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All race reports for Zoe Wible

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2014 - Cup
Posted as: Zoe W.
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At first, I started this report by thanking "every person without whom it would not have been possible bla bla bla" but deleted it. I usually find this kind of stuff contrived, just like you find love songs cheesy... until you fall in love.

Anyway, as a true French person, I love cheese, so here we go: a million thank-yous to my wonderful rowing partners (the seven aligned heads I follow), our amazing, amazing cox (our favourite Hermia, little but fierce), and of course, the loudest, fiercest, (and, overall, best) bank party, who helped us crush our opponents' dreams (and their children's in the bargain, yep).
Now, about the race itself: it was the second time NW1 made it to finals this term. After our disappointing defeat against Jesus (during Emma Sprints) we were all determined to prove that we were a boat to be reckoned with. We knew composure was key: we couldn't get too exited, enthusiastic, or worse, panicked. Overall a pretty simple race: we had a few bad strokes, but we kept it together, and managed to gain about a length and a half! Slow and steady wins the race, and the cup!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2014 - Cup
Posted as: Zoe W.
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Without doubt the most exiting race of the day for me! Maggie managed to get about three seats ahead of us at the start (according to our bank party), but we didn't panic, and gained on them, little by little, until we were level. They did not react so well to pressure though, and they soon fell apart, leaving us with a clear river to play on until the finish line. The most gratifying feeling ever!

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2014 - Student Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Zoe W.
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First race for me, how exciting! After a very frantic and messy start (everyone setting out at different rates, basically) we settled into a more controlled rhythm, which we managed to keep up throughout most of the race.
The first part felt really long and when Tom told us "halfway there", I had to make a concerted effort not to lose my calm, but the second half of the race flew away really fast. We had a moment of grace towards the finish, powering it down together, I could feel the boat speeding up, and one of the senior rowers at the stern shouted "yeaaaaaaaaaaaah!" After it was finished I was left wanting for more moments like that!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2014 - Cup
Posted as: Zoe W.
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Easiest race of the day, without doubt: no opposition from Newnham, who crashed into the bank several times. At least it gave us the opportunity to practice without getting too tired!

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2014 - 2nd division
Posted as: Zoe W.
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We were so eager to go, all of us champing at the bit, still high on the adrenaline from Clare novices, keen to convert our try (yes, I know my metaphors are all over the place ^^), and prove we were indeed the best women novices on the water.

Listening to Neil's advice, we attacked the race with the aim of sustaining a good 30spm. This was a bit higher than what we had previously envisioned, but given the quality of the opposition, we agreed that we would need to step up our game. And step it up we did, 32 on average. We went there knowing that it would be crucial to stay composed and stay together, even at high rate, and even when tired. According to the fierce "yeaaaaaaaahs" coming from the bank party (to be honest I didn't hear much more than that, and "sit up tall"), we looked good!
Overall, it went by really fast, but contrary to Emma sprints or Clare novices, with more than 2k, you have time to think about several technical points that need to be corrected, so that we can do even better next time (which turns out to be... today!)

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2015 - 1st Mays
Posted as: Zoe W.
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I think we were all exited and apprehensive in equal measure: first race as a crew for W1 trial VIII.

As a result, the first piece was a bit frantic, as we found it hard to maintain a solid rhythm, after a promising start. We tried to learn from that piece, and settle into something more controlled for the second piece, which worked for the first 500m, when we started gaining on Christs. Unfortunately, the pressure was not constant, and they started moving away again during the middle km. MC called us back on it, and we managed to pick the speed up for the last 500m, and started moving up on Christs again. That final push showed that we still had both fuel left in the tank, and untapped technical resources.
All in all, even if the end results were not the most brilliant, it was still a learning experience, and as the outing the following day showed, practicing starts, and stride (i.e. absence of?) will make a big difference.

Event: Newnham Short Course 2015 - 1st VIIIs
Posted as: Zoe W.
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A pretty encouraging race, overall.

I went into the boat with an ambiguous frame of mind: I was saddened by the absence of both Alexa and Imogen, and apprehensive about the snow and cold, though the arrival of kit was a nice surprise!

Snowy and cold marshalling, as expected, but then the wait was enlivened by the sight of Christ's attempts at tapping.
We started to wind up about 200m before the start line, in order the stay close behind them, and managed to gain on them quite significantly during the first 500m. They pushed away again during the middle k, but we managed to move on them again closer to the finish line.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2015 - 1st division
Posted as: Zoe W.
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A first race that was quite comforting. We did a pretty decent start, gained on them pretty quickly, and kept going. By the railway bridge, we were striding repeatedly, and we crossed the finish line comfortably.

Several of us started coughing pretty badly once we had stopped rowing, and I was personally not able to cheer properly for Robinson. We knew the next races would not be so easy on us, and I was certainly a bit worried, but we were all determined to do our best and stay composed.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2015 - 1st division
Posted as: Zoe W.
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After more than an hour at Chesterton, where we progressively layered more and more kit, plundered Neil's car (some of us ended up huddled like penguins), and watched other crews finishing, we pushed off knowing that we should not underestimate Caius.

The start was a total disaster: several blades were not buried, and we did not actually move for the first couple of strokes. Caius took a couple of seats on us at that point, that we progressively gained back. Matt called our push quite early, and it was moderately effective, and we moved ahead for the second half of the race.

Without doubt our most encouraging race of the day.

Event: Lent Bumps 2015 - Thursday
Posted as: Zoe W.
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Overall a pretty good row, everything going according to plan (except for the bump itself, of course).

Pretty good start, considering very few people were actually ready for it (the count-down being a little confusing), then all went rather better than yesterday.

The pressure came much sooner though, as Christ's made their first move so that we had to take a bumps push in a corner (rather successfully), but overlap happened somewhere at the beginning of the reach. A second bumps push and a maintained pressure allowed us to hold them for quite a long time. Christ's cox's fretful steering gave us a couple of minutes as well, but made for quite a confusing sight, their bow appearing to one side of our boat then the other.

In spite of our renewed efforts, we got bumped at about the same place Emma had bumped us.

Event: May Bumps 2015 - Thursday
Posted as: Zoe W.
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Not bad, for a first shot at bumping for most of us in the boat. A significant change in tactics from the previous day, when we didn't get close enough to Jesus to really go into offensive mode.

Good first half, according to plan, followed by intense second half, when bumps push after bumps push made us gain on Clare, but were not sustained enough to get us closer than canvas.
As the bow girl, it was super frustrating to feel wash periodically, and we got to the point when I could hear their oars clicking when they feather, and make out their cox's words. But that never lasted more than a few strokes.
Our pushes became less and less effective as we rowed down the reach, and by the time we heard the cheers of M1 between the railway bridge and the P&N, it was becoming clear that the bump was not going to happen. We focused on finishing the race without incident, with Newnham far behind, never a real threat.
We at least have the satisfaction of proving the predictions of the bumps program wrong, which saw us as "too high up the chart, and easy pickings for Newnham".

Let's prove them wrong again tomorrow!

Event: May Bumps 2015 - Friday
Posted as: Zoe W.
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I am disappointed we didn't get to do our "pre-bumps push" / chase the whistle move we had planned to do in order to move from half to a quarter of a lentgth, as pressure from Newnham (themselves pressured from Christ) had us spent our bumps pushes on them. It would have been awesome to have a real shot at bumping Clare.

Absence of panic even with overlap, and good steering by MT meant that we were able to move away, and Newnham blew.

Which is when Christ, who, until then, were steadily moving up on the towpath side of the Reach, veered and harpooned Newnham (according to PF, Christ thought we had been bumped and were moving for the overbump, and their bankparty had to be reminded to go for Newnham). After that, we tried to refocus our attention on Clare, but they were farther away than ideal, and we quickly realized the bump was not going to happen, so MT called for us to wind it down at the railway bridge, and we rowed slowly towards the finish line.
Tomorrow will be a question of bumping Clare before Christ bumps us, so all-in for a sprint!

Event: Lent Bumps 2016 - Wednesday
Posted as: Zoe W.
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So sorry not to be able to be in the boat for this bumps campaign, but I will provide from inside from the towpath!

The whole race felt solid and composed after a nice start. Very soon, the river around the boat cleared up, as Queen's got bumped by Newnham, and Downing pulled away quickly trying to bump Jesus before the got Emma (a failed attempt).

Even though Downing was about 5 lengths ahead down the reach, the commitment and technique stayed strong. I could see some pain faces, grins and frowns, but there was no significant slump or loss of speed.

As I arrived at the P&E I heard a lot of crews shouting at us to bump, and I first thought it was because we were really popular (well, we are! Especially with our cute lion on the bows ^^). Then I looked a bit more closely and saw that Downing was stationary. I supposed they had forgotten that the finish had moved, but a Jesus rower informed me that their bow girl had caught a crab, tried to recover, and subsequently caught another, which caused the boat to stop. This quasi-mythical scenario had happened, the one that coaches bring up at crew chats to get us to keep rowing in earnest until the finish line ("you never know what can happen, they can catch a crab!")

Rob called a bumps push, and Valkyrie accelerated. Downing, to their credit, recovered very quickly and launched into a start sequence that got them through the line about a length ahead of us.

Event: Lent Bumps 2017 - Wednesday
Posted as: Zoe W.
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We knew when we rowed down to station that Pembroke was much slower than us, and that Girton was about the same speed. The strategy was to "row like we do at practice", not do anything extravagant, and hope we get Pembroke.
We had lost to Girton by 1/4th of a length at Pembroke regatta, despite them being a bigger crew and having an advantage in the headwind, so we knew we had it in us to hold them.

That was the plan.

What actually happened: in the stress of the first day, Keval forgot to grab the bung when pushing off, and ended up pretending to have it in his hand while Sam was conspiculously throwing him the handle. We were all a bit unsettled when the canon went, but the first few stroke decent. We struggled to hit a rhythm, and some dodgy strokes before FP corner made us become a bit frantic. But Pembroke was having an even harder time, and Girton didn't seem to be moving much, so we just ... continued. Until we heard a whistle. We stayed for a while at two whistles, and then started moving on Pembroke again, faster, until we got continuous whistle just at the entrance of Grassy. I started to be able to see their canvas from the corner of my eyes, until I had to miss a stroke lest the loom of my blade pass through their stern, or their cox.

Keval had been steering for the bump, and ended up quite close to the inside of the corner, so it would seem that some people in the stern didn't know we had bumped, and thought we had hit a tree on the inside of Grassy. (We waited for Pembroke to get away, and had to clear, until we could celebrate properly).
Luckily, the bump happened just in front of a FaT contingent, with Imogen taking some video footage of our bump, and the confusion caused by Girton failing to clear the corner and parking on the outside of Grassy.

Overall, a very promising result, and a great start for Queen Elizabeth I: first race, first bump! What's even better is that there is more speed to come!