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Winter Head arrived shortly after our change over from a rolling IV to a composite Senior/Novice VIII. We arrived at the marshalling area following a solid warm up row and settled in for the wait. Delays and some interesting marshalling tactics led to the divison starting later than planned. Only a few strokes into the race however, disaster struck. One of the girls managed to pull her feet loose only a dozen or so strokes in, but managed to recover within a few strokes. A quick re-start helped us recover some of the time lost. We pushed out of the Bumps corners well and entered the Reach, settling in for a solid chunk of rowing ahead. Coming under the Railway Bridge we knew we were on the way to the line.

Take One

We entered the first division of the day so were up on time to catch the frost. Despite the chaos around us, we were nice and relaxed on the way down and before the start line. Just as we were about to set off we were informed that there was a fast ladies’ quad that needed to go ahead of us. This seemed to be the motivation we needed as it made us determined to prove that we also knew how to row. We got off to a good start and found our planned cruising rhythm by the end of the first minute. Whilst the plan of rate 32.5 – 33 had seemed ambitious, this was where we settled and it felt like we could keep going.

After some hard months of training, the 1st IV went on to race in the Winter Head. A long wait below the A14 road bridge got us all chilly, but the short paddle to the start line warmed us all up again. The whole crew felt we had something to prove after narrowly losing out to the eventual winners of the University IVs races, Downing. A fairly solid row followed in good conditions, moving at a comfortable 34 through the course, and building boat-speed in the second half, overtaking the boat in front around Ditton. A powerful sprint to the finish took us over the line at 40. Paddling back to the boathouse for a quick lunch, we rested before marshalling for the second race. In worsening conditions, we went off following a Rob Roy IV.

Uni Fours was our first race of the term so we were nervous about how our boat speed compared to other college crews. We were drawn against Tit Hall II on the first day which was a good opportunity to see how we were doing as we were starting in the leading position. After a fast start it was a bit tricky to settle into our planned rate but we eventually found our rhythm coming into Plough Reach. We had to pay for our fast first minutes coming into Ditton Corner where we found it hard to go around a tight line. Once we were straight on the reach, we decided to play it safe and built to the finish. A strong last minute saw us disappear from the chasing crew and cross the line 22 seconds ahead of Trinity Hall.

Wednesday
We started a bit scrappily but at a high rate. The weather didn’t help matters and we were not putting into place what we had achieved in training the previous week. We did make good ground on Jesus III who fought very hard, but the Trinity Hall II crew chasing us was there until Hughes Hall bumped them. The cox took great first post and grassy corners and the sustained push out of grassy gave us the inside line on Jesus III. The bump was achieved shortly after. Not our best row but it got the job done.

Day One

Arriving at the boat house full of nerves, we began our warm up paddle to Chesterton after a pre-racing briefing from Mel. Two solid practice starts saw us arriving at head station with plenty of time before the four minute gun. As we were pushing off, the chain went tight and a few quick corrections helped to keep us competitive.

We went into the May Bumps knowing that we have improved well since the Champs Head and were looking forward to comparing our boat speed to that of the other crews around us.

Day one saw us chasing King's who were pursuing Caius II. We had a solid start but Caius were so much slower that King's that the bump happened in front of us shortly after Grassy. Once we had gone around Ditton, the crew gave it everything to see whether an overbump was possible. Rowing down the reach, we found a solid rhythm and opened up a large gap between us and the chasing crew, Downing II. However, the 6 lengths that separated us and Selwyn off the start proved to be too large and we wound it down at Peter's Post to row-over comfortably.

The May Bumps 2009 will run from Wednesday, 10th June until Saturday, 13th June.

Summary of results:

The division times for PBC crews are as follows:

Please note that these time may change if crews rise/fall sufficient places to row in different divisions. Spectators are not allowed to cycle along with crews without a "bank pass".

For more information on the Bumps see CUCBC website.

This was to be M2’s only warm up event for May Bumps. Due to lack of entries we only had one race guaranteed. We faced Clare II. We did not really get our rhythm and had trouble transitioning from the start to the stride and did not hold our finishes well. Clare II won easily. The positives were the crew rowing in time and together but major technical adjustments will be needed before Mays.