Results and reports by Event

Chris wants me to write a report about Friday's Race.

I mean nothing special happend, just the usual 1st Post, with Magdalene today. But Pete was confident that he passed the coner, so we had a proud row home after Matt's standard girly shout.

Really enjoyed the week boys, awesome rowing, especially on the last day.

Looking forward to next year to pay them back, it will be 1st Post again, but for different reasons!

Dirk

(P.S.: Will could you send me the password for my account, please, I can't remember it.)

Uploaded Monday 14th June, 9:07

Day Two

I have to rest my wrists for this evening's race so I will keep it shorter than Chris's tome.

The start was pretty good considering the irritating station ten and the poor conditions; and believe it or not we gained on Catz, so it seems it was not just a one time thing and Catz do have a slow start.

We managed to avoid the "unforced errors" of yesterday, but with the poor conditions we didn't hit a nice chunky 44, as we had, preceding said errors, the day before. So with our reasonable but suboptimal boat speed it seems Fitz were too fast for that days performance.

For today we have calm skies, possibility of some force 5 gusts, and the benefit of station 12.

When the eight men in front of me pick up Roger as one flowing body, And keep their heads as the eight men around them keep theirs. Then she flies, Puddles pass in one long run.

What is more, I am glad to sit in Clare, M1.

Uploaded Friday 11th June, 12:14

We knew that St. Catz, behind, are quick this term; and while we knew we'd picked up some substantial speed from a few weeks ago, we also knew that the term's results had us at a similar speed to Trinity Hall. Our plan, then, was a highly aggressive, focussed attack on Trinity Hall.

M1 have come together impressively over the past week or two, and we rounded this out with a good warm up paddle, which was otherwise uneventful --- although deprived of the usual practice start at the Plough, presumably due to the interventions of one of the Cam's more "interesting" characters (and convict!)...

Technically, we only had a so-so start --- far from our neatest, falling over at a couple points --- but with loads of power and aggression we hit our rates without any problem. For the first 30 seconds or so, we easily held St. Catz behind, perhaps even moving away slightly off the start.

We moved in on Trinity Hall substantially, getting the first whistle a little ways beyond the motorway bridge.

However, a series of "unforced errors", bringing us crashing down to one side, robbed us of a substantial amount of boatspeed, dropped us from a very sustainable and "tapped on" 39 , and started Catz on their way in to us. These errors were quite few --- probably less than a half dozen strokes over the whole race --- but they were serious and were to have a quite devastating effect on our race.

One consequence of closing on a crew so quickly is that you begin to encounter serious wash, and we got bounced around pretty badly.

Shortly before the end of the first post reach, St. Catz were about a half of a length off us, and made a devastating move in; this coupled with another bad stroke or two on our part took them from a quarter length off to bumping us extremely quickly.

When we were caught at First Post Corner, we were inside three quarters of a length from Trinity Hall and still moving up on them.

Not getting one's bump is always very disappointing. However, on the whole I'm proud of the boat today: we rowed the race we said we'd row, and kept entirely focussed on Trinity Hall in front. We made a substantial impression on Trinity Hall, and until our mini-crabs in rough water, held St. Catz, who are no slouches.

Bumps isn't over; we've just had the first round. And while you might be able to say that we're bloodied, we're certainly not yet beat, and there are three more days to make our mark with a boat which we now know to be very fast when running properly.

Tomorrow, we expect St. Catz to catch Trinity Hall very quickly. We're looking to hold off Fitzwilliam, another very competent crew. However, based on the potential today showed, I have every confidence that we will be able to do so, and perhaps even surprise St. Catz a little --- with all of the above raising the very appetising possibility of another meeting with Trinity Hall in the days to come.

Uploaded Thursday 10th June, 0:34

Day One:

Chasing Newnham, Being chased by Magdalene

A consistently fast row over the course today. Sadly it was not enough to finish Newnham who, despite being strong and powerful apparently were not good on the corners or down the reach. Magadelene behind were being put under a lot of pressure by Queens' and started to push into us at the end of the reach as they pushed off and stayed away from Queens' who were hard on their tails. A good solid start to our week and we'll go out tomorrow ready to throw the big guns at Newnham and try and get them to crumble before Girton do.

Day Two

Chasing Newnham, Being Chased by Magdalene

We've not exactly had it easy have we!?! After half a term where Pokey has had a bad rib injury, today wasn't exactly how we had planned it. GP had a stomach bug and Hannah made the very brave decision on the start that she would not row as her wrist was too bad, after making an awesome effort to row through the pain yesterday. Luckily Clare Women are both bulletproof and have some fantastic people waiting in the wings. Alice got in for GP at 4 and I moved to 6, and then on the start Abby from our bank party hopped in for Hannah.

After all of this unfortunately our start was a little sub-optimal but we did what was needed and strode out into the rhythm. Newnham bumped Girton at the entrance to the Gut as St Cats, Queens, Magdalene and ourselves concertinaed. At one point Magdalene were around 2/3rds of a length from us, with Queens' very very close to them and Catz very very close to Queens as we all came through Grassy.

I was just sitting there thinking, you are not getting us today- we had been obviously superior in the row down- and then Magdalene took it wide on the exit of Grassy, we pushed on out of the corner and it was then I felt we were safe. They were bumped on the Plough reach and a massive lift gave us some breathing room between us and Catz. We brought it home down the reach with a reasonable distance between us and Catz.

Today was incredible, we gave it everything, and every push and lift Esther called was responded to well. We can do it even in unforseen and unfortunate circumstances. Girton tomorrow.

Day Three

Chasing Girton, Being Chased by Queens'

Nicola's report says it all really. The carnage which ensued around us was epic, but we really deserved that bump. Hopefully today will go to plan- we are back in our original crew order, and Stu might get to go through all of the signals and the bell today, she really really wants to ring the bell!

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 12:24

Day Three:

Chasing Girton, Being chased by Queens'

Well, for probably the most hard earned bump I've ever had, it was a bit of an anticlimax really. We closed steadily through first post reach, and had just got three whistles coming out of First Post Corner, when we heard "They've crabbed! They've conceded!! HOLD IT UP!" While it would have been satisfying to actually hit something, and even get to hear the bell, a bump is nevertheless a bump. And we have very definitely earned it over the last few days! Tomorrow will be harder, but should be all the more satisfying for it. ;-)

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 0:43

Well done girls! I am really pleased for you- you have had such a hard week- so well deserved!

Uploaded Friday 11th June, 20:49

Day 2:

A second day of bumping, a second day of effective rowing, a second day of slight confusing between bank and cox.

Keep it up boys (and Becky)

Day 4:

I think Becky has summed it up well and I could not have been in a better crew this term. We've managed to find the right balance between work/play, training/fun and took it seriously enough without killing each other when it went wrong.

The crew we're massively hyped up for this race but dislodged embankment delayed the race. During this race I was edgy and really starting to feel the pressure of being so close to something special. The start was out best by far winding to 45 or higher, settling at a chunky and incredible 41/42. We munched our way through the one and half lengths to Selwyn II and though the bell rang for a little too long we got the reward we deserved.

For the first time I think we were not 'scrappy, but inexplicably quick' but instead just quick.

Uploaded Sunday 13th June, 10:15

Day One

So the general consensus seems to be a similar story to Peterborough: our rowing was a bit rubbish (see the evidence cited by Alice) but we got the result: a bump on Magdalene within about a minute and half (possibly a bit quicker, but you know, yelling 'hold it up' early enough has never been my strong point).

Target for tomorrow is 1) to try not to let slight crisis, such snapping rudder strings and aborted practise starts, make us tense up on the row down, and 2) bump again, of course!

First smile for the club today; let's make it the first of several this week for our boat.

Day Two

Apart from the confusion and frustration over whether or not we'd officially bumped, again, things went pretty well to plan: a bump on Catz II to avenge M1's bump yesterday and to prove that when we want to switch on we can do stuff non-spanner-spotter-worthy. Much of the row down to marshal was focussed and sat, and it was particularly satisfying to trail Magdalene II so closely down to station that we had to put in a few pauses down First Post Reach. The practise start came off nicely and the build up Plough Reach was strong and convincing.

Our real start was confident, winding to 41, settling around 36 and I think closing slightly on Catz as they drifted right out and took an 'experimental' (their word) line around First Post Corner. As we headed into the corner I was convinced we were going to bump and the kill call produced a fantastic effort to finish the job. Heading into Grassy we got the bump...Catz were in denial so we had to keep going into Plough Reach, panicking slightly by the calls from the bank to wind it down when we weren't sure if the bump had been awarded. But bump we had, just as planned.

Let's go and do it again...

Day Three

...We did it again.

We set a good pattern off on the row down with a real feeling of determination and pride in what we'd achieved already. I'm sorry boys, but this feet-out stuff really seems to work! Our practise start felt convincing to me, and possibly having a sub at storke helped to focus us because it seemed to come off pretty neatly.

Our real start was something of a different story: a bit scrappier and settling to a rather excitable 42 rather than 35...but so what? It did the job. FaT III may not have been such a tough opposition as Catz II, but I think we upped our game today. Well, apart from certain obvious issues - don't forget Rob's mantra, guys, 'blades in the water, blades IN the WATER' - oh, and the pretty special response to the 'kill' call. Regardless, the adrenaline was pumping and we weren't going to give FaT a chance.

May the washing machine strike again.

Day Four

Wow. I'm not sure what there is to say really except that you guys aboslutely rock (and not just when sitting it's going very wrong). We really went all out today - I don't think the rate dropped below 40 until about 5 strokes before we were told to hold it up. After sitting around waiting for the grassy island to be removed from first post reach, we had alot of energy just waiting to be released. I'm pretty sure a reasonable amount of that went through the air at various points, but we were just holding on so we could bump in front of the spectators at Grassy, right?

I've loved this term so much and I'm so happy that you guys have got what you've been working for.

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 18:06

Day 3:

Chasing F.A.T. III, Chased by St Catz II

'Scrappy but inexplicably quick' seems to be our crew's motto, and today we didn't disappoint. A pretty average start, but it came together nicely, and soon we had closed to within 1/2 a length, as we rounded 1st Post we heard the bell and attacked, unfortunately we got overly excited and it took longer than it should have done to make contact. But make contact we did, and despite being unsure if the bump had actually been awarded for the 3rd day in a row, it had. Next up its Selwyn's turn to fear us...

Day 4:

Chasing Selwyn II, Chased by F.A.T. III

Today was the day when we really got our act together, rowing well throughout, having the blades in the water makes a big difference. We quickly made up ground Selwyn and beofre our start sequence had even finished, we had a whistle. This spurred us on further and got to the bell as we were rounding first post. We were about 2 feet from their stern, and they held us at that for a few strokes before the inevitable happened. A great term's work, and blades are the perfect reward. Thanks to evryone who rowed in this boat throughout the term, you've really made me happy.

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 17:29

An amazing term guys - thank you very much! De-novicing and then blades, beautiful. M2 pride.

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 16:19

Spanner Spotter

<a href="http://www.spannerspotter.com/v/mays-wed-m3-2010-06-09/Clare M2.flv.html"> http://www.spannerspotter.com/v/mays-wed-m3-2010-06-09/Clare M2.flv.html</a>

Uploaded Friday 11th June, 23:42

Day 1:

As with Peterborough, there's far more in the tanks in terms of technique. We were lucky to be chasing Magdalene rather than a stronger crew who could have taken advantage of our splashiness, air strokes and poor sitting to pull away from us. However, there's definitely a positive to take away from this - if we can still bump (and bump quickly) with a broken rudder, aborted practice starts, and frankly sub-par technique, then tomorrow when we get our heads in the boat and row as well as were last week, Cats should stand no chance.

According to our predictions guru Chris Cav, tomorrow is the most important day of our campaign. Let's focus and get the result we deserve.

[as a footnote - I was heartened to see that, after hearing the stories of a crew holding it up on instructions from a (non-marshal) bystander and thereby getting bumped, we kept rowing for at least four strokes after the marshal declared the bump - "dammit, we row until our cox tells us otherwise!"]

Uploaded Thursday 10th June, 19:18

Day One - rowed over

Chasing Downing II, chased by Corpus I

A frustrating day's rowing. From the bank it all looked a little average. We sat just inside station on Downing for most of the way (Corpus never really threatening) and it just never sparkled. It closed to 3/4 of a length by the finish - faster, but not fast enough today. It wasn't a bad row, but it wasn't the best row. I think you were a little too relieved to be moving away from Corpus to really have the hunger for Downing. Tomorrow, the best row will be needed to catch Downing II before they catch Fitz, but I believe you can do it.

Day Three - rowed over

Chasing Fitz I, chased by Downing II

A similar story to Day One - faster than Fitz I, closed down to 3 whistles at the Plough/ Ditton, but the gap opened up down the Reach. A bit more pressure from behind may prove the the stick to Anton's Kitkat carrots.

Uploaded Wednesday 15th June, 20:14

<a href="http://www.spannerspotter.com/v/mays-thurs-w2-hd-2010-06-10/Clare W2 HD.flv.html">http://www.spannerspotter.com/v/mays-thurs-w2-hd-2010-06-10/Clare W2 HD.flv.html</a>

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 11:58

Day Two - bumped up

In what will surely be remembered as the most epic bump of the century, we knew we had our work cut out from the start. Determined not to let Downing take advantage of the weaker crew ahead of them, we gave it our all at the start, settling to a fiery 39 which let us eat up the distance between us straight off the start. Perhaps over-excitement was not the best help as we started to struggle with the clearly unsustainable rate. However, we kept our guns out at the start with a killer power 20! After this, we realised we could not catch them at this early stage and settled down into a slightly more sustainable rhythm, unfortunately letting them slip away in the process as they attempted to make their move on Fitz.

However, with a risky line around first post corner (barely an inch between blade and bank) and a power call out of the corner we were again poised to move into them at grassy. By this point they had overlap with Fitz and we needed to move in now. Grassy however, played into Fitz's hands, using their wash to keep Downing at bay and the race continued. We moved nearer and further as we proceeded down Plough Reach, but I again went for the tight corner into Ditton, only to be thwarted by a Selwyn crew parked out of sight round the corner! After a very "polite and considerate" word with Selwyn, they were persuaded to bury their blades and we took the advantage of a tighter corner than Downing, even with stroke side having to give me an extra swing around as we came by.

After having planned a sink or swim race to be decided in no more than 500m, we found ourselves still on with Downing coming down the Long Reach. Somehow, the girls found the heart and muscle to keep powering through the pushes as we sped after Downing who were still overlapped with Fitz. We started to slowly pull the lead from Downing as we closed in and were rewarded with yet another first whistle. Coming through the bend, the railway bridge and finish line came into view, when Fitz began to pull away from Downing. This was to be our final opportunity to wrestle victory from within Downing's grasp.

It was finally time to wind things up. Taking it on from our powerful 33 which we had never dropped below throughout the whole course, we built to 35 with the second and third whistles following accordingly. Particularly amazing, given the girls revealed after that they no longer believed Downing were anywhere near us! These fears were allayed as Anton finally finished fumbling and got his hands on the bell. We shot into Downing with barely 200m left in the race and were rewarded with a satisfying crack of blade on stern.

No-one should doubt, this was the most deserved bump in the competition so far. Make no mistake, Fitz won't be so lucky tomorrow! Well done girls.

Uploaded Friday 11th June, 1:25

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kDsM0M-vg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kDsM0M-vg</a>

(That was what we did to Downing II.)

Uploaded Thursday 10th June, 19:24

All of W2 write -

We have realised two things today:

1) We need to row harder

We feel this may help: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs</a>

2) Mike should be an underwear model

Uploaded Wednesday 9th June, 21:36

Day One - got bumped

Chasing Pembroke III, chased by Clare Hall I

Badger. Obviously, had we had 8 blades for the row-up (and indeed 8 men's blades for the race) that might have gone a little better. However, I don't think it was a performance to be ashamed of. When thrid boats get bumped by first boats, the third boat shouldn't feel too bad. Tomorrow, we'll try warming up in 8s and see if that helps.

Day Two - rowed over

Chasing Clare Hall I, chased by Trinity Hall III

No technical issues on the row up meant a chance to do some all 8 paddling as a crew for the first time, and it was pretty sweet, munching up the ground between us and Tit Hall. Our start was, again, excellent, and we came to almost a length off Clare Hall. Unfortunately, they then pulled away and coming down first post reach, Tit Hall started to close. We held it together and Tit Hall were bumped out in the gut. At this point, Clare Hall crashed into Grassy, but pushed off too quickly for us to make up the lost ground and they bumped out at the top of the reach, leaving us to row home in style.

Day Three- got bumped

Chasing St Catz III, chased by FaT IV

We knew goimg into today it was a bump or be bumped situation. Unfortunately, Mike hurt his back getting the boat out. CUCBC were duely contacted and gave permission for an emergency sub - we could have a lower boat rower or a female. No lower boat rower could be found. I changed into my all-in-one in the portaloos.

So yes, 7 men and now 2 girls went out to face the foe. Unfortunately, St Catz were significantly faster than the day before and we never got a whistle. As FaT closed, we held them well until the 3rd whistle, when they munched us like toast. Still, I enjoyed it.

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 8:37

Well, after a warm-up where we broke one of the blades on the third stroke of the practice start, limping up the course in sixes, and having the first all eight rowing as the cannon went using a blue women's blade - things could have gone worse. We came together remarkably well for the start sequence, although perhaps the realisation that a first boat were chasing us prevented us from settling into a good rhythm. We can take solace that Pembroke had already bumped their prey ahead by the time Clare Hall closed in and finished us.

The rest of the week is looking up for us though, and hopefully a gutsy row-over tomorrow can secure us the chance to finish up one as we deserve.

Uploaded Wednesday 9th June, 22:37

What with one thing and another, W3 haven't had it easy this term. The results this week do not reflect the hard work and grit these girls put into their efforts, nor the inherent ability of the boat.

Day One

Although they made some ground into Queens' III off the start, Kings II were simply much faster. It is frustrating in these lower divisions to be the victim of a boat which deserves to be ranked much higher but sometimes that's how bumps works. We decided to focus on staying stronger when threatened from behind next time.

Day Two

Our focus point from day one certainly paid off today! Lucy Hughes II came in quite quickly off the start, but were soon tailed by an even-quicker Christ's III. By holding the power and staying strong, they managed to hold off Lucy long enough for them to be bumped by Christ's. Then all that was left was a relaxed row over on a river where nearly everyone had bumped out.

Day Three

Due to subbing issues, I was forced to row today. Being neither a rower nor a bowsider, this was obviously not ideal. About five strokes off the start, a crab meant that Christ's devoured us much more quickly than they would have done. A frustrating day.

Day Four

Determined to go out and get the row-over ahead of Lucy Hughes II once more, our plans were thwarted by equipment failure. Ten strokes off the start, stroke's seat came off. Massive kudos to Bex though for getting her seat back on one-handed whilst holding the blade off the water with her other hand. And even bigger praise for the remaining 7 members of the crew, who managed to not only keep rowing, but held off Lucy Hughes for a further minute before getting caught. Top work girls

Uploaded Wednesday 16th June, 11:25

Day One - got bumped

Chasing Pembroke VII, chased by Emma IV

That didn't go to plan. It wasn't the world's greatest start. It didn't matter. Emma chomped us. But, when you are a novice crew, the learning curve is steep. Tomorrow we'll be chased by some crews more at our level. If we keep improving, by the end of the week, we have ever chance of going up

Day Two- got bumped

Chasing Emma IV, chased by Magdalene IV

Today we was certainly an improvement on the day before, even if the results fail to show it. Better push out, better line, better rowing. Same result, but you can only control what happens in your own boat.

Day Three - rowed over

Chasing Magdalene IV, chased by Girton V

Best row yet - and actually a result to prove it. Nice, clean start actually saw us hold Magdalene and they were no more than 2 lengths away when they bumped out. Everything in front bumped out and we were left rowing over behind Girton. We were able to take it down to a more sustainable rate on the reach and Girton finished about 30 seconds behind us. Good work all!

Uploaded Saturday 12th June, 8:42

Day One

I don't know if any of you will even see this before racing tomorrow but I want to let you know that you can and will have a much better time tomorrow.

Some nerves, a sub-optimal push-out and hence lining up at the start, some equipment issues and the fact that the boat hadn't done many starts before were all very obvious to me from the bank, and certainly conspired against us. But what was also obvious was the enthusiasm and effort all of the boat were ready to give, you guys looked happy to even get the chance to race bumps and that was really nice to see.

Unfortunately, Emma IV were more experienced than you, calmer than you, bigger and stronger than you and were probably pushed out better than you. Someone was going to have to start ahead of them on their rampage up the charts and unfortunately it was you guys.

Your first day of bumps is now over and you can go out tomorrow knowing that the unexpected always happens in bumps but if you control the controllables and give it your best shot you can do something really respectable even as a novice crew among seniors.

Uploaded Wednesday 9th June, 22:33