Results and reports by Event

Day 1

We were quite fast.

As fast as LMBC.

Unfortunately Pembroke were lightning.

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 19:23

Day 1

I want to be positive about this and I feel it's justified. I know that's easy to say from outside the boat but today was not all bad, far from it. Without having been in the crew I can't really comment on how the start felt by comparison to what you've had in training but it looked good and fast. I'm fairly sure you initially held Pem at station. There was definitely steady progress on Maggie right from the gun. The call of one and a quarter from Nick was totally legitimate and, in the grand scheme of things, that call came pretty early. There was perhaps a fraction more distance taken out of Maggie but a whistle would have been premature. As Pembroke closed, Maggie started to stretch it back out to station. This can probably be partly attributed to the psychological impact of having a crew steaming towards your stern. Maggie probably got a lift out of seeing Pem close in too. Point is, you were still on station with LMBC when Pem hit you. This in itself, given the circumstances, is quite an achievement.

Soooo, turns out Pembroke are really quite quick, again. Have to say I wasn't expecting it to be over that soon either way. They'll most likely be ploughing into Maggie tomorrow all other things being equal. More importantly though, they had properly dropped Jesus by the time they hit you. Judging by the amount of time you had to clear before Jesus rowed through I'd say you were roughly on station with them, quite possibly outside. Also, Tit Hall were putting substantial pressure on Jesus by that point. Tomorrow, you are going to have this Jesus crew behind you. They are nothing special. They may well be taken out of the equation by Tit Hall but that's something to think about after tomorrow's race. For now, I wan't to make it clear that the rowover ahead of Jesus is MUCH more feasible than today's and I genuinely believe it is on.

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 19:01

Day 1:

Rowing like "that angry flying monster out of Avatar" we exacted revenge on Maggie for all the injustices in CBC living memory, with the enthusiastic support of Clare boaties past and present. Having spent all year with a 'down-seven' chip on my shoulder, my first bump ever could not have been any sweeter than this.

I couldn't ask for a better crew of flying monsters/machines/pouncing cats. Let's carry this confidence into the rest of the week!

Day 3:

Epic row. We knew this was going to be a harder bump than Maggie, but we also knew that with a strong rhythm out the start we could chase Queens' down and reel them in. I remember feeling surprised when the first whistle went quite soon, but then we had to really grit our teeth as they pushed us away again and again. With overlap coming out of Ditton, we chased them all the way down the Reach, holding strong our technique and length in the headwind, and finally catching them for the bump coming out of the railway bridge.

As we came through the bridge, I could hear screams from the bank, the ringing bell, a train roaring over the bridge, and Esther shouting the immortal and terrifying words, "CONCEDE! CONCEDE!" After Stina's blade hit their stern three times, Queens' cox finally raised his hand. It was a truly gutsy and mature first-division performance, and a bump we can be proud of.

Day 4:

We really wanted this bump, in a way as payback for last years' W2 Clare and Caius rivalry. Unfortunately, although we were slightly faster than Caius, and closed to a whistle at least once, we weren't fast enough over the course to catch them before the finish. As Seb says, though, in the first division, a rowover is as good as a bump.

It was a really sweet row, despite not bumping- we rowed the course much quicker than on Thursday- possibly due to some pressure from Queens' behind the entire way (though we dropped them towards the end), and our attack on Caius just ahead of us.

I'm really proud of the crew this week, we went out and gave it everything on all four days, and came out of it up two. A victory worth celebrating.

Uploaded Saturday 27th February, 18:13

Day 1

Starting 10th, Chasing LMBC, Being Chased by St. Catherine's

A fairly textbook bump as it goes. After a nice paddle down we all felt fairly confident that if we went out and rowed like we have been this term then it would go well for us. Our start had a touch of the first day nerves about it but the rhythm coming out past the outflow was nice and we slotted into our fifth gear. We steadily moved up on Maggie through First post reach, getting two whistles on them around First post corner, we got a little excited and started to row outside our technique and Maggie possibly pushed us off a little meaning it felt like we were on two whistles for a long time. Coming out of Grassy we started to eat into LMBC again before bumping just opposite the Plough.

On a personal note I *loved* Nicola's reaction, we held it up, pulled in and Nicola turns to the bank parties to frantically ask if we did bump. And with good reason, twice in the Mays 08 our first year Clare W1 got close to Maggie only to discover they had bumped out ahead. The first day the bell came out, we held it up, pulled in and told we had technically rowed over. It was amazing to finally hit them!! The support from everyone, old and new, has been incredible- thank you!

Day 2

Chasing Pembroke, Being Chased by LMBC

Pembroke having rowed over behind a fast Christ's and a slow Queens' bump yesterday, today was going to be a case of can we get to Pembroke before they get to Queens? As it played out, we went off well and were slightly inside station as Pembroke started to eat into Queens'. Coming into First Post Corner I was aware that we weren't gaining on them, and apparently were falling back as Pembroke smelt the bump ahead. We pulled it back to within two lengths as we cam down the gut, but Queens' crumbled and Pembroke got them on the exit of Grassy. Christ's 3 ahead got Caius just after that and Catz got LMBC behind, leaving us with Jesus a very long way a way in front. Nick thought about the possibility of making us race for the double over bump but instead got us to drop down two to a more head race rhythm for the rest of the race. Unlucky maybe, but as Seb said, all that matters is that in the long term the general trend is up, a rowover when there was no-one left to chase really is no bad thing.

Day 3

Chasing Queens', Being Chased by St. Catherine's

We felt pretty confident that we could get Queens' today, though we knew they would put up a fight. It turned out to be somewhat of an epic. After a short panic about the keys to the boathouse being locked inside the boathouse we set off into the wind and the stream for a rather short warm up. I think the tailwind threw us a little bit and Queens' came out looking to scare us and were right on our tails on the row down.

But off the start we battled through into a nice rhythm in the head wind, but without seeming to move into them. A whistle down the gut, a nice together push and a nice line by Esther meant we had two whistles coming out of Grassy. A huge cheer from crews bumped out down Plough reach along with the our vocal bank party assured us we were close and even had overlap into Ditton. Crews on the bank meant we had to take the corner wide and we dropped back from them and the wind started to take its toll on the neatness of our rowing. Three whistles and shouts assured us we were close but the bell didn't come out and the reach seemed to go on and on. Our technique came and went but everytime it went we pulled it back and pushed harder, convinced they were just there. Once or twice the boat lurched and I thought "Oh, no...." but we pulled it back. Finally the bell came out, just as we went under the Railway Bridge and we put in an almighty surge, Esther made a battle cry of "CONCEDE you ******" (not that I heard it) and the boat lurched again. Apparently we'd be tapping their stern for a couple of strokes but on the one with the lurch it was finally acknowledged, and after an epic row we had finally bumped them. Queens' thought they were going to get away, and I am so proud of our determination to get that bump!

Uploaded Friday 26th February, 22:02

Day One

I think we were all extremely nervous about this. We knew we could get Maggie, we'd proved we could get Maggie but then on the last couple of days we started to get Catz jitters. Completely unfounded as it luckily turned out - they were nowhere.

We were a little highly strung on the start but settled well and the fifth gear transition was sweet. It wasn't long before Nick started yelling a series of ever-decreasing fractions, and we ate into them bit by bit. The push on the 'kill' call from the bell was great. And it was the first time I've ever actually seen the contact get made - watching Stina's blade tap their stern was niiiice. A good 'textbook' bump, as Jess says. And so well-deserved.

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 19:28

I thought I might find this hard, watching you guys get "my" bump. It wasn't. It was sweet and I was so happy and proud of you all. Well done xxx

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 19:05

A great effort - a first bumps experience for many of us, and a very enjoyable one! A pity we couldn't show our true form on day 1 due to unfortunate arrangements of crews in the lineup, but I felt we improved in each subsequent race, and things just kept on getting better.

Girton got railed before we really got into a good rythm (~1 Minute) but the other two races were a bit more of a slog (2 minutes ish?).

On the third race, we got to within a canvas of Tit Hall quite quickly, but Nick was ringing the bell for quite some time and it took us a while to make up the final push to get a bump.

LMBC put a bit more of a fight in early on after the first whistle, but once we got to within 2 whistles the bump came comparatively quickly - lots of power went down at the right time in the last race.

It's been a pleasure to row with M2 this term, it has proved to be a good crew and we have come on a long way in a very short space of time. Roll on Mays!!!

Uploaded Monday 1st March, 0:20

Day 2: Job done. A swift bump on Girton shortly after the motorway bridge. The 'attack' move was used quite effectively to seal the deal so it must have been around a minute in. If we got some bow-cam footage(?) then we'll have exact timings. I was most pleased with how much of a gap you opened up on Fitz. We knew Girton weren't the fastest crew around but I'd thought Fitz might put a bit of pressure on.

More of the same on Friday. Things are likely to take longer to develop so we should have a bit more to reflect on afterwards. Just establish that rhythm like we've had in the bursts, that's where you started to move on FaT in Pembroke Regatta. Then we can use the attack to proper effect instead of sticking it in as an improvised finishing move. I look forward to seeing what you guys can do now that the whole bumps thing is getting a bit more familiar.

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 21:17

Day 1: After a sizeable delay apparently caused by a pile-up in the W2 division, M2 were freezing but focused. Unfortunately, despite a good start and a fantastic effort at the attack call, the difference between Girton (two spaces ahead of us) and Peterhouse was just too great. Their bump occurred at about 1:30, about halfway down First Post Reach. We then set our sights on the overbump, apparently within reach (according to Nick), but soon they too bumped out and the river ahead of us was completely clear. We setted into a chunky row-over and pretty soon it was all over.

A frustrating day, not entirely reflective of the relative qualities of all of the crews involved but rather of where they happened to be placed. A certain saying about "good" and "lucky" crews comes to mind - unfortunately this time we weren't lucky. At least we can revenge ourselves on Girton tomorrow.

Uploaded Wednesday 24th February, 9:24

Day 1: An amazing effort, but extremely frustrating to have almost the entire division bump out, then row past so many crews we are better than and be unable to bump them. Girton should feel scared.

Uploaded Tuesday 23rd February, 19:11

Day One Technical rowover ahead of St Edmunds I; rowover behind FaT II

A good first days of bumps, despite snow, rain, wind, stream, plagues of locusts etc.

The first rowover was almost disappointingly easy! St Ed's were bumped by Wolfson in the first 30 seconds. Something bad then happened with clearing and the race was stopped, so we rowed over the second half of the race "technically". Whatever.

The second rowever, didn't go quite as smoothly. The plan had been to bump FaT II quickly off the start, but despite gaining some ground, FaT bumped Darwin by the A14 Bridge and the overbump was gone by First Post.

A bit of nerves, a lot of cold, a job well done. Just have to get Darwin back on Thursday...

Day Two Rowover ahead of Wolfson

Despite this being the third rowover in two days, I think it would be fair to say this was W2's first crack at a "real" bumps race. A rubbishy start due to last minute tapping gave us a shaky beginning and the shock of Wolfson not disappearing showed a little. Coming into First Post Wolfson began to close and they got an optimistic whistle in the Gut. However, through Grassy and onto Plough Reach they held at about 1 length, give or take, and then finally fell back to about on station by the very end.

A good row under constant pressure. A little scrappy and panicked at times as Wolfson approached, but despite this Wolfson never came closer than 3/4 of a length. Perhaps not W2's best rowing, but it got the job done.

Enough of this rowing over nonsense. Time for a bump...

Day Three Bumped Darwin I

Got them before the motorway bridge.

Day Four Rowover between Darwin I and FaT II

Another "rowover" that fails to tell the full story. We had a terrible start but once we hit the rhythm we started munching up that ground. One whistle came about the motorway bridge and held for a long time. Coming through the corners gave us a lot of ground and we had overlap THREE TIMES down Plough Reach. One last push round Ditton and then we faded to finish on station.

It was an amazing row girls. You've improved so much this term. As the FaT cox says in his race report "...their bowball [was] possibly within touching distance..." Unfortunately, that's bumps. Why didn't we get them? Well, there's lots of things we can improve on, and will improve on. However, it must also be said that FaT II were absolutely nails. Well rowed.

So, those things we can improve on...? Let's do that tomorrow.

Day Five Rowed over between St Edmund's I and FaT II

Another day, another rowover. We knew we had the potential to catch FaT, but we couldn't catch them before they bumped out at the motorway bridge. St Ed's behind were a bit unknown as their week seems to have been quite inconsistent. Today they came to just within a length on the Reach, but we finished a good 3 lengths clear by the end. It wasn't the result we wanted, but technically it was the best row of the week.

That's six bumps races in the bag girls - it's safe to say you can all go on to Mays with lots of experience and hopefully that will lead to lots of bumps!

A good term. Well rowed.

Uploaded Saturday 27th February, 18:14

Day Two: Hey, finally, we made! No Sandwich anymore! Without even hearing the bell! We were to fast for that bloody bell! Ok, that was fun. Tomorrow might be harder but I think we can still have our fun - again!

Uploaded Thursday 25th February, 16:59