All race reports for Peter Lau
Event: Lent Bumps 2016 - Friday
Posted as: Peter
Event Link
Our practise burst to race pace, while being very good, was just slightly under our burst on Tuesday. However, this time we were more focused, and despite the screams from W2, we kept our technique and made the "very good" last much longer.
So we pulled in to wait for the start. In what seemed like no time at all, the 3 guns went off, and the chase began.
Near first post corner, we heard 1 whistle. This was quite encouraging, but pain also started to creep in.
Having bumped Peterhouse II near Grassy corner on Wednesday, we realised as we went past Grassy that bumping LMBC III wouldn't be as easy. We took a mental hit, and combined with the pain, we stopped gaining on LMBC III, and stayed at 1 length thereafter. There were several calls for pushes, but with everyone already giving their all in hopes of bumping LMBC III, we weren't able to push harder and our speed was largely unaffected by the calls.
Nearing the P&E, we suddenly heard 1 horn, 2 horns, 3 horns, continuous horn, in a rapid succession. Then, someone shouted "hold it up". There might have been some relief that we've finally got our bump, but then we discovered that it was LMBC III overbumping Churchill II, Magdelene II and Clare Hall having bumped out. This is when we remembered the unusual sound of the horn - Iain, our boatman, had a whistle. Perhaps LMBC did not know how to obtain a whistle, and therefore needed someone to volunteer their musical instrument.
Seeing the shouts of LMBC III shattered our hopes. We really expected to bump. At worst, we thought, we both row over, and we'll still have another opportunity tomorrow. But LMBC III getting an overbump was not what we expected. It meant there'll be 3 crews between us, so bumping LMBC III must be left to future years.
Meanwhile, we still haven't crossed the finish line, and we're also in excruciating pain. Seeing the 4 crews behind us all bumped out, and the finish line only 200 metres away, we dejectedly took it to UT2, finished, and continued rowing home.
Even without being teased by the passing division 2 crews, we could sense the sadness in the boat. Sayana, our cox, spoke very little. However, our bitter feelings translated into a silent focus, and this UT2 was technically clean, if weak from the pain of having sprinted 2k.
This gloomy mood continued until we had our crew chat, when someone commented on our mood and asked "did someone die?", and finally we laughed.
Event: May Bumps 2016 - Wednesday
Posted as: Peter
Event Link
For us, our race is still on, but in the confusion, the pressure dropped off greatly. Our 1/2 length gap on Darwin, largely unnoticed due to the threat from Downing II, quickly widened. We were crawling up to the middle of the Gut when the klaxons sounded. A few strokes later we held it up, only for Corpus to close up and believe they have bumped us.
After some conversation between confused bank parties, they concluded that the klaxons meant we're likely to be given technical results, and we started rowing back. Umpires at P&E told us to stop, and we spun in expectation that any re-row will occur immediately. Sadly, that was not to be the case.
1.5 hours, 1 lost strokesider and much emotional debate later, we finally rowed up with 7 rowers, where 5 held both 5 and 6's blades, forcing the crew to row 1/4-slide-1/2-arms. Michael Thornton, who only rowed once on strokeside, joined us on the Long reach. Considering this, our practise start was quite smooth, and we reached our starting station for the re-row, amidst Division 1 which is waiting due to an equipment failure.
Darwin, FaT II, Downing II and Corpus were in the re-row. Once again, Downing II rapidly gained on us, and stayed about 1/4 length away for much of the row. This threat meant we again did not stride it down from 39. Fuelled by our anger at our perceived unfairness of CUCBC's decision, we maintained this rate, and the distance from Downing II, well into the Plough reach.
However, they then began to gain on us again, and despite several pushes, we were caught by Long reach spinning zone. This time however, Downing II celebrated before holding it up, and collided with our 7 rigger. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be noticeable damage.
With Darwin having pulled away and Corpus given up, the re-row was effectively over, and we dropped off our sub and rowed home with 7 rowers.
