All race reports for Tom Bell

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Event: May Bumps 2002 - Wednesday
Posted as: Champ
Event Link

A scrappy start, with no discernable stride. I was later told that we'd closed to within a length of the weak Peterhouse II, but Magdalene II were simply a better, stronger boat. Try as we might, we couldn't pull away from them, and they eventually came about half way along side and our blades clashed. Tomorrow we'll be the sandwich boat in M4.

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Event: May Bumps 2002 - Thursday
Posted as: Champ
Event Link

First came a catalogue of errors: I had to arrive later after DUing, and scrapping one of my scheduled slots, after we ended up in a lower division than we'd started; we had to wait for the Golden Boat to return with BP4, and when they did it turned out they'd snapped a rigger; we had to take the unfamiliar BP5, with its several knackered seats and wrong footplate positions; and of course, we had no cox box, so late as we were, we had to stop and have the Club's single working box passed across from the returning women's 3rd crew.

Eventually we ended up at the start, ready for a gruelling row over, followed by another one 90 minutes later. This prospect couldn't have helped morale. Nevertheless, we started well and rowed considerably better than yesterday. Clare edged towards us. We pushed into Grassy and managed to pull away slightly, but their excellent coxing and superior power returned them to our side, where we clashed.

In conclusion, we've utterly wasted the effort and achievement of last year's men's 4th VIII, and decisively returned to the division they started in. This has been mainly due to the misfortunate of being followed both days by disproportionately stronger crews, although I'm sure Mark and Andrew especially, as veterans of last year's 4th, will be feeling very disappointed.

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Event: May Bumps 2002 - Friday
Posted as: Champ
Event Link

Unfortunately we've found ourselves on that downward slope where every day we're being chased by one of the strong crews that've moved up the previous day. We keep being told that technically, we're miles ahead of any of the rugby boats that keep appearing behind us, and that though they'll start fast and spack as hard as possible, we'll eventually glide away from them with style and poise. In reality, they just start too fast, spack too hard, and manage to keep it up for just too long. As such, we haven't yet made Ditton Corner.

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Event: May Bumps 2002 - Saturday
Posted as: Champ
Event Link

I think this was a harsh assessment. You don't need massive amounts of training to do well in the lower divisions. Sheer strength beat us.