Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles 1865

Winter race draws near
My licence! All in order?
Forgot to sign it

Issue 81 9th February 2010

Dear Members of the Royal Family,

I know it’s a bit late, but A Happy New Year to all the current and future Royal rowers. Hopefully the worst of the sub-zero temperatures are behind us and – Hey! – it’s less than seven weeks until the clocks change.

More things to look forward to

Here’s the Belgian competition calendar for the first four months of the year. It looks remarkably like … last year … or the year before …

Feb 14 Fours Head and Winter Handicap (5km) Brussels RSNB
Feb 27 Rowers’ Run & Bike Brussels RSNB
Feb 27 Eights Head (5.2km) Bruges KRB
Feb 28 Head and Handicap (5.2km) Bruges KRB
Mar 07 Handicap (5km) Wépion RCNSM
Mar 14 Head (6km) Seneffe 3Y
Mar 28 Time trials (4km - 1km - 250m) Wijnegem RARC
Apr 04 Regatta (1000m) Brussels UNB
Apr 10/11 International regatta Ghent GRS
Apr 24/25 Regatta incl. Belgian Championships (small boats) Hazewinkel TRT

I ♥ rowing

Cupid’s arrows aren’t the only guided missiles which will be zooming around on Sunday 14th. St Valentine has to share the limelight with our annual Winter Regatta, one of the main Royal rowing get-togethers of the year.

In the morning at 10:00 there’s a Head of River for racing fours, now in its fifth edition. Our mens’ quad won the first one and have come second on a couple of occasions; this year the Royal flagship will be Rebecca, Heather and Katie, joined by Barbara from SNUB and coxed by Vince. They’ve even been seen in training, with a coach – now there’s serious.

The afternoon race is the 86th Grand Winter Handicap, not only one of the oldest but one of the quaintest sporting events in Brussels. Up to 70 ‘heavy’ boats (no racing shells allowed) starting in order of their speed, slowest first. If everyone pulls equally hard and the handicappers have done a good job, they should all cross the finish line together, which is quite a thought. If it’s a nice day, the race format gives some great photo-opportunities, like this:

Lots of Royal crews will be taking part; the mighty Jean-Benoit will undoubtedly be the first one home and could seriously challenge for top honours. We’ll be playing host to a group of English rowers who will also be joining in the Saturday afternoon outing, and hopefully we’ll have visitors from France, the Netherlands and Germany. Plus Esther and David from Norwalk – or is it Geneva? – will be flying the US flag.

As with all the big club occasions, success is very dependent on how well we manage the many tasks that need to be carried out. All volunteers are most welcome – whether you are needed or not, you’ll enjoy the occasion.

Mud, glorious mud

The Run & Bike on 27th February is the 6th (already!) edition of our successful event which forms part of the Belgian R&B Championship series and attracts some of the country’s top triathletes. It takes place over a 15km course in the woods behind the Club and the rules are simple – a team consists of two humans and a bike and they must all stay within 10 metres of each other, otherwise they can organise themselves however they like.

Strictly for maniacs, or so you would think. Having watched them last year, most of them seemed to be enjoying it. Teams can register using the form available on our website, lonely hearts can contact me with ‘have bike seek partner’ or ‘seek partner with bike’ and I’ll put you in touch with each other.

Our organiser, René, has a small number of specific jobs he needs to fill on the day (marshals, etc). If you would like to help, please contact him.

Still time to join the Ergo League.

Just like last year, the initial enthusiasm for the Royal Winter Ergo League fizzled out after Christmas. The event runs until the end of March so there is plenty of time left to get into the game, or improve your score if you’re already in it. To remind you, all you have to do is pull a 2k ergo and let me know your time and I’ll work out your score adjusted for age, sex and weight.

Here are the rankings as they currently stand:

1 JEAN-BENOIT
2 ANDY
3 DAVID
4 KEVIN
5 CAROL
6 LUC
7 PETER P
8 ANDREW
9 CLAUS
10 JEREMIE
11 FRANCOIS

Er … ladies … ?

A night at the movies

You can’t have failed to notice the huge poster in the boathouse proclaiming the forthcoming release of La Régate, the long-awaited feature film about … rowing. A couple of years ago, when it was in the making, a few Royal rowers answered the call for volunteers to act as extras in some of the scenes at Hazewinkel.

Well, it’s finally arriving, by way of some prizewinning appearances at various festivals. The avant-première is on Tuesday 23rd February, at UGC De Brouckere, and the Belgian rowing community is invited to join the VIP guest list – at the special discount price of €6. I’ll be terribly disappointed if there’s no red carpet.

To take advantage of this offer, you will have to request tickets from Marc, before the 16th, giving the name(s) and number required. You can read about the film here, and if you wish join it’s Facebook page. There will probably be a sizeable Royal contingent going along so be prepared for a drink or two together afterwards.

The quality of mercy may not be strained but …

… Brussels’ very own River Senne is a bit cleaner than it used to be, thanks to the huge water purification plant by the Buda Bridge. You may not be aware, but the Canal embankment as you approach the Ring viaduct is actually a narrow strip separating the Canal from the Senne.

The ‘red sheds’ opposite the Brussels/Vilvorde frontier are actually built over the river. It’s one of only two locations within the city limits where the river is actually visible.

On Tuesday 16th February, the organisation ‘Coordination Senne’ is including a trip around the water-treatment works as part of their monthly programme of guided visits to bits of the river. These visits are combined with a ‘café’ event afterwards, and the Royal has offered to host this next Tuesday. A few of us will be taking part in the visit, which costs the princely sum of €3. If anyone else would like to join, I’m sure there are still places free – inscription via the Coordination Senne website – click on ‘Mardis & Cafés de la Senne’.

And a trip to the Head

If anyone would like to spectate at one of the great rowing occasions, Rebecca and Dorota are planning a trip to London to (amongst other things) watch the Head of the River Race which as you will recall last year was won by a Belgian (and seven other blokes) beating the best that British and Europe could throw at them. The race is over the Boat Race course (in reverse) but with 420 eights taking part, is a lot more interesting – and accessible.

*If you fancy a long or short weekend in London with a rowing flavour – and probably a beery flavour too – contact Rebecca.