All race reports for John Kiely
Event: University IVs 2007 - 2nd division
Posted as: John Kiely
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I started to wonder where they were, but support from the bank helped us keep everything together, and we had a partially successful attempt at a wind for the finish.
The time is slightly disappointing, as we'd thought we could beat the other four. However, with clean water, catching in time and timing the push for the finish better we could go a good bit quicker. We'll try to keep the crew together for winter head, and maybe for fairbairns too.
Event: University IVs 2007 - 2nd division
Posted as: John Kiely
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The rowing was generally messy, not helped by being told 'go' while we were still sitting the boat at back stops. However, the words 'this is good, we'll bump them before grassy' helped to settle some nerves, and we found something similar to a rhythm as we approached first post corner. Unfortunately, we weren't actually allowed to bump them, and had to drop the rate four to avoid this on plough reach.
Coming round ditton, we took a nice wide line, and called the come-by. Clare now found some power, and our progress slowed slightly as tiredness set in. However, Clare had refused to let us change day to give us our full crew, and so we wanted the overtake. This made it a bit more fun, but our time might have suffered from this, but not as much as theirs did from hearing 'more clear water'.
Not a bad row, but plenty more to be found here.
Event: University IVs 2007 - 2nd division
Posted as: John
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This was a bit closer than we would have wanted, but both boats went much quicker than expected. We may also have been overconfident, and Christian refusal to tap down, and then dying, probably didn't help.
The start was splashy, but brought us up 3 lengths on them quickly. From here, they held us off, and a failure of a push in the gut didn't help. From here, I was told to take it up four, but wasn't really able to, and they edged away slightly.
As we came on to the reach the power came back up, and we nudged up slightly on them, and wound up for the final 200 to make sure of the result. Credit to Downing, they were much more difficult than we had expected, and they almost made us pay for it.
Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2007 - Student Senior IVs
Posted as: John
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Event: Fairbairn Cup 2007 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: John
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Coming out of Chesterton, we had an untidy push that gave us only slightly more speed, but reminded us that we could go faster. As we began to gain on Selwyn the power came up, and we moved well down the reach and around Ditton, so that we overtook them just as we crossed the line.
Hopefully they thought the cheering was for them, if not, sorry. Next term we will have to commit during outings, not just during the races, and then we can have a go at the 2nd eight headship. Thanks to everyone who coached us, we couldn't have won it without you.
Event: Fairbairn Cup - IVs 2007 - Senior IVs
Posted as: John
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That said, we held rate in the way we hadn't been able to do at winter head, and it was generally good, with plenty of commitment. The standing start probably brightened the marshal's day, but it was messy, a result of not being sure how hard to go off for a longer race. This meant that the next couple of minutes felt underpowered, although it still felt fairly fast. We took the rate up from the railway bridge to do a solid sprint for the finish, but didn't find the extra 2s that would have put us 5th.
Rowing in this four has been really fun, thanks to everyone who put time and effort in to it, and maybe we'll be back next term.
Event: Bedford Head 2008 - S3
Posted as: John
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This was generally a good row, but we're still keeping ourselves back with our technique. The biggest improvement today was getting back on it after a few bad strokes, which had previously been missing. The next two weeks are going to be tough, but the dream is now within reach. Thank you to our subs today.
On the downside, we were beaten by LMBC, Downing and Granta, which is definitely sub-optimal, though we did beat Magdalen, who are head in Oxford, and a couple of other crews. The catches still aren't quite there, as the picture below shows, but much more fun than HOTN, and looking forward to Pembroke.
Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: John
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Racing in this division did mean that we couldn't repeat last year's results, but on the other hand we got a good race, which is more important with bumps in mind. 3:35 was apparently enough to win M2, so although our rowing was compared to a washing machine by a clare coach we seem to be doing some things okay. Still plenty more to come...
Also if LMBC 2 want to earn their pots we're keen for a bit of a spar.
Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Tuesday
Posted as: John
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Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2008 - Men's 2-
Posted as: John
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6:41.2, rate 28.
Event: Cambridge Small Boats Head 2008 - S2 2-
Posted as: John
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We didn't row particularly well, and were probably a bit put off by the wind, and a general lack of rowing over the previous months. The pair that beat us were chasing, and looked like they might overtake around the middle of the reach. We pushed away a bit, and when they crashed in to a swan and kayaker an epic finish looked like enough to win. I still think we did, but results disagree, by 4 seconds. It's a shame, but considering we were only beaten by that little due to their lack of steering, it seems fair, though I liked the pots from this much more than those from autumn head the week later.
Event: Head of the River Race 2009 - Senior3 VIIIs
Posted as: John
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Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2009 - Men's 2-
Posted as: John
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I haven't written one of these for a while, so I think this is the part where I put the excuses. Having had some time to consider them, I believe that they were worth at least a minute, and possibly two. Firstly, it was too warm, and I'm not used to rowing in these conditions, or at this time of the day. Second, I wasn't allowed to use the C2s, and instead spent the row failing to find any connection with the crokers. Third, they had a filippi, and we had a burgashell, whose bow had had a non-aerodynamic hole put in it. Fourth, we were unable to get out of the boat before the start, so I wasn't able to scare them by tensing and making them feel intimidated/sorry for my malnutrition (this alone was worth at least 30s). Fifth, we'd only had one practice outing, which was an unpleasant race yesterday. Sixth, I was confused by having a bowman who tried.
On the plus side, we rated quite high, and were the fastest trinity pair (by time anyway), going over the course in a reasonable time. I also pushed peter hard enough to make him vom. And I got a sun tan, although unfortunately this turned in to sun burn during my later outing. The jesus guys had trained a lot, and are the second fastest pair on the river, which isn't bad considering who's in the top pair. They probably also set a record time for this event, though someone else will probably check this for me. So they may have deserved it.
Event: May Bumps 2009 - Saturday
Posted as: John
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Fortunately for us, this turned out to be wrong. After sunday off, we rowed off on monday, and suddenly the boat felt different. We finally managed to rate above 40 properly, and although we knew that we were never going to be as quick off the start as the tidier crews starting behind us, we did have this email from Flo to inspire us:
HERE WE GO NOW BOYS, PLOUGH REACH BURN, IN TWO, IN ONE, PLOUGH REACH BURN N O W, MASSIVE!!!
So looking forward to coming out of Grassy and just motoring it down Plough Reach, fucking off into the distance.
For Plough Reach Burn the water is going to be on fire...
I've never been as keen for a race as this. May bumps here we go!
Thought that deserved to have a permanent record made of it... We were perhaps fortunate on the first day to have LMBC behind us, as we didnt regard them as the major threat to the headship. This proved to be accurate, their higher rate no match for superior power as we cruised over 28s ahead of them. More worryingly however, Jesus were rapidly bumped by Caius at Grassy, and looked to me to be well inside station on us at that point. So the next day didnt hold much worry for us in terms of being bumped, but would show us how good Caius actually were, and whether the much-lauded Jesus crew had just been surprised off the start or possibly if they were just as bad as they had looked in training. All three crews moved quickly off Jesus from the start, Caius closing on LMBC as we began to pull away ourselves. We expected Caius to fade away at this point, having been promised that they were merely fast starters. Instead they continued to close, and out of Ditton LMBC went wide in a dubious effort at avoiding the bump. Caius however followed them across and struck rapidly, with us around half a length outside station at this point. We rowed over sedately, though still appearing to gain ground from Jesus.
The theory for the third day was that once we got on to the reach, there wouldnt be a crew with the fitness to stay with us. A poor start, and it looked like we mightnt get past grassy, with Caius inside a length out of first post and continuing to close down the gut. Out of grassy with around half a length the plough reach burn was unleashed, and probably gained a seat, though to the spectators and myself it looked like a temporary reprieve. A good ditton maintained the distance, but they closed slightly as we hurtled down the reach, and by now I was not the only one wondering when their promised epic blow-up would be. Tom Rose had promised to give the order from the bank to begin the reach burn, but with the noise of the supporters on the bank we heard none of this, and just kept going as hard as possible to try to hold out for as long as possible. At the railings it looked to me that they had overlap, and they appeared to begin steering for the bump, although Im told at this point they were still a quarter of a length off us. This probably cost them speed, though they were still fast enough to stay at this distance until the P&E, where we pushed a bit of water out to make ourselves more comfortable as we rowed over, with the crews behind our pair long distant.
The final day held less fear for us. Having already shown them that we could beat them, we knew that every stroke the race took the more they would question their ability to catch us. We also knew that our start could go much better if we didnt spend it looking out of the boat to see whether theyd gained on us yet. But after three row-overs tiredness was beginning to take its toll, and the possibility of making the small slip that would cost us the headship often crossed my mind. But we were wished luck by most of the other crews, and even the Cauis women looked a bit interested in us. The start was clean, but still couldnt hold them fully. As the video below shows, they probably got to about three quarters of a length off us at grassy, but then we threw everything at them in an elongated plough reach burn, and moved almost back to station. Down the reach the two crews held their ground far ahead of the other colleges, before the final onslaught that must leave ones dreams shattered for another year. Our fantastic support raced down the meadowside and towpath and roared us on as push countered push past the railway bridge, and we moved slightly away. Past morleys holt, and the weeks exertions finally hit home as the wheels began to fall off our boat. Tom O went interesting shades of orange and purple, and the limited technique wed displayed up to that point began to leave us, but by now they didnt have enough time left to catch us, and we limped over the line under a length ahead of them. Though we both knew that they were the faster crew, they came along afterwards to shake our hands, as gracious losers. Next year Im sure theyll be back for more, and with a very strong-looking Pembroke in the mix the 2010 mays crew will need all the resolve and (occasional) skill that we displayed this year. This was my last bumps race for trinity, and first headship, so hopefully anyone who reads this far will forgive the length of the report, but I thought that with the Caius propaganda issued by the Cambridge Standard a full record of what happened would be nice.
Video from Grassy- http://tinyurl.com/mxpexm (I don't think anyone has put this up yet, the crazy shouting person is my mum, while my brother looks a bit disinterested. For some reason the site won't take the full address, or apostrophes?)
P.S. Silas Stafford is my bitch
Event: May Bumps 2010 - Thursday
Posted as: John
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Event: May Bumps 2011 - Wednesday
Posted as: John
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