Reunion Row 2010

In spite of the Master’s pessimistic forecast, as ever, we had clement weather on the Cam and on the Over-60’s crew – who being ‘righteous’ were not surprised that the sun shone on them. Conditions were ideal for the 16th outing of the Over-60’s crew, and our spiritual welfare was assured by the Clergymen occupying Bow and Stroke seats. As ever though, as one wag put it, ‘we worry about the men in the middle’.

So, how did a group of Oldies come to be rowing when, according to sensible opinion they should be resting in the new Library or being punted around the Backs by their grandchildren? And therein lies a tale…

It was after the 1995 Reunion Dinner that a group of ‘less old’ graduates were enjoying their port and Madeira in the Reddaway Room after an excellent dinner in Hall. Becoming mellower by the minute, some enthusiastic soul (and it might have been one of the authors of this report) thought that it would be rather nice to take an Eight out some time, to try to regain our lost youth! Strangely there were no dissenting voices, and little else was said about it at that time. However, Ken Drake took up the baton and over the next few weeks he arranged the first outing in a Four crewed by James McQuhae, John Jenner, Richard Eldridge, Tony Page and Ken Drake with Geoff Harrison coxing. It was great fun, and over the years things progressed until two Eights have been taking part. On one daring occasion one of the Eights actually made it to Baits Bite Lock without lasting damage.

It is hard to say what motivates us. It might be for exercise. It might be attempting to relive past glories or even to seek the astonishment of non-rowing people who on hearing of our exploits inevitably express admiration that we actually do row five miles! But, the real reason is that we do it for the incomparable pleasure of sitting in an Eight with our friends and boating up and down the Cam. After all, ‘there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats’. However, time is taking its toll and in 2010 it was hard to fill an Eight and a Four. Adrian Tollett volunteered to help out in the Four, while in the Eight the present Captain of Boats was persuaded to row in the company of two past Captains from 55 years ago, Mike Duffett and Ken Drake! Geoff Harrison regained his position as cox because Derek Read was celebrating his Golden Wedding Anniversary, which we allowed as a reasonable excuse for missing this year’s Over-60’s outing! Derek will probably reclaim the seat at the back of the boat next year, since it was generally considered that his 20-strokes-maximum-then-rest-for-5-minutes regime is more conducive to stress-free progress by Over-60s. Crew-democracy rules allow us to stop if we feel like stopping, a concept apparently alien to Geoff. However, we enjoy doing a racing start occasionally, and this year our starts were peerless – certainly the boat was moving rapidly after about ten strokes and was reasonably
balanced.

Over the years our outings have been memorable and have drawn admiring responses from spectators on the bank, although one year we ran the gauntlet of irritated fishermen who were angling in a rather important competition. Happily, the fishermen wished us well in an exchange of greetings.

So, what of the future? Although additional younger ‘Over-60’ rowers would help maintain these annual events, sadly, in reality, we probably will not have two boats on the river by the time we reach 20 outings in 2014. It is our intention to soldier-on, hoping that events do not conspire to thwart this ambition. By 2014 most of us will be over or nearly 80 years old – in fact one of us is currently in his early 80s – and perhaps other things will dictate whether or not the tradition started in 1995 continues.

GEOFF HARRISON and TONY PAGE (Second VIII, 1956)