into a lead, and wouldn't let anyone come past.  The British crew with Richard Chambers calling the shots in the bow seat, held onto the Gold, with the French in silver and bronze for the Dutch

Alan Campbell looked to capitalise on his win at Henley over reigning World champion, Maye Drysdale in the single scull (report below). He started off without his trademark sprint and raced within the field, rather than leading from the start. This approach paid off as he moved into the last 500m of the race and pulled ahead of Synek, the Czech World Cup points leader. Drysdale stormed into the lead and held off Lammy's finish by less than 0.3s, to leave Lammy with the silver medal, beating Synek into bronze position for the first time this year.

The second regatta in the 2007 World Cup series took place in Amsterdam. It again saw the British lightweight IV- with Richard Chambers in the bow seat, and the British sculler Alan Campbell making the A Finals.

Richard continued his amazing season to go one better than the previous World Cup in Linz, and got the silver medal, after as close fight with the reigning world champions, China.

The single scull race was a close run race, with all the scullers capable of taking the gold.  Alan was leading through the early part of the race, but was caught coming into the final stretch and finished 6th.

Reports and times can be found on www.WORLDrowing.com

The highly anticipated COBRA Vs COBRA final on the international stage with Richard Archibald of Ireland's lightweight IV- and Richard Chambers of the British lightweight IV- failed to materialize at the first World Cup of the season in Linz, Austria. The Irish bronze medal winning crew from last years World Champs, along with the silver medal winning French crew, failed to make the A finals at Linz. However the new British crew, with Richard making the calls from the bowseat, did make the A finals and had a great row to finish 3rd, behind the World Champions China (1st), and Italy (2nd).

Alan Campbell was again selected to represent GB in the single sculls. He got off to his usual blistering start and was leading for most of the final, only to be overtaken by the Czech sculler in the closing stages. Lammy fought hard to the line and was only pipped to the gold by 0.4s!

Reports and times can be found on the www.WORLDrowing.com

Henley Royal Regatta saw a number of CAIBC old boys attending, but pride of place goes to Alan Campbell of Tideway Scullers. Having been released from the Britisch squad for the event, he was determined to repeat his performance of 2003 and get the Diamonds trophy back. He progressed through the rounds (visit www.HRR.co.uk for the results) to meet double world champion, Diamonds trophy holder and good friend Maye Drysdale in the finals.

This was one of the best races in recent memory, and brought the crowds to their feet to cheer Lammy on .  He got out of the blocks quickly and took the lead. with Maye in his sights he was able to withstand the numerous pushes from the Kiwi. Alan held on through the enclosures to get his hands back on the trophy.

I'm not sure about the results from the other COBRA members. Rumours are that Chris Black was in the Tees RC crew in the Thames that were put out on Wednesday by Reading, while David Ewart was in the Reading University crew in the Temple, which beat Edinburgh in the Wednsday, but drew the eventual winners in the thursday, Univ. of California, Berkeley, USA.

If anyone has any more info, or a better write-up please email to the usual address.  Cheers.

The British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) Regatta is, for most university rowing clubs, second only to Henley Royal Regatta in importance.  It the largest rowing event in the UK with over  1000 boats competing over three days at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.  The three levels of competition for each boat class, from highest status to lowest are Championship, Junior and Novice.  This year only two COBRA members were competing in races held over 2000m with some 500m sprints on the Sunday.

This year conditions were extremely bad due to the high winds, so bad that racing had to be stopped during the worst of it.  This affected the smaller boats most of all making things particularly difficult for Connor Campbell who competed in the Championship pairs event for Northumbria University.  Northumbria got out to a good start and had their boat moving nicely before the water began to chop up in the middle of the course.  The strong headwind and waves favoured the heavier rowers and the light Northumbrian pair dropped back by halfway before just missing out on a place in the semi final at the line.

David Ewart was by far the busiest COBRA member over the bank holiday weekend, competing in three categories for Reading University; Championship coxed four, Junior quad, Championship quad sprint race and Championship eight.  In the Champ coxed four Reading got to the final without too much trouble but once there, University of London shot out in front gaining a two length advantage on the field, Reading lay in fourth by 500 and third by 1K mark.  Bristol and Reading then rowed through UL and were neck and neck by the 500m to go but Reading pushed on and won Gold by a length, with Bristol in silver and UL missing out on bronze to Exeter.

After withdrawals in the Junior quad event, it became a straight final for Reading with Newcastle the main opposition.  Despite a crew member temporarily losing an oar due to hitting a buoy, Reading easily won with Newcastle ‘A’ and ‘B’ in second and third.  After this win the quad were looking forward to a step up in the competition for the Champ quad sprint race.  This they did in style, crossing the line for the gold medal, 4 lengths in front of the nearest opposition.

Unfortunately David’s winning streak ended there.  Reading qualified for the repechage, by coming second to the hot favourites Oxford Brookes in the heat.  Conditions in the ‘rep’ were almost unrowable and reading dropped back to end in 5th place.

Alex Humphrey

Alan Campbell was awarded the "Coleraine Sports Personality of the Year Award" for the second time.  Richard Archibald took the runners up space for 2006.

Two COBRA members were among the people honoured by the Irish Amateur Rowing Union AGM in 2006.  Richard Archibald was part of the Irish lightweight IV- that got the "Senior Mens" Award, while Bobby Platt MBE had the honour of being given the "President's Award". 

The three COBRA members at the World Rowing Championships 2006 in Eton had a successful week, with all 3 making the A finals! 
Richard Archibald in the Irish lightweight IV- won the bronze medal, being beaten by the Chinese (1/2 length) and French crews (a bow ball!).

Alan Campbell's scull had an equipment failure after 900m on his rigger, leading to varying pitch throughout the stroke!  He finished 6th, in the fastest 1x race of all time!

Richard Chambers also finished 6th in his final of the lightweight pair.




A report (or 2) will hopefully be coming soon from some of the atheletes who competed at the Worlds.  Thanks to Desmond Hill for the pics.

More info about the World Champs is availible on the www.WORLDrowing.com

Richard continued his good form from Poznan to win the Gold medal at the World U23 Championships 2006 in Belgium.  Stephen Feeney also made the finals in the GB lightweight IV-. 
info about the Under-23 World Championships is availible on the www.WORLDrowing.com

Richard Archibald and the Irish lightweight IV- repeated their Polish performance in Lucerne to claim the gold medal and also the "yellow jersey" by winning the overall World Cup series.

Alan Campbell in the British 1x also won the World Cup series and the coveted "yellow jersey" with a fourth placed finish at Lucerne using borrowed blades, as his were damaged in transit! 

There is information availible on www.WORLDrowing.com

In Poznan Richard Arcibald went one better than Munich to win the gold medal in the Irish lightweight IV-, while Richard Chambers clinched gold in the British lightweight coxless pairs!
Alan Campbell continued his awesome season pushing the reigning World champion Mahe Drysdale all the way, finishing a close second in the British single scull.


There is more information availible on www.WORLDrowing.com

The Munich World Cup 2006 was another remarkable weekend for CAIBC old boy rowing. The Irish lightweight four of Gearóid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin took silver half a second behind Germany and pushing Australia into third place.

However the biggest story of the day was the success of the new British single sculler, a certain Alan Campbell. After winning the semi-final by 1.5 seconds, Alan took an early lead in the final and had clear water over the entire field by half way. No mean feat when the field included the reigning Olympic champion, Olaf Tufte. In the second half of the course, the 2002 World champion Marcel Hacker pulled back and pushed Lammy into second place, but Alan fought back in a dramatic last few hundred metres to clinch the gold, at his first attempt in the single scull.
After the race Alan said "I've had great support from Bill (Barry), my mum and dad - I love them - and the beautiful people of Coleraine . . . I've got a lot of supporters there - Bann Rowing Club and Coleraine Old Boys' Rowing Association (COBRA). I've had great support - text messages. And the phone's not stopped ringing."

Congratulations to both COBRA members, and we wish them well for the rest of the season.

I'm currently on my 4th training camp this season Varese is the location in
Northern Italy. I'm here with the Senior Heavyweight Mens team in
preparations for final selection trials to be held in Hazelwinkel, Belgium
on 17th and 18th of April.

We're staying in an old 4 star hotel from the sixties with the cast of
fawlty towers as the hotel staff, on the south side of the lake. Pasta
olive oil and tomatoes are the staple diet, that along with the odd trip to
the local pizzeria and ice cream shop (the bunny rabbits not so good).

In the mornings its about a 10 minute drive to the Gavirate Club's
boathouse, on the northside, by minibus or Ford Galaxy, the Renault Espace
is my personal favorite. Theres usually alot of below average banter as we
take the p*ss out of each other for past indiscretions or crimes against
humanity.

I have just be lent a new prototype boat by Filippi an Italian boatbuilder,
the equivalent of Ferrari white with a blue racing line. It's not got a name
yet but i like to think of 'him' as "The Great White" a natural born killer,
savagely driven by me, eating up launch wash as devouring on our scullers
and ripping the odd pair apart.

The best bit about this camp is the lake , Lake Varese. At 8km wide and around 2 to 4 km long its huge, the water is like silk it always feels a privilage to row on like walking on fresh snow. Its cool in the mornings warming up the afternoon to the view of the Alps to the West.

During this camp we are building up our boat speed trying to refine the
horse power we have built up over the winter into an efficent effort to last
the gruelling 2km Olympic distance. It's amazing over the years i have rowed
i thought it would get easier but you just learn to be able to hurt yourself
more, flogging yourself to within an inch closer of your death.

The rest of the time is spent relaxing stretching watching DVD's and sending
emails home. This is my third time here, but this has been my most
successful camp here, I can't disclose my training or times, but i won the
trials last year, so watch this space, the COBRA is already stirring within
me.

Alan Campbell - 11/04/2006

a report from BUSA will hopefully be ready shortly...

This year saw the hottest Henley Royal Regatta on record since 1976. with temperatures above 30 degree's each day it was a real struggle for both the oarsmen and the spectators.

PRINCE ALBERT CHALLENGE CUP- A newly formed event this year taking over from the student coxed 4's and has a maximum entry of 16 crews. Two COBRA members were aiming to compete in this event. Philip Braithwaite, of St.Aidens college Durham was hopeful of qualification and the crew were confident after some promising results at previous races. Unfortunately St.Aidens failed to qualify in a very tough qualification race but the boat showed promise for the future. David Ewart, rowing for Reading university A crew was pre-qualified and also one of four seeded crews in the prince Albert. I the first round Reading drew a tough dutch crew, Groninger Studenten Roeivereniging Aegir, Holland. After a very close race Reading won by 1 and a quarter lengths over the dutch. In the Quarter finals Reading were drawn against Goldie(Cambridge University reserves). Another close race unfolded but unfortunately the much taller and heavier Goldie crew edged ahead and after a sprint finish won by 2 thirds of a length. The event was eventually won by Imperial college London who had several GB U23 oarsmen on board.

TEMPLE CHALLENGE CUP- Alex Humphrey was coxing Loughboroughs 2nd temple 8 in qualification but unfortunately failed to qualify the boat for the regatta. Iain Giffin was competing for Glasgow University for the 3rd year in a row in this competition. In the first round Glasgow were drawn against Jesus college Cambridge who they defeated by half a length after a tight race. Their second round race saw them meet newcastle university which unfortunately was missing cobra members Steven Feeney due to GB commitments and Jason taggart due to commonwealth trials. Glasgow went on to defeat newcastle by 1 and 3 quarters of a length. This put Glasgow into the Quarter finals for the 3rd year running in which they met the much fancied University of California Berkeley who beat Glasgow by 3 and a Quarter lengths.
David Ewart 

If anyone esle has a short report from their season so far, email it to chairman @ cobrarowing.co.uk  (remove the 2 spaces from the email address and put "COBRA" in the subject title to avoid the spam detector).

If you think rowing a Head of the River Race is bad, spare a thought for COBRA member Ian Harvey, who has recently finished a 400 ENDURANCE MILE ROW, across the length of the largest freshwater lake in the world.  Ian set a World Record by rowing across Lake Superior, in North America.  This was in aid of two charities, BBC Children in Need and the Fields of life Trust.   Ian has previously rowed across Lake Victoria in Africa, for charity in 2003.

The following is a short report by Ian about his challenge.

"LAKE Superior, or `Kitchigami` in the Native American Chippewa language, meaning `The Great Lake`, is a huge, deep, deadly cold, freshwater lake, much more akin to an inland sea than a lake…the largest in the world! It measures approx. 400 miles wide and 160 miles north to south. The Chippewa people call it `the lake that never gives up its dead`, for the grisly reason that the water is so cold [it’s frozen for almost six months of the year], that if someone drowns in it, their body sinks to the bottom and stays there!

 “Where’s the crazy Irishman who’s rowing across the lake for charity?” I heard a man say, from the middle of the crowd gathered on the quay beside our support craft, the war-time tugboat, `Seneca`.

 My supposed state of mind had preceded me more than half way along the southern shores of the lake, in company with a hungry horde of journalists. I was beginning to feel punch-drunk from interviews and telling and re-telling my story…but then that’s what I was there for, to draw attention to the desperate needs of children less fortunate, by doing something no one had ever done before.

 A woman pushed her way through the small crowd and introduced herself as a member of the tribe of Grand Island, Chippewa Indians. We were moored in Munising, opposite Grand Island, which I had just rowed round.

 “Ian, I was so impressed when I heard about what you are doing that I wanted to give you this book about my ancestor, the legendary son of a famous Grand Island Chippewa chief.

 “He paddled his canoe along the same route as you, escaping - the sole Grand Island survivor - after an epic battle with the Sioux Indians at the most westerly end of the lake.

 “I have re-lived his journey through you and as far as I’m concerned you are one of us, prayers go up in smoke for your safe onward voyage…I know you’ll make it!”

 The really extraordinary twist to the story was that her famous canoeing ancestor, years later in the mid 1800’s, told the renowned poet Henry Longfellow his story and the now `classic` Hiawatha poem was born; I couldn’t believe I’d touched history and become intertwined with my childhood literary dreams!

 The reality of the row across this daunting water was the speed of its vicious mood swings. One minute it was calm and inviting, the next, violent and unrelenting and all in the blink of an eye. The day after my encounter with Grand Island, I had rowed for twelve miles parallel to a forest and beach, with a rising wind helping to push me along at seven to eight miles an hour. Suddenly the wind picked up and the waves grew higher, to over three feet. In a tiny rowing shell with only six or eight inches freeboard that’s a lot!

 The `Seneca` had to stay a quarter of a mile further out because of the shallow, rocky shoreline. I didn’t think I could make it out to the tugboat, so I indicated to my small rescue craft to meet me on the beach to tow me out to the boat. When I saw him upended in the surf, I realised that I wasn’t going to make it. Turning [with great difficulty] quite close to the shore, I glanced down and to my horror saw sand-coloured rocks, a matter of inches below me. I’d forgotten to open my self-bailer and the waves had begun to crash over me, lifting me up and threatening to smash my fragile boat on the rocks below. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but I somehow found the strength that fear lends you, rowed my tiny shell boat back out through the breaking surf and shouted into the two way radio clipped to my chest.

 “I’m in trouble!”

 That was all I’d time for as I headed out into the building waves beyond, swamped, drenched and freezing cold.

 Teeth chattering uncontrollably, I glanced over my shoulder and could see Seneca alter course to make for me. It was one of the most dramatic moments of my life, as I watched this wartime anti-submarine tugboat at full throttle, crashing through the waves with the stars and stripes streaming out behind…coming to my rescue. I almost expected to see Humphrey Bogart appear on the bridge deck!

 During those two extraordinary weeks I had faced large waves, winds, near shipwreck, physical and heat exhaustion, a hamstring injury, rowing in the dark and sheer frustration. It was becoming a test of will power, determination and faith. My mind was becoming detached from my body… not insanity… just self defence, a sort of serene indifference to pain and physical discomfort.

 After almost 400 miles, I was finally chased across the finish line at Whitefish Point, by a building storm, within virtual sight of where the tragic `Edmund Fitzgerald` had gone down with all hands, in the 1970’s. I had rowed through the previous night and over half that final day. That night, when I should have been tucked up asleep in my bunk suffering from complete and utter exhaustion, the adrenalin `junkie` I had become, kept me up to watch the mother and father of all storms….spectacular lightning and huge waves crashing over the harbour wall and Seneca!

 Thanks to the outstanding efforts of my friends from Northern Ireland and from Lake Superior, I had achieved my goal and become the first rower ever to have rowed the length of this giant, of all the world’s freshwater lakes.

 I think a part of me is still there!

Ian Harvey

On the international circuit, things have been going well for COBRA's
international athletes.

The Irish lightweight IV- of Timmy Harnedy (bow), Eugene Coakley (2), Richard Archibald (3), Paul Griffin (stk) ended a very successful season with the silver medal at the World Champs. 

In the qualifying rounds, Ireland won the Quarter Finals and the Semi-Finals, with Germany 2nd, Australia 3rd, Russia 4th, GB 5th and Japan 6th.  The final saw a close battle for the medals, with France snatching the Gold and Ireland pipping Italy for the silver by 0.04 seconds!  Australia finished 4th, Germany 5th and Poland 6th. 

The British 4x with Alan Campbell in the bow seat qualified for the semi-finals  where they finished a close 4th, behind Poland, Slovenia and Germany.  USA took the 5th spot, while the Ukrane finished 6th.  The meant the GB 4x competed in the B-finals, in which they stormed through to win, finishing 7th overall in the World rankings.  Russia finished 2nd, USA 3rd, Ukrane 4th, Australia 5th and Belarus 6th.  

Our congratulations to Richard and Alan, and we hope they enjoy their time off before starting back to training!
Hopefully a full report with some photos (esp of Lammy's quad) will follow soon, if I can get hold of any.

Racing in the lightweight quad began on thursday with Stephen Feeney in the 2 seat and Richard Chambers in the bow seat.  The first heat for the crew was early morning where they faced the Germans, the Polish and the Swiss.  The Germans took victory with the british quad taking second place meaning they had to race in the repechage. 

In the rep the British took on the Dutch and Austrailians.  The British quad led from the beginning, taking victory which put them into the A final.

On sunday in the A final the crew came face to face with the Italians, Germans, Austrailians, Swiss and Denmark.  The British quad got off to a slow start, and arrived at the 1k mark in 5th place.  The Brits then put in a push to move through the Austrailians and then through the Danish.  In the last 500 they where in bronze medal position and for the last 250m of the race they where neck and neck with the Germans.  It came down to a photo finish for the silver medal.  The Brits gained silver being beaten by the Italians by less than 2 secs and beating the Germans by 0.2 secs.

Richard Chambers

The GB quad, with Alan Campbell on board, got off to a good start with
a 6th place in the World Cup regatta at Eton, only to improve on this at
Munich with a 4th place.

The Irish lightweight IV- with Richard Archibald in the bow seat finished
3rd in the World Cup regatta in Munich, after being just passed on the
line for 2nd by the Germans.

At the Lucerne World Cup regatta held on the 8th-10th July, the Irish lightweight IV- with Richard Archibald, claimed the GOLD medal, while the GB 4x with Alan Campbell on board, won the bronze medal in a very close finish.
For more information, visit the www.worldrowing.com website.

Richard Chambers and Stephen Feeney have been racing in the GB U23
lightweight 4x at the Holland Beker International regatta in Amsterdam
on the 25-26th June.

The boys won the Under23 quads on the Saturday beating the dutch national quad by a few lengths and came third in open lightweight on the Sunday, only being beaten by Belgium and Denmark senior crews.
Rumours are that they have both been selected to go to the World U23 Rowing championships.  Congratulations to both of them.

Iain Giffin and the Glasgow University IV- represented Scotland in the European University Sports Association (EUSA) Championships in Cardiff, on the 24th July.  They rounded off an impressive year, winning the silver medal, behind the Germans.  We wish Iain all the best for next year, as he takes over the GUBC captaincy.

More information about international rowing can be found at the www.worldrowing.com website

Here are a few pictures from BUSA regatta 2005. 

A number of old boys were competing for their universities, including Stephen Feeney (Newcastle) who got silver in Championship double and bronze in championship pairs, while Iain Giffin (Glasgow) got bronze in the Blue Riband event, the Championship eights.  Alex Humphrey (Loughborough) came 4th in the lightweight pairs, despite being taken off the landing stage by an ambulance the day before?

Henley Royal Regatta 2005

Alex Humphrey (Loughborough Students' RC) raced in the Temple Challenge Cup (university VIII+), were the defeated Exeter by 2/3 length in the 1st round, only to get beaten by Glasgow University by 3 lengths.  The Glasgow crew had fellow COBRA member Iain Giffin on board, who had beaten Birmingham University by nearly 3 lengths in the 1st round.  In the quarter finals, Glasgow were beaten by Yale University (USA) by just over a length.  The Newcastle University with Jason Taggart also raced in the Temple; and beat Leeds by 2/3 length, only to loose to Oxford Brooks in the 2nd round by 2 lengths.

Brendan Smyth was a beaten finalist in the Lady Elizabeth RC crew that got through to the finals of the Thames Challenge Cup and lost to Henley RC by 1 length.  Alan Campbell competed for a composite Tideway Scullers School & Leander crew in the Queen Mother (Elite 4x); beat Victoria City Rowing Club (Canada) in the semi-final by 3 lengths, but lost to A.Z.S. Szczecin & A.Z.S. Gorzow (Poland) in the Final by 3/4 length.

IARU Rowing Championships 2005

Richard Archibald (Queen's Uni) came 4th in the Lighweight sculls after having picked up his fourth Irish Pot in the morning racing.  He teamed up with Paul Griffin (Muckross RC & Irish Lightweight IV-) to win the Senior pairs.

Like last year, Alan Campbell had a successful time, finishing 2nd in both the Fours and Pairs Head Of the River Races.

The Irish lightweight IV- with our vice-captain Richard Archibald on board, qualified for the A Final at the Olympics in Athens, where they finished 6th. 

The British 4X qualified for the B Final and finished the Regatta ranked 12th in the world. 

Our congratulations to both Richard, Alan and their crews.

At the BUSA regatta a number of old boys represented different university crews and performed well.  Jason Taggart and Stephen Feeney (Newcastle) came in 4th in the Lightweight pairs, Connor Campbell (Northumbria) got a bronze in the Championship IV-, while Iain Giffin (Glasgow) got a bronze in the Championship IV+ and went one better with silver in Championship VIII+.

At Henley Royal Regatta, a number of old boys were competing for different clubs.  These included Clem Athanasiou (Edinburgh University), Colin Stewart (Salford University) and Chris Bradley (Queens University Belfast, who had won Senior 2 VIII+ at London Metropolitan Regatta). 

Iain Giffin (Glasgow University) reached the friday of the Temple Challenge Cup, putting out Bristol University and Imperial College London on the way.  Alan Campbell again represented Tideway Scullers, but was unable to repeat his success from last year, loosing to the Ukrainian national crew, the eventual winners, on the Saturday of the Queen Mother Challenge Cup.  For more information regarding results at Henley Royal Regatta, please visit www.HRR.co.uk.

At the British National Championships, Jason Taggart and Stephen Feeney (University of Newcastle) repeated their success at BUSA, with a 4th place finish in the Lightweight pairs.  

Iain Giffin (Glasgow University) was selected to represent Scotland in the Senior VIII+ and IV+ at the Homes International Regatta.

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The annual Pairs Head of the River Race and the Fours Head of the River race at Tideway were added to the ever increasing list of successful events for Coleraine Inst Old Boy, Alan Campbell.  In the Pairs Head, he stroked the Tideway Scullers double to first place with Mike Hennessey.

In the Fours Head, with much attention being paid to the battle between the Great British World Championship IV- and the IV+ with Pinsent and Cracknell on board, the Tideway Scullers quad, with Alan at stroke, stormed in a close second.
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We would like to congratulate Richard Archibald (Ireland) who was bow in the lightweight IV- that won their semi-final to progress to the final. They finished 6th in the final, which guarantees a place in the Olympics next year in Athens.

Alan Campbell (GB), fresh from winning Henley, and fairing strongly at the Under 23 World Championships, was the "spare man" in the GB squad, (which entailed a weeks training in the silver medal winning GB IV-). His season ended with a superb win in the "spare man" sculling race at the World Championships.

Being the Olympic Qualification Regatta, there is always a little more interest than normal in the worlds. For me it was only my second World Championship, but the pressure was on. There are only two lightweight events at the Olympic Games, the double and the four, so the competition to qualify is tough. In the men’s events the top eleven generally qualify for the Olympics, and having seventh in the four the year before, we were keen to improve and progress to the A-final.

In our heat Italy (last years silver medallists) and Chile were the main opposition. It was tighter than we hoped but in the end we finished second, very close to both Italy and Chile in the fastest heat of the day.

Only the heat winners went directly to the Semi-finals, so we progressed to the Repechage to face Great Britain, Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro, with two going forward to the semis. We had a good race and won easily, with Great Britain 4 seconds behind.

Then came the hard part. The semi-final is the make or break race. If you make the top 3, you are guaranteed a slot at the Olympics, but if you don’t you face a B-final where one crew will not go to the Games. NO PRESSURE AT ALL! We were content we could make the final because our semi had the Netherlands, Canada and Australia as the main opposition. As it was we led from start to finish, and were understandably very happy by the end, as you will have seen if you caught the Eurosport coverage.

The final was a new experience, and not quite as enjoyable as we hoped. Personally, I had come to get a medal, so we still had a lot to do. We started well and were in the Bronze position to the halfway mark, but then the race really got going and we were overtaken to finish in sixth place. In the end we were 5 seconds behind the winners, but in the lightweight double the Irish crew finished the same distance behind the winners to claim a Bronze medal.

On the whole it was a great experience. It was fantastic to see Alan Campbell another former Coleraine Inst pupil and COBRA member there with the British squad. The other races over the week proved that rowing is a sport where anything can happen, and usually does. Rowing superstars who at one time looked invincible struggled to find their form, and others who still performed well were just overtaken. It should all make next years Olympics a little bit more interesting.

Richard Archibald – C.O.B.R.A. vice-captain
Irish Lightweight Four

A number of Coleraine Inst old boys were again successful at Henley Royal Regatta, in a number of different events.  Pride of place goes to Alan Campbell, whose regatta started the Friday before, with qualifying races for the Diamond sculls.

This successfully accomplished, he began to demolish his opponents by 4¾ lengths and easily, on Thursday and Friday respectively.  The closest race came during the Saturday semi-final, when Alan beat the fancied SD Goodbrand by ½ a length, in the fastest time of the competition, 7:40.

The final on Sunday saw Alan lift the coveted trophy with a win by 1½ lengths over BP Hopkins (Australia), in a time of 8:03.  

In the Ladies' Challenge Plate Brian Steele, rowing for Molesey B.C. was aiming to add another win to his Henley Royal Regatta tally, in a Molesey B.C. and Imperial College London R.C. composite crew.  He got through to Saturday's semi-final only to be beaten by a ¼ of alength by the eventual winners, University of Washington, (USA), in what turned out to be the fastest time of any event in the whole Regatta, 6:11.

In the Thames Challenge Cup, Lady Elizabeth B.C. (Ireland), which included Coleraine old boy Brendan Smyth in the bow seat, reached the semi-finals having defeated Quintin B.C., Leander R.C. and Lady Victoria B.C. on the way  In a close race, Lady Elizabeth lost to London R.C. by ½ a length in the time of 6:27.

In the Temple Challenge Cup, Brian Dickson and Johny Coulter rowed for Glasgow University R.C., who progressed to Thursday before being beaten by the selected Imperial College London R.C. crew by 1½ lengths in the time of 6:49.

For more information on Henley Royal Regatta, including video clips of the Diamonds final, please visit the official website at www.HRR.co.uk

The 2003 Regatta season saw two CAIBC old boys, Richard Chambers and Stephen Feeney compete for Bann RC, after leaving school.  During a successful season, they finshed 3rd in the J18 pairs and 2nd in the Intermediate pairs, at the Irish Championships.  Following this successful performance they were selected to represent Ireland at the Home International Regatta, in the J18 pairs.

The Irish Coxed Pair of David Gray (Bangor G.S.), Iain Kennedy (CAI 1961 – 1969) and Noel Graham (CAI 1959-1964) finished 8th in the World Championships in Amsterdam, 1977, and were the first Irish sweep crew ever to reach a World Final, in New Zealand, 1978, where they finished 6th.

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Could anyone with any more information or pictures about this and other events concerning old boy oarsmen, please please please e-mail it to chairman @ cobrarowing.co.uk  (remove the 2 spaces from the email address and put "COBRA" in the subject title to avoid the spam detector).

Tell me a bit about yourself?
I am from Coleraine and I am 26 years old. I went to CAI from 1989 to 1996. Since 1996 I have studied Architecture at the Queen’s University of Belfast. I have a younger brother and sister, and my brother Steven also rows.

Do you have any funny stories from CAI?
School was all one funny story.

Who were your favourite/ least favourite teachers?
I don’t think that I had any favourite teachers, but I did like Maths, Technology and Geography. On the other hand I was not fond of English or French, so probably wasn’t that keen on those teachers.

When did you start rowing and what is your proudest moment rowing under CAI?
I started rowing quite late at school, only at the beginning of 5th year, September 1993. Some of my friends had already been rowing for a couple of years so I thought that I would give it a go. I had played rugby and then tennis and badminton, but I had never wanted to stay after school (Why would anyone?) so I always did games that I could slip away from as early as possible. When I started rowing I found that I didn’t mind staying after school, and was soon training four afternoons a week and on Saturday mornings.  My proudest moment rowing for CAI was when we came 2nd in the Intermediate fours at the Irish Senior Championships. We were only a junior crew, but had missed the Junior Championships because we had been competing at Henley Royal Regatta, so were sent to the Senior Championships instead. We raced against schools, universities and commercial clubs, with most of our competitors being older and more experienced. It was a close race, and I was very frustrated not to have won, but it made me determined to keep training and not be beaten in the future.

How did you get into rowing full time?
When I went to Queens University I trained as part of a team for two years, but then I decided to start sculling, and train on my own to try to improve more quickly. That year, 1999, I competed in the Commonwealth Championships in Canada as part of the Northern Ireland Team. The following year I made it onto the Irish Under 23 team and won a bronze medal at the World under 23 Championships. Since 2000 I have been on the Irish Team and have competed twice at the World Championships, finishing 7th and 6th.  The sixth place finish qualified Ireland for a place at the Olympic Games. Until 2002 I studied and trained, like most rowers have to, but I decided that I would take a couple of years out to try and reach the Olympics.  Queens were very supportive of this and have encouraged me all the way. Since last November I have spent three weeks of each month in Seville, Spain, where the quality of training is much better than at home, mainly due to the weather. When the races begin in May we will be based in Belgium.

Describe an average weeks training?
When we are away on training camp there is very little to do except train……so that is all we do. We train 3 or 4 times a day, 7days a week. The first session is usually before breakfast and will be weights or an hours run. After breakfast we will row about 16 or 20 km, and we will do race pieces and speed work at this time.  After lunch we will read or sleep for a few hours and then we might do some sprint training in the local park, followed by another 16 km of rowing. We normally train for about 5 hours a day. In the evenings we eat, watch BBC world or CNN (not much else on unfortunately) and get to bed so we are not too tired the next day.

Do you have a special diet, or do you just try to eat well?
I don’t have a special diet, but I do have to watch what we eat. I am a lightweight, so have to weigh 70kg two hours before I race. In the winter I weigh 75kg, so after Christmas I have to start to lose the extra weight. I have to cut out butter, cheese and be careful how many sweets and biscuits I eat. I still eat a lot of bread and pasta because I do need a lot of energy for all the training that has to be done. As long as I eat less that I burn up in training I will lose weight.

What are your goals for this year?
There are 9 people going for the Irish lightweight four that will go to the Olympics, and it will not be finally selected until June. I hope to make the crew first of all, and after that anything is possible. I would really like to win an Olympic medal this year.

And in the long term?
I don’t know what I will do after Athens. It will all depend on if I go and how successful we are there. I am only 26 so I could row Internationally for another two Olympic cycles (8 years), but that is a long time away. There is also not much funding or sponsorship in rowing, so it is important to have a career to fall back on. I hope to go back to Queens in September 2004 and finish my Final year in Architecture.

What do you do outside of rowing?
Not a lot to be honest. I seem to have no time to spare. I do like walking and watch far too much TV.  When I stop rowing I would like to take up cycling and running, with the aim of doing a marathon.

Tell me a bit about yourself?
Well I attended CAI between 1994 and 1999 coming from the Irish Society Primary School. After CAI, I did my A-Levels at Welbeck College the Army 6th Form Boarding College for future officers where I had an amazing 2 years and learnt a lot about life. Then I enrolled at the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) at Shrivenham (outside Swindon) to study Software Engineering (think hard before doing this degree!).  In my second year I was trying to train full time as well as study for a degree and realised I had to focus on my real objective, which is to be an Olympic Champion (Sir Steven Redgrave said it before I did!). So to this end I left University and moved to London to live at my rowing club, Tideway Scullers School. And now currently I live, eat, sleep and breathe rowing.

Do you have any funny stories from CAI?
A few but I'm worried about being ordered back to do detention! Getting the nickname 'Lammy' though is maybe worth mentioning. In 1st year having an ever loving and devoted mum and dad they laminated all my books and even my timetable (so I had no excuse – not even in 5th Form when I was still turning up late for classes). This greatly amused my classmates and so I was christened with the nickname 'Laminator' which got shortened to the name I am now affectionately known as 'Lammy'.

Who were your favourite/least favourite teachers?
There are several teachers I look back on with whom I got on well - actually not got on with, more that they moulded me into the individual I was at CAI. Mr Clarke and Mr Irwin in the technology department (it was my favourite subject). Mr Shaw in English and Mr Robinson in Languages; I don’t know if I learnt a lot but I enjoyed those classes the most. Mr Allen helped me a lot with applying for Welbeck. Mr Quigg shouted a lot at me (not without reason) but always got the best out of me for the school musicals of which I did 5 and got my colours tie, before I got my honours for rowing.

When did you start rowing and what is your proudest moment rowing under CAI?
I think it was the summer term of second form at CAI. My proudest moment was winning the Under 16s Irish Championships in 1999 at Cork, - the fact that Bobbie had the faith in me to do the single scull having come from the Junior 4.

How did you get into rowing full time?
Having rowed in the Army 8 training out of London, my club and coach Bill Barry (silver medallist at the 1964 Olympic Games) asked me if I would like to come down and start training to a higher standard. I jumped at the chance and took the Under 23s Gold Medal in Essen in Germany in May 2003 and went on to win the Diamond Sculls in Henley just over a month later. Full time rowing was paying off!

Describe an average weeks training?
There's no such thing as an average week’s training; it changes throughout the year and depends on what events are coming up as well as the individual’s needs. In the winter there is a great emphasis on mileage, rowing machine (ergo) work, and heavy weights with around 12 hours a week on the water 4 hours on the erg and 7 hours of weights, and then there is all the stretching, core strengthening and rest making rowing an almost 24 hours a day job. In the summer this all changes to mostly water work, endurance weights and lots of rest.

Do you have a special diet, or do you just try to eat well?
I don't feel I have a special diet but I do monitor what I eat in terms of percentages of protein carbohydrates and fat. Also this varies with the training. On a high altitude training camp the eating is almost worse than the training home (London) this almost halves, for me anyway as I'm not as big as a lot of the other guys in the squad. It's mostly about stocking back up on what you use. Water is the other important thing, on a training camp you can consume up to 15 litres a day; it's one of the few legal performance enhancers, as I like to think of it.

What are your goals for this year?
My aim at the start of this year was to make the Olympic squad and experience the Olympic Dream. This, as of present, is looking a bright reality. I have been confirmed for the World Cup racing in the men’s 4x which also qualifies me for the Olympics (all things being equal). 

And in the long term?
For the future my aim is to represent Great Britain in the men's 1x - maybe the Eton World Championships 2006 in Britain. For this I may need to find a big sponsor with a deep pocket to match my skills, determination, application and preparation.

What do you do outside of rowing?
Not a lot, but when I get the chance I go water-skiing and play the drums (this I would definitely like to do a lot more). My main passion here in London is eating out with my beautiful girlfriend Tracey and socializing with my friends - again this is all part of the rest involved in training.

And finally ……..
I would like to thank CAI for giving me my first taste of rowing and for developing those skills that have given me the determination to do well.. When you are at school you only look at it as a series of subjects set out in a timetable with a very strict regime. It’s something much more than that - it's about personal development and knowing that the more you put into life, the more you will get out! This is what I learnt at CAI, not subjects, I found myself and I found the key to success! All this was nurtured also during my ten years in the 2nd Coleraine Boys Brigade.  I would also like to thank all those who supported and encouraged me at CAI Boat Club, Bann Rowing Club and Coleraine Old Boys Rowing Association (COBRA), also Bobbie Platt for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to do the single at the Irish Championships; this was the turning point. And last but not least, my Mum and Dad for being my biggest supporters, and my girlfriend for putting up with me.  Carpe Diem! (This is my favourite saying, it is Latin for 'Seize the Day' [Taken from Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong]).