Results and reports by Event

Winners of S3! It came as a surprise that we were leading S4 by some margin after the first race, given that the row was scrappy compared with training, although we were to be nudged into second by Oriel later. The result encouraged a better second race in S3: still a little untidy, with room for some technical refinement, but enough for the win.

Conditions with a light wind were perfect for bumps practice in slightly churned up water, so once our lightning-fast standing start is put into practice and the remaining scrappiness is cleared up, this boat will really move.

The head was the first event where we've been able to compare ourselves properly with immediate oppo over bumps distances. Even the shortened course was a little long for our target race distances in two weeks' time. Beating most of the crews close above us in the charts (barring day 1 victims Tit Hall, but they were seen off at Peterborough) should make for some fun racing when we line up at Pembroke Regatta and then for the bumps themselves.

Uploaded Tuesday 13th February, 1:18

S4:

We headed to Bedford on what looked to be a pretty wet day, only to be pleasantly surprised as sunshine appeared as we arrived. Walking through the town to the start (our coach thoughtfully having dropped us at the other end of Bedford) we discovered that because the river was in flood , this years race would be a mere 1500m - 500m less than what we were expecting. The crew was reasonably pleased about this, as the opportunity for a sprint would be good practice for Pembroke Regatta. The row up was not particularly good, and we got to the marshalling point nice and early, taking the time to enjoy sitting with a tree in the boat. The start felt very rushed, as encouraged by Peterborough we took it up to a excitable 36 or so. Unfortunately we didn't really hit a rhythm as the rate came down to 34 after the first minute, and rowing was at times tough because of this. It was however very strong. Approaching 2/3 of the course, we regained some of the balance and were able to put in a good push for the finish, but we did finish the course in a very very wet state. We then enjoyed sitting in the boat shivering slightly as the entire division span in front of us, and were very glad to make it back to the trailer to find some nice warm clothes. We were however pleasantly surprised to find out that as the (Very prompt) results were published that we were leading S4 by 6 seconds. Unfortunately this didn't prove to be quite enough, with Oriel College beating us by a couple of seconds in a later division, but gave us the confidence we needed to take on S3:</P>

S3:

Following the first race there was a general consensus that if we rowed as powerfully as in the first race well then we would go really really fast, giving us the two seconds we'd need to equal the best S3 times. So this is what we did. Taking the start in a little bit more of a relaxed way (reaching a maximum of 36), we settled at a (possibly a little to leisurely) rate of 33. The rowing was not quite as powerful as the previous race, with people being a little bit tired, but it was much much neater (though still plenty of room for improvement). With Mary's slightly excited call of "You're going to get under 4 minutes" we made a big push for the finish which was very effective and powerful. This was just what we needed to finish, and gave us a time of 4:28 - 2 seconds faster than previously. An excellent result and my first pot! Now we need to combine the power of the first race with the better technique of the second and we can hope to do very well in the races to come.

Uploaded Sunday 11th February, 19:54