OK, so apparently sassy race reports are in vogue right now. So I’ll start by being frank: I can’t really remember much about Spring Head to Head. I mean, races are normally a bit of a blur anyway (potentially because of our god-like speed, but more realistically because of the pain), but it was a ew weeks ago now and I should have written this up sooner. 
 

So as per normal we’re super keen and marshal really early, going through our race plan, checking out other crews and honing our ‘banter’. (Yes, quotation marks necessary. Deal with it.) Then we rowed for 2k. It was great. No qualifier, like ‘great for a 2nd crew which hasn't rowed together for very long’, just: ‘great’. 
  Read more »

The Mighty Mens Beer Boat

On Sunday the beer boat raced in city sprints; 400m side-by-side outside the boathouses. Thanks to our formidable reputation we were not required to participate in any of the early rounds and found ourselves lining up on the start line of the final for men's division 3. Suddenly our wonderful beer-bottle shaped sunglasses were made redundant as the sun vanished, eclipsed by the hulking forms of Darwin M1. Darwin had the outside of the bend and therefore started slightly ahead of us, yet we courageously chased up to them and stroke side fought valiantly in the inevitable blade clashes. The messy water didn't create ideal rowing conditions for either crew and we made the truly gentlemanly decision to drop back slightly to allow each boat a more enjoyable experience. We then held that distance until the finish line. Of course the decision wasn't entirely altruistic as it meant we had the opportunity to race again as opposed to squandering our race entry fee on a single 400m race. Read more »

M1

On the day we had a very strong row up to the start and some good practice starts. From the start gun we moved off well - going off hard to try and catch Pembroke as we knew Christ's would be coming after us fast. Sadly the Christ's crew just kept moving towards us, so whilst we were slightly up on Pembroke we were bumped by Christ's in the gut. 

For many of us in the boat this was the first time we had ever been bumped. Indeed it is the first time that M1 has been bumped in several years. I think that we can take a lot away from that week, having had some very gutsy performances. Coupled with a desire to never let that happen again training has begun in earnest and we are well prepared with a plan and a coach for next term! The fact that this was a good crew and the first bump in many years shows that we are finally around the level at which we deserve to be, and have kept a solid platform for the crews of the next few years to work on. The next aim is to continue our rise in the Mays to a similar level. Read more »

M1

Ali has taken to adapting Winston Churchill quotes this bumps and sent this round the M1 mailing list Tuesday evening:
“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight off the start, we shall fight on the seas and oceans of first post reach, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength through the first post corner, we shall defend our college, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight through grassy, we shall fight past the plough, we shall fight round Ditton and on to the reach, we shall fight to the finish; we shall never surrender.”

If he was predicting how today’s race would go he couldn’t have done a much better job.  The following is what I’ve been told happened, because frankly I was hurting so much I don’t remember a lot of it:

Christ’s had a devastatingly quick start and took half a length out of us very quickly. They continued to relentlessly close through first post and into grassy, after which they alternated between 3 whistles and overlap until Ditton. By this point we had closed to around half a length off Pembroke. Coming onto the reach a total unwillingness to allow ourselves to be bumped combined with some well-timed, motivational shouts of ‘MOVING’ from Ali and excellent coxing by Katie allowed us to pull away from Christ’s. With the immediate threat dealt with we pushed on, doing our best to close on Pembroke. 3 minutes or so of agony later we finished a length clear of Christ’s and half a length off Pembroke.

Whilst a step on from yesterday there are still some areas to polish up. It was however an incredibly gutsy performance with no one giving less than their utmost. Tomorrow we’ll go off even harder, row well and earn the bump we so badly want.
I’m going to continue the Churchill theme and leave you with two more appropriate quotes:

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

“Never, never, never give up.”
 
Nathan
3 seat Sub
(Raf get well soon – I’m broken!)


W1

We knew we had it in us to bump Maggie. We knew we were faster than them. And we knew we weren’t going to let the same mistake happen twice. Tuesday’s jitters were gone, and we rowed down excited, confident and determined to hit them hard! …And that’s exactly what we did!

As the final canon went, we stayed relaxed while pushing down hard and winding it up. We settled into a decent rhythm, and were soon rewarded by the sound of the first whistle. Somewhere around Grassy Three caught a mini-crab, turning her blade the wrong way round for her stroke! But we just rowed right on; nothing could stop us today! We closed in to two whistles on LMBC, and it felt like we were holding them there forever as we hammered down along Plough Reach. Our chance came at Ditton corner: seeing they had taken the corner slightly wide, our cox took the daring inside line beautifully. We put in everything we had there, and in a blur we were closing in, overlapping, bumping! Before I could even work out what was happening, we were holding it up and hurrying to the side…we’d bumped? We’d bumped!

I could hardly call today easy, and we have an even tougher day ahead of us tomorrow, when we’ll chase Selwyn. But we’re ready, bring it on!

PS. Shout out to Alyssa’s parents, our biggest fans across the pond!

-Katherine Nunn

M2 – rest day

Today M2 had the day off, which meant we didn’t get bumped! As mentioned yesterday the crew were visualising the row-over, in particular seeing the railway bridge in the distance as we powered down the reach several lengths clear of the boat behind.
I bank-partied W1, who showed us how bumps should be done, gaining the revenge bump on LMBC W2 on Ditton Corner, whilst Gareth took in a few divisions in his marshalling slot before bank-partying M1 to a hard fought row-over in front of a strong Christ’s boat.

After a day off M2 are ready to go and show people what we can do tomorrow with our eternal optimism. We know tomorrow will be difficult, but believe that we can get something out of it and put ourselves in a good position going into Saturday.
On a side note, Gareth wants me to mention the point when an entire Murray Edwards boat shouted out to him as we rowed past yesterday, it makes him happy.

-James, 6

 

W1

Bumps day 1- We all went into Bumps excited and determined after polishing up our race starts in the past two weeks. But frankly, today just wasn't our day! We were off to a great start, beginning to pull away from LMBC and creeping up on Churchill. We were pushing hard, but between First Post and Grassy, Three caught a crab! LMBC started looming, but Three got it back quickly, and with our Cox calling the restart we recovered well. Going strong again, we were pulling away from LMBC until…disaster struck! Coming off Grassy, Four (That’s me! The shame!) caught a crab and just couldn't get it back. The rest of the crew fought valiantly, but LMBC seized on the mistake and moved in for the bump. We were gutted to have lost, but we’re determined to show them what we've really got on Thursday! Watch this space for the revenge bump!

-Kat (Disgraced 4)

M2

Today marked the start of what we hoped to be a successful bumps campaign. Everyone was excited (Anna was bouncing up and down in the boathouse) but most people were unsure of what to expect as only 3 of the boat had any Bumps experience. The row down was nice and relaxed, and we marshalled fairly easily, despite Ali telling us to stop on the wrong side of the railway bridge. After a quick chat to explain things like cannons and whistles we rowed up to the start in eights, with a practice start past the Plough. After spinning and another quick chat we de-kitted and got in the boat ready to be poled out. On the third cannon we were off. The draw strokes were nice and relaxed and we managed to hit 45 on the winds, but unfortunately the pressure of the race meant that people tightened up and we didn't lengthen and drop the rate as quickly as we could. We held station with FAT III in front, but King's II were fast and had a whistle just after the motorway bridge. As King's got closer Anna called a power 10 and we managed to hold the distance for a while, but they were just too strong. As they got 3 whistles our rowing started to slip a little, and despite managing to hold them at overlap for a while, they caught us on First Post Corner. Tomorrow we plan on getting the revenge bump. First day nerves are out of the way now and we plan to row as well as we can, relax and either smash King's or row over ready to chase FAT III again on Friday, when we will be determined to get the bump. Thanks to Ali, Tim, Kelly and Katie for bank partying. We look forward to the rest of the week and getting hold of some greenery.

-James, 6