Results and reports by Event

Day 2

Overall, the quality of rowing was marginally better than the previous day's, but a much greater potential could be achieved if we could reproduce some of the rowing we did in training.

The start was a lot calmer today and we moved on Tit Hall fast in the first few strokes, but as Tit Hall found their pace, they held us at station. Down first post reach, Robinson, behind us, moved in to just within half a boat length on us as they probably had planned for a 2 minute race. But we were completely unfazed by this and kept rowing how we were and watched them come into us and then fade away again. By the time we got past Ditton, Tit Hall we still holding us just within station. At this point, we stuck to the race plan and did a massive push for 20. We knew all along that the 3rd 500 would be where we made our move. Down the reach, we slowly closed up on them, and with a final big push off the railway bridge, we finally bumped Tit Hall about 200 metres before the end of the course. A very long bump.

Day 3

The general quality of rowing was much better today. The boat was more stable and it felt like people's blades were in the water for much more of the drive. Our start was still slightly panicked and it took us a longer than we'd liked to settle into a comfortable rate. We plodded along at a nice rhythm and without much effort, we left Tit Hall and Robinson to battle it out far behind us. However, the rhythm got too comfortable, so we just sat on station behind Christ's until the railway bridge, where we finally made our move. Unfortunately, this was too late. Although we gained about in 1 boat length over 200 metres, the course had run out, so we had to wind it down.

I think we all learnt that no bump is going to come if we just paddle along, so tomorrow, we're going to go out and work for it. Treat today as a semi-rest day.

Day 4

Good row in general. We went off pretty hard and stayed strong for the whole way. Christ's went off all out and caught Girton pretty fast, so hats off to them. Despite the lack of bump in front of us, we still kept pushing until the end, and managed to leave Tit Hall a fair distance behind. Also, BCD was good.

Uploaded Tuesday 12th March, 14:43

Day One

A row over behind Christ's, who cheekily bumped out before our stretch of the river...

Day Two

Bumped Tit Hall after a dominating show on our stretch of the river. Clare is, and always will be, a third 500 crew. Good row, seeing Christ's again for Day Three. Clare's first M1 Lent bump since Day 1 2009

Day 3

Rowed over, coming in close to Christ's. Going to take it tomorrow, Girton gained on Pembroke, Christ's were away from station on Girton and we finished 1/2 length on Christ's. This is ours boys, we've just got to work for it.

Uploaded Saturday 2nd March, 8:20

Day One

The warm up in fours and sixes to Jesus Lock went as planned. The eights row up to the Chesterton marshalling point was slightly jittery, but the second half of the warm up row was a lot smoother, getting good length on the stroke. After pushing off the marshalling point, a quick burst past the bottom finish and a minute's piece from the railway bridge showed some shortening of the strokes and becoming sloppy. Another standing start at the plough reach showed that we could wind up nicely. After a quick half slide rate build along the first post reach to work out those nerves, we were spinning on station. With the division just on time, we had 9 minutes on the bank before the start. A quick chat about the race plan and straight back into the boat. After the gun, we had a messy start that we feel was very much below par compared to our previous starts. Still made a quick gain of just over a length on Christ's. After the outflow, Christ's widened the gap to a length and three quarters and Robinson was about two thirds of a length on us. Lifting off them around first post corner and a tight line around Grassy allowed us to regain a length and a half's gap on Robinson. While we were still slowly eating into Christ's, they got the bump on Trinity Hall just before Ditton as we were a length on them. Switching straight to the overbump plan, we saw that Girton was just straightening up as we were half way around Ditton. A strong build for twenty out of Ditton let us walk away from Robinson and the clear water of the reach let some nice rowing shine through. Every stroke pushing us closer to Girton, a build off the railway bridge bought us within two and a half lengths of the overbump, but by then, we had run out of river. A first day row-over was within our expectations and we saw some good rowing, especially on the second half of the course. We are chasing Trinity Hall tomorrow. Good crews go up three, lucky crews go up four.

Day Two

After a rather uneventful first day row-over, the usual warm up to Jesus Lock and back to Chesterton was worse than yesterday. The boat wasn't sat and finishes were all over the place. However, after pushing off the marshalling point, the builds and standing starts were worlds apart from yesterdays jittery attempts. Evidently, the nerves had worn off. We were pushed off our station slightly earlier (30 secs) than yesterday as there was little wind. Finally, the smooth, clinical starts we had seen on so many outings this term began to show as we had the first whistle right after the start sequence. Down the First Post Reach we lost a little ground with the gap widening to perhaps just under a length and a quater. By this point, Robinson had executed their sprint start and were on us around three quarter lengths. Pushing Robinson out of our minds and focusing on the bump, a nice response to the lift call out of First Post corner pushed us closer to Trinity Hall. With nice rowing down the Plough Reach, a banked up First and Thirds M1 prevented us from getting the tightest line around Ditton, but no matter; a strong push for twenty strokes out of Ditton let us walk away from Robinson and swiftly gain our ground up to a half a length on Trinity Hall. With another build halfway down the Long Reach, we had gained to canvas length. Trinity Hall responded all the way down the reach, calling builds and bursts themselves, but the bell started ringing two lengths before the Railway Bridge and nothing they could do to stop us then. A strong push from the crew meant we had overlap within the first 4 strokes of the bell. With Bow hitting Tit Hall several times and the cox refusing to concede, we were awarded the Bump by the umpire. A good result for Dave H's 50th Bumps Race, I'd say. With Chirst's in front tomorrow, we will be looking to do exactly the same as we did today. Christ's, Cave Adsum.

Uploaded Thursday 28th February, 22:58

Day One

(Chasing Jesus, chased by Christ's: bumped by Christ's)

Today just didn't go our way; we panicked on the start, which meant that we didn't get nearly as much power down as we could have done. This meant Jesus were two lengths away from us after the draw strokes, and Christ's had come in to one length. We didn't get into our stride and the boat wasn't well sat, but we were recovering both of these and starting to look good, but then Jesus bumped Pembroke and decided they'd sit in the middle of the river for a bit, so I had to take us wide. Christ's got more warning and a much better line, so they gained on us and over the next few strokes crept up on us. We had an good push here and I could feel the difference in the boat, but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough to get clear, and as we dropped down a little bit after the push, they responded with a big push, and overlapped well past me. We did a good job of clearing the river- Well done! Tomorrow we will hopefully be far less worried, and most of the crew will have double the bumps experience they had this afternoon. We won't have to start in the outflow, so it should be a bit more relaxed. We had some great practice starts today, so tomorrow we just need to do one of those, and then settle into our nice strong rhythm.

Day Two

(Chasing Christ's, chased by Caius: bumped by Caius)

Firstly, we did very well on the start; unlike yesterday, despite the fact we were diagonal across the river, by arm nearly was nearly yanked off and Riana's blade hit the bank on the first stoke, no one panicked, and we recovered really well, staying pretty much on station. Our satrt sequence went to plan, and we did manage to lengthen out on the stride call. In the middle section we shortened up a bit, so we have that to work on tomorrow. Once again, the thing that went really wrong was when Christ's bumped Jesus in front of us. I had seen they would do it, so I kept tight into Grassy Corner, hoping they would clear to the outside, but unfortunately they decided to clear to opposite sides of the river, leaving us a slightly less than boat size gap for me to aim at. It was at this point that Caius took their opportunity and had a massive burst and as we but pressure down on bowside they hit stroke's rigger. We have some yellow paint and little bits of their boat to prove it (which does raise the question of whether they had a bow ball on...). As we said girls, we had a much better row today and were generally much more relaxed. There is still a bit of length, and I think there would have been a little bit more 'sqeeze' to come from the legs if we'd kept the length, but overall, I think we all enjoyed it, and that is what matters most :)

Day Three

(Chasing Caius, chased by Newnham: bumped by Newnham)

I think we generally had a good row today, apart from Newnham bumping us. Our start was the best so far, and we held our own well, but I didn't get the best line out of First Post Cornerand our strokes had shortened up a bit and Newnham realised we were getting closer and they might be able to get us. They had a little bit of a psychological edge over us at that point and made the most of it. Once again, we're not too down about it (plus Tim gave us Creme Eggs).

We'll go out with nothing to lose Day Four, apart from our spoons (and I'll buy us all wooden spoons and cut a 1/4 of them off if we row over today- 3/4 spoons! Yay! So, I want every stroke to be long and powerful, I'll remember to think about the quickest line etc and we'll see what happens!

(I've had a look at the photos, and the line I took left us quite vulnerable to the boat realising that they might be able to push straight into us...which unfortunately they did, but they would have nearly gone into the bank if they hadn't got us!)

Day Four

(Chasing Caius, chased by Queens': ROWED OVER)

An excellent row, there was more balance, more length and complete commitment. Anton's advice on tactics was dead on, as was his pushing out. We did a build after 50 seconds to shake off Queens', and with a variety of pushes and builds held them pretty much on station, (Newnham deserve congratulating for their excellent clearing when they bumped just before Grassy- I didnt need to majorly change line) until after Grassy, they then crept up a little bit, but one again we had a big push around the corner and held them off. We were then at the head of a five boats fighting it out down the reach. About half-way down the reach Catz got Queens'. There was still a small threat from Kings, since they were less than a length behind Catz, so only just over 3 length's behind us and under major pressure from behind, then as we went under the railway bridge, King's were bumped by... someone, which meant we were definitely rowing home. Being a cruel and horrible person, I didn't let you bring it down, however, because I could tell that if I did that you might all die and we'd stop moving. When we got to the finish, everyone, but particularly bow pair and stern pair had given it all they had, so proud of you :) and we managed to all get dressed up beautifully for BCD even after our post row over cake and prosecco party, and I got my voice back!

Uploaded Tuesday 25th February, 21:35

Day 1

We started off chasing Magdalene M2. We go into tomorrow's race ahead of Magdalene M2. Therefore, in relative terms, we bumped Magdalene M2, QED.

...yeah, it was wishful thinking to suppose we wouldn't get bumped today. We were faster than Magdalene, but Tit Hall were so much quicker than us it was ridiculous, and there's not much we could have done to negate that. The colossal silver lining to this cloud, however, is that the Hughes Hall juggernaut overbumped around us so they won't be chasing us tomorrow. Plan for the next race: we've got a day's rest afterwards, and we know Magdalene won't catch us, so let's bomb it off the start and hope Tit Hall crab. When that doesn't happen, we can get the row-over whilst working on finding that elusive rhythm. Hopefully by day 3 or 4, Tit Hall and Hughes'll have moved on up, and sent down weaker boats we can have a proper go at. Today could have ended up a lot worse, and we actually rowed quite well given that two-thirds of our crew hadn't been in a boat before last term, never mind rowed in bumps. Bring on Day 2.

Day 2

In a way, it's disappointing that we bumped today. Firstly because, to be fair, we didn't deserve it (their rudder broke and they crashed after First Post), secondly because it now means we've got an angry Tit Hall II chasing us tomorrow, but mostly because it meant we weren't able to enjoy the rest of the course after some fantastic work holding Magdalene II off.

They obviously realised with Catz chasing them that catching us today was a do-or-die affair, and they went all out to do. Meanwhile, we were planning on a 2.5k rowover and couldn't afford to kill ourselves off the start in case they had more length on Catz than we expected. They were making ground on us right the way to first post, getting it down to within half a length, and it's very much to our credit that instead of wavering and rowing short, we did a brilliant lift and started pushing them away. With no noticeable change in effort but much better technique, we stretched the distance out to at least three-quarters of a length before we were even halfway to Grassy, when Dom realised that we'd gotten the bump on Tit Hall and pulled us in. It would have been really satisfying to extend that gap and see Magdalene get eaten up by Catz, but you can't have everything.

Plan for Friday: It's Tit Hall behind us again, and they'll be hungry for revenge. Basically we'll aim to do what Magdalene tried today, only hopefully we'll be better at it than them.

Day 3

I could say a lot about this race. I could mention how well our start went. I could talk about how much better we rowed this time, actually holding Tit Hall at over a length rather than caving under pressure and letting them demolish us like on Day 1. I could admit that, yes, we were probably fortunate that Selwyn crabbed and then failed to steer (although we were making good ground on them anyway, and it would have been nice to actually get round Grassy for once during bumps), but I'm not going to bother with any of that.

Instead I'll say this: pride comes before a fall, Tit Hall M2. We may have only today discovered that the boat moves quicker when the blade's actually in the water for the whole stroke, but you underestimated us today, and it cost you. Looks like you also underestimated Catz - oops. Good luck with the overbump tomorrow; you are after all the second-fastest boat in the division after Hughes.

Plan for tomorrow: Catz are looking for blades, Selwyn are on for spoons. I'll be amazed if they don't bump out but you never know. More importantly, Peterhouse are down 2 already, and it would be a shame to buck the trend. We know how well we can row now, whatever Tit Hall's race reports say, and we're going to show the Cam that today wasn't a fluke. Cave Adsum.

Day 4

Perhaps we should have taken note of yesterday's finger-wagging at Tit Hall. We went into yesterday's race with nothing to lose, expecting to go down, and pulled a quality row out of the bag. Today it's fair to say we all expected to go up, and what do you know, we went down. We had Peterhouse down to one length from just before First Post, but couldn't capitalise on it. Selwyn, who'd crashed twice and been bumped three times, were completely different to our expectations; far from the demoralised spoonbarge we thought would be 'chasing' us, they'd obviously decided that today was the day to make up for it all. Make up for it they did, holding Catz on station and steadily gaining ground on us until they were well within a length by the end of the gut.

We took an excellent line around Grassy, but unbeknownst to us, Hughes had banked up on the inside after their bump, and having to swerve allowed Selwyn to move up to half a length. We gave it our all to push them away, but with no indication that we were catching Peterhouse, our morale couldn't hold out and rather than all working together, each of us started rowing his own race. They obviously smelt blood and redoubled their efforts to catch us around Ditton Corner. Well done guys, you gave a masterclass in recovering from a bad run of form.

Final thoughts: We started 5th in the division, we end up 5th in the division. There are worse ways it could have ended up; were it not for some spectacular luck on Day 2, who knows how far down we might have gone. Anything can happen in bumps, so to end up in the same place is nothing to be ashamed of. We had significantly less experience in a boat than most other M2s, and we've held our own over these last four days, staying just in the top half of college second boats. More importantly, we've had fun doing it, and the sheer oddness of going down, up, up, down means we've got some stories to tell. Bring on Mays.

Uploaded Saturday 2nd March, 17:05

I think we can all feel pretty positive about today's row-over. Downing II were rowing really nicely and we managed to hold them steadily for the first half of the race; Tit Hall weren't too far behind but realistically didn't look like they were going to catch us even if they hadn't been bumped by Darwin I around grassy. After we saw everyone behind us bump out we let our rowing go a little so hopefully tomorrow we can focus on pushing up onto Downing whatever happens on the other side!

Uploaded Tuesday 26th February, 22:13

Day Two

Climax denied, we rowed over. Our start was a bit frantic, but we got into our groove after the lengthen strokes. We began to lose our mojo however, as we saw more and more boats banked up and it became apparent that every boat ahead of us had bumped in the first 30 seconds. Catz and Magdalene had bumped out behind us, fat m4 were waaay behind and we weren't chasing anyone so the reach was pretty lonely. Even the boat seemed to slack off and no longer bothered to be sat. Oh special mention to the accursed cox of what I think was Selwyn m3 who banked up near enough perpendicular on one corner. We crashed into them and got slowed right down, not that it mattered at that point...

Day Three

'Character building' Nigel called it. Our start was great, strong and together. The first and second whistle came quickly and everyone killed themselves to finish this quickly and bump emma m4. We heard the third whistle and suddenly we're told to hold it up. A Churchill guy had ejector crabbed and was in the water. Apparently the churchill crew being chased by emma had rowed the entire race with that one guy trying to fix his rigger (and emma still hadn't caught them); he had mistakenly thought he'd fixed it, tried to row and ended up in the cam. Not only were we denied our rightful bump (3 whistles away!), but emma were given a bump on churchill and we had to rerow the entire course without anyone to chase. The crew chasing us were catz m3, a fast crew hungry for their blades who now had the entire course to catch us. The bumps Gods clearly look unfavorably on clare m3. The rerow was pretty torturous. I fueled myself with thoughts of how miserable the catz guys must have felt because they never got closer than one length to us. There were times when we weren't sat, but we recovered and stayed together really well. As nice as a bump would have been, that tough fight with Catz is my proudest bumps moment. Getting Blades felt great but denying them from someone else feels better.

Day Four

The sensible thing would have been to go for the over bump on Selwyn M3 and let Churchill swiftly bump Emma ahead of us. But after Churchill's competence on day two and incompetence on day three condemning us to row over, none of us were feeling sensible. Churchill's writing the following in their race report "I don't know why I feared Clare, because we left them behind very quickly indeed." hardened our burning bumping desire. The problem was that Churchill were chasing a slow crew - Emma m4 and were no slouches themselves, beating us to the bump on day 2. We nailed the start and quickly began gaining on churchill. The whistles started to come sslllloooowwwwwwwwly and my legs could have sworn the bell was broken. But eventually we bumped! A bit before grassy and not a moment too soon. Apparently Emma had died and had began going backwards (it could happen...). Anywho they were saved by the brave men of Clare M3 and continued on to row over and live happily ever after. Until next year. Cave Adsum.

Uploaded Saturday 2nd March, 16:59

Day One

Cannon bang, 5 stokes, 1 whistle, 2 more strokes, 2 whistles, 2 more strokes, 3 whistles, 1 more stroke, bell, 2 strokes, BUMP! Short but sweet! Well done M3!

Day Two

Difficult to bump when there's no boats in front! A very solid row over though.

Day Three

A rate 40 start and a good push about 2 minutes in meant that we were 3 whistles on Emma half way down the First Post Reach. So close to bumping, Emma suddenly stopped and so did Churchill in front on them and a very soggy Churchill rower was fished out of the river. A technical bump was awarded to Emma which meant a re-row for us and all the boats behind. Channeling this annoyance into the re-row, M3 pulled out all the stops and made some very solid pushes (chasing an invisible boat) to leave Catz 3 lengths behind us at the finish. Excellent rowing today M3!

Uploaded Thursday 28th February, 18:36

Day Three

Best start we had in the bumps, three whistles on Emma 4 within the first 500m. Then one of Churchill's rower thought that the weather was nice enough for a swim in the cam, and went for it. Churchill stopped, and, lucky for emma, chasing a stationary boat is easier than a moving one. Emma bumped Churchill 5 strokes before we would have gotten them and our bump was denied. On the bright side, the rerow was one of the best rowing we have done as a crew and there is always satisfaction in denying another crew blades. It's looking good for saturday. Churchill have spoiled our campaign one too many times, they are once again in front of us, lets make sure we do some serious stern smashing on saturday!

Uploaded Thursday 28th February, 18:28

Day One

After a quite frantic start we got the first whistle right after the "lengthen" calls. We settled into a nice rhythm for a few more strokes and we got what sounded like 5 whistles in a row followed by the bell a stroke after them. We went for the kill and executed Magdalene with a deadly precision. The bad thing is we almost executed 'Vera' as well, but fortunately it survived the ram in the bank. To be fair I don't think the race lasted more than 20 strokes, but I'm not sure if anyone was counting.

Day Three

The ejected Churchill guy was supposed to hit Emma's cox or at least their boat so he could kill their momentum. Unfortunately their aim for catapulting rowers is horrible. Apparently they didn't devote enough outings to fixing it. Some people are just not commited enough for rowing...

Uploaded Thursday 28th February, 17:45