May Bumps 2008 - 1st Women's VIII
Summary
Stayed level by bumping St Catharine's 3 days after being bumped by Magdalene.
Wednesday
The first day of bumps saw us in the tricky position at the head of the second division, with Magdalene chasing us. We were prepared for the long row over and knew it would not be easy. We started well, settling into a good rhythm allowing us to maintain our distance from Magdalene. So far so good, it seemed like the row over was going to be tough, but would go our way. However, in the gut Magdalene suddenly changed gear and started bearing down on us. We responded well and managed to slow the closing gap, however, despite our best efforts, when we came round Grassy, Magdalene finally caught us. Despite the result, it was extremely good rowing. Thursday now sees us chasing King’s and followed by Selwyn.
Thursday
We knew that today was being tricky, after experiencing King’s speed in Lent’s, however, we were confident we would be able to hold off Selwyn. We started well and began gaining on King’s, we maintained a good rhythm and speed and managed to close the gap between us to a length. However, once we were through the gut King’s took it up a notch and began to pull away from us, meanwhile Selwyn were posing very little threat behind us. We finished the course without catching King’s, but without feeling too disappointed; we had done our best. Tomorrow sees us starting in the same position, giving us another shot at King’s after they failed to bump up into the first division.
Friday
We knew today was our second and probably last chance at trying to get King’s. After yesterday, we knew that we had nothing to fear from behind providing nothing went wrong. Our start was not the tidiest we have done, which meant the rhythm did not settle as well as it could have done. However, we still managed to close on King’s at the beginning of the race, getting the gap down to a length. Going through the gut, we could see Selwyn tensing as Darwin gained and then bumped them. Meanwhile we were not gaining any further on King’s and along the reach they pulled away from us. We wound down to save energy and rowed home. Tomorrow sees us chasing St. Catherine’s and chased by Darwin.
Saturday
Today we were in the exciting position where we would either give Darwin their blades or give St. Catz their spoons: we knew which we wanted and were confident we would bump! Our start was really powerful: you could feel we wanted it. Quite soon we were rewarded with our first whistle. We maintained a good rhythm and kept laying down the power – it was all or nothing, especially with Darwin holding their position one length behind us. With all of the cheering from the bank, it did not feel too long before the half length whistle came. We knew it this was our chance to break St Catz and we gave it and almighty push and were rewarded with our bump coming out of Grassy. It was smiles all round and for many of the crew their first bump!
After regaining our position as sandwich boat, we were now due to race an hour later, again chasing King’s, would this be our third time lucky? We knew we would be tired from the first race, so it a case of giving it everything we had left. Again, it was a good start, and we started to close on King’s however, before we could make any great impression they had bumped Churchill. We wound down and rowed home; very happy with our achievements and feeling we had defended our right to be at the top of the second division.