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All race reports for Charley Bates

Event: Emma Sprints 2006 -
Posted as: Charley
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Never mind girls...we still got the doughnuts! Although I think that Julijana should give back her extra one seeing as it turns out she actually crabbed AFTER the finish line. Definately agree that there's a lot more to come at Clare Novices...although I think that might have more to do with the fact that I'm not rowing! Looking forward to some good outings this week, remember: 'if you're not dying, you're not trying'!

p.s. our rendition of 'row, row, row your boat' was awesome...FACT! Although I think that next time Sarah should sing 'just around the riverbend' right into the cox-box, such a treat for the ears!

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2006 - Student Beginner VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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WE ARE BETTER THAN BRYN...FACT!

Well done girls...an awesome start to our boatie careers :) And seeing as we haven't got the times through yet, we are still undefeated on the water! I think we did really well, we rowed good and Sarah did some great coxing. Go us!

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Charley
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Even though it wasn't quite the result we were looking for today, I'm still incredibly proud of the way we rowed today and all week. Today felt like some of the best rowing we've done, really powerful yet not rushed, and we didn't lose it even though they were closing in. Once again thankyou to another excessive bank party for some great support, and sorry Dom for getting you a little wet at the boat house! We've exceeded everyone's expectations (and probably our own) this week, and going up 3 is a fantastic achievement...especially since most of us now have a positive bumps record :) Cheers girls for making these bumps so much fun (even if we can't quite manage "First" "and" "Third"!), bring on Mays Dinner...

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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Absolutely awesome :) Even though we didn't catch Selwyn, it was a really good row, we were totally committed despite being completely knackered, and especially along the reach put in some good pushes. Dom deserves a special mention for some fantastic lines and thankyou to our ever-growing bank party for keeping us going. Bring on Eddies tomorrow, it'll be tough but if we throw everything we've got at it then we can do it...

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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A decent enough row in pretty shocking conditions. Got a good start (thankyou to everyone who was on the bank pushing us off for getting it spot on), unfortunately for them Newnham III didn't so were bumped by Eddies before First Post Corner. The crews behind them bumped out around Grassy, leaving us a nice clear river to row-over as head of the division. A bit rushed in places, but the last piece was lovely and it did the job :)

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Thursday
Posted as: Charley
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Well, we really do like screwing up people's BumpIt predictions! Our first row was pretty damn awesome, a really nice push along the gut and into Grassy saw us get overlap, and in amongst the confusion we got our bump ("properly" this time!) Eddies were closing, but not enough to make a difference. The row-over at the bottom of Division 3 was pretty good too, we were never really going to get Selwyn today but it was a tidy and committed row and we actually managed to make Peter Brandt move. Tomorrow we're going for the row-over then bump up, if anyone cares to change their predicitons...

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Charley
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Bloody amazing :) May *possibly* have been a little bit of luck involved, but still, an overbump is an overbump! Not our best row ever, but still good enough to get the first day nerves out of the way and some good points to take into tomorrow. Now all we need to do it go and get Newnham...

Event: Radegund Mile Head Race 2007 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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Oh man! Another race we've "won" and not got a pot for. And who knew that a mile race could feel so good? Definately agree that rounding off the row with sausages was an awesome plan. They should sell them in the lard cupboard...

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Charley
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Arse of the river! And a pretty damn fine arse as Alex pointed out. I know I wasn't the only one to end up in tears after this one, as we really thought we had the bump or row-over in us, but it just wasn't meant to be this time. Although as several people have said, just getting on was our bump and a historic achievement that we should be really proud of. I've had such an amazing time this week, you girls have made rowing so much fun, as proven when we had to row back partly as bow 6 because I was laughing too hard to row! Thankyou for such an awesome term, I'll miss the sausages and the banter, but bring on the stash!!! And thankyou to the wLBCs, Neil, Erica and everyone else who has coached/supported us this term, we couldn't have done it without u guys :)

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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Rowed over...again! Our first start was pretty good but then Clare Hall spacked it up by ending up horizontal under the railway bridge, so a restart was in order. We never really seemed to get it together today, I think we lost our focus a bit after stopping and starting, and although it did the job it wasn't our best row by far, not helped by my knee blowing out half way along the gut which threw me and the rhythm a bit. But tomorrow's the last day so we'll throw everything we have at Emma, although we're prepared for another row-over, hopefully getting-on-race stylee this time!

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Charley
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Once again disappointed not to have cracked this Bumps thing but still a row to be proud of :) A MUCH better start than yesterday (i.e. rowing in water, not grass!) saw us gain a bit on Christs II, although they unfortunately pulled away and bumped Emma III pretty quickly, leaving us an almost clear river to just keep going...and going. Rowing over is a world of pain, especially in such horrific conditions, but we sat up well into the wind and kept it together for a strong and committed row. The rhythm went a bit towards the end, but luckily Pembroke IV spacked it up by going into a barge, and even though we were told to pull over before the race actually finished we held them off no trouble. I can feel our first ever bump coming on on Friday...please!

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2007 -
Posted as: Charley
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WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I think we managed to scare all of New Court with our massive scream when we found out! I'm so proud of us, all our hard work and dedication has paid off, now let's get ready to go and kick some ass next week :) We rowed the best we ever have today, so let's keep that going and keep pushing for Morris and doughnuts - I'll buy out Sainsbury's if it'll help! Just think about how much we want those water spades...

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charley
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Not quite as good as round 2 - not helped by my awesome knee failure/crab combo coming under the bridge - but still not too bad. I think we put our all into this one, and whilst it's obviously dissappointing to lose we have a lot of positives to take away from today and some solid high-rating race experience. Now we just have to put in the hard work this week and really focus on getting on...

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charley
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Much much better! A generally more controlled and committed race, felt pretty relaxed, and even though they took off faster they tired by the railway bridge and we were able to push off them and win fairly comfortably. Bodes well for Bumps (fingers crossed!) :)

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 3rd division
Posted as: Charley
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A fairly decent start, but ended up spacking around a bit at a too high rating, although we pulled away at the start and never looked back. A good learning experience!

Event: Head of the Nene 2007 - Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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Awesome job girls - coming 3rd is pretty damn good, especially since we had to stop half way through. And I'm especially proud that I almost decapitated one of the coxes, that counts for something surely? Thanks for a really great day (and thankyou Lyns for the truffles!)...next time we'll get pots!

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2007 - 2nd division
Posted as: Charley
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Does that mean we get a pot too?

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2006 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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Looking at the header, we were the best college 3rd VIII...FACT! (and no it doesn't matter that we were the only one!) Senior Fairbairns felt so much better than Novice, everything seemed to come together so much better and it felt pretty good, if incredibly painful, but it was definately the best way to round off an awesome novice term. Thankyou girls for making rowing so much fun (something I never thought I'd say!). And check out the pictures - the pink leggings look so good!

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Charley
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I know it's a cheap shot, but it has to be said:

We are better than Bryn (and Phil)...FACT!!!

Well done girls, we died and we tried :) Yes the start wasn't perfect (lol, sorry!) but I think we picked it up towards the end and rowed pretty good. Now just got to do that and a bit more tomorrow...I'll bring the doughnuts!

p.s. also sorry about some truly horiffic coxing, think I'll leave that to Sarah for tomorrow! And if anyone has a spare knee going, please let me know, might be useful

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Tuesday
Posted as: Charley
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I agree with Kristina - there are plenty of positives that we can take out of today's row, even though obviously we're pretty disappointed. We managed to hold off Christ's for quite a while as they never went in for the kill, which bodes well for tomorrow. We never really found our proper rhythm, but what we had felt OK from where I was, not too rushed, and we pulled together nicely for a decent push under the motorway bridge. The less said about the start the better - these things happen so we need to refocus and get ready to bump tomorrow!

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Charley
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Winners :) After a good start again they managed to take half a length off us by rating pretty high, but we just did our own thing and settled into a strong rhythm, coming up level just after the railway bridge and finishing with about half a length of clear water. My first pot - thanks girls for an amazing day!

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Charley
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They owe us Robinson Head t-shirts... Awesome awesome awesome. This was for Uni IVs, Fairbairns IVs and everything else over the past few terms. And to think we were worried! Good controlled start matching them stroke for stroke, then we just put the power down and walked away to finish with clear water. Hell yeah :)

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2008 -
Posted as: Charley
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9 people in the boat, 14 on the bank... enough said! A really strong and technically sound row despite pretty awful conditions, today you proved that you deserve to be rowing in Bumps next week. Really proud of all of you for your hard work and massive improvements you've made this term :)

p.s. OK so I wrote that before I knew the results, but it still stands. I'm sorry that things didn't go quite to plan, but you should still be very proud of how you rowed today and everything you've achieved this term.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Tuesday
Posted as: Charley
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Most committed bump I saw today. After the confusion on First Post Reach you didn't give up and came from about 2.5 lengths down at one point to close it up along the Reach with some excellent pushes to finally make the bump. Just about everything that could go wrong did, so like Phil said a little less excitement tomorrow but same result please! Best of luck for the rest of the week.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Charley
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We made Iain and Seb smile... or was it just a facial twitch?! :) Bit nervous on the start, but turned into a good solid row. More of the same tomorrow please. (And on a personal note I went up 52 places today...that's got to do wonders for my Bumps average!)

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Charley
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We did it :) Our hardest race of the week, but we do like to make it exciting for our supporters... When it came down to it we were the stronger, fitter, mentally tougher crew - all those ergs, circuits and early mornings were totally worth it. We were completely unrecognisable from the fairly random selection of girls who rocked up to the boat house in Mich term: 5 from W2, 1 from W3, a couple of funny foreigners and someone who'd never been in a boat before! Thankyou to everyone who believed in us and helped us make history by giving us their time and experience (and sanity!), but thankyou mainly to the other 8 girls in W1 who have made such a difficult term so much fun and something to remember forever - now our names go on the black board atbh for people to look at doing circuits in 250 years time :)

Stroke: Height - 5'7"; weight - 10st (before crew pasta); finish position last Lents - Arse of the River; highest boat before Mich 2007 - W3

Event: Magdalene Silver Pairs 2008 - Women's 2-
Posted as: Charley
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Our training plan of 4 outings and 7 weeks of hard post-Bumps lazing around wasn't exactly ideal preparation for a 2k race against a Blue and a Blondie, but they didn't look that great on the row up and we let Bryn talk us into believing that we had a chance to take them and to beast it for the whole course. Unfortunately they were significantly better when racing and we never even got close.

That said, we still did ourselves proud with a better-than-expected row. Bit panicked off the start then a particularly manly stroke from me took us into the bank along First Post Reach. However, that seemed to calm us down and the three corners came very nicely with some good pushes in the straights. Was not impressed with having to go all out right after Ditton but something clicked and we flew down to the kink, although after that lack of fitness kicked in and it was a bit scrappy down to the line. Very happy with everything apart from the result, just think what we could have done with more than a week's training and a boat that steered, had actual shoes and wasn't weighted 20kgs too heavy...

Thanks to Will, Tom and Bryn for bank steering us last week and not getting too annoyed with our zig-zagging and lack of either rate or speed!

Event: Peterborough Summer Sprint 2008 - Senior2 2-
Posted as: Charley
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Saturday: 1k

This was our first multi-lane straight-line regatta, and whilst the result didn't go quite to plan it was nevertheless a fantastic experience. The hugely unlucky combination of 13 practice outings and an unnamed boat was probably the source of such horrible racing conditions, giving us an interesting paddle up to the start. Having successfully negotiated the stake boat, our start was actually alright and we settled into an ok rhythm, if lower rating than we'd done in practice. However, the experience of the other crews started to show, as we hit a few waves and wobbles around the 500m mark they were out of vision and had been for some time. We managed to keep it together and successfully stayed in our lane (maybe getting a little friendly with the buoys at some points) thanks to some great steering from J, but the rowing wasn't nearly as good as some of the stuff we'd done the previous week and we came home about a length and a half behind the second-to-last crew. Annoyingly we might have beaten the AK pair that got a by straight to the final, but it was all good experience and definitely some positives to take into Sunday.

Event: University IVs 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Charley
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This wasn't the best row we've ever done, but it was definitely better than yesterday (I even managed to put my blade in the water every stroke this time!) so at least we're heading in the right direction. It picked up after the railway bridge when we started to come back, but by that point the damage had been done and they held us off at about a length to top finish. However, they were by no means a lot better than us, and today was a useful learning curve that can only make us better in the future.

Event: Peterborough Summer Sprint 2008 - Senior2 2-
Posted as: Charley
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Sunday: 500m

This one seemed a lot more manageable after Saturday (especially since the longest piece we'd managed in training was about 600m). We planned to go off hard and keep it hard til the end, which we (almost) achieved. Again pretty crap conditions, with the wind and rain on and off throughout the day it obviously came back strongly for us. Our start was good, rated higher than yesterday and generally much better rowing - more controlled and a lot stronger with the mantra of "blades in, knees down, grip up" on a constant loop. Today we managed to keep just behind the leaders, and despite a wee diversion to check out lane 2 we were still (optimistically) in with a chance when we started our all-out last 20 push. However, with about 60m to go my blade got stuck in a wave and I caught my first crab in a race (ironically in what was probably my last for FaT), although we recovered quickly to finish a slightly less comfortable second. The whole weekend was great racing experience for both of us, and would highly recommend it to anyone hanging around next summer.

Massive thanks to John, Will, Philipp, Rich, Tom and JPD (and Neil for staying quiet!) for their invaluable coaching and encouragement - we've learnt a huge amount over the past 4 weeks even though we don't have a pot to prove it!

Event: Head of the Nene 2008 - Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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I'm liking the tactic of stroke-side eating their own bodyweight in baked goods to rectify the balance problem! Pretty good for a 5k, the first 2k came quite nicely with a solid rhythm. Bit of a wobble in the middle, seeing M1 pulled over was v disconcerting, but dodgy patches only lasted a few strokes and we really picked it up for the end, although Sonia's "10 strokes til the finish" seemed to last a lifetime! Overall the cold and the wind were worth it to come 2nd in our division and beat Jesus :)

Event: Fairbairn Cup - IVs 2007 - Senior IVs
Posted as: Charley
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Best row of term by far, definitely finishing on a high! Long, relaxed and powerful with everything coming together in a way it never quite has before, with the push for the finish incredibly painful but pretty awesome. Think the dizziness, nausea and cramp on the row back home shows just how much we put into this, so whilst the result is a little frustrating it really doesn't matter, especially since we were over 20 seconds faster than the next crew. And to be mentioned in Coker's Fairbairns Dinner speech really was the icing on the cake!

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2007 - 2nd division
Posted as: Charley
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Congratulations girls - the best you've ever rowed which is all we could have asked for. A really nice controlled start, settled into our rhythm early and held it for the whole course. Took Chesterton a bit wide, but recovered well and a really excellent push from the P&E to the Railway Bridge (complete with much grunting from Fiona and "come on"s from Catherine!) saw the boat speed pick up another notch and us start to fly along the reach. But we held on right til the end and kept pushing even through the finish point. Everyone was absolutely knackered afterwards, which is the sign of a good race :)

So proud of you all for today, it was a great way to end off a fantastic term, and hope that you've enjoyed rowing as much as I've enjoyed coaching you. All that's left to do now is to enjoy tomorrow night, potentially complete with DVD documentation...

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2007 - Plate
Posted as: Charley
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Bad weather conditions saw us blown into the bank despite the cox's best efforts, and after two crashes we didn't have much of a chance. However, we never gave up and by the end had taken a couple of lengths back off them after a particularly good push under the railway bridge. The start was also pretty good, we weren't phased by their quick racing start and were gaining on them all the time until we were blown off course. The man-style grunting towards the end showed just how much everyone was putting into the race, and the boat was speeding along right up to the finish.

Really proud of how well the girls have rowed this regatta. Each race has got better and better, more powerful and technically more precise, and that's all we can ask for. Well done everyone :)

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2007 - Plate
Posted as: Charley
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I'll second that. Bloody awesome! Not phased by their quick (but not particularly together) start you kept your head in the boat and just did your own thing by keeping it long and powerful. In the end our superior fitness and technique shone through, moving out to a length up under the railway bridge and a really fantastic push off it taking us up to about 4 lengths clear at the finish. The best I've ever seen you row, so so proud. Even the Downing LBC said how well you did and congratulated us on our tactic of a good solid quick row all the way through the course (woop woop!). Very excited about the quarter finals on Saturday - more of the same please!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2007 - Plate
Posted as: Charley
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It was amazing that Cauis actually went anywhere at all... A really good start to the regatta, in contrast to Emma Sprints we held it together at the start without panicking then continued to row well and just walked away from them.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2007 - Student Beginner VIIIs
Posted as: Charley
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Well done girls, this is a great result for your first race on the Cam :) The start was good, and some nice pushes really got the boat moving, with lots of calls for length and power meaning that cruising speed was fairly pacey. A few wobbles along Plough Reach and into the Long Reach, but you kept your heads and recovered well which is the most important thing. A good chunky push for home after the Railway Bridge finished it off nicely. Lots of positives to take from today, along with a few points to work on, but definitely looking promising for Clare Novices and beyond.

Oh, and just so you know, you kicked 2006 NW1's arses by over a minute. Not embarassed at all...

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2007 - Student Novice IVs
Posted as: Charley
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This row felt suprisingly good! Sure it was a bit rushed at times, and at points it started to sag, but in contrast to Uni IVs we picked it up together and there was some serious power going down. I'm certain that the quick trip to Portugal Place for doughnuts and pie between divisions made all the difference...

Event: University IVs 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Charley
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Well... we won :) Despite my new and exciting tactic of not actually having my blade in the water for the second and third draw strokes we managed to pick it up and ended up with a comfortable victory. Hopefully by tomorrow will have worked out the basic physics of rowing (always the damn physics!) and can have power AND some form of technique...

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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Woop woop, huge congratulations girls and boy :) Just listened to the radio commentary whilst eating my breakfast and I almost choked on my museli with excitement! Best of luck for tomorrow, wish I could be there cheering you on tomorrow but I'll be dreaming of another bump tonight :)

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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Congratulations on moving up a division, and best of luck for the last row :)

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Saturday
Posted as: Charley
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Congratualtions girls - a fantastic achievement to have bumped back yesterday and held your position today, that takes real guts and is something you should be very proud of :) I hope all the ex-novices enjoyed their first taste of senior racing proper and are hungry for more, and that the experienced pros are now keener than ever for Mays (Liz you know you want to...!). Enjoy a well-deserved rest and the dinner/bop (3 boat clubs = triple carnage... news please!) and I really look forward to watching some more bumping action on the last day of Mays :)

Event: Lent Bumps 2012 - Friday
Posted as: Charley
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Excellent work girls - for a start it's brilliant to have a FaT W3 in Lents and not finishing arse of the river is a massive win... not that I didn't have a ball doing so :) Definitely a sign of bigger and better things to come.