Results and reports by Event

Day 1 - Leonie

On Wednesday, W2’s ‘rough diamond’ crew was ready and raring to begin the Bumps campaign. There was a tall order ahead of us with a likely row-over in store, and the pre-race nerves were high, but we were determined to start confidently. With yellow war paint applied and a piece completed on the reach, we started our race at position 4, placed between Hughes Hall and Queens' II. The cannon sounded, and we were off! A confident start brought us up to a mid-30s rate, and an early gain from Queens' was fended off. With Hughes catching Downing II on Grassy, we knew we were in for the long haul, but the rate and power stayed strong throughout and our lead over Queens' lengthened by the reach. W2’s first day ended with a strong row-over and plenty of determination for the days ahead! Yellow fire!!

Day 2 - Emily

After a successful row over yesterday, Clare W2 was in high spirits for the second day of Bumps. We knew we could keep Queens' II at bay, and just had to focus on bumping Downing II. After a great start, we slowly made our way to one whistle, which we steadily maintained. As we passed Grassy, we made it to two whistles. With the support of our bank parties and cox, Fiona led the push to rate 36, which secured us three whistles. As we came under the railway bridge we caught up to Downing, and maintained the bell for the rest of the course. Sadly, we just couldn’t quite get the contact needed for the bump, and rowed over. We’re very proud of the effort we put in, with true dedication being displayed by every single crew member. Our spirits remain high for Day 3, bring it on!

Day 3 - Susannah

After a long row over on Thursday there was some apprehension as W2 got ready to row again. But Sam’s encouragement and Clare’s promises of “American levels of excitement” (which included a wonderful rendition of “You’re a grand old flag” at Ditton), and Nigel’s calming presence on station helped us to get excited and ready to go again. Another great start was followed by us slowly gaining on Downing as Queens' disappeared behind us. Whistles started as we came round Ditton and we got to three whistles by the Railway Bridge. Our back up bank party on the other side of the river took over as we chased Downing to the P&E pushed on by the shouting marshalling crews. Despite the intense shift we once again did not manage to get the bump but we are so proud of how well we did getting so close to Downing once again. With Eddie’s chasing us tomorrow and nothing to lose we’re going to give it our all to finish it tomorrow!

Day 4 - Phil

In the words of Grip, today we had to "catch or get catched". We were once again chasing Downing II, and roused by more American songs from Clare and the hype train from Sam, we were determined to finally catch them today. With much windier conditions than previous days, we got off to a choppy but fast start. We no longer had Queens' behind us but Eddie's, who we knew weren't going to make life easy for us. As we did our best to move on Downing, Eddie's closed in behind us and secured their bump to win blades on first post corner, ending our chances of catching Downing. The excitement didn't end here though, as Queens' came racing round the corner closely followed by Catz II, who careered straight towards us, and only avoided clattering into us by a couple of inches. We finished with a lovely paddle home, piecing on Grassy and at the Plough (for the fans), and returned to the boat house in high spirits and very proud of all our efforts this week.

Uploaded Friday 21st June, 11:35