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All race reports for Charles Franklin

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2006 -
Posted as: Charles
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Nice one guys! This certainly felt like the best row I've ever been a part of (barring a scary line round grassy corner, but let's not mention that again). Seems we beat Christ's IV by at least 10 places- and quite right too considering we were faster than their entire VIII when rowing in sixes.

So it looks like blades for M5 this year! No, really...

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Charles
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Much better row- unfortunately Churchill bumped out so fast that we never got a chance to have another go at them.

However, at least we avoided our disaster start of yesterday, while chasing Homerton headed straight for the bank. They gained on us at first but we just about held them off at a bit less than a length.
A combination of a Homerton crab and a good line from Emma round Ditton meant that we could finish the course in relaxed style.

I'm happy not to have had to race down the reach, which was as nasty as the bermuda triangle on a bad day.

I should add that this is my first head-to head race ever in which my crew avoided the worst possible outcome. I have to say I'm delighted!

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Thursday
Posted as: Charles
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That was almost too easy after yesterday's race! The most satisfying thing was that we pulled nearly a length off Homerton in the short time it took us to bump.

This sets us up nicely for another go at CCAT- hopefully no disaster starts this time!

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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In a spectacularly successful May Bumps for 1st and 3rd, we've cunningly managed to stand out through total failure. I'm confidently tipping all three crews that hit us so far for blades- contact with us seems to bring joy to other crews. On the plus side- wait, no, there isn't a plus side.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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Yes!! Listened on CUR. Now go finish the job tomorrow!

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Charles
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According to Hans we gained 3/4 of a length on the start, after which overlap came pretty quickly. We must have held it there for about 50 strokes before finally pulling the trigger. The resulting crunch has left us with a damaged bow, but since Titan is hardly very aerodynamic anyway I can't see it making a difference!

Great result overall considering that we rowed below our usual standards - let's put it down to nerves and be 100% solid tomorrow.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Thursday
Posted as: Charles
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We gained about 1/4 of a length in the first 20 strokes and were rowing fairly nicely. Then Georg's seat came off. Then Zheng's seat came off. Then Jon's seat came off. Then Georg's seat came off. Then Georg's seat came off again. Then Jon's seat came off. Then Zheng's seat came off. All in all we rowed with 8 rowers for about 40 strokes. At times we rowed with 5.

Luckily the closest boat was Robinson chasing a double overbump. Despite rowing in sixes, we held them miles away with little trouble. As Harry put it, it was the apocalypse but the four horsemen didn't show up.

I didn't think we could row much worse than yesterday but clearly I was wrong! Come on guys, we can do so much better than this. We were faster until the chain of disasters, so let's do ourselves justice with a good bump tomorrow.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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In classic bumps style, we put in our best performance today and were bumped easily by the much bigger and stronger Christs IV. I look forward seeing Christs IV bump Christs III and the ensuing massive fine.

Anyway, let's blitz it tomorrow and hope that the gods of bumps throw some improbable luck in our direction.

Event: May Bumps 2009 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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Apparently you weren't intimidated by the opposition's t-shirts!

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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Today we came back with focus, and a better race plan, namely to bump Queens. Emma made sure that didn't happen, but it certainly gave us more motivation than our "painful survival" race plan yesterday!

After 50 strokes we had put plenty of clear water between ourselves and Selwyn, and may have closed slightly on Queens but not close enough for a whistle. However, just round first post corner Emma and Queens bumped out, and managed to park right across the river. We held it up, waited 10 seconds, and as Selwyn zoomed towards our stern were gently advised by RTT to get rowing again. Thanks, Tom!

So we resumed with Selwyn inside half a length and pushing enthusiastically for the bump, but we made sure the outcome would not be in doubt by gradually pushing them back off until we were back outside station at the finish. For me the moral is that even when rowing poorly, bringing the right attitude gives the boat a couple of extra pips. We only have ourselves to blame for what happened yesterday, but Queens will probably go on to get their blades and I think it's fair to say they've done enough to deserve them.

The scores on the doors:
Technique 3/10
Guts 10/10
Turbolegs 6/10
Jurassic crab recovery 9/10
Desire to throw RTT into the Cam - 11/10

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Friday
Posted as: Charles
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Girls, this is PHENOMENAL! I am so happy for you!

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Thursday
Posted as: Charles
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We expected a straightforward rowover today, so we failed to bring the focus that this race needed. Queens, on the other hand, really raised their game, and they ground us down steadily over the course. By the time we hit the reach the gap was down to half a length, and about halfway down they pulled out a huge push, for which we had no answer.

However, based on the previous day there's no good reason for us to have let this happen, so tomorrow we'll be switched on, aggressive, and rowing properly again.

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Tuesday
Posted as: Charles
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We knew it was unlikely we would bump Darwin, since based on this term's results they were faster than much of the first division, let alone the second. Therefore the hope was that they would bump Homerton and we could chase Emma II for the overbump. Unfortunately for us, Darwin closed to inches on Homerton but Homerton bumped Emma just in time to escape. We then rowed as hard as we could but there was no way we were going to catch them.

On the plus side, we pulled a long way away from the crews chasing us, and Darwin are certain to make mincemeat of Emmanuel on Thursday so hopefully come Friday we'll have something to hit. Today's rowing was messy but fun in a way, and definitely far from our worst performance.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charles
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We knew LMBC were the crew to beat in this division, so the only surprise was that we encountered them in the final rather than the semis. Since we had so far failed at finding any kind of rhythm, we decided to dispense with the usual stride, instead having Tom give repeated "down 2" calls which should come with increased power. Happily, this actually worked and we produced our best row of the day by miles.

Maggie had taken a few seats out of us by 30 strokes, but as we settled into a rhythm we began to hold them, and clung on all the way down the reach. Towards the end of the reach a call came for legs, and it worked as we slowly started clawing back the deficit. We had recovered to one seat down when, regrettably, there was a monumental blade clash. From my seat I saw Jij almost get KO'd by his blade, while behind me Ming caught a mini-crab. Once the dust had settled Maggie had a length on us, and since we were very closely matched in speed there was no hope of us recovering it.

However, it turns out that LMBC had been repeatedly infringing our line rather than the other way around, and so we were awarded the victory by default. This had been a great race and it's a pity it never reached its natural conclusion. I genuinely believed we were going to win with our final push, but now we'll never know! Maggie apologised for the way things turned out so there are no hard feelings, and I'm sure they're gutted to have lost it this way.

A big thank you to everybody who bankpartied us, and especially to Neil whose dry kit saved many of us (including me) from getting seriously ill before the last race. It was an incredibly exhausting and unpleasant day of racing, but somehow I've ended up with my first pot in 3 years of trying, so I can't deny being quite happy about that!

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charles
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Due to random and confusing reshuffling of the draw by Pembroke, we somehow ended up facing the fourth VIII even though we were supposed to meet in the final.

By this stage we were a bit ragged after 2 races and some hypothermia from wet kit and freezing conditions. The fourths, on the other hand, had received 2 byes due to incompetent opposition and were seriously up for some actual racing. More "interesting" organisation by Pembroke meant we were held at the start line for about 10 minutes, during which time some good banter was exchanged between the two crews - I think it's fair to say M4 won that particular battle.

Regarding the race itself, we knew that M4 were bigger and stronger than us, so our only advantage was our extra experience and (hopefully) better technique. Which was why it was a bit counterproductive to produce an even worse row than we did against Homerton.

Again we stretched out half a length at the start, but some seriously gutsy rowing by M4 meant they held us there for a long time. I actually thought we were at risk of losing it but a few strokes after the railway bridge, for whatever reason we finally extended our lead, and finished about a length up.

We may not have put in a good technical performance but it was certainly a very enthusiastically contested race on both sides. I'm sure with 2 more weeks of water time that M4 will be brutal opposition for their victims in the coming bumps.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charles
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After the previous race, Ming succinctly assessed our performance as "If we row like that again, we're going to get dicked on".

Our first 20 strokes seemed to be reasonably effective because we took out about half a length very quickly. However once again we failed to settle into a reasonable rhythm, and although we stretched our lead to a length, we then allowed them to hold us there all the way down the reach, and even gain slightly around the railway bridge.

It ended up a reasonably comfortable victory, but our scrappy rowing made our lives much harder than they needed to be - the lack of water time really showed.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charles
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Splatter horror rowing.

Panicked, spacky start with a "stride" into panicked, spacky rowing. Still, we were about 6 lengths up by the railway bridge so we wound it down to the finish.

Here's to rowing a lot better in the next few rounds!

Event: Robinson Head 2009 - 1st division
Posted as: Charles
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I can't tell you how gratifying it is to actually win, instead of just talking about how great an effort we made. We found a good rhythm, and took energy from storming past Magdalene (not to mention Ming's "motivational" shout). The power is still not what it might be but there's time left.

There's a huge amount of work still to do before bumps if we want to go up, but this is definitely a great result at this point.

Massive thank you to Fordy for jumping in, and to Emma who coxed as though she was drunk on the way up but took gorgeous lines in the race itself.
Thanks also to Peterborough City Rowing Club, because if they hadn't cancelled Nene we would have been rowing in a bathtub.

I guess this is what happens when Ming is involved with your crew!

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2008 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Charles
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This was a good committed row to finish off our brief spell together as a crew. It was a bit scrappy at times but there was no doubting the effort, particularly from Ming who almost died at the end.

All in all, 3rd 2nd VIII isn't a terrible result after 2 weeks of training. Bring on more banter next term!