Results and reports by Event

I am *so* pleased with this result, and so proud of this crew. Our start was strong, hitting R36 and settling out to 35. The first third of our race to Chesterton was strong and powerful, holding 35 all the way. On the Long Reach, tiredness started to show as people realised just how long Fairbairns was, but any scrappiness was pulled back together by Ditton corner, where we got right back on our rhythm. The final third of the race was gutsy, and it was a shame the coxbox died on Grassy as it would have been interesting to see what we could have done with a little more cohesion to our pushes. Nevertheless, you didn't let it faze you, and continued to reel Sidney in right to the line. A fantastic race and a great way not only to end this term, but to set ourselves up for Lents. We beat all the crews immediately around us in Lent Bumps, including Tit Hall (who we're chasing) by over a minute. WELL DONE!

Uploaded Friday 2nd December, 17:25

To be honest, I think we've all got quite a lot to be pleased about from today. It was always going to be an interesting race, given as how we were a scratch crew with more subs than regular M3 rowers in it, but I'm actually pretty delighted with how things went. Our start felt nice and controlled, despite coming at relatively short notice, and a series of pushes off bridges really brought the boat speed up. I was most impressed by how people kept sitting up tall and facing forwards, even when tiredness began to set in after about Ditton: even the most fatigued rowers can, it seems, summon up a response to a bowside pressure call. Averaging a rate 29 down the entire course, we seemed to get plenty of cover off the finishes, and the call to 'push for the finish' was met with a combination of power and, I suspect, delight at such a long race nearly being over. We certainly didn't see anything of Girton M3 behind us, and I reckon we actually closed the gap on the crew in front.

The row back was what you might call 'interesting': my decision to flirt with the bank just downstream of the railway bridge didn't go down so well with everyone in the crew. That said, once bow four had untangled themselves from the reeds we treated ourselves to a decent trip back to the boathouse, with a couple of very nicely sat pause strokes putting the icing on the cake.

Thanks again to all our subs for today, and I look forward to working with you all again soon. Have a great Christmas, CBC!

Uploaded Friday 2nd December, 16:16

I wasn't quite sure how much to expect from this race, given that everyone had already done the full length Fairbairns once, and that it was literally a case of row the VIII back, then hop out into the IV+! You definitely didn't disappoint though. We settled onto just as strong a rhythm as the VIII, striding out to R32 and steadily reeling in Churchill ahead, whilst using Downing behind us for motivation. It was on the Long Reach though where this race did it for me. We had closed in on Churchill, and on Corpus in front of them. I called for Churchill to move right, and we blasted down through the middle of both of them, taking almost a seat out of them every stroke. The acceleration and connection here was fantastic. As if this weren't enough, the call to take it to the line round Ditton produced one of the best responses I've ever felt from a Clare crew, and Tim said we flew to the finish. Another great race today, and we should be proud of our position considering that we are the highest ranking crew to have already raced once today - AND we didn't let Downing overtake us!

Uploaded Friday 2nd December, 17:32

Despite having had our only outing in this crew cancelled due to the wind on Tuesday morning, we produced a strong row. We struggled to get the rate up quite as much as we would have liked off the start, but Alice's calls for build produced a good response, bringing it up a little further. We kept the power on through the whole race, even as we began to tire, and the technique stayed fairly clean as well - there were a few timing issues at one point but it came back together nicely. Moving past Sidney II at the P&E was satisfying, and we continued to pull away from them right up to the finish. This row showed your strength and commitment - well done! Coming 27th means we beat 7 other NW1s, and I think with a few outings to get used to rowing in this combination we could have come a good few places higher.

Uploaded Thursday 1st December, 18:01