Big Man Story
Alistair Potts
Race and we've got some big new names in the squad but it is the curious
Mr Ripley that sticks out more than all.
Imagine if Bjorn Borg joined your rowing team. Or Jack Nicklaus. Or
Jimmy Conners. Same sort of thing. Andy Ripley's forty-nine but was a
rugby super-hero, and afterwards found fame on the BBC's SuperStars
programme, which was basically about being hard. Squat jumps, cycling,
swimming and running like an idiot, that sort of thing.
Only the thing is we don't _really_ know him we're all too young. Or
German, or American. Most of the squad are less than half his age and
he's a pretty unorthodox shape for a rower. He's a rugby forward. I
guess the coaches know him better, but he's older than them too.
So we start off with all the physiological tests in the gym which
involve weights and ergs and lactate tolerance and pull-ups and Andy's
mostly middle of the pack of about 35 contenders, maybe a bit above
average. But then we do the peak power on the erg which is a bit of a
laugh, six strokes see how low you can split. I don't remember the
results, but I remember hoping that someone would go under 1:00 - no-one
did. What I do remember is that Andy, this huge quiet guy with crazy
hair, was second. Out of everyone. Olympic medallists included.
And so things settle into their normal routine and Andy just becomes one
of the boys. He's not self-consciously trying to get down with the kids,
he's just chatting and laughing and getting on with it and very quickly
everyone really forgets he's different (except when the press turn up)
and he's just one of the guys at the lower end of the squad trying to
keep improving enough to survive the next round of chops. If I'd have
been him I'd have driven myself to Ely rather than sit in a rubbish
minibus. But that wasn't his style. Everyone likes him, but everyone's
looking out for themselves too. The thing is he's really a novice at
rowing, he's just been at it a year.
Of course he was strong as an ox. For an old bloke he was unbelievable.
At the erg championships he was frustrated that he was a little short of
his fiftieth birthday which would have meant a different world record. I
don't remember his time but I know he did set a new WR in his fifties of
6.07.
So one Saturday between outings Robin announces we have to watch one of
his videos which is pretty normal so we all pile into the video room
preparing for twenty minutes of gawping at ourselves and Robin says bla
bla technique bla bla pay attention bla bla catch release bla bla and
presses the play button and we get... "Andy Ripley's Workout for MEN" on
video which someone had picked up from a bargain bin for 99p or
something. Complete with cheesy music. A good gag.
The writing was on the wall when Andy didn't get selected for the two
Trial 8s in December. But Harry's been really keen to get Andy rowing
well. Harry would always spend an extra amount of time with any boat
Andy was in, I think he was really really keen to see if he could get
him up to scratch. I spent many hours in the coaching launch with Harry
that winter and Andy would often be in some pretty awful quad which just
looked miserable on a cold winter day and I'd be freezing to death but
Harry would have them stop and do drills and stuff. I think all the
coaches wanted to keep Andy on. But they're pros, and fair, and know it
would be wrong on all fronts to cut him any slack when it comes to
selection. So they didn't.
So it's now early January and we've only been back from Spain for a
short time and the way it works is that you all turn up every day and
Robin reads out the crew lists and it's pretty much mix and match with a
good mixture of eights and fours and pairs. Only today he's reading off
what's obviously an A crew, we've got Smith and Forster and Webber and
Crombie and the rest of what would be the Blue Boat. I think Story was
the only one not there. So Ripley fills his spot.
And we're psyched because this is the first time the (nearly) best eight
have been out and I'm thinking the coaches are trying an new idea to get
Ripley rowing better by sticking him with the best possible people. And
it's an awesome January afternoon with no wind and no clouds and the
boys are rowing really well. And we're coming home after an 22k outing
and we all know it's very good and we're excited because this is the
boat. It's late in the afternoon maybe 5pm and the water looks like oil
and the only colours are deep purples and oranges and reds because the
sun's almost gone and I remember it so clearly because I was thinking
this is so strong we're going to go faster than any boat ever, I think
everyone was so excited at what Robin and Harry had built, and wandered
what Andy was thinking because pretty much this was a good as it gets.
And I'm silent for a change because the coaching boat's gone off and all
you can hear is the boat and I can see the Cathedral which is the only
thing you ever see at Ely. Apart from cows and reeds. And the Cathedral
is black against the purple sky, and we're all thinking about the Race.
And the boat is flying at twenty-two.
Of course it wasn't a strategy to improve Ripley at all, it was (in his
own words) 'a last cigarette offered to a condemned man'. It was the
only time the coaches did anything sentimental in all the time I was at
Cambridge. Without wanting to sound too melodramatic, I think that was
the last time I saw Andy. That's how it works. People just disappear.
Andy did that very evening.
Three months later, and Andy wrote a great piece about his time with
CUBC for the Boat Race programme. It said that after he was dropped, he
went back to his college boat club to row on the Cam. And as he toiled
with the rest of his crew, his cox exhorted: "Row like Andy". No-one had
ever said that before. It made me smile. I like to think Harry smiled too.
*****
He's battling prostate cancer now:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2094-1838551,00.html
Ewoud Dronkert
> So this is September 97 [...]
Fabulous, read it with pleasure.
--
E. Dronkert
Stamps
Brilliant read Alistair, very emotive. I knew Andy from when I rowed at
Bewl Bridge - we had a senior 1 group there but Andy had joined as a
novice and was rowing with the veterans. I don't think I was ever in
the same crew as him, but he was a very nice guy who would build me up
- I remember him saying I must be a bit of a monster on the erg, and I
was pretty chuffed. Of course, a few weeks later we ended up side by
side on the ergs on a typical Bewl morning - windy and unrowable - and
were doing something like a 20 minute piece. Obviously he thrashed me,
and not only that but he wound it up for the last minute or so, and it
is the only time I have EVER seen an ergo bend in protest. It seemed to
be warping, shuddering and generally not coping with his huge size and
power, quite amazing and I'm still not sure what was happening to the
machine, something weird anyway. The other rowers were gawping by the
time he finished, extraordinary.
Mark
David Gillard
paul_v...@hotmail.com
did he row in The Boat Race, or was this the source of that?
Thanks,
Paul Smith
Jon Anderson
> I've heard it said "Ripley was the oldest ever to row in a Boat Race",
> did he row in The Boat Race, or was this the source of that?
He was one of the last to get cut as already mentioned.
Jon
--
Durge: j...@durge.org http://users.durge.org/~jon/
OnStream: acco...@rowing.org.uk http://www.rowing.org.uk/
[ All views expressed are personal unless otherwise stated ]
david.h...@aea.be
Oldest ever to *compete* in a Boat Race was somebody who coxed me at (a
different) University, Andy Probert
Dave H
Alistair Potts
eighteen-oarsman squad for boat race day (Blue Boat + Goldie + Spare
Pair). If he had been rowing a bit longer then his stamina and strength
should have ensured a seat in Goldie, but his boatmanship let him down.
That's just how it was. He only had one year at Cantab.
David Gillard
And the less said about that Boat Race the better...