Dear Friend of Queen's Rowing

This is the first of three planned newsletters from the Lady Victoria Boat Club, the other two coming after the Head season, in April, and after Henley Regatta and the Irish Championships, in July.

Extension to Head Coach contract
I am delighted to inform you that Queen's University has agreed to a two-year extension to Mark Fangen-Hall's contract. This sees Mark's contract rolling out to September 2012, which is fantastic news. Mark has just returned from visiting the Australian Institute of Sport for a week. This was part of a coach development programme, funded 90% by Sport NI and 10% by Mark.

Rowing Academy target
To date, 167 individuals have donated to the Rowing Academy fund, whether one-off gifts or regular donations. Our target is a "base camp" of 200 donors giving a total of £28,000 annually. We're about halfway there. If we get everyone who has donated in the past to renew, and encourage new donors too, we will achieve this vital goal. Drop us a line to make sure you're in our base camp!

Student Clubs update
The Men's Club Captain for this season is James Graham. James is in his final year of Computer Science and stroked the 1st VIII last year. There are 28 Senior squad athletes this year. Quick times in the Festive Mini-Head indicate we will have very competitive 1st and 2nd VIIIs. The Novice squad recruitment was disappointing, but we have learned from this and are redoubling our efforts to have a competitive VIII by July.

The Ladies' Club Captain is Zoe Patterson. Zoe is studying for a Masters in Criminology. We have a small Senior squad, and hope to field a good lightweight Intermediate IV. There are 35 Novice women, which bodes extremely well, not just for this season but for future years.

Key dates

• Lady Victoria Dinner -- Friday, 5 March 2010 / Ulster Reform Club, Belfast (all Members and Academy Donors welcome)
  
• Wylie Dinner -- Friday, 23 April 2010 / Burrendale Hotel, Newcastle, Co. Down
• Queen's Regatta -- Saturday, 24 April 2010 / Castlewellan Forest Park, Co. Down (NB: University Championships are in Cork)
• Annual Queen's-Trinity Boat Race -- Saturday, 5 June 2010 / Queen's Boat Club, Shore Road, Belfast
• Henley Picnic -- Friday, 2 July 2010 / Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, England