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All race reports for Sophie Maclean

Event: Lent Bumps 2017 - Tuesday
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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We went in to this race knowing we had a reasonable chance of bumping, but there were no guarantees. Despite starting pointing 45 degrees away from the bank, a call for strokeside pressure got us back on track and we started gaining on Darwin W2 fast. By about 20 strokes in, we had got our first whistle and started to get excited. We held it together and soon got to three whistles. Unfortunately, this we when we caught a crab, but a speedy recovery meant we barely lost touch with Darwin and were soon at continuous whistles. Darwin's cox conceded just before First Post Corner, after we had rowed a mere 52 strokes. Jesus W3, who were chasing us, failed to make any move on us. Overall it was a great first day, especially considering it was the first bumps race 8/9 of our crew had ever races. After a fantastic row home, day 2 looks like it will be exciting!

Event: Lent Bumps 2017 - Wednesday
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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From what we had seen the previous day, we knew we could be faster than Queens' W2. The only issue was that Queens' were also faster than Murray Edwards W2, who they were chasing. Our start wasn't quite as strong as the previous day, but we strode into our rhythm and at times got within a length of Queens'. Unfortunately Queens' bumped Medwards shortly after First Post Corner. We had a reset and settle in for a longer race. Coming in to Plough Reach, Lucy Cavendish/ Hughes Hall W2 were about 4 lengths ahead of us and we were aiming for the overbump. Coming round Ditton, the headwind hit. Lucy Cav/ Hughes Hall took a push shortly after and, though we moved on them, always managed to fight back and keep us away. We stayed strong until the end though, and produced a technically decent row. The final result was a row over, with no risk of any crew behind catching us.

Event: Lent Bumps 2017 - Friday
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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Going in to today, we knewbumping Medwards was going to be fairly straightforward. Our start was okay, but still not back to the power we had on day 1. Part way through the start sequence, Jesus W3, who were chasing us, were awarded an albeit generous whistle. This caused a bit of panic and a crab, but we recovered and kept moving on Medwards, soon getting a whistle ourselves. This was when Hughes Hall, who were three crews ahead of us, bumped St Edmund's and the two crews failed to clear quickly, causing Queens' to not take First Post Corner as well as they could have done. Soon Medwards had a whistle on Queens'. At this point, we called a push and got to within half a length of Medwards, whilst Queens' simultaneously recovered and pulled away. By the Gut, we had three whistles and were still moving. We bumped on Grassy Corner, with our bow's blade hitting their stern. Another successful day for W2!

Event: May Bumps 2017 - Friday
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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Going into this race, we knew there was a good chance of Emma bumping us. We had raced them previously at Nines Regatta, where they had beaten us by an, albeit hard fought, 3/4 length. However, we were not going to let that daunt us and were determined to do our utmost to stop the bump from happening for as long as possible, and ideally not at all.

The row up was the best row we have done all term. We managed to find a solid rhythm which we pretty much maintained throughout our bursts; we performed two almost perfect race pace roll ups; and we were sharper than we have ever been before.

Starting at station 8 gave us the benefit of not being next to the outflow, or the cannon, as we had been on previous days, and as such we executed the start well. We wound up to around 42 before settling to about 37 at thirty seconds.At about this time, we heard a call from the bank that we were inside on station on Peterhouse, who we were chasing. We kept on our rhythm, slowly moving on them, but Emma had also been moving on us. Along First Post Reach I was about to call for a second settle on to a more sustainable pace, when Jon shouted that Emma had narrowed the gap to a length. From then on, we fought to keep them off us, but they kept gaining. Despite repeated pushes, and a huge response from the whole crew, by First Post Corner they had overlap.

At this point, the steered for the bump and just missed. This gave us the opportunity to push away from them, and we managed to increase the distance between the two boats. Unfortunately, by Grassy, Emma had overlap again. They steered for the bump and didn't miss.

Though we got bumped, I'm proud of today's row. We gave the best race we have had to date, and found a pace we all agreed we could have maintained for much longer if given the opportunity. At the point when we were bumped, we were 3/4 length off Peterhouse, who were 1/2 length off Jesus. This just goes to show how much we've come on, even in the past few days. Bring on tomorrow!

Event: May Bumps 2017 - Saturday
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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Coming into this race, we knew Magdalene may be able to catch us, but it was unlikely they'd be as fast as Emma so we thought we'd have a chance at holding them off, at least until Plough Reach.

The row down was, once again, the best row down to date. We managed to get a stronger rhythm and the rowing felt good. There was a bit of tension due to nerves, but we by and large managed to keep it neat.

I can't remember a great deal of the start, but midway along First Post Reach, Magdalene had a length on us. Coming round the corner, they were at canvas. Around this time, Emma bumped Jesus ahead of us. We passed the two crews and made it part way along the gut before Magdalene caught us.

It wasn't the best end to the week, and certainly not the result we were looking for. However the crew has improved a lot and still has far to go. We'll just learn from this, and come back next year even hungrier.

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2017 - 1st division
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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Nm2 got off to a good start, and remained strong throughout. They moved nicely together and managed to maintain the same commitment all through the race. I found myself having to speed up to keep in time with their pushes along the reach! All in all, a great race and fingers crossed their time reflects this!

Event: Head of the River Race 2018 - Academic
Posted as: S.L.C. Maclean
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Bumps over and all focus shifts to HoRR. As seems to be a recurring theme with these races, the drama started well before we boated. With only two days to go, we found ourselves without a full crew, or a means of transporting the boats. There was a very real possibility we wouldnt make it to London at all. A frantic flurry of phone calls and messages thankfully resolved both issues (Ed is a hero!) so we were set. There could be no more problems, right?

Most of the crew elected to travel to London on Saturday, so we wouldnt have to get up early on Sunday. We enjoyed a lovely meal cooked by Joshs Mum, then went to bed, ready for what lay in store the next day. Well all of us except Pete, who was in Oxford having done Varsity fencing. This would have been fine, had he not overslept and remained in Oxford. We all woke up to a string of slightly panicked messages, trying to calculate whether or not a taxi would arrive on time. Much to our relief, it did.

Finally, we were ready to boat. The paddle up to marshalling wasnt our best, but was by no means our worst, especially considering it was *technically* a scratch crew. And its always satisfying to overtake crews rowing sixes full-slide, whilst youre doing legs only in fours. Being crew number 200 meant we marshalled by Chiswick Bridge, pretty much on the start line. Getting to watch the top division crews start racing was an exciting experience (Pete was practically bouncing off his seat when Brookes rowed past) and we took what we had seen in to our rowing the next bit of paddling was some of the best wed done all term.

At last, after a two or so hour wait, it was our turn to race. Coming under Chiswick Bridge, we built up to a solid rate 36 as we carried out our start. Before long, wed settled to a strong 33, and were moving Imperial E, the crew in front of us. Approaching Barnes Bridge, we shouted Imperial, move to your right. They didnt. Shortly following Barnes, the blade clashes ensued. Unfortunately, Imperial still refused to concede the racing line, but we pushed past them and soon they were well behind us.

From the Bandstand to Chiswick Pier, there werent too many other crews close, or so I thought. I knew KCL B were 3 or 4 lengths ahead and we made it our aim to catch them by Hammersmith Bridge. I hadnt yet spotted Royal Holloway though, who were maybe only 1 length ahead, but several to my right. It appeared nobody had told them that the best line is in the middle of the river, not tight round corners. What resulted was a sickening crunch as they ploughed head first into UL who, having finished racing, were returning to their boat house.

After a quick re-focus, we continued to chase down KCL, achieving overlap even before Dove Pier. Kings were the strongest crew we overtook, and hence we were still battling them going under Hammersmith Bridge. A shout of bow-ball from Jon spurred the crew on though, and by the time we past Harrods Depository, we had not only got decent clear water between us and KCL, we had also overtaken St Georges Medics.

From then on, it was a case of following our race plan through to the end. By the time we past the Mile Post, our focus was to take it up to the finish. A lift past Barn Elms was followed by another at Imperial College Boat Club. We tried to take it up every 100 or so metres to the finish and at this point, we potentially ran out of legs. We kept pushing as much as we could though, across the line.

The time overall wasnt as fast as we might have hoped, but we managed to finish faster than M1s of multiple other Cambridge colleges, and given that our training hasnt been focussed on this race, I think we can all be proud what we achieved. We all committed from the first stroke, and it was some of our best rowing, so a good race to end the term on.