After our successes at the Winter Head, we were eager to avenge narrowly missing out on a 2008 Fairbairns victory. The weather in the days leading up to the race had been wet and windy, but in the event, fairly calm conditions prevailed. After some sitting around waiting for the First and Third IV to push off, we moved onto the start line. A big start took us to Downing boathouses as we moved into the rhythm that would carry us over the course. A well-controlled rate of 34 took us down past the wall, and, as we went under the Green Dragon Bridge in just under five minutes, a lift took us to 35. Coming under the Railway Bridge, another move took us up to 36. As we rounded Ditton, we summoned our last reserves for one last push.

After the traditional marshaling carnage, we paddled up to the start and started solidly. Imogen began to lead us through our race plan and we held Clare for the first half of the race while walking away from St Catherine's. As we came past the P&E we passed some support on the bank which helped to spur us on. We recovered from a slightly wobbly row down the Reach as we came round Ditton, onto the course the Seniors in the boat are so familiar with. The Novices rose to the challenge admirably and we got some good pushes out of the corners. As we came round First Post we began our wind and empty for the line. Ultimately we had a good race which should set us up for well for Lents.

We knew going into Fairbairns that if we rowed well we could pull off a good result. The target was to be within 30 seconds of the first boat. We got off to a good start and settled nicely into our cruising rhythm of round about rate 33. We knew that we needed to be very focussed going along the Wall and we managed to keep the boat speed up and were soon coming into Chesterton, cheered on by a sizeable bank party, despite the obvious attraction of watching the first boat so thank you to all those who stayed with us – it was greatly appreciated. Coming out of Chesterton Bridge, we were moving up to overtake an LMBC crew, which gave us a lift as we new we were moving faster than some crews at least!

Having performed well in the Clare Novice Regatta, we were hoping to do equally well or even better in Fairbairns. After an early start and a good deal of manouevering through the pre-race marshalling chaos, we made it to the start line and prepared for the race. We started strongly and kept up a relatively good speed through the course, managing to keep the rate from dropping by much, despite the onset of tiredness. After Chesterton corner we started to build our speed and power up gradually, and indeed caught sight of the boat who had set off a few minutes before us, from Hughes Hall.