Results and reports by Event

Lucas reports:

As festive season sets in, none of M1 had reason to be merry, for the morning of Fairbairns had arrived and the great test of Michaelmas was soon on the horizon. M1’s task was made clear, hit ‘em hard and fast out of the gate and hold on for as long as possible. Building up to race pace, tearing past the boat houses, we reached splits we had never seen all term, 1:23 by the time we passed Clare Boathouse and we were well on our way. Such a breakneck start (at least for us) was held coming through under Green Dragon, where a well-timed mental restart – matched by a rapid build back up to starting rate – allowed us to enter the P&E and Reach looking strong. A hearty crew cheer under the railway bridge carried us at pace up to Ditton, by which time we were feeling ready for our final push. With effectively just corners to go, we attacked every piece of straight river as best we could and, pushing to the limit up Newnham Reach, we were all of us praying that the finish horn could please sound after every stroke. By the time it had, we were spent. We look back on our row with great pride. What we had worked on all term had come together fantastically just when it needed to. The determination to achieve, and the grit to stick it out when it got tough, was never in doubt as soon as we got in the boat. While we narrowly missed out on the top 5, achieving 6th in the end by just 3 seconds, we are immensely proud of our row, and with what we need to work on and what we can yet achieve laid out plainly in front of us, on to Lents and further success for the Clare Men!

Uploaded Saturday 8th February, 19:52

Kizzy reports:

On the morning of Fairbairns, W1 were raring to go. An evening of carb-loading and race planning had left us well prepared, with the aim of having a strong start to the race, a strong finish to the race, and a strong middle of the race. The stars had aligned and the crew’s astrology compatibility was higher than ever! We had a quick build up to race pace and soon hit 1:38, a split we’d never seen before (and definitely wasn’t to do with the strong stream). Before we knew it, we had completed the first third of the race and were ready for a big push past the P&E. Responding well to Alex’s calls, we sped down the reach, ensuring we delivered on the ‘strong middle’ part of our race plan. As we reached Ditton, we were heading into the final third of the race. Pushing into and out of the corners, we kept the rate at 34 and soon we could hear the motorway bridge. With lungs and legs burning we upped the rate and emptied the tanks, and finally the finish horn sounded. We were very happy with our performance and so proud of the result; all our hard work over the term had truly paid off.

Uploaded Saturday 8th February, 19:51