Race Reports

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.

After some hard months of training, the 1st IV went on to race in the Winter Head. A long wait below the A14 road bridge got us all chilly, but the short paddle to the start line warmed us all up again. The whole crew felt we had something to prove after narrowly losing out to the eventual winners of the University IVs races, Downing. A fairly solid row followed in good conditions, moving at a comfortable 34 through the course, and building boat-speed in the second half, overtaking the boat in front around Ditton. A powerful sprint to the finish took us over the line at 40. Paddling back to the boathouse for a quick lunch, we rested before marshalling for the second race. In worsening conditions, we went off following a Rob Roy IV.

Uni Fours was our first race of the term so we were nervous about how our boat speed compared to other college crews. We were drawn against Tit Hall II on the first day which was a good opportunity to see how we were doing as we were starting in the leading position. After a fast start it was a bit tricky to settle into our planned rate but we eventually found our rhythm coming into Plough Reach. We had to pay for our fast first minutes coming into Ditton Corner where we found it hard to go around a tight line. Once we were straight on the reach, we decided to play it safe and built to the finish. A strong last minute saw us disappear from the chasing crew and cross the line 22 seconds ahead of Trinity Hall.

Wednesday
We started a bit scrappily but at a high rate. The weather didn’t help matters and we were not putting into place what we had achieved in training the previous week. We did make good ground on Jesus III who fought very hard, but the Trinity Hall II crew chasing us was there until Hughes Hall bumped them. The cox took great first post and grassy corners and the sustained push out of grassy gave us the inside line on Jesus III. The bump was achieved shortly after. Not our best row but it got the job done.

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.

We went into the May Bumps knowing that we have improved well since the Champs Head and were looking forward to comparing our boat speed to that of the other crews around us.

Day one saw us chasing King's who were pursuing Caius II. We had a solid start but Caius were so much slower that King's that the bump happened in front of us shortly after Grassy. Once we had gone around Ditton, the crew gave it everything to see whether an overbump was possible. Rowing down the reach, we found a solid rhythm and opened up a large gap between us and the chasing crew, Downing II. However, the 6 lengths that separated us and Selwyn off the start proved to be too large and we wound it down at Peter's Post to row-over comfortably.

This was to be M2’s only warm up event for May Bumps. Due to lack of entries we only had one race guaranteed. We faced Clare II. We did not really get our rhythm and had trouble transitioning from the start to the stride and did not hold our finishes well. Clare II won easily. The positives were the crew rowing in time and together but major technical adjustments will be needed before Mays.

We rowed down to 99s on a very hot and sunny day. The row down was fairly relaxed, with a nice rhythm established from the start. Our first race was against ARU W1. We got off to a good start and by the end of our start we were already a few seats up. This gave us the confidence to push it on further, reaching clear water before the Railway Bridge. By the finish we had widened the gap to quarter of a length of clear water, a good result. We span and rowed back to the start almost immediately. Our second race was against Newnham W1. Despite a better rhythm off the start, Newnham moved ahead fairly rapidly; they slowly but constantly took a few seats off us every minute, and we ended up at a similar distance behind them as we were ahead in the previous race.

On the 17th of May, W1 raced Champs Eights Head. There was legendary wind the whole week preceding the race, so we were all slightly nervous. However, we knew we were strong enough to cope with a strong head wind and other crews may not be.
Our start outside the Plough was a bit unorthodox, with the umpire starting us before we were even forwards. We coped well and were back on form by the second stroke. Coming into Ditton, we were hit by a massive gust of wind where wind really had no business being. A huge push saw us maintain our boat speed around the corner, where we began our push out.

On Sunday 17th May 2009, the 1st Men's VIII raced in the Champs Head. Despite a tough first half of term with many of the crew being injured and our head coach, Bomber, being ill, we managed to enter the 1st VIII thanks to James McWilliams subbing in.

The crew was determined not to let the problems from the beginning of term overshadow our performance and so we attacked the course and raced it as aggressively as we could. Although not a particularly pretty row, we rated about 33/34 strokes per minute into a strong headwind. Thanks to a strong effort from the crew we finished in a time of 4:57.0, placing us second in the M2 division.