Race Reports by User

Find Rower Enter/edit crews

All race reports for Rebecca Palmer

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

Arriving at the start to find an empty station behind us, we suspected at first that Vet School had scratched, but they did turn up and with several (reportedly 4) Blues in their boat. While this only added to the impression we had gained from the previous days' results that we were likely to get bumped, I set off determined to give my best.

We held them at 1/4 length away for a bit, and reportedly even gained a little on the Catz crew who bumped us so quickly yesterday, but the effort required to do this was unsustainable and we were bumped before First Post Corner.

Event: Lent Bumps 2002 - Saturday
Posted as: Becky
Event Link

We gained maybe half a length on Girton early on, but seemed to be making little progress, and in Plough Reach my seat started sticking and in a few strokes it came out from under me and went into the footwell. After missing a few strokes trying and failing to put it back on, I decided to attempt to row on without it, and was soon taking full strokes reasonably in time though the extra effort of dragging myself up the slide certainly wasn't helping, and we held our distance from Christ's to row over.

Event: Women's Championship Sculls 2003 -
Posted as: Becky
Event Link

This was my first outing for over 5 weeks, and I began the race with a mess of a draw stroke. Just before First Post Corner I found one of my opponents stopped-crashed?-on the far bank. I took a less than perfect line through the Gut, encountered 2 boats coming the other way in the Reach, and came in second. I was later told that the 'crashed' opponent had actually got cramps, but either way it was a victory without pleasure.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Saturday
Posted as: Becky
Event Link

While rowing down to the start, we found a Homerton blade in the river, minus its button. Some of us suggested leaving it there to make them scratch, but only jokingly-deliberately not letting the opposition race would be a bigger disgrace than spoons. It wouldn't have worked anyway as what Homerton then did was to row to the start in sixes and send their bank party for a spare blade. We were fairly confident that CCAT were good enough to claim their blades with a real bump and did not need to be handed a technical one.

Off the start Homerton closed down on us much like all the others had (to within half a length if their bank party is to be believed), but this time there was visible hope in CCAT closing down on Homerton. At the A14 bridge CCAT caught Homerton, and all we had to worry about was the Hughes Hall sandwich boat.

Rowing over hurts, of course, and it was tempting to give up-until I remembered that if we got caught then we would have to do it again next year as head of division 4. This time we at least had two spaces behind us and something (even if it was something that had caught us before) to chase.

Shortly after the finish we discovered that 4's seat was stuck. Whether it had got stuck while we were still racing I do not know, but if it had it wouldn't be the first time we had overcome technical problems-both my previous row-overs had finished with a seat actually off.

Event: X-Press Head Race 2003 -
Posted as: Becky
Event Link

Actually I was the only W1x in the race...and would have gone faster if I hadn't dressed up (having not realised that X-Press Head, unlike Cardinals, doesn't normally go that far) in something that got jammed in my seat, and hence had to row most of the Reach arms-and-back.