siddharth sunil macklin scull trophy winner, 2017madrasboatclub.com/sites/default/files/boats...

February 2017

Siddharth Sunil Macklin Scull Trophy winner, 2017

4 | Club ElitE | February 2017

MBC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

& PORTFOLIOS (2016-17)

Publisher : Rays Publications Pvt Ltd

From the Committee 5

From the Captain's Desk 6

MBC School Regatta 2017 7

-1 + 4 = 3 Appsolutely necessary to find your PERFECT MATCH! 10

Three-quarter, half, three-quarter, three-quarter, full 12

Members' Achievements 14

PRESIDENTMr. M.R.RAVINDRA

CAPTAIN OF BOATSMr. JAMES JOSEPH

HONORARY SECRETARYMr. FARID A. HUSAIN

HONORARY TREASURER Mr. ASHISH GUPTA

MIC - CATERINGMr. ABRAHAM KANDATHIL

MIC – CORPORATE AFFAIRS& EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Mr. C.A. THEAGARAJAN

MIC – POOL & GYMMr. G.V. SUBBA RAO

MIC - BARMr. J.H. KUMAR

MIC - ENTERTAINMENTMr. S. SRIRAM

CONTENTS

MADRAS BOAT CLUB 2. 3rd Avenue , R.A.Puram,Chennai-28

website : www.madrasboatclub.com

Contact Nos : 2435 3190 / 24354751/ 24339289

General Email : [email protected]

Chambers : [email protected]

Party Booking : [email protected]

General Manager : Mr G.N.Anban Ph:9840175947

Managing Editor : Mr. Farid A Husain

Editorial Team : Sumana Narayanan, R. Krishnamohan

Designer : B. Satish Kumar

Cover picture: Siddharth Sunil, Macklin Scull Trophy winner, 2017

February 2017 | Club ElitE | 5

CAPTAIN’S DESKFROM THE

N

S

Dear Member,

I am happy to report that as far as Rowing is concerned, Madras Boat Club has had its best ever run probably in its known history, this year. MBC won literally all there was to win in the ARAE meet in Pune and followed it up with a clean sweep of the Men’s A events at the Madras Colombo meet. We sent a small team of boys and girls to the Asia Cup Rowing meet and the Asian Schools Rowing meet for the under 19 in Singapore in the last week of July. Here several Asian countries got together to showcase their best Rowers. The distance in the open event this time was 2000m and the competition was at a high standard. SIddharth Sunil of MBC placed a creditable 7th in the highly competitive single sculls event and Saketh Reddy and Philip James came up with a brilliant Gold medal winning effort for MBC in the under 19 double sculls 1000m event, clocking an excellent timing. The girls double sculls of Ananya Thomas and Anushka Dhanda placed 9th and in the single sculls Priyanka Venkatesh placed 7th. A more detailed report on the event appears in this issue of the Oarspeak.

Indian athletes, barring some like the shuttlers, boxers and weight lifters perhaps, continue to send

back dismal reports from the Rio Olympics. In rowing, although the lone Indian Rower Dattu Bhokanal placed only 13th in his single sculls line up, he shows potential to win a medal in the 2020 and 2024 Olym-pics, provided he is nurtured and trained well.

Meanwhile at MBC, Alex Mann the US Rowing Coach from Seattle, Washington and Tteja Senthilna-than, the bright and enthusiastic coxswain from Junior High in Boston, have completed 2 weeks + of a dedicated Coaching camp which Alex has conducted profes-sionally and with a lot of effort and enthusiasm. Nearly 60 participants enrolled for the camp including several PUC members, which has turned out to be a boon for Rowing at MBC. The camp closes on the 20th of August with requests from Rowing enthusiasts for more of such camps in the future.

The following proposals have been made and cleared by the Commit-tee:

OWN YOUR OWN BOATSUnder this scheme we offer mem-bers the opportunity to buy their own boats. Those who wish to use a better quality of boats can, if they wish, henceforth, join with 3 or 4 other members and purchase their own boats which will be stored in

the MBC on an arrangement where they have the first right of usage. Today a single scull costs upwards of 1.5 lakhs. Anyone interested to start a dialogue and know more of this scheme can contact the under-signed.

CONTRACT YOUR COACHES.MBC’s policy that members who are coaches should not charge for their services is no longer valid as this only serves to extract a half hearted effort from the person coaching resulting in a dampened interest from the person who wishes to learn Rowing as well. MBC Captain, with the approval of the committee, will hence forth recog-nize and appoint Coaches who may be contacted by members or by the club itself for a fixed fee per hour /month as the case may be through the office of the Captain and with the approval of the committee. The modalities and details of both of the above proposals are being worked out and the grey areas ironed out. Meanwhile members may email their suggestions to the undersigned at the mail ID given below.

Abraham KandathilCaptain of Boats Email: [email protected]

Dear Member,

In this prestigious year, where the Club celebrates its 150th year, we are happy to inform you that the first three months of our term has gone on very harmoniously.

The restoration work done by our staff after the storm Vardah was commendable. We were back on track within 24 hours with the entire place cleaned up. We lost seven trees in the storm and are taking steps to plant new trees. The garden has been spruced up with some flowering plants and shrubs. We have also planted fox tail palms along the banks.

The New Year’s Eve celebration was a grand success and the illuminated Eights on the river was appreciated by all. We successfully hosted the 75th ARAE-FEARA Regatta in January with a record 14 clubs taking part. Over 4 days, 220 races were conducted in 30 events including the ergo meter championships. Big thanks to Mr. James Joseph, Mr. Niranjan Rao and the entire ARAE Sub Committee for all the coordination. A special thanks to Mr. A. Venkat for managing the ARAE formal dinner and also compering the programme. The Russian Folk dance organised by Nalini Radhakrishnan on 11th January along with the inaugural ARAE dinner was a grand success. The inauguration of the 150th year on 1st January with the hoisting of the 150th year flag by the seniormost Rowing member Mr. Rajah Sattanathan, was well attended.

Revived after several years, the Treasure Hunt sponsored by Green Meadows, coordinated by Mr. Gopal Madhavan and Mr. Ashish Gupta, was a great success. The MBC School Regatta hosted by us, with 20 schools participating in sculling and ergo meter events, was a grand success. Our sincere thanks to Senior Member Mr. Arun Krishnan, for sponsoring the Overall Trophy, and to the PUC members who played a pivotal role in the success of the Regatta.

The rowing gym “Row Start“ was set up in record time thanks to the close coordination between Pravin Aiana and the architectural firm ADC engaged for the project, owned by Nikith a PUC member and Gowri, a club colour. The air-conditioning of the bar extension veranda, coordinated by Architect Paul, a lawn member, was also completed in record time and garden chairs with collapsible umbrellas have been provided in the adjacent lawn.

We have introduced fresh juices, fruit punches and mocktails from the reputed brand, Fruit Shop on Greames Road, who are very popular in Chennai. We have also opened a club juice counter serving fresh juices.

Our special thanks to the 150th Year committee consisting of Past Presidents and senior members who have planned the entire Celebrations to commemorate the 150th year of our club to make the year truly memorable.

Our thanks to Subramanian Balakrishnan (RS113) for his involvement in revamping the Club website. I am sure over the coming months it will be more member-friendly.

This year we have formed sub committees to assist the committee members in their respective area of responsibility. The Rowing, Secretarial, Swimming & Gym and Entertainment sub committees have been active. We are in the process of convening an Extraordinary General Meeting to seek the approval of members for some key modifications to the Articles of Association. Discussions with the labour union are ongoing and we hope to come to an understanding very soon.

We have a few challenges to face, the court cases against the club filed by some disgruntled members is a cause for concern. With the support of the members and the trust reposed on this committee we are confident of solving them.

I appreciate the support of the committee and the members in all these initiatives to make our club more homely and member friendly. We look forward to a year of active involvement of the members and to making the 150th year truly memorable.

Farid HusainHonorary Secretary

Dear Member,

In early February, our club hosted the first MBC Schools Regatta which went were well. Every year we have students signing up for the summer camp. However, the numbers have not been sufficient to have full teams from different schools. So though there have been plans for some years now to have a school regatta, it has been difficult due to this reason. Therefore, this year we decided to go with a sculling regatta and I am happy to say we had 20 schools participating.

Along with the sculling races, we had an ergo meter championship. Globally, ergo meter is the backbone of rowing. It is the basic fitness requirement for rowing and it shows the individual fitness level. In earlier years, this was not easily available to us in India. We felt an ergo meter event for the students would encourage them to overcome the mental block that most of us have about this machine. Watching the ergo meter event, I am sure spectators got a sense of how much effort rowing involves.

I am sure the regatta will grow in the years to come and the event will become a fixture in MBC’s rowing calendar. The school regatta was a good opportunity for students to hone their skills and for the newer student members, a chance to gain racing experience.

Congratulations to Sishya for winning the Overall Championship with 37 points. The second and third places were taken by Holy Angels and DAV with just a point separating the two at 18 and 17 points respectivly. The finals of the regatta were on 11th February with Ms. Omana Thomas, Principal of Sishya gracing the occasion as Chief Guest.

I take this opportunity to thank the PUC members who helped organise the regatta. I would also like to thank SWSC, Porur and Trishna Club, Bangalore for sending their student members to participate in the regatta.

James Joseph Captain of Boats



MBC School Regatta 2017


MBC SCHOOL REGATTA - 2017LIST OF WINNERS

S No. Category Winner School 2nd place School 3rd place School

1 Girls Under 13 1X

2 Girls Under 13 Erg

J Marian Belinda

Holy Angeles B Jothika Govt. Girs HSS

3 Boys Under 13 Erg

Naresh Y D Velammal Matriculation HSS

Sanjeeth Premakumar

Vidya Mandir

Mark George Chettinad Harishree Vidyalaya


Tarishi Gupta Sishya R S Jai Sree Bishop Cottons- Blore

B Jothika Govt. Girls HSS

5 Boys Under 15 Erg

V S Devanathan

DAV Muthiah K Annamalai

APS Global Aaron Melito MSS


Pooja Shankar

Good Shepard Srinika R DAV Tulasi Sishya

7 Boys Under 18 Erg

Saketh Reddy Bala Vidya Mandir

Yohan Chanda

APL Global Samay Gambhir Sishya

8 Girls Under 13 1X

J Marian Belinda

Holy Angeles B Jothika Govt. Girls HSS

Disha Sanjeevkumar

Vidya Mandir

9 Boys Under 13 1X

Mark George Chettinad Harishi Vidyalaya

Aditya Karthik

Sishya Shiva Annamalai APL

10 Girls Under 15 1X

J Marian Belinda

Holy Angeles R S Jai Sree Bishop Cottons Blore

Tarishi Gupta Sishya

11 Boys Under 15 1X

V S Devanathan

DAV Aaron Melito

MCC Aadideva KFI

12 Girls Under 18 1X

Tulasi Sriram Sishya Ahana Balaji

Sishya Ananya Sishya

13 Boys Under 18 1X

Saketh Reddy BVM Samay Gambhir

Sishya Johaan Chanda APL

14 Invitation Mixed Quadruple

15 Invitation Mixed Erg Challenge

16 Boys Overall Trophy

APL Global 15 points

17 Girls Overall Trophy

Sishya 26 points

18 Overall Trophy (Under 13 / Under 15 / Under 18 & Erg)Future Champions Trophy

Sishya 37 points

Club Pages Continues on Page no -12


"Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination." Swami Sivananda

For passionate rowers, I tend to believe, participating in Master’s regattas is a pilgrimage, our ultimate destination, a podium finish at the “World Rowing Masters”. In a way I like to consider 2016 as the year I started out on this challenging journey in earnest. As I look back and reflect on my start – it could not have been more perfect – my boat has gained momentum!

Our young and upcoming club in Singapore has had many mid- life crisis "seekers" like me and like me, the others too have been bitten by the pilgrim bug to go out there to compete in as many “Masters” as we can find. The enthusiasm is definitely contagious! Early this year we agreed to participate in the Hong Kong Asian Masters hosted by the Hong King China Rowing

Three-quarTer, half, Three-quARTER, THREE-quARTER, fuLL

“A pilgrim is a wanderer with a purpose.” Peace Pilgrim

Association. We have a good mix of crew and like pilgrims our penance started in earnest mid this year. I was signed up in the MX2 with my fellow rower Steve Davies. Steve is a strict disciplinarian; we set up our schedules and got into the drill. In fact we delighted ourselves on a sub-4 minute achievement (1000 m) during training and felt we were ready for the Gold. Unfortunately this euphoria was short lived. The scheduling of events did not allow Steve to row in both the MX1 and MX2, so he picked MX1. With just 5 weeks to go, this was really bad news, we reshuffled our crew, giving my new partner Dr. Wen and I barely 6 sessions to get our act together. Wen himself, an ex- Oxford “sweep”, is a novice at sculling, making his training doubly challenging for both of us. Isn’t the Pilgrim’s Progress meant to be a journey of twists and surprises?

Just as we got into the rhythm of training, we received yet another big surprise, Asian Rowing Federation (ARF) had decided to host an inaugural

Asian Masters in Xiamen. This got the pilgrim in me even more perked up, and I convinced fellow rower Dr. Han that this was the chance of a lifetime. Han’s ancestors came from Xiamen, and this made convincing him really easy – who would not want to go for Glory in the land of one’s ancestors. There was just one little complication, the Asian Masters and the Hong Kong Masters were one weekend apart. Now I felt like a F1 driver – weekends of adrenalin pumping races with imagined crowds cheering us on!

Let’s start with the event at Xiamen. A beautiful island in South Eastern China’s Fujian region, the city also hosts one of the largest water sports centers in China. Known as the JIMEI Lake Rowing Center, it’s any oarsman’s dream, with a fabulously large water area and an armada of boats. Personally, this was my first exposure to rowing in China. I have to admit I was completely taken aback at how far rowing has progressed there. Let’s start with boats – China now boasts of 3 large world class boat manufacturers, supplying boats to over 100 clubs that have the patronage of China’s many multi-billionaires. The current ARF president, Wang Shi is very committed and has personally invested heavily to grow the sport both in China and Asia. The outcome of these collective efforts can be seen everywhere, with the typical Chinese grass root approach churning out 1000s of potential oarsmen with high calibre coaches supported by young clubs offering the newest equipment and facilities. Rowing has evolved into a movement. I am confident that over the next 2 Olympics, China will dominate World Rowing.

Han and I were the only international competitors, giving us the privilege of


experiencing the warmest of Chinese hospitality. We had selfies with China’s Rio Olympic medallist, Huan Wenyi, the most humble and down to earth celebrity you can find. Even more priceless was a 4X outing with China’s national coaches, unimaginable, money cannot buy experiences! While Han and I missed our podium by a few seconds, we came away with Gold in our heart and giddy heads, awestruck by everything around us. As oarsmen who passionately love the sport and struggle everyday to keep our club a float, the China experience rekindled our spirits! The following weekend at the 38th Hong Kong Masters, our celebrations were very different. We came away with a podium finish and bitten by the “Medal Bug”. While Hong Kong continues to be the perfect hosts, what stood out on this occasion was a new trend, Wintech the boat manufacturer in its efforts to support the sport have now started offering boats on lease. Mike Tanner, the Chairman of HKCRA, explained to us that Wintech arranges to send their boats to events across China, Hong Kong and have even sent boats to other Asian events. As we all know the two biggest bottlenecks to rowing are water and boats. It appears that Wintech have taken a huge step to solve one of the two problems. Kudos to their efforts

and hopefully more will follow this lead.

The photographs say it all. The lesson that will stay with me is the China approach – a collective, single minded focus to success, with petty politics and other squabbles being set aside for the greater honour. They have definitely rejuvenated and injected fresh impetus into our wonderful old sport, that otherwise faced the threat of fading away over time.

What a great start in my Master’s pilgrim journey! The question is ‘will I finish strong”? Let me conclude with a favourite quote that I know will resonate with all of you fellow rowers.

“If you keep thinking, you can do better, you might do better. If you keep thinking

you have done your best, you will never do better”. - Stonepeace

Thomas Verghese

Ashwath Arjun (son of Arjun Ananth PC66) & Dhananjay Athreya (son of Lakshmi P. Athreya PUC530) who were Runners up in the Under 14 category at the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Tournament, Madurai, Feb 1, 2017

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