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Summary: Up Three Places. Bumped St Catharine's, Wolfson and Caius II.

Day One: Rowed Over

We started off the race with a good start and got to a length off Girton by 20 strokes. Girton were also catching Cats fast. We kept closing on Girton and they were also closing on Cats. With us within half a length of Girton on first post corner they caught Cats, who hit the wind and lost their momentum, and the two boats were out of the race. FaT II bumped Wolfson on that corner so there was nothing in front.

Day One: Bumped by FaT IV

Unfortunately not the best first day for M2, despite a lot of effort. Chasing Clare II and being followed by First and Third IV, we got off to a reasonable start, with a solid push off the motorway bridge and into First Post corner leaving us settled down at a good rhythm. However, carnage in the Gut with a 3 boat pile-up (St Edmunds I bumping Girton II were promptly crashed into by a closely-following Clare II) meant that we had to wind down to avoid a serious accident, allowing a steaming FaT IV to catch up rapidly, missing a bump by what seemed like inches from the stroke seat!

Day One: Rowed Over (Head of Division 2)

With the choice of pain or pain and depression and with nothing to bump this was never going to be a pleasant race for the first women. We were fairly confident we could hold off New Hall for the duration of the course, and were just aiming for a good, tidy row. The start went to plan, with us pushing away from New Hall who were being gained on by Robinson, and we settled into a good rythmn.

Following the elections held at the AGM, next year's elected Committee take office on Sunday 2nd March:

The following were co-opted by the Committee on Sunday 9th March:

Lower Boats Officers will be co-opted during May or June 2008.

Full results are available on the Newnham BC website here.

As their first race, Winter Head was always going to be a challenging event for the novice men. The crew rose to the challenge well, however, and went on to put in a convincing performance.

The race started very well and the men quickly began to catch the King's College London boat that had started in front of them. Unusually for novice boats, the rate was kept under control and at an effective level. By first post corner the men had caught KCL and overtook them just after the corner. The inexperience of the crew started to show here, and the strong rhythm that had characterised their race thus far broke down a little.

We got off to fairly tidy start, although the adrenaline meant that the rating settled slightly higher than we'd practiced. Riverside seemed to pass quickly, with some 'focusing' calls from Lucie attempting to maintain concentration as the pain started to kick in.

The supporters, including the Master and Lady Wilson, who turned out to see the two Peterhouse IVs racing one after the other were made to wait as the start of our race was severely delayed as a result of the earlier races overrunning but also because barges were using the river immediately before we were due to race. All of this meant that we had
a long wait on the river in the cold. This may have contributed to a lack of concentration on the start as we did not start together and the boat veered towards the bank. Disaster was averted with quick reactions and we soon settled to a strong rhythm even if our rating was a little lower than planned and it took time for us to warm up after having had to wait at the start.

At the start of term we decided that the training goal for our Michaelmas rowing was the Lent bumps, with our aim being to get all of our crews going as fast as possible. Despite that it became clear early on in the term that the First Men’s boat was highly competitive. A few days before Fairbairns, however, Chris our stroke mysteriously collapsed, cutting his back and needing stitches. It was uncertain whether we would race or not; however Chris was determined to carry on.

---Written by Alex Collins (CKBC member)---

Fairbairns 2007 saw PBC's alumni club, the Cross Keys Boat Club (CKBC), entering two scratch crews.

CKBC's VIII, organised by David Sawtell and Patrick Overy, finished a very respectable joint 41st, just over halfway down the invitational VIIIs category, and beating a couple of Cambridge college first VIIIs and St Hugh’s, Oxford.

Peterhouse's successful Fairbairns 2006 IV returned as CKBC for the second time, finishing in joint ninth position with Peterhouse's Second IV and twelve seconds behind Peterhouse's First IV. Everyone involved had a fantastic day out and
most stayed to enjoy a superb Boat Club Dinner in the newly renovated hall.