Results and reports by Event

Day Three: Chasing Queens', chased by Kings

Sorry for the silence on the first two days. In essence, two row overs: first day = wobbly, but powerful, playing cat and mouse with Queens' all the way from Grassy to finish from quarter - half a length off; second day = a lot more together, however not as powerful. Kings came at us a lot more - nearly gaining overlap into Grassy - but once we strode out we knew we could step away. Queens' finished in front by station.

Day Three

As from yesterday we knew we had to commit everything if we wanted to bump Queens'. They demonstrated on the first day they have great resilience when under pressure, and we needed to put in everything to keep them under unwanted pressure. Off the start, Kings were again quick off the mark, gaining a whistle on us within a minute. Just afterwards though, we also gained a whistle on Queens in front. Coming round first post and our rowing wasn't fantastic, but the boat was moving, rating around 40. Out of first post and along the gut Kings were still chomping into us and were 3 whistles on us. As we approached grassy we had gained massively on Queens (I think?) and rounding grassy we were quarter a length off, with Kings just off overlap on us... proper sandwiching! Before we knew it, as we exited grassy, we got the bell from the bank to finish Queens off, as we were a few feet off them. We executed our kill call and really pressed on Queens, whilst moving away from Kings. Rounding Ditton corner we had slight overlap on Queens, the bell still ringing like mad. Out of Ditton Queens went for a huge push and lengthened out slightly (not sure of distance), however, as soon as we got straight we got into a really nice rhythm (the whole race when settled was rating between 37-38) and ate back into Queens, getting to within a foot. From here to the finish the bell kept on ringing and ringing. As we slipped to off a canvas, the bell was replaced with whistles, and as we pushed back in, the whistles were replaced with bells. God knows how many kill calls we did, all I know is that it was getting a smidge painful. Again, credit to Queens for the resilience in holding us off. Towards the end of the race (reach onwards), Kings had blown up and weren't a threat to us, but still came at us with balls - so fair play to them. However. We can't be too friendly here if we want to bump. What we can guarantee everyone is that tomorrow you will know that we will have given absolutely everything to smash into the stern of Queens'! Cave Adsum, Queens', Cave Adsum.

Uploaded Friday 13th June, 22:21

Day 1: Bumped by Downing.

It might seem strange to start with a positive, but the general feeling coming off the water was one of high spirits. Off the start, Downing didn't move at all, and in spite of their supposedly fast start, they made no impression at all before Grassy, when they got a rather optimistic first whistle. They put in a push coming out of Grassy, but by that point we were through the Plough in a time at least ten seconds faster than our best in training. Unfortunately, a slightly disjointed move out of the Plough allowed them to move to within half a length, and once they got a sniff they proved very difficult to shake off. They finally got to a canvas, then overlap, as we came level with the Railings, before finally managing to make the bump. It was of course disheartening to be bumped off Headship, but the tone of our chat afterwards was uplifting: Downing have got it all to do tomorrow, and if we've seen how Downing throw the kitchen sink at us, it'll be very exciting to see how we, buoyed once again by having a crew in our sights, can throw it right back at them.

Day 2: Bumped by Emma.

As predicted, we came up on Downing quickly off the start, getting onto one whistle around First Post, and then onto two halfway into the Gut. Unfortunately, we weren't able to seal the deal, and sat at three-quarters of a length for the next 30 seconds. Behind us, Emma's move out of Grassy was very strong, and they closed quickly from being on station to half a length by Ditton Corner. We nevertheless stayed strong and tough round the corner, but a final push from them gave them contact just before the Railings. Looking forward to tomorrow, we're looking forward to a really challenging day -- we know Caius will want the bump, but we're prepared to fight for it, and show some of the spirit that's characterised our week so far.

Day 3: Bumped by Caius.

Well, we certainly fought for it. As in previous days, our fast start let us gain ground on Emma, again getting a whistle, but sadly we weren't able to capitalise on it. Caius had a similarly fast start, and stayed strong through Grassy, getting down to half a length by the Plough and scuppering our pre-planned move over thirty strokes. Nevertheless, we didn't fold, and were able to move away coming round Ditton, although to Caius' credit they kept the pressure on us right through the corner. Onto the Reach, they were able to seal the deal, getting the bump on Helen's blade twenty strokes before the Railings in spite of my slightly haphazard attempts at proper evasive steering.

Day 4: Rowed over.

Coming into this race, we knew that it would be our best chance to show what we were made of as a crew. Chasing us were Jesus, whom we knew were desperate to get their revenge for last year, but had faced similarly fast crews as we had over the first three days. Our plan was simple: go out hard, put some distance between us, and row the whole course like we'd trained for all term. That was indeed what happened: off the start, we found ourselves inside station on Caius ahead of us, and Jesus never really made a move. Without the immediate pressure of a crew breathing down our necks, we were finally able to make our 30-stroke move out of Grassy without interruption - ten on the legs, swinging with the hips, and then accelerating through. We blazed through Plough Reach without Jesus ever getting back onto station, and coming through Ditton and onto the Reach you could feel the relief in the boat that we were finally going to get to row like we'd trained all term. From the top of the Reach, it was all like we'd planned: one minute to the Railings, then to the Pink House, then to the Railway Bridge. About halfway into those three minutes, Caius finally caught Emma ahead of them in a well-deserved bump - mention should go to Brielle, the Caius cox, for helpfully clearing out of the racing line! - and we began to realise what the result was going to be. From the Railway Bridge to Peter's Posts it was two minutes on the legs; driven on by the reminder that this was Annie's last race (and mine), we ate into the clear water ahead of us. Looking back as we crossed the line, Jesus must have been at least three lengths behind us, and indeed it had been immensely satisfying to be able to call, "they're not moving!". Nevertheless, credit to them for never giving up - they pushed us hard throughout the course, and were excellent opponents.

So, down three overall, in my last set of Bumps with Clare. Should we be disappointed? Well, to an extent, it's inevitably going to be gutting to lose the Headship. Nevertheless, it should be emphasised that we were racing against very strong crews, who would be more than a match for any opposition on the Cam or further afield. Starting Head meant that we also had it all to do: whereas Downing, Caius and Emma could plan (and train) for 500m or 1000m sprints, our training had necessarily been much longer, and in a sense much more physically and psychologically draining. This of course paid dividends on the last day, when the stamina that we'd built up allowed us to row away from Jesus with confidence and poise.

More generally, though, it's vital not to forget that, as Annie put it, the result in Bumps racing very rarely equates to the performance. We rowed very well on all four days, and proved, by never collapsing when under pressure and holding our own against a strong Jesus crew, that we were a top-four-standard crew. With W1 starting fourth on the river next Mays, and a good number of this crew set to return next year, we've left women's rowing at Clare in a very strong position going forwards.

Uploaded Sunday 15th June, 11:47

Race reports are being written, but will be uploaded with proper detail after Saturday :)

Day 1: Bumped by Downing We had a race to be proud of, but Downing pushed us hard and bumped us on the Reach. Our fastest piece to the Plough yet - let's see what we can do for Day 2.

Day 2: Bumped by Emma We had a good start again, and got ourselves up to 3/4 length on Downing, but Emma proved too quick today and caught us by the spinning posts on the reach.

Day 3: Bumped by Caius Caius had a quick start, and gained to one whistle on us coming into First Post. We fought hard and made them work around Ditton to get the bump on the exit of the corner.

Uploaded Saturday 14th June, 9:28

I know spectators don't normally write race reports, but on behalf of CBC I want to say how bloody proud of you all we were today. You could not have raced a better race than you did. You gave it your all, rowed fantastically, and never once gave up or faltered when the pressure was on. Right up until the last stroke you could see that you guys were giving it absolutely everything, and that was all we could ask for. Be proud today - proud that you got to experience rowing from top station; proud of the way that you rowed and proud of your sportsmanship, just as all those at CBC are proud of you. Go out there tomorrow with your heads held high and make us proud again

Uploaded Wednesday 11th June, 23:20

Day One

Despite being bumped I feel we can take away a lot of positives from today. We knew going into the race that both Catz ahead and Emma behind were, on paper, significantly faster boats than us and with that in mind we decided that the best hope we had was to go very hard off the start in the hope we could panic a Catz boat expecting a reasonably easy row over.

The row down was a little scrappy and we were denied practice starts due to time constraints but began to sit as we approached the station. A small incident with the bow ball and some tape and we were ready to go.

The first few strokes of the start were a bit rushed and not together and consequently Emma moved up on us to begin with however we soon settled into a very fast, if ultimately unsustainable, rate 38. Emma then appeared to drop off behind us as we got our first whistle on Catz going into first post corner and, putting the power on at the apex, surged into the gut approaching the second whistle on Catz with Emma a good two and a quarter lengths behind.

Going round grassy, we took a slightly wider line than usual but got a (probably slightly optimistic) second whistle. However this was as close as we came, the second whistle was not to be repeated. Pushing down plough reach Catz held us at about three quarters of a length and, going past the plough, the boat started to lose stability. At Ditton the power came off a bit and the rate began to drop as the exhaustion of the high rate took its toll and Emma, who were still behind station going into the corner suddenly began to move into us. The precipitated a bit of a collapse and they caught us just before the railings.

We knew the risks of our strategy for today, and unfortunately we weren't able to quite get them. However the fact that we managed to hold a powerful rate 38 all the way to Ditton and really push a very strong Catz boat showed a lot of character and hopefully we can give Emma another scare tomorrow.

Day Two

In many ways, today's race felt much more like a head race than a bumps race.

The row down was a little unsat and the practice start was a bit rushed, probably the consequence of bodies still tired from the previous race but neither felt particularly problematic.

From the start we settled down almost immediately to about rate 34 rather than the unsustainable 38 of yesterday, and the pushes out of the first two corners didn't seem to have quite the same blistering urgency. In many ways we were focused much more on the longer race rather than the initial sprint than we should have been.

Despite the boat being considerably less stable we moved to just inside station on Emma and slowly dropped Peterhouse out to two lengths past the plough. Coming into Ditton, with Selwyn moving in on Peterhouse and still with no whistle on Emma, the energy in the boat began to flag, and though Peterhouse pushed hard to get away from Selwyn and just about made it back onto station before they were caught, the power had already come off and the rate dropped below 30.

Down the reach with no one chasing and still with no indication of how close we were to Emma, minds turned towards the next day of racing and the race became a reasonably pleasant paddle at about rate 28-30. It transpired at the finish line that Emma had unsuccessfully gone very hard for Catz ahead and possibly could have been caught had we maintained motivation but it would have required a level of belief in our speed we didn't have, having been bumped by them the previous day.

If the first race was fuelled by desperation, today was a much more calm and controlled job, where we dispatched Peterhouse, who never really moved inside station on us, into the jaws of the advancing Selwyn crew with the minimum of effort required to hold them off but without the belief to really take the fight to Emma. However we showed we can row the course comfortably at rate and tomorrow can draw on reasonably fresh legs, and a stronger chasing crew to spur us on towards them.

Day Three

Today was another very controlled row over. The plan for the day was to push off the start and hopefully move onto Emma, but more realistically to hold Selwyn on station and match them push for push.

The row down to the start was considerably smoother than it had been on the previous two days but the practice start was very poor with no platform or control over the slides. The actual start was also pretty shoddy but for different reasons, as the chain went taught with the count still on 14. Becky held on but unfortunately this swung the bows round meaning that Tom was still tapping when the gun went and the the rudder was on strongly, upsetting the sit of the boat.

This probably cost us a quarter of a length on both Selwyn and Emma but we soon made that back as we settled down at a very nice rate 34 and started to move into Emma and drop Selwyn. Our burst round first post was stronger than yesterday and we moved to one whistle on Emma. Selwyn meanwhile had taken the corner very tight however and consequently gained back the half length they had dropped off from station.

We were significantly faster round grassy than we had been and closed to within three quarters on Emma just afterwards, with Selwyn taking a rather wider line still about on station.

At the plough the gaps between the three boats began to open out again and we lost our whistle on Emma. Selwyn again dropped to two lengths but another incredibly tight line round Ditton from them brought them back to on station behind us.

Down the reach the rate dropped to about 30 as we lost Emma who opened the gap to three lengths and concentrated on keeping Selwyn on station behind. About half way down the reach Selwyn, who had been coming under unexpectedly strong pressure from Peterhouse, put in a push and moved inside station (which prompted optimistic whistles from their bank party). However as we prepared to build to match them, they rather unexpectedly crashed onto the inside of the slight bend in the reach and were quickly swallowed up by Peterhouse. Their cox, who had been taking impressively risky lines all race to keep them in touch with us, had suddenly found that his luck had run out. With no prospect of catching Emma three lengths ahead, Andy immediately signalled for us to wind down and our race was reduced to a nice rate 24 paddle home in the sun.

Today was a superb display of controlled racing, holding Selwyn on station and with any serious chances of having a go at Emma scuppered by a squint start. I would suggest that, as we spoke about beforehand, this race has shown that perhaps the definitions of a "struggling crew" and "overconfidence" we use are different to Selwyn's.

Also many thanks to Quentin for subbing for Tim at short notice.

Day Four

We set off for the last day with the primary objective of not getting bumped. If we could, we aimed to have a go at Emma as well, but considering that they had held us off the previous few days, we knew that unless we could panic them into a mistake it was unlikely to happen.

The start was by far the best of the week, and we quickly gained a whistle on Emma ahead and pushed Peterhouse out to two lengths behind. However going round grassy we lost ground on Emma who pushed us back off station, and we didn't see them again.

Peterhouse had slowly moved back onto station by Ditton and down the reach we went to the gameplan which had served us so well over the previous two days, holding station at rate 34 and replying push for push every time Peterhouse tried to move on us. Behind them Selwyn didn't seem to be putting them under any real pressure so we knew we would have to keep going right to the line. This worked much better than expected and when they put on a push about three quarters of the way down the reach, our stride increased not only the power but also the length and we not only held them but actually moved away from them between the railway bridge and the finish to finish nearly two and a half lengths clear. I feel that last stretch was the best we rowed as a crew. Jack described it afterwards as "triumphant rowing" and I think that sums it up well.

Thank you so much to Andy for all your work with us, in the four weeks you coached us you took us from twenty five seconds off the pace across the course at head2head and definitely on for spoons to a crew that was significantly more competitive than those around us expected. Thank you also to Robin for herding cats (aka organising outings during exams).

Finally a big thank you to Catz 2, Selwyn 2, Peterhouse 2 and especially Emma 2 for giving us such great races on the river over the four days and being such good sportsmen off it.

Uploaded Tuesday 17th June, 21:55

Despite the result we actually had a very good row. Our start was the fastest of the crews around us, and we had whistles on Robinson not long after the end of the start-sequence. We were unfortunate in that Homerton got some speed up behind us before we were able to take them, but we rowed cleanly and calmly and responded to pushes very well. Hopefully today we can capitalise better on that quick start.

Uploaded Thursday 12th June, 15:04

Day 1 Rowed over

First, a quick introduction to some of the crew! Coming in at 6 feet, in Moos Peeters we have the #tallestcox in Bumps. But height isn't all she brings to the boat. With her experience rowing in CUWBC, Moos has a rowing know how which means that her calls are spot on, and an authority which means that no-one is going to ignore them. She can also fit in the cox's seat, which is nothing short of miraculous. At stroke is James Hynard (me). Enough said. At 7 is Phil Garsed. Last time I wrote about him I think I described him as a font of wisdom and veteran of countless Bumps campaigns. Unsurprisingly, that's only increased. He's like the David Attenborough of Cambridge rowing - a comforting and all-knowing presence who is a staple of Clare Boat Club. We can't remember a time before his arrival, and can't imagine Cambridge rowing without him. Brian Cox can shove it. I'll leave you wanting more for now, and give you a couple more profiles each day.

We had a good race today. In between two M2 crews, and ourselves not having had quite the preparation we could have wished for (Land training? Come again?), we knew this would be a battling campaign. And battle we did. The start seemed to come a couple of seconds early and took us by surprise, but we hit a nice rhythm off the lengthens. Behind us Fitz M2 were doing a do or die to try and escape Clare Hall M1. They took a quarter of a length off us but we remained admirably calm in the face of their threat and held them there whilst Clare Hall quickly bumped them. We were chasing Magdelene M2 and took half a length of them, getting a whistle as we went around First Post and into the Gut. Unfortunately some bumped boats seemed to be happy sitting in the middle of the river, so after some clashed blades we had to reset. We never got back onto Magedelene after that, but had a really strong row to halfway down the Reach before we wound it down and conserved some energy, proving to ourselves that we do have the stamina and tidiness to be a potent force over short and long distances.

Tomorrow we're going to fly off the start and keep on flying right into Magdelene. Bring it on.

Day 2 Bumped by Clare Hall M1

Well we did indeed fly off the start, but unfortunately Clare Hall didn't give us much of a chance to fly into Magdelene. Not much to say - we got a great start and were moving nicely, but Clare Hall were just very fast and caught us just after the motorway bridge. Not a bad crew to be bumped by, particulalry as they gave us some beers for holding off Fitz on the first day. Tomorrow we're hoping they'll repay the favour by getting Magdelene and opening up the possibility of an overbump on Emma M3 (we're nothing if not optimists). We had a bit of fun in convincing a CamFM reporter that we'd double overbumped, a fact subsequently recorded on the Tab and therefore definitely true (see 16:48 http://cambridge.tab.co.uk/2014/06/11/may-bumps-2014-live/ ). For now, let's introduce a couple more of the crew.

At 6, we have Big Strong Joe. The 'Big' has nothing to do with his height or weight. Watch out ladies. At 5, we have Ben. What can I say about Ben? No, really, what can I say? He's an enigma wrapped in a mystery, and he doesn't even have an amusing nickname to riff off. It's rumoured that he spend his nights dressed as a masked vigilante - he's not the hero Clare M3 deserves, he's the hero we need. At 4 we have Yihan. He looks like he might have actually done some land training, but he vehemently denies it - no ergs allowed in M3, not to mention weights. Tomorrow we'll break into our bow 3, a.k.a. the Three Musketeers, and hopefully we'll have some bumping to report!

Day 3 Bumped by King's M2

An optimistic plan involving an overbump was somewhat foiled by the fact that we were rather slower than both the crews we we chasing and the crew we were being chased by. It turned out that King's had been taking it easy the day before and were actually pretty nifty, catching us fairly quickly despite a good initial push off them when they first got overlap. So onto more crew introductions! Christian is a rock at 3, a grad who hasn't let his PhD transform him into a world-weary cynic. His tireless optimism and upbeat outlook is a pleasure to have around. At 2 Tom rocks his beard, demonstrating more facial hair than the rest of the crew combined despite being a Fresher. This hirstute man pulls us around the corners with power. At bow is James Farr, whose calm demeanour hides an accomplished oarsman. His golden locks also make him a hit with the oppostie sex. Until tomorrow!

Day 4 Bumped by Jesus M3

An ambitious plan to row over and then surprise bump King's in the next division (we were sandwich boat) was once again ruined by the selfishness of other crews. Jesus M3 looked pretty damn good for the short time that they were chasing us, and sure enough the bump came quickly enough. A shame, but we entertained the numerous spectators with some spectacular singing on the row back. Filling out the rest of our squad are Tom Callingham, a fresh-faced mountain of a man, and Ying Teng, who thinks nothing of spending all night at Robinson May Ball and rocking up to Bumps with one hour's sleep. Play hard, row hard. We finished off the day with a great Boat Club Dinner. Thanks to the whole crew for a really enjoyable week. It was an achievement in itself to get a crew out for Bumps, and we did it with #tallestcox and a lot of fun! Yellow Fire!

Uploaded Sunday 15th June, 16:10

Day 1 Rowed over

It is an ancient rower-er,

And he stoppeth eight men he.

'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now whilst thou row M3?

The boathouse doors are opened wide

And all have been trainin’*

The crew is met, the boat is set

And we have bumps to win!

The boat was cheered, the start was cleared,

Merrily did we row

Below the bridge, down First Post Reach

A-sprinting we did go.

And now the BUMP OUT came, and behind

Clare Hall tyrannous and strong:

We dug in deep and pushed again,

And chased Magdalene along.

With sloping riggers, dipping prow,

As we pursued with yell and blow

Still chasing with the reach to go,

And forward bending all our heads,

The boat drove fast, loud roared the blasts,

Through the finish line we fled.

*in a manner of speaking

Day 2 Bumped by Clare Hall

To be continued...

By Philip John Samuel Taylor Coleridge-Garsed

Uploaded Thursday 12th June, 23:14

Day 1 Rowed over

We had a good start (maybe a bit more panicked than usual, but hey - it was the first bumps race for most of the girls in the crew!) and we heard a whistle on Murray Edwards really quickly. Unfortunately, they caught Peterhouse before we had the chance to eat that distance and after a bit of confusion due to the screams of someone's coach at us to hold it up, we managed to get ourselves together and continue rowing for a rowover/overbump. We actually gained several lengths on Homerton which was a great achievement given that we firstly lost time when Peterhouse got bumped and secondly, 7's seat completely fell off the slides somewhere on the Reach (1. why is it always meeee? 2. it only fell because we were moving with the speed of light and that seat's movement caused some paradoxes in the laws of physics) However Homerton managed to bump Sidney Sussex, so we lost a chance for a bump that day once more...

Day 2 Bumped Peterhouse

Not much to say for the race before the bump happened - one whistle, two whistles, three whistles and then a bell for a while, because, apparently, Peterhouse's cox was not conceiving the bump even that our bow's blade was on his/her back... When the bump finally happened we were told to hold it up and I have no idea how but our bow got completely stuck in the bank while Lucy Cav/Huges Hall haven't realized that all of these happened and were coming full speed towards us. Their bow ball missed Tim for about 20cm and went straight into stroke's chest. Thank God, Betsy-Ann is thin - she laid down immediately and the boat went over her (instead of through... all of that looked horrific from 7's seat :X). Fortunately, everything is alright, no one is injured and we bumped! And the best thing is that we are now chasing Murray Edwards again...

Uploaded Friday 13th June, 16:16