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All race reports for Will Laffan

Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Saturday
Posted as: Will
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BUMP!! BLADES!!! We may have been the most arrogant crew on the river, but we delivered!

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Will
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Pretty feisty row, they did kind of cruise away after the start, but we kept in touch all the way down the course even apparently coming back a little round the corner under the railway bridge.
Given the fact they were full of blues and we were in a bath tub I reckon we can be proud of this one.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Will
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It looked for a fair while like this was a contest, but maybe we were a bit tired and our stride wasnt so rythmic as before so they got the better of us in the second half, but I think we put up a decent fight.
Good to see they had to resort to heckling Albert to win!

Event: May Bumps 2006 - Thursday
Posted as: Will
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The best long piece I've ever done, the boat had rhythm all the way to the finish and we were controlled and together on the pushes, but still powerful, particularly the "60s commitment" really made a difference. It was a long row, but I really enjoyed it.

Event: Robinson Head 2006 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Will
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Row was solid with some good pushes out of corners really keeping the boat moving. We beat plenty of boats around us in bumps and I can't help feeling with a little more work we could really make the boat (hopefully not still Richard Church) fly in Pembroke and bumps, maybe even put the gents in their place.

Event: Champion of the Thames Eights Head 2007 - Men's 1st Div. Mays
Posted as: Will L
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Cant quite believe how much alcohol we won, thank god its a rest day!

Event: Marlow Regatta 2007 - S3 8+
Posted as: Will L
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A light tailwind and almost perfectly flat lake allowed us to put in a relatively clean row to win our heat by a fraction of a length. 2 other crews held pace for most of the race, trading not more than a few seats until Nereus fell back, leaving Cardiff Uni and us fighting it out to the line. A late, but effective wind to the finish saw us get our bows just in front.

Event: Marlow Regatta 2007 - S3 8+
Posted as: Will L
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The conditions had changed to a nasty crosswind for our semi, the lake was getting pretty choppy and a number of waves came over the bows onto me.

Although we didn't qualify for the final in what turned out to be a relatively strong semi we came from behind with a really powerful second half to close to a matter of feet by the line. Gutted to miss out on the final, however we've learnt some valuable lessons for Henley.

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Will L
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Love it. Watching you guys storm up on them past us at the Plough was truly awesome. I think Chris and I were far more excited about your race than our own.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Will L
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The culmination of an amazing term's rowing. All the way down the course the support was unbelievable, passing the P&E, hearing the massive cheer and realising we were going to make it to Chesterton was a great sensation that I will remember for a long time to come.

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2007 -
Posted as: Will L
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5th VIII Headship, great row. Im expecting good things next week!

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Will L
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A final pre-bumps win, always nice, now its time to get focused on the real thing

Event: Robinson Head 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Will
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A win, but still 11s off last year, plenty to work on

Event: University IVs 2006 - 2nd division
Posted as: Will
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A reasonable row, but we never really got much send on the boat and down the reach they gained steadily on us. A bit dissapointing early exit given our Autumn Head performance.

Event: University IVs 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Will L
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Solid result guys, first day nerves out of the way.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Will L
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Its not often you get a Mays headship without training for it. I only found out on Monday evening that I would be rowing most of the week with these guys. Having spent the majority of the year out of action I wasnt convinced I was quite ready for 3 row-overs at the top of the division, but sitting in the boat, you could feel the power from the other 7 guys and it was clear if it could be done, they would do it.

They've earned this, everyone who has subbed in over the course of the term knows how hard they trained and my inbox is still full of emails from Flo saying exactly how much he wanted to nail Caius. I dont think I'll ever fully appreciate how tough that week of "super-compensation" must have been, but they definitely came out of it an incredibly strong crew.

Stepping into the boat, the thing that stands out is their motivation - their simmering aggression on the row up to the start, the first 2 minutes when it boils over and they all put everything into every stroke, together, to get away from the crew behind, the fact that possibly the most committed pushes came under the railway bridge, when your entire body is burning and Ming asks you to give it everything for the umpteenth time that day. It was easy to get swept along with the massive desire to win.

Thanks guys for the ride, it was amazing, particularly to Toby, who did the hard work for me! As ever the support on the towpath was immense, especially on Saturday. Having everyone there really does make it all worthwhile. We should also thank the old boys who provided the new equipment this year. The blades definitely make a difference and the Empacher is an absolute pleasure to row, or at least these guys make it feel like that. Also Tom Rose and JPD put in hell of a lot of work to get this crew up to speed, having such talented coaches around was vital to success this term. Finally there's Ming, looking back over his captaincy I think its fair to say the club has completely dominated the river. As he said as we came down the reach, "We're the best, boys" and its pretty much all down to him.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Will L
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This was a nice race, we were confident we could catch Robinson, and we went out there and did exactly that. We went off hard and fast and reeled them in. I'm sorry I had to abandon the crew for the rest of the week, there'll always be some doubt about how things might have gone, but there is certainly no shame in going down to Fitz and I dont think having me would have made any difference. From the sound of things the final day's race was the highlight of the week, a truly gutsy row-over by all accounts.

Despite some low points (I think 99s regatta was probably the lowest) I have really enjoyed training with this crew all term, the banter has been superb.

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Will L
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I'm starting to believe it is actually going to happen.

Thats a solid result, but it won't be enough come bumps. Theres more to be found in all parts of the stroke and we'll get there. And its going to be fast.

Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2008 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Will L
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They row better than us, they have more power than us and just to put the icing on the cake, they have working leg muscles.

They were faster and would most likely win any ordinary race against us. In fact they were in the process of doing just that quite convincingly when my hamstring started to go. So we stopped, and lost. We then subbed me out for Bryn (who is inelligable for this event) and thus probably lost again. They were kind enough to allow this new crew a fresh race from the plough, which we promptly lost. All in all, I think we have to concede that they deserved to win.

We weren't in tip top shape after our semi, but that wasn't going to change the result, however I would have liked to make it look a bit more competitive, which I'd like to think on fresh (working) legs it could've been.

Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2008 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Will L
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It was looking good, our row down had been some of the best rowing we'd ever put together - our burst on the reach was powerful, our practise start was clean and rapid, I was even lined up almost straight at the start. The, dare I say it, class continued down first post reach, the start wasn't too shabby and nor was my line.

However, rounding first post corner we threw away anything resembling timing, rhythm or balance and instead did our best to spank the boat along with complete disregard for technique. This second style of racing perservered for the remainder of the course and explains why this was one of the most physically demanding races I've ever done. This was a shame because that level of exertion probably wouldn't have been necessary had we rowed to our technical potential, and left us in pretty bad shape for the next round, not that it turned out to matter.

A good race from Christs, from all accounts they were much slicker than on Monday and certainly gave us a decent race.

This race took out the last remaining non-FaT entry into Foster-Fairbairns and assured us the Michell Cup points.

Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2008 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Will L
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In what should have been recognised as an omen for Hambleden's second race of the day, it took only until first post corner for the steering to pack up. Armed only with wild variations in pressure we managed to meander our way through the corners, clearly causing some distress to Emma as we pushed the limit of how wide its actually possible to go around grassy. Thankfully the Selwyn guys were doing their fair share of meandering too, I think they might have even scraped the bank once or twice.

However, the end result was good, we never really stormed away, but I think we just steadily edged further and further ahead. Good to have one race behind us going into Wednesday.

This race gave us the honour of being the only FaT pair to beat another college this week, Coker having also won a round of Fairbairn Junior Sculls to uphold the club's name.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Will L
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Possibly the longest race yet, Selwyn had clearly grasped we were a sprinting crew and gone off unsustainably. It took a while to get the 1st whistle, but after that we steadily gained.

It was an amazing ride guys, you were awesomely fast, if rather agricultural. It takes a fair amount of speed and a little bit of luck to blade and even more with a half-fit cripple in your midst!

Somehow thats 14 out of 14 races for me in Lents, although Id hope to be here next year, I can at least leave with my head held high. Thanks to everyone in the crew, as well as Ming, Gonzalo and David Jones for your work on the bank.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Will L
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To gain a place in Div 1 and steal the 2nd VIII headship was very satisfying, particularly at the expense of Maggie. It was perhaps unfortunate that we achieved this with our most shambolic rowing yet, but it got the job done. We look forward to a chance at blades tomorrow chasing Selwyn

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Will L
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Familiar territory by now, an aggressive start saw us gain pretty quickly and despite a rather spacky (even for us) patch exiting first post corner Robinson capitulated in the gut.

This moved us up to sandwich boat and gave the majority of the crew their first taste of Div 1 action. We should probably thank the P&E for their hospitality as we marshalled in rather wet kit, in what would otherwise have been rather brutal conditions.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Will L
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These guys didn't give up. They'll do well in the 2nd half of the week.

According to Selwyn BC's site, the boat "contains 6 ex FAT I oarsmen, at least one of whom rocked up today in blues stash". I'm all for cultivating a fearsome reputation, but having more (rowing) blues than M1 would be going a little far...

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Tuesday
Posted as: Will L
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I've been in crews where the row down has been nervous and spacky, but we'd always pull it together for the race. Today was the opposite, never before has a crew showed such promise on the way up, to then descend into such absolute farce at the start-line. I'm just glad it ended (well).

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Will L
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Ballsiest race I ever saw! Took on one of the better 1st VIIIs and raced right to the line.

A slightly overpowered, spacky, nervous start saw both crews level for the first half of the reach, FaT then nosed in front around their corner and were 2 seats up coming into the railway bridge. The corner evened things up and as the crews went into the last 200m Clare's experience and efficiency began to show, we flagged and lost our technique, Clare edging into a 1/2 length lead with a superior sprint finish. Great racing.

The crew proved they can hold their own amongst 1st VIIIs and deserve to be in Div 1 in a fortnights time.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Will L
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A high-powered start was rewarded with a 1/2-length lead, which the crew pressed out to a length and then clear water by the railway bridge, cruising to the line in a respectable time, good result.

Event: Peterborough Summer Regatta 2009 - IM2 8+
Posted as: Will L
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Knowing we'd been together as a crew for a full 140 minutes longer, we were hoping for a more co-ordinated start and some semblance of a catch from 4. However our tideway contacts had informed us the quite nifty-looking Thames crew who won the other semi contained their 'big Henley guys' and had probably also met each other prior to 10:30 that morning. Much as rowing in 801 did bring back many fond memories, I am still worried that that boat was built out of bricks and mortar and I'm afraid nostalgia is no match for a shiny 'pacher (one of only a handful at P'boro, which ought to introduce a veteran category for shells). The final line-up was completed by some dodgy Peterborough composite (who we'd notice develop a fondness for the bank halfway down the world's straightest head course earlier in the day) as well as the already vanquished Lea 8.

It was certainly a faster start than before, and this time we didn't hand the Lea crew any real advantage out of the blocks. The rather well-drilled Thames boat got off to a flyer, which continued for pretty much the next 1000m meanwhile the Peterborough 8 lived up to its billing and proved, as we had suspected, steering wasn't its only deficiency. I can't say exactly how the rest of the race went as I was pretty busy killing myself. TC set rates I hadn't seen for a while and although Lea held us for a while, they eventually dropped back leaving us chasing the Thames 8 a length or so ahead. At the halfway mark, Strawson decided it was an appropriate moment to demonstrate you can turn the boat from the 7 seat, although only by doing a grizzly bear impression; to avert a navigational hiccup, the rest of the crew joined in, with the bows getting the gist of the mid-race push a few strokes later. The effort was pretty much flat out from the word go and predictably the wheels started to come off in the last quarter, by which time the result wasn't in any doubt. We claimed our respectable 2nd place in a less respectable time of 3:01, 4s behind Thames.

At least with this rate of improvement, while averaging an admirable 6 and a half outings per day, we can claim we would have won if the race had been held at 10:20 that night. I can only complain to Peterborough Rowing Club about the lack of floodlights, although on the other hand that might not be the best of ideas.

It was good fun to see everyone again, and shove my old and new rowing partners into an 8 fast enough to drag me along. Hope everyone enjoyed it.