Results and reports by Event

Oh well, better to have loved and lost.

After managing to fathom out the CRS (many thanks to Gunther) 3 days before the race, after we weren't allowed to use the Empacher. And having changed the order 2 days before the race, we would've benefitted from a bit more time to gel together and get used to the boat.

We went to Henley on Thursday evening and got a quick outing in on the river before nightfall, we were sparring with Cantabs, who were slightly quicker than us but not by enough for us to get downhearted, and I definitely enjoyed taking them on.

Another outing in the morning, with Nick coaching and a further gradual improvement in the quality of the rowing. We knew the crews we were up against were quick and had beaten us at Marlow and Met Regatta's but everyone in the crew believed we could do it.

We knew the race would be a long one, a strong headwind and going against the stream. We were the first boat off from our event and managed to find Nick Shepherd just before we boated, who bank partied us, with Boatman Nick absent as he was coxing Cantabs in the qualifying race 15mins after ours.

We pulled in front of the stakeboats and ignored the marshall's "go" as agreed, and started when Dave told us to. The start wasn't spectacular but it did the job. We settled in to a pretty solid rhythm which we maintained for pretty much the whole race, Colgate University started a long way behind and it was hard to tell if they gained at all. Before i knew it we had finished, we did a cool down lap and landed the boat. Returned it to the racks and stood outside, we all felt fairly OK about the row and when the tannoy came on I got butterflies.

We knew if we had qualified we would be the first ones to be announced, so hearing Colgate called out meant we knew the deal. I was really disappointed that we didn't get the result we were hoping for and given a few more days training i think we could have made more of a mark.

It was a real experience though and I'll be back there next year. And so ends my Captaincy, it's been a rollercoaster ride, with Bumps results and changes that I'm proud of. I'd like to thank everyone that's made it easier in some way, and I'll see you all next year.

Uploaded Saturday 30th June, 22:01