M1 Lent Bumps Report
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.
With some excellent coxing Rich got us through the mess of boats relatively smoothly and we kept the boat speed. The tone of the race then changed, this was going to be a marathon and not a sprint. Jesus II, who had a slow start, now got their act together a bit and we knew that the row over wasn't going to be easy. Everyone kept their heads and with a good line around grassy we kept our distance from the Jesus boat. Along Plough reach Jesus closed to a length us as we battled on.
As we took ditton we hit the wind everyone dug in. We kept it up along the reach, and so did Jesus. Half way down Jesus put in a big push and got within a length of us. We absorbed it and pushed off them and going under the Railway Bridge we moved away from them and increased our lead. Jesus II had given up, and despite some optimistic half length whistling from their bank party, we were clear and along the final straight we powered on till the finish. It was a good race and everyone put everything into it, it really showed the performance that we can put in and the mentality of the crew.
Day Two: Bumped St Catharine's
We began with another good start and got to within a length of Cats halfway through the build. By the end of our start we were still within a length and moved on from there. After the start we lost our momentum and although we were still catching we weren't catching as fast.
Taking an excellent line around grassy we got to within three-quarters of Cats and we kept going after them. Along by the plough we closed to half a length of Cats. We kept going strong and after Ditton corner got to a quarter of a length, we were getting close. From there we moved on and were going for the bump. We closed on Cats and hit them a quarter of the way down the reach. It wasn't our best row but it was a good result and a good bump.
Day Three: Bumped Wolfson
The weather was windy and rainy, a real change from the rest of the week, but as we got to the start the rain died down. We were caught off guard by the start gun, which went early, and this meant that the start was not as strong as before.
We still caught up to Wolfson and got the first whistle before first post. From there we kept closing on them. We got to half a length just before Grassy. A bumped out FaT boat was on the inside of grassy corner and this caused Wolfson to take a bad line. We took a good line, avoided FaT and kept our boat speed.
Just after the corner Wolfson caught a crab and we got our three whistles, Wolfson were panicked. From their we closed the door, we got together after the corner and really moved the boat. We were taking feet of Wolfson with every stroke. Wolfson caught another crab and with our bow up by their cox they conceded just before the Plough pub.
It was a good row and we punished Wolfson for their mistakes. Another good day and another Bump.
Day Four: Bumped Caius II
It was the final day of bumps and everyone was raring to go, we had gone up two and we were looking for the third. We had a good row down and everyone was ready.
The gun went off and so did we. We had another good start and were gaining of Caius II, not as quick as previous days though. We were following close behind Caius and were slowly catching them around grassy and plough reach. As both crews got to the reach we both hit the wind and both slowed down.
We kept moving and were still catching. We bumped Caius halfway down the reach. It was really good row and an excellent finished to an excellent week, finishing up three.
Simon Kirk - Men's Officer and Four-man