Race Reports

After our successes at the Winter Head, we were eager to avenge narrowly missing out on a 2008 Fairbairns victory. The weather in the days leading up to the race had been wet and windy, but in the event, fairly calm conditions prevailed. After some sitting around waiting for the First and Third IV to push off, we moved onto the start line. A big start took us to Downing boathouses as we moved into the rhythm that would carry us over the course. A well-controlled rate of 34 took us down past the wall, and, as we went under the Green Dragon Bridge in just under five minutes, a lift took us to 35. Coming under the Railway Bridge, another move took us up to 36. As we rounded Ditton, we summoned our last reserves for one last push.

After the traditional marshaling carnage, we paddled up to the start and started solidly. Imogen began to lead us through our race plan and we held Clare for the first half of the race while walking away from St Catherine's. As we came past the P&E we passed some support on the bank which helped to spur us on. We recovered from a slightly wobbly row down the Reach as we came round Ditton, onto the course the Seniors in the boat are so familiar with. The Novices rose to the challenge admirably and we got some good pushes out of the corners. As we came round First Post we began our wind and empty for the line. Ultimately we had a good race which should set us up for well for Lents.

We knew going into Fairbairns that if we rowed well we could pull off a good result. The target was to be within 30 seconds of the first boat. We got off to a good start and settled nicely into our cruising rhythm of round about rate 33. We knew that we needed to be very focussed going along the Wall and we managed to keep the boat speed up and were soon coming into Chesterton, cheered on by a sizeable bank party, despite the obvious attraction of watching the first boat so thank you to all those who stayed with us – it was greatly appreciated. Coming out of Chesterton Bridge, we were moving up to overtake an LMBC crew, which gave us a lift as we new we were moving faster than some crews at least!

Having performed well in the Clare Novice Regatta, we were hoping to do equally well or even better in Fairbairns. After an early start and a good deal of manouevering through the pre-race marshalling chaos, we made it to the start line and prepared for the race. We started strongly and kept up a relatively good speed through the course, managing to keep the rate from dropping by much, despite the onset of tiredness. After Chesterton corner we started to build our speed and power up gradually, and indeed caught sight of the boat who had set off a few minutes before us, from Hughes Hall.

Despite the gusty winds the novice women crew headed out to the Reach with high spirits to race in this year's Emma Sprints dressed as Smurfs.

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.