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All race reports for Richard Fletcher

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2008 - Student Beginner VIIIs
Posted as: R.J. Fletcher
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Hear hear. Given that it was only our second outing rowing all eight, a fantastic row from all. We perhaps sagged a little through the middle of the race so need to work on pushing hard when the going gets tough, but we still have a couple of weeks to go until the big novice races. With a little (or a lot!) of training this could go very well indeed. The foundations of a pretty rapid crew are there - we just need to get some solid water time in.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2008 - Cup
Posted as: R.J. Fletcher
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What a gutting morning - we went hard off the start but a crab (which was quickly recovered from) resulted in the seat coming off. We rowed the course in sixes, maintaining overlap for the whole race. This showed some real grit and determination, not to mention terrific rowing. Some totally inappropriate celebrations from the Selwyn boat were a shame. Well done girls - bad luck really hit us hard there. We look now to Fairbairns, and I am totally confident of a great performance.

There are always more races to win.

Event: May Bumps 2009 - Saturday
Posted as: R.J. Fletcher
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I think this set of bumps warrants my second ever race report! The first couple of days were fairly straightforward, although tension began to rise as we saw an unexpectedly fast Caius crew bumping up behind us. We knew that the third day would be tough, and that the result would probably determine the final result too. It turned out to be one of the hardest races I've ever done, with Caius sitting 1/4 - 1/3 of a length off our stern until the railway bridge, at which point we gradually began to move away. Lessons we took from this were that our start was pretty terrible and lost us about 1/2 length, and that we needed to go much harder down Plough Reach which was where Caius seemed to really go for the bump. On a positive note, at no point did anyone panic and we produced our best row as a crew, finishing in 7:38. The fourth day was much less eventful. Caius never seemed to come inside a length (from my view anyway, could be wrong) partly as a result of a much better start from us. We pushed hard down Plough Reach and the rest, as they say, is history.
Many thanks to all the people who came to cheer for us, especially the fleet of bikes on the meadow side! Also many thanks to Caius for such a fantastic couple of races and for being such good sports about the result. To be continued next year!

Event: Lent Bumps 2010 - Wednesday
Posted as: Rich
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Massive congratulations girls - fantastic to see.

Event: Lent Bumps 2010 - Wednesday
Posted as: Rich
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A reasonable row, finished 23 seconds clear.

Event: Lent Bumps 2010 - Friday
Posted as: Rich
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A good row in unpleasant conditions, finishing around 2.5 lengths clear.

Event: Lent Bumps 2010 - Saturday
Posted as: Rich
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This academic year saw a large turnover within the men's side. We embarked upon our Lent campaign with only two rowers from last year's Mays boat and hence a less certain outlook compared with previous years. Races early in the term suggested that certainly Queen's and probably Downing were faster than us. We were improving extremely fast with time together, but the question was whether we could generate the required speed in time for bumps.

We approached the first day of bumps with mixed feelings - huge progress had been made since last racing Downing and we had comfortably won Pembroke Regatta, although both of our main rivals were absent. However, our relative speeds at this stage were unknown.

In fact the first race was rather uneventful, seeing us steadily take distance though a very aggressive first half of the race and finishing with a large margin although Downing claim to have wound down for the last km or so. It was clear that LMBC did not pose any threat to either crew so it looked to be a two horse race for the rest of the week.

One of the perils of rowing over head is that you have to be prepared to deal with any race plan from the chasing crew and still be capable of racing the distance. We had no idea of how Downing were approaching each day so tried to approach each day with the same aggression and commitment, and be prepared for either a long race or a 500m sprint. Both the second and third days saw us move out to 2.5 or 3 lengths in the first half and sit there, generally rating 33-34 and feeling fairly comfortable. However, memories of 4th day shock tactics by Downing in 2009 were fresh in our minds so we rowed up on saturday expecting a repeat. Only two of us had rowing the last Lents and we were sure to impress on the new guys the likelihood of such a race.

Downing did not disappoint. They sat on station until the gut, when they began to move on us, and by the approach to Ditton had closed to what looked from the 7 seat to be around 3 feet of clear water but I am told it was more like a canvas. A glance at the bladework and postures of the Downing crew showed that they were sprinting flat out and we knew that they would blow as had happened last year if only we could hold them long enough. We stayed calm and the crew performed admirably, responding cohesively to Natasha's calls. As one member of the crew put it 'I got my head down, rowed as hard as I could and believed they would blow'. We took some distance with a strong push out of Ditton, and Downing sat at 1/4 length for the first third of the reach or so, falling back to 1/2 length approaching the railway bridge. At this point we could see that they were dying off, and we steadily began to move away finishing with around 2.5 lengths clear water. A fantastic end to the bumps, and one that I will remember for a long time. Thanks to Downing for such a great race, and for being such good sports about the result.

Unfortunately we have been unable to compare ourselves to Queen's as a the time of writing an injury has prevented them from competing to race at HBR. We have progressed hugely as a crew and have become fast sprinters which bodes well for regatta season. This is largely down to the efforts of JPD who coached us for the two weeks leading up to bumps - without his support and coaching prowess we would not have finished head and we can't thank him enough. Thanks also to Peter Summers and Emma for their contributions earlier in the term.

I'd like to extend my thanks to the rest of the crew - the team spirit and determination has been terrific this term. We now look forward to HoRR and May term having secured the Lent Headship for another year.

Rah Rah First and Third!

Event: Kingston Head 2010 - Intermediate 2 VIIIs
Posted as: Rich
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After our stroke man caught the notorious 'broken rib' bug a week ago we have been forced to shake up our crew - we are now bow-rigged and every member has changed seats. However, the crew has responded well and we are beginning to learn to row a head race.
The race felt nice and committed but the rowing was too variable if we want to perform next weekend at HoRR. Rate fluctuated between 30 and 33 and we seemed surprised by the tailwind. We overtook one crew and were overtaken by a sharp KRC crew who eventually won IM2.
One week to go - as a new line up our rate of improvement is pleasingly quick. Morale is high and we're looking forward to getting our teeth into the Tideway.

Event: Head of the River Race 2010 - IM2
Posted as: Rich
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I'd like to write as impartial and accurate race report as I can regarding this result. After a successful bumps campaign, we were unfortunate to lose our stroke man to a broken rib. We therefore changed the crew around and brought in a sub for Kingston and a different rower for HoRR. However, I don't think that these changes particularly damaged our performance. After a rocky Kingston at which our lack of time together was apparent, the final week leading up to HoRR was feeling very good. Our coaches and cox were the same as we had last year and they agreed that a good result should be forthcoming. Four of our crew were in the boat last year when we finished 53rd, and we too felt very pleased with the crew, and excited about the race.

We set off number 60 amidst total chaos at the start, being told to start ahead of number 59 and very close to the crews in front (who had been set off with overlap!) and wound to a chunky 36. We held this for around 20 strokes, before striding onto our planned race rate of 34. Conditions were extremely choppy but we found a long loose rhythm, and the boat felt good. Throughout the race the boat felt light and we held 34, always out of our puddles. The race was certainly not perfect but we felt happy with the row.

Emma was careful to start timing as the umpire said 'Number 60, go'. We had an idea of what time we wanted to be on at various landmarks and so she was calling the elapsed time at regular points during the race. What confused us is that the time at winding down read 18:42. The results place us 154th with a time of 19:02. We don't really know what conclusions to take away from this race - to be honest we're all slightly baffled. That's not supposed to sound arrogant or conceited - we simply don't feel that our performance would have placed us there and are confused about the timing discrepancy. There is nothing we can do though, so we need to draw a line under that result and look to a new term of racing after a couple of well-earned weeks off.

Congratulation to the other colleges who performed well, and especially to Downing for a great result - well deserved.

Event: Wallingford Regatta 2010 - IM2 4+
Posted as: Rich
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The paddle up to the start was below our normally exceptional standard of rowing, but thankfully this meant we had plenty of good strokes left for the race. By the end of the first stroke it was clear that victory was assured, so we wound down to a lethargic 28. A cheeky push saw us raise the rate to 30, taking around 2 lengths of the field in the process. However, our 3 man decided that the margin was becoming inappropriately large so we settled back down and cruised home to the screams of the huge crowds following us, and Peter Ford.

Event: Wallingford Regatta 2010 - IM2 4+
Posted as: Rich
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We heard that Molesey had been training for this race for years, and had sent their top boat (with assorted Olympians) to reclaim the prized Coronation Challenge Cup. However, Natasha Menell's experience coxing novice tubs, and Miles' legendary victory at the St Edward's Red Nose Row Day 2005 inspired us to great deeds. Thus we prepared ourselves for a closely fought race. We leapt out of the start, losing two seats to Joe 'Monster-Start' Baddeley's Crew of Giants. This upset Strawson so we overtook them. By 1000m we were leading the field by around half a length, but knew that we would have to up our game to beat the LMBC steroid-fuelled brutes (in their trademark light four). Molesey pushed us hard towards the finish, but Sasha calmly refused to lift the rate or even break a sweat, content as he was to win by a comfortable 0.8s, time enough to get off the water, change and greet the runners-up at the landing stage.

We look forward to racing this combination again, hopefully against LMBC, and our arch-rivals Sidney Sussex. Let's see if their recent bold claims have any substance behind them - we are ready.

Event: Champion of the Thames Eights Head 2010 - Men's 1st Div. Mays
Posted as: Rich
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This race saw our first sustained high rate piece of term. As such parts of it lacked the finesse we had found in paddling and short bursts and we were slightly taken by surprise by the headwind on the reach. However, there was plenty of aggression and it is clear that our technical work is paying off. It was a shame to not be able to field the full crew, but Jon proved an admirable temporary Strawson.

If nothing else, we now have 9 bottles of champs to sustain us on these hot outings.