500 MAN-YEARS ON THE RIVER FOR QUEEN'S MASTERS
27 April 2020
The 12-man Masters squad of The Lady Victoria Boat Club, the alumni rowing club of Queen’s Rowing, recently achieved a major milestone of a cumulative 500 man-years on the River Lagan and elsewhere in pursuit of their beloved sport.
Lady Vic, as it is affectionately known throughout the rowing fraternity, exists primarily to encourage and support student rowing at Queen's, as well as to raise the overall standard of the sport in Northern Ireland, throughout the island of Ireland and worldwide.
Open to anyone who has ever rowed for, coached or supported the Men’s or Ladies’ Boat Club – be it for one term or many years – membership is available at an annual subscription of £25. Members and other alumni also have the opportunity to donate to Queen's Rowing through the donor scheme operated by the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO).
While Lady Vic was established in the autumn of 1948, the student boat club at the University can trace its origins back to 1864 and the days of Queen’s College Belfast. On May 6 of that year, T G Houston, Matthew Leitch, S J McMullan, W H Dodd and several other students, all of whom intended to stay in Belfast during the long vacation, founded the Queen’s College Rowing Club. This Club, however, lasted for only two seasons and Queen's Rowing, as it is today, was founded in 1931 by D B McNeill and J W Rigby. The 90th anniversary celebrations are already being planned for next year.
An extensive history of Queen's Rowing and Lady Victoria Boat Club can be found on its website, which includes contributions from D B McNeill (founder member of Queen's Rowing), Iain Kennedy (Olympic oarsman) and by James ‘Dusty’ Anderson, who passed away in March 2019. Ivan Nelson is the current Club archivist.
Nowadays, Lady Vic crew members can usually be found training, as often as three times every week between September and July, in the Club’s racing eight on the River Lagan, under the watchful eye and careful direction of cox and coach, Maurice Warnock. The winter training (September to April) is designed to build stamina for the long 5k Head of the River races, while summer training (April to July) is for the shorter 1k anaerobic events.
As the current squad boasts 4 members who are in their 70s, race entries – with age handicap – are usually in the Veteran G category, within the Masters division of racing, under the auspices of Irish Rowing. The age related handicap system is carefully calculated and creates a very competitive and close finish to races.
Recent successful wins for the Lady Vic squad have included the Belfast Sprints, along with the Portadown and Craigavon regattas.
Lady Vic celebrated the occasion of their 500 man-year achievement at the Annual Dinner of the Club, held in Riddel Hall on Friday 30 January 2020. Guests included Nathalie Trott (Director of DARO), who herself was an accomplished oarswoman rowing for Cambridge.
Commenting on the evening and the landmark achievement of the Masters squad, club stalwart Douglas Ferguson said: “Many great friendships have been forged down through almost 90 years of rowing at Queen’s and indeed through the activities of the Lady Victoria Boat Club over its 70 year lifetime."
Club President, Ricky Caruth commented: "Our aims, whilst supporting Queen's rowing through coaching, running of regattas and of course financially, are to continue these friendships through Lady Vic rowing and social activities, such as the Annual Dinner, Henley Royal Regatta and other regattas throughout Ireland and Europe. Representing Queen’s was certainly one of the highlights of our rowing careers and it was good to see so many Queen's Rowers at our Annual Dinner."
Maurice Warnock, coach and cox of the Masters squad, added: "As ever, many thanks are due to Queen’s Sport for their commitment and support of Queen's Rowing and for providing boat storage facilities for us in the Queen's Sport Boat House. Also thanks to the captains of the student clubs who have facilitated our ‘on the water’ training times.”
Included above in the Masters squad celebrating their 500 man-year achievement at the Lady Vic Annual Dinner are (from left): Paul Donegan, John Cassidy, Dermot O’Hara, Maurice Warnock (Cox), Maurice Maguire, Ricky Caruth (Club President), Patrick J Keown, Andy Frew, Tom Trinick, Doug Ferguson, Roddy Clarke and Ron Warwick.
For general enquiries about this story or to submit a graduate news item, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO), Queen’s University Belfast, on telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.
During the COVID-19 crisis, the Development and Alumni Relations Office is endeavouring to remain in contact with the University’s graduates and donors, and to promote online networking initiatives, to keep Queen’s alumni and supporters connected.
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