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All race reports for Alasdair Routh

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 3rd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Close throughout, won by a very small distance. A bit spacky, but the commitment was definitely there.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 3rd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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They were about a length behind after the start, then they crabbed and easied for a while. We took several more lengths and then paddled it back.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 3rd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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We were a few seats down after the start, and the power dropped. They had clear water by the railway bridge, and though we started putting more power down towards the end, we were too far behind to catch up.

Overall, it wasn't a bad performance, but we can't afford to lose to third boats if we want to do well in bumps.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Tuesday
Posted as: Alasdair
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We started strongly and gained on them steadily, with overlap after first post corner. However, deciding to give the spectators something to watch, we crabbed (twice) and crashed into the bank to give them a 3 length lead.

As we came on to the reach we were back on station, and we got the bump just before the railway bridge.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Alasdair
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Clare II bumped Caius III before the motorway bridge, and St Edmunds ahead and Magdalene II behind quickly followed suit, leaving us an empty river.

Apparently we were almost on station with Clare II when they bumped Caius III, so we're hopeful for Friday.

Unfortunately this means we've broken the perfect record the club had going, sorry guys.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Alasdair
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A fairly messy row, bumping a little after the motorway bridge as expected. Hopefully we'll be more controlled against the considerably faster Clare II tomorrow.

There's really not much to say about this race other than thank god the boat-stopping crab happened after we'd bumped.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Alasdair
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Painful, painful row-over; ended a few lengths down after pushing as hard as we could through the whole course. With the amount of training we did over the past three weeks we couldn't have expected much better, but still a disappointing result.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Friday
Posted as: Alasdair
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Good race. They had a comparatively weak start so we had whistles before we'd settled. Another minute of sprinting brought us the bump on first post corner, giving us a nice view of the carnage as the rest of the division piled up on the opposite bank.

Event: May Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Alasdair
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Since most of us are shamefully unfit, we went for a fast bump. After a strong start and several maximum effort pushes we had overlap on Selwyn II around Ditton. Unfortunately, our fitness then let us down and Selwyn got away, leaving us a painful row-over in front of a closing Churchill II.

Great race though, credit to Selwyn II for not giving up after a couple of whistles like some of the boats in the division.

Overall, a pretty good result considering the amount of training we did. Thanks to Cynthia and Dan for coaching and bankpartying, we would have spooned without you.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2007 - Cup
Posted as: Alasdair
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An unfortunate draw as Fitz look one of the strongest crews in the regatta.
They beat us off the start as expected. We never put the power down to catch up and they did nothing wrong that would have allowed us to.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2008 - Cup
Posted as: Alasdair
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We hadn't learnt a full racing start, so they took half a length within 15 strokes. We held them level until the railway bridge, not allowing them to push off and wearing them down. We kept a good rhythm and took long strokes as they tired and began to make mistakes. We brought it home with a huge push beginning just before the bridge, and rowed through them to a lead of roughly a length in the space of 25 strokes.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 2nd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Our strongest performance of the day. We took a length quickly and steadily pulled further and further ahead over the rest of the course.

All in all this was a deeply unpleasant day, but we made a lot of progress. Thanks to Coker for coaching the first race, Tom Rose for coaching everything and Neil for bringing dry kit (definitely the highlight of the day).

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 2nd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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This one was against tougher opposition, but they didn't set off straight and so again we took an early lead and slowly stretched it out. The standard of rowing was again better than that of the previous race.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 2nd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Again, we quickly gained a length and pulled away too slowly, but this one was much better, a lot more cohesion and power in the boat. If Sonya's recording is to be believed it was about 15s faster than the first race.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2009 - 2nd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Got a length ahead off the start and sat there until near the end, spacking along at 37 with no real rhythm or power.

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2009 - 2nd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Good banter, mediocre rowing.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2008 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Alasdair
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Between the scratch novice crew, the strokeman who'd barely rowed since May Bumps and the 20-30 second 'delay' around Chesterton this could have been a lot worse.

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Alasdair
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A minute behind the first crew. My appalling line around Chesterton which ended with me sticking my arm in may have caused a fair chunk of that difference, but we just weren't fast enough.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2008 - Cup
Posted as: Alasdair
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Wolfson crabbed off the start, giving us a length's lead going down the reach. We held them off nicely for the first 400m, but then things fell apart. Numb hands in the cold weather led to a first crab, allowing them to draw back level. A second, boat-stopping crab just after the railway bridge caused us to swerve over to the wrong side, and we rowed the last 15 strokes behind them, never really regaining the rhythm.

There's a lot to be pleased about from this regatta. We showed that we could establish and sustain a solid, long rhythm in the first race, and were let down at least partially by inadequate kit in the second. If we can work on extending that performance from 3 minutes to 10, we can do very well on Thursday.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2011 - 3rd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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Corpus had beaten us by 40 seconds in the race last week, winning the M3 division, so this was only going to go one way.

We rowed well and had a nice start but we were really no match for them - they pulled away to a little over a length over a couple of minutes and sat there.

The guys have made a massive improvement over the last week and hopefully gave Corpus a bit of a scare in the process.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2011 - 3rd division
Posted as: Alasdair
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This was the most exciting race I have ever been in, as rower or cox. For context, LMBC M3 are ahead of us in bumps, and beat us by 25 seconds last week.

Due to dubious marshalling we started off unready and a little behind, but we had a great start and gradually moved out to a couple of seats ahead.

Around the bend in the reach things got interesting - between the wind, the other cox and my perhaps overzealous dedication to the racing line the boats drifted together. We committed to the blade clash and crashed along together for 100 metres or so before breaking free. The guys handled it exceptionally, especially Josh who's feet apparently ended up above his head but managed to get himself strapped back before I'd even noticed.

LMBC were also well prepared and took a couple of seats back during the clash, but found themselves on the outside of the final corner and on the business end of our do or die push. I'm still not entirely sure how we did it, but we rowed through them in 20 or so strokes and pushed away to a length plus of clear water.

Phenomenal work guys, let's do it again in two weeks.