Results and reports by Event

What a fantastic end to training camp! The eight that raced was made up of people who had rowed in combinations together during the week. In the warm-up it was great to feel that people were bringing what they had learnt during the week into the paddling - we can now boat in a scratch eight and sit it all eight straight away. A couple of solid bursts on the way down and we were ready to race.

The plan was to have a solid row - we said we'd rather have a very decent R32 than a scrappy and unpolished 33, and so our aim was to row at the highest rate possible where we would maintain the rhythm and technique we'd been developing in the week prior. Our start was good - patient over the first few strokes, making sure we loaded up on the legs before bringing the rate up. We hit 35 and pushed out the length on the finishes to settle on a solid 33. Coming round Ditton up the Reach it felt great - the kind of rhythm where it just keeps ticking over nicely.

We pushed on through halfway, and then kept stepping up the pressure as we moved through the latter half of the race. We had a great move onto 34 at around 400m from the finish line, and then another step up to 35 for the last furlong. All in all, it was a really good race, and exciting that we can put out that kind of a performance in an essentially scratch crew right at the start of the term.

Uploaded Sunday 19th April, 18:20