1st Women's VIII - Mays 2009

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.
Our start was quick and we pulled away from St Catherine's to about two lengths of clear water. Just as we were starting to feel confident, St Catherine's put in a massive push and managed to take almost all the clear water in about 20 strokes through The Gut and Grassy. Our 'eight man move' managed to hold them at a few feet for Plough Reach and a massive push at Ditton helped us to pull away slightly. Unfortunately, at this point they just made contact at the last possible moment and we were bumped.
The crew was devastated, especially as we thought we were pulling clear and I felt we dealt with the disappointment very well, even being able to act in a sportsman like manner towards their cox when she came over the congratulate us and discuss the race. Tomorrow sees us chasing St Catherine's after they failed to bump into the First Division.

Day Two

We started the day second in Division 2, chasing St Catherine's after they failed to bump Churchill the day before to gain a place in Division 1. A solid start and a 'rage' call through the Gut for the previous day's bump saw us make progress on St Catherine's. Pembroke II tried to make a move, gaining a whistle on us just as we gained one on St Catherine's, coming into Grassy. A slow corner saw us lose ground, a problem that unfortunately seemed to repeat itself around Ditton. A big push set us up nicely for the row-over, with Pembroke II left for dust many lengths behind. We picked up speed after some gutsy pushes off the Railway Bridge, but unfortunately St. Catherine's escaped us across the line. St Catherine's bumped into the First Division, sending King's down to us for tomorrow.

Day Three

We started the day chasing King's, keen for the bump. Our quick start saw us get a whistle in the Gut, before we'd had our rhythm call at 45 seconds. We lost speed around Grassy corner again which saw the distance lengthen back to on station. A massive push out of Ditton saw us gain back some distance and we closed the gap to a length. During the Long Reach, we gained little distance and disappointingly were unable to maintain our pushes so we lost length. We made huge progress after the Railway Bridge though, but by that time we'd run out of river and rowed over behind King's. At our closest, we were half a length away from the Bump.

Day Four

Day 4 saw us have our best row of the races yet. We gained on King's again and avoided losing as much speed around Grassy. Pembroke II made another move at us, but failing to even close much distance. The support on the bank through Grassy and Plough Reach urged us on to another whistle, with us at half a length off King's coming around Ditton. Through the Reach we managed to close to just off a canvas, however we never came close enough to earn our third whistle. The race ended with a row over with no regrets which while disappointing was performed to the best of our ability. We look forward to chasing King's on Day 1 of next year's Mays!