Insidertrading wrote:

One for under the radar.....The Britannia Challenge Cup.......Rule 1 (a)......No crew of a boat club of any university, college or secondary school shall be qualified to contend for this prize.......Crew 457 UTS Haberfield Rowing Club, Australia.......translated = University of Technology Sydney Haberfield Rowing Club, Australia.

No one seems to have picked up on Insidertrading's spot of a rogue entry in the Brit.

Looking at the various UTS websites it seems the rowing part* of the club is an elite centre for university athletes.

"The UTS Rowing Club is one of Australia’s leading rowing clubs and is recognised as a centre of rowing excellence in Australia. This is significantly demonstrated through 25 of its members were included in the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic rowing teams, and the Club has produced five world champions and several under-23 champions."

* the rest of the site promotes the club bar and restaurant

A baffling entry though there may well be a good reason why the Stewards allowed them in the club event instead of putting them in the student event. Perhsps some of the crew have recently finished their studies so no longer qualify as full time students. I'm sure someone on the forum will know the back story.

Good luck to all of you competing at Marlow and at the regatta in a fortnight. Is there going to be a forum discussing the speed of the crews entered now that the Stewards have decided upon eligibility?

TheTruth wrote:

Donkey wrote:

The poor guy had to stop being fat for this. At least he can hold off on his own Wikipedia edits for now

Pray for Jack! His 2013 crew of rowers were full of American ringers who were flown in who had no connection to Oxford Brookes. I suspect this years crew was banned due a Student rowing in the crew and a drug cheat not being registered in time.

All 5 did not attend Oxford Brookes and were rowing for the Oxford Brookes alumni club. That makes a lot of sense

wunderwall wrote:

Let me get this straight on the drugs cheat issue.....

Did his ban finish before he was eligible to register with a club in time for HRR or was it after?

Has he been training with Brookes during his ban?



 

Tim's ban, was for a non performance enhancing study aid so the fact that it was 2 years is ridiculous to start with.
Under the rules of his ban he was able to train with us from the 4th of April, before the deadline, but wasn't allowed to race until the 4th of June.
At no point durning his ban did he train with us or even step inside the Brookes gym or boathouse.

wunderwall wrote:

So he didn't go on any training camps with you or boat off of the Brookes boathouse landing stage?

So what you are saying is that it is ok to take a drug that is on the banned list because it is for a study aid.  How uneducated are you about drugs in sport?

If he wasn't allowed to race then he shouldn't be allowed to be registered with a club until the 4th June.  So he is therefore ineligible for the Brit?

I am not stirring.  You commit the crime you do the time and it will be good to see him back training and racing when allowed to.  Hopefully he will allow himself to be used as an example to student athletes around the country for education on drugs in sport.  I am just trying to draw a clear line in the sand over this.

No Tim was never part of a Brookes training camp, and never used any of our equipment including the landing stage.

I didn't say he shouldn't have been punished for taking a banned substance, but a longer sentence than professional athletes taking things that have been proven to improve performance seems unfair to me.

He was a member of the club from the 4th of April, that to me is a pretty clear line in the sand.

Richard Hawkins wrote:

Tim's ban, was for a non performance enhancing study aid so the fact that it was 2 years is ridiculous to start with.
Under the rules of his ban he was able to train with us from the 4th of April, before the deadline, but wasn't allowed to race until the 4th of June.
At no point durning his ban did he train with us or even step inside the Brookes gym or boathouse.

When I hear about cases like this (careless, silly, non-performance enhancing) I always wonder why there isn't something like a 3-6 month 'kick up the pants' ban instead of the blanket 2 year for anything.

Back to the crew...
I'm surprised that a crew with the history of this one (u23 teams, u23 trialists, WC medallist cox) isn't looking to row in the intermediate events anyway. I'm not surprised at all that most clubs would look at this crew and say "WTF?".

I get that you guys may have put in a genuine entry in good faith and followed every stated rule to the letter, and that the change is both upsetting and a bit annoying. What I don't get is why you (or at least the cox) is so outraged and crying 'injustice' about it. Surely you guys factored the risk of being asked to row up into your plans? You'd be pretty bloody naive if you hadn't.

That you've been asked to row up should be annoying, but begrudgingly accepted as a fair cop. Your cox has laid it on a bit thick and hasn't done himself (or you guys) any favours. 

I hope that you do get into a good frame of mind for racing and do well in the Visitors, but absolutely no sympathy if you consider yourselves hard done by.

I think the Stewards are doing well by finally taking a proper look at the issues with the Club events. Some of the rules and expectations were clearly outdated.