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All race reports for Richard Bullock

Event: May Bumps 1847 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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Actually, the website has a few days missing. Due to the slightly odd nature of the May Bumps in 1847 (actually held in May then), 1st Trinity actually had (and managed) to row-over head on 7 days to retain the headship, each time ahead of Lady Margaret, with 3rd Trin in rowing over in 3rd. Also slightly unusual to modern races is that they only raced on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, starting on Friday 7th May and finishing on the same day two weeks later.

The Bumps Book also gives a crew list for this crew.

Bow: W. Maule
2: J. Barkworth
3: R.O. Turner
4: A. Garfit
5: C.A. Nicholson
6: J.S. White
7: S. Vincent
Str: E.P. Wolstenholme
Cox: J.S. Phillips

Event: Cam Sprints 2003 - 3rd division
Posted as: Richard
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Into the final went the 3rd VIII against the crew starting directly behind us in bumps. We were starting on the boathouse side meaning we'd have to row through the other crew due to the staggered start. We did a better start than against Fitz but Sidney had steered towards us forcing heavy blade clashes within a few strokes of the start so the umpires halted the race. Our start for the re-race was good and we quickly rowed through Sidney and then got clear water, gaining distance with every stroke. It seemed that the bowmen from both boats had their seats come off roughly at this point, but the result didn't seem in doubt. A push for the finish saw us have a whole length of clear water to win our division and my first pot.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2003 - 3rd division
Posted as: Richard
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We had quite a nice row down - the boat being well sat nearly all of the way. We did a fast start, winding to 42 and striding to 38 before settling at around 35 or so. Clare pushed well off the start, holding us for a while, but then we started to open up distance steadily. We conserved our energy a little towards the finish letting Clare catch up a little, but we crossed the line a length up.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2003 - 3rd division
Posted as: Richard
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Both crews pushed well off the start, holding each other most of the way down the reach, Magdalene being a seat or two up just before the railway bridge. A well timed crab attempt from the 3 man just before the railway bridge saw us lose a bit of balance, rhythm, speed and distance. Magdalene then capitalised on the inside line getting something like 3/4 of a length on the other side. We never got it back together properly, the push for the finish didn't really happen and Magdalene took the race by an official verdict of 2 lengths. Congrats to Magdalene II for a good race and for beating what looked like a good Darwin crew in the final.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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We set off with the aim of catching LMBC III and quickly started hearing whistles, unfortunately, LMBC were closing quickly on Downing III ahead. Around first post corner, we got to a canvas off LMBC, but Maggie bumped Downing before we could bump. We were so close that we had to hold it up to avoid carnage. Magdalene II asked the umpires for a re-row which they were given.

It was always going to be a tough re-row with Magdalene being a fast crew and their knowledge that they could go very hard off the start with nobody behind. Magdalene gained much quicker than in the original race finally hitting us just before the Plough pub. Later on we have to avoid Fitz II and maybe look for the overbump on Maggie III.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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We knew today would be tough, after being bumped by Magdalene II in the re-row, we knew that they would catch Downing III pretty quickly and so we would be left chasing the overbump on Maggie III whilst trying to avoid Fitz II who came a bit too close for comfort for the overbump on day 1. We did pull away from Fitz II initially, but Fitz soon approached fast - faster than Magdalene II did in the re-row. They had overlap round grassy (although I didn't realise at first - judging distances is difficult from the 2 seat) and we managed to push them away. They pushed again, gaining overlap at Ditton, but their cox steered for the bump and missed sending Fitz wide whilst we held the racing line and we once again had clear water. Again Fitz pushed and gained a significant amount of overlap, but we responded well and held them at bay. We passed under the railway bridge and they still hadn't converted so we pushed hard and gained a small amount of clear water which we held to the finish line. Awesome race.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Saturday
Posted as: Richard
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After our epic race yesterday, most of the crew were on a bit of a high and were very keen to make it all worthwile by bumping a slow Downing III today who were on for spoons. On Thursday, we'd closed nearly 3 lengths on Downing by First post corner when Maggie III had bumped them, so we knew today had the potential to be a short race. Despite this, our race plan was simply to stay ahead of Fitz and eventually by doing so, we'd hit Downing. We had expected Fitz to go very hard off the start to try and catch us quickly in revenge for yesterday, however after the gun, we pulled away from them surprisingly quickly - maybe they'd given up on the idea of hitting us and were keen to save energy to ensure that they could stay ahead of Peterhouse II who were on for blades. We quickly started hearing whistles from our bank party and after seemingly no time at all, we had overlap, I felt the boat suddenly move to bowside and heard the call to hold it up - we'd bumped - and before top station. After the rest of the division had passed, we pulled into the other bank to collect our greenery, congratulations from our coaches and the rest of our bank party, and a bottle of champagne which the 3rd ladies' hadn't managed to finish off. We rowed back with applause and cheers from the bank and switched to rolling sixes to finish off the rest of the champagne.

After getting bumped on the re-row, it would have been very easy to have fallen on every subsequent day, however a brilliant last two days for us have seen us return to where we started with only Maggie III between us and the 3rd boat headship.

Event: Cam Sprints 2003 - 3rd division
Posted as: Richard
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My first side-by-side race since Clare Novices in November, and our first race of the term. The race was a bit scrappy to say the least, but after we pulled away at the start, we were never behind. A few very dodgy strokes just after half way let Fitz within 2/3 length, but we got back together to claim the victory by 1 length.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2004 - 1st division
Posted as: Richard
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We knew that we would have our work cut out to beat a strong Darwin crew. Our start wasn't as good as in the first race - but despite them hitting a much higher rating - we were within a couple of feet of them. After the stride - the rowing became pretty awful - and Darwin began to pull away. It felt like we'd given up well before the railway bridge - and we were apparently about 3 lengths clear water down at the finish. Overall - much improvement needed in the last week and a bit before bumps - but our starts seem to be coming together.

Event: FaT/LMBC Punting Regatta 2004 - Open Punters
Posted as: Richard
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We got off to an interesting start - when we were accused of stealing the punt by the puntman. We were forced to easy and return to the start. After a bit of persuading, we managed to convince the puntman that we were meant to have the punt out and got back going again - unfortunately, the Maggie boys were already on the finishing straight - so we ended up losing by about 5/6 of the course. Oh well, never mind!

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Saturday
Posted as: Richard
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We made a quick crew order change to see whether we could enforce a nice rhythm. Our practice start and 30 second piece under the Railway Bridge felt very nice from inside the boat - which gave me confidence that our real race was going to be good. Our practice start outside the Plough wasn't quite as good, but after a short burst in 1st post reach we arrived on station and spun with about 12 minutes to go.

After the gun - the start wasn't quite as good as I'd have liked - and I had several bad strokes early in the race which allowed Emmanuel to get to about 1 length off us. We soon settled into the rhythm that we had been looking for all week and held Emma at about a length and a quarter for most of First post reach. Ahead of us, Trinity Hall III bumped LMBC III at the top of 1st post reach to leave us chasing for the overbump on Pembroke II. A nice line through the gut and Grassy corner saw us move from a length and a quarter to outside distance and we increased this distance up the Plough Reach with a nice push out of Grassy. Just before Ditton, the heavens opened as torrential rain came down. Our cox wasn't amused, but our rhythm was unaffected. As we rounded Ditton - Emmanuel were significantly outside distance and were continuing to fall back, despite one pretty bad stroke just after the corner. We continued closing in for the overbump on Pembroke, but we were running out of river as we neared the finish. Coming through the Railway Bridge, Emmanuel were about 5 or 6 lengths down, and Pembroke ahead had held us at around 2 lengths. We tried a rolling start to get another couple of pips to try and push for Pembroke, but something on 2's footplate broke, and our challenge for the overbump was effectively over. Peterhouse II who had fallen a long way back early on were now pushing Emma hard, who had crept up on us slightly - but we took it across the finish at Morley's Halt around 4 lengths clear. In the distance, all 4 crews behind also rowed over.

Today's race was probably the best race in which I've sat in the stroke seat - and the rhythm felt pretty good throughout.

Overall, we've had a slightly disappointing bumps - finishing down 2 places, but today's row-over felt very nice and we can restore a bit of pride with the race. Although we set out for rowing for the overbump - it was always going to be a bonus and rowing-over was the real target of the day.

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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This was not so good. After the gun - we closed slightly on Maggie infront - but Trinity Hall III behind closed much faster. A bit of spannering before the motorway bridge let Hall close to 3/4 of a length, and they kept advancing. We got our 1 length whistle on Maggie just after the motorway bridge, but we couldn't hold off Hall behind - who made contact at 1st post corner.

Overall today wasn't nearly as good as yesterday - we never really found the rhythm that we had yesterday.

Tomorrow, Hall will likely bump LMBC III before 1st post corner to win their blades, leaving us chasing Pembroke II for the overbump and their spoons. Behind we have to hold off Emma III - who are being chased by an angry looking Peterhouse II

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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A better row than yesterday overall. We had quite a reasonable start - either holding station or gaining a small amount of distance behind. Peterhouse II started to make a move about half-way up 1st post reach - gaining the first whistle just before first post corner. We had to go very wide on 1st post corner to avoid a boat which had bumped out - but Peterhouse were able to get a better line - giving them their 2nd whistle. They closed up to about 1/3 of a length at Grassy corner - where both crews had to go wide to avoid crews bumped out on the inside of the corner. Our lift out of Grassy was extremely good - and the gap started opening out as we found a nice rhythm - we had about a length by the Plough pub (although the Peterhouse bank-party were still giving 2 whistles!!!). I think at about this point the 4-man of the Peterhouse boat came off his seat or something like that - as Peterhouse disappeared into the distance. At the entry to Ditton corner - we had nearly 2 lengths clear water. A very wide corner by the chasing boat saw the gap grow further. Peterhouse looked to be at least 4 lengths down at the Railings - and not long after I think a crab ended their challenge as Trinity Hall III came up and hit them for the overbump. With Clare III about 400 metres behind - we wound it down to about 20 - although we took it up slightly for the finish as practice.

Overall today was a row that we can, generally speaking, be reasonably pleased with - but we can still step up a gear or two. Tomorrow we're chasing Maggie III again to send them down to their lowest ever position in the Mays.

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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Well, this was shocking. Our start was alright - pulling about half a length on Downing M3 - but in a similar way to the Nines - we fell to bits not long afterwards - with very little power being put down. Downing III behind closed up the gap quite quickly - and we were roughly on-station with LMBC III in front. Downing got us right on first post corner.

This was utterly disapointing - most of our practice pieces have been so much better than this. Whether the difference was due to the headwind up 1st post reach, or the fact that our 3-man was found passed out at 4a.m. outside Cindy's, I don't know. Tomorrow we will look to have a much better row down and race and try and catch Downing before they get Maggie. Maybe we could look for the cheeky overbump on Magdalene M2.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2004 - 1st division
Posted as: Richard
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A good start saw us pull away from Girton - gaining about 1/3 of a length by the end of the wind strokes. We probably hit our highest rating of the term during this start. We attempted to stride - and the rating came down to about 36. About half way down the reach - we were almost a length up - and we attempted a 2nd stride. At first it was ok - but then the rowing really fell apart. Girton closed fast - as we rounded the railway bridge - there was less than 1/3 of a length in it. A last-minute frantic push saw us cross the line 3 feet infront - with neither crew certain of who had won. Overall a good start - but after that it wasn't great

Event: Champion of the Thames Eights Head 2004 - Women's Other Mays
Posted as: Richard
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The crew seemed to have a nice start and settled at a very controlled 33 by Ditton corner - which went to about 31 by the Railway Bridge. Throughout the piece, the crew was very together, and looked to have a good ratio at higher ratings. Overall a good race, and they finished within 10 seconds of 3 crews in the W2 division - and came 3rd in W Lower.

Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2004 - 1st division
Posted as: Richard
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Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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A reasonably untidy start, followed by some reasonably untidy rowing saw Jesus III gain on us relatively quickly. After first post corner, we started moving away again, but just before the Plough pub, we had to hold it up to avoid carnage (again). A re-row was ordered again, to be held just after the M1 division. We were told the wrong time to be marshalling at, and ended up rowing down behind the head crew. Much to the amusement of the small band of spectators at the plough, we did our practice start after Caius. Caius' start was fairly together, whereas ours was fairly shocking. Anyway, we eventually arrived on station 9, ready to go. We pushed out and our start was (surprisingly) pretty good. We moved slightly away from Jesus and towards Homerton, but about half way down first post reach, just like the first two days, the power dropped off very quickly, and Jesus started approaching. Perhaps the tiredness of having to rerow was showing. Jesus eventually got us on grassy corner (whereas we'd made it to the plough on the first race). Well, let's see whether we can bump them back tomorrow to avoid our spoons.

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Tuesday
Posted as: Richard
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Hmm, the first few strokes were ok, but we did spack around after that - and we really didn't wind very high off the start, so not surprisingly, Selwyn II closed on us. We did apparently make some ground up over the 3 crews in front however, but Pembroke II bumped St. Catz II around First Post Corner, leaving us chasing for the overbump on Clare II. Selwyn II closed further and Dilini conceeded on Grassy - apparently we weren't all that far off the overbump at that point (about 2.5 lengths). After the bump, we pulled in to the bank, and Selwyn pulled in behind us. After quite a while, Girton II came round the corner with Homerton all over their stern, and Downing III all over Homerton's stern. Girton decided that the best course of action was not to steer at all, and rammed straight into Selwyn, pretty much destroying their bows - comical. Homerton rowed past them for the overbump - so we're being chased by them tomorrow.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2003 - Plate
Posted as: Richard
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We had a slightly slower start than Downing, but came back fast, quickly getting about a quarter of a length up. Using the inside-line advantage coming round the railway bridge, we managed to get clear water between us and Downing - they pushed hard for the finish for a very good first round win. Overall, it was a very good row, fingers crossed for round 2.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2003 - Plate
Posted as: Richard
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After a slightly shaky start with CCAT going nearly a length up, the 3rd novices came back at them from about half way down the reach. Gradually, their stern went from level with our bowman to level with our 6 man. We had the advantage going underneath the railway bridge and once through the bridge we managed to get ahead by about 6 feet. CCAT pushed hard for the finish, and we tried to respond, but unfortunately, this resulted in some anti-phase rowing, allowing CCAT to win by the smallest of margins.

Event: Peterborough June Regatta 2005 - Novice 4+
Posted as: Richard
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We lined up in lane 1, with a quite big looking Birmingham Uni crew in lane 2, and a York Uni crew in lane 3. The crew in lane 4 failed to show up. The "attention, go!" call caught all 3 crews a bit by surprise, as all 3 coxes still had their hands up, but despite this, our start wasn't bad at all. At the end of the lengthen calls, we were rating 34 and were already a good distance clear of Birmingham, and slightly up on York. By 250m, we had a convincing lead over both crews, and pulled away well over the next quarter of the race. The rating dropped gradually to about 28 over the next hundred metres as the result looked inevitable. The last 250m was pretty relaxed and we cruised across the line in a time of 3:36, 16 seconds clear of York, and 32 seconds clear of Birmingham.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Saturday
Posted as: Richard
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Caius yesterday had tried a sprint to Ditton, but failed to get inside distance at any point, so we didn't know exactly what they'd try today. After yesterday, we were pretty confident that we could hold them off.

The gun went, and we had a pretty good start and settled to about 32-ish after we rounded the first corner. Through the motorway bridge, we had moved up slightly on Selwyn ahead, and had already moved away by 1 length on Caius. At first post corner, Selwyn had opened out the gap a bit on us, and we'd taken another couple of lengths on Caius. By the time we were straight on the exit of Grassy, I couldn't see the Caius boat at all. At Ditton, we were around 6 or 7 lengths ahead of Caius II, but we wanted to take as much distance as possible by the finish. Down the Long Reach, Selwyn ahead opened up to around 4 or so lengths ahead of us, whilst we pushed away from Caius to a double-figure number of lengths by Morley's Holt (Caius were again about at the Railway Bridge by the time we were passing the finish), finishing about a minute before them to hold onto the 2nd VIII headship in style!

Today was probably one of the best rows we'd had all term, but Selwyn ahead showed that they had a higher cruise speed.

Overall, it's been a good week for the 2nd VIII. At the start of term, with us rowing as a IV - trying to find 4 others to make up an VIII, I'd never of dreamed of bumping Caius for the 2nd boat headship and bumping Peterhouse to get into the 1st division!

After rowing home, due to the fact that we finished in the 1st division, we didn't have long before the dinner to warm up our vocal chords for the 2nd May VIII song, but it seemed to be well received!

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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Having seen that it was Caius II as sandwich boat, and that they'd gone for a sprint to get Peterhouse, we'd assumed that they'd try the same stunt with us as sandwich boat. We'd been roughly on station with Selwyn when we'd bumped Peterhouse the previous day.

Off went the gun, and we took a bit of distance out of Caius, and not much out of Selwyn ahead. Caius got some of the distance back as we settled, but we held them on distance to the motorway bridge and moved away from them thereafter. Selwyn started to open up the gap up first post reach. At Grassy, Selwyn had virtually doubled the starting distance, whilst we had opened up a considerable lead over Caius. As we passed the Plough, we were clocking a steady rate 30. Selwyn had pissed off into the distance - some 4 or 5 or so lengths ahead, hotly persuing Christ's (which they came within a few feet of bumping). Caius behind were pushed further and further back, being about 5 lengths down on us by the Plough. Between Ditton and the Railings, Caius II either blew up or wound down - I couldn't quite tell. As we crossed the finish at Morley's Holt, Caius were still out of sight and hadn't even come past the Railway Bridge. Selwyn had slowed (and Christ's escaped), but we were still a long way from them.

Maybe if we take the rating back up like we did on Thursday, we might be able to stay in touch with Selwyn, and hopefully profit from any mistakes that they make.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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Starting from station 18 gave us a bit of a new outlook to the race plan - but we had loads of time to fine-tune a few details as we waited at Peter's Posts. Peterhouse were an unknown quantity to us, but we just had to row our own race and see how it went.

Our start was reasonable enough and we gained a few feet on Peterhouse. We had to hold it up at the Little Bridge (along with 7 or 8 other crews) because of a Jesus eject-a-crab several boats ahead of us.

We paddled back to the start to await a 2nd set of cannons for the re-row. Our start was probably a bit better than the previous race, and we did gain a bit. Our push of the Motorway Bridge took us to a length, and Peterhouse held us well at a length up most of the rest of First Post Reach. Our corners had been very scrappy yesterday, but we actually had a surprisingly good First Post corner and Grassy Corner. By the exit of Grassy, we were only about half a length off them - and still gaining. A decent push at Grassy saw us close further - and a few strokes later, we got our third whistle. We'd taken this as our signal to push for the bump. The bumps push was really quite incredible and the boat speed shot up. We closed from 1/4 of a length to bumping them in what seemed like a blink of an eye. We made contact a few strokes shy of the Plough pub! The 2nd VIII finally make it back into M1 for only the 2nd time since the late 1950s (the previous being in 1999) - but tomorrow we need to get Selwyn to cement our division 1 status!

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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Yesterday's row was a bit disappointing - we got so close but failed to convert, although it gave us clear indication of the "state of play" between the top 3 crews of M2. Today, we set out to make amends for missing Caius yesterday.

We altered our race plan slightly, delaying the rhythym (a.k.a. stride) call until we were into the Gut. The higher rating until that point saw us get our first whitsle. We settled onto our rhythm in the gut on a slightly higher rating than yesterday (yesterday's rate 30 round grassy was a bit too pedestrian!). Our push out of grassy saw us getting to about half a length, and we gained up Plough Reach, achieving 3 whistles at the Plough. As we closed, the boat started to pitch around in the wash, but we continued to push hard, and by Ditton we started forcing overlap. My blade caught the Caius stern as we were about half-way round the corner. Incredible - head 2nd VIII - and sandwich boat for M1!

Event: Peterborough June Regatta 2005 - Novice 4+
Posted as: Richard
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The 4 crews through to the final had all posted times within 4 seconds of each other in the semi-finals (we had posted the 3rd quickest time of the 4, but were only 2 seconds off the quickest). It was clear that the final could be very close indeed. The final was moved 50 minutes earlier than planned, due to a clash with another division, and Seb said that he was still feeling a bit iffy by the start.

We lined up in lane 4, alongside St. Cuthbert's Society, who had posted the fastest time of anyone in the semi (and apparently outweighed us by over 15kg per man). In lane 2 was the Leicester crew that had just pipped us in the semi. We found ourselves slightly down after the start, and St. Cuthbert's and Leicester started to slowly open the gap on us. At 250m to go, we had quite a good lift, and the boatspeed did increase, but it wasn't enough to avoid coming 4th in the final. St. Cuthbert's and Leicester both posted times of 3:25 (with St. Cuth's just pipping Leicester to victory), leaving us 5 seconds down on the overall winner.

It was nice to hear cheers of support from other Cambridge crews as well as the men's and women's 1st VIIIs, so thanks for that.

Overall, a good bit of racing - a bit disappointing to come 4th in the final, but nice to have made it to the final, and a world of improvement on our Cam Sprints performance!

Event: Peterborough June Regatta 2005 - Novice 4+
Posted as: Richard
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We were in lane 2, with Star Club in L1, Leicester Uni in L3 and another crew in L4, althgouh I can't remember who it was. Our start was again quite good, and after the stride, we were rating quite a controlled 33. By 250m, we'd moved to about 2 seats up on Leicester and Star Club. Leicester had a better 2nd quarter than we did, and started to move back through us, and had taken between a quarter and half a length by the 500m marker. Star club stayed at about 2 seats down on us by this point. The 4th crew had fallen back by about 2 lengths. We had quite a good 3rd quarter, and pushed Star club away to over a length, and moved back level or slightly ahead of Leicester. Our push for home wasn't that together, and the balance of the boat suffered. Seb was struggling a bit through the last 15 strokes as well. The combination of the two saw Leicester cross the line a few feet in front of us, but we were safely through to the final, clocking 3:29 for our semi.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2005 -
Posted as: Richard
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The 2 University golfers teed off first, and both of us managed to miss the first green comfortably. Jeff's good up and down for a 3 saw him take the first hole. Recovering somewhat, both of us hit the 2nd green and 2-putted for par. I missed the 3rd green and failed, once again, to get up and down, leaving Jeff 2 up after 3 holes played - and me struggling to get back into the match.

The turnaround came at the 4th. Jeff missed the green well left on the 4th hole, leaving a tricky chip to get close. Jeff's missed 4-foot putt on the 5th allowed me to get back to all-square. I went slightly long on 6, but had an easy up and down for a 3. Jeff found a horrid lie in the bunker, and was forced to play out sideways, with only an outside chance of saving par, which was not to be.

Having arrived at 1 up with 3 holes to play - a situation where I've managed to lose from a few times in University matches, it was important to ensure that I didn't give away holes stupidly. I found the middle of the 7th green - whilst Jeff hit his tee-shot slightly left and found a nasty lie in the rough. This led to another drop-shot for Jeff and saw me go dormie 2 up. At the 8th, we both hit the green, with Jeff's ball lying only about 6 feet from the pin. Having secured the par with a lag-putt, it was up to Jeff to make the birdie to stay in the match. As with many things in the round so far, luck was not with him, and the putt slipped past the hole, giving me a 2&1 victory.

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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This was unfortunate. The guys were closing nicely on Peterhouse II infront, and were probably just inside a length off at the motorway bridge, when Fitz II decided to catch a crab and get bumped back by Peterhouse, leaving the guys chasing an overbump. Meanwhile, Caius III behind had crept up on us, and were pushing the guys quite close near the top of first post reach. The Caius bowman's blade caught the FaT stern, and we were bumped out at 1st post corner. Might have been interesting if we'd have still been chasing Peterhouse, could have been quite close.

Friday sees us chasing Caius III for the bump (Peterhouse II for the overbump), behind starts Queens' III.

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Tuesday
Posted as: Richard
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The "small number of feet" was about 6 inches outside the plough.

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Tuesday
Posted as: Richard
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Been there, done that (in 2003).

Andy, you also did it in 2003, as well as 2002.

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2005 -
Posted as: Richard
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My first ever race as a cox'n.

We started out quite nicely up first post reach and around first post corner, but a seat failure in the gut saw us crawl into grassy. With everyone back on their seats again, we were round grassy with not too much problem, although I was slightly wide on the exit (I'll blame bowside for this ;-) ). The plough reach was quite reasonable, rowing wise, but it was starting to go very soggy around Ditton corner. Once round the corner, a series of crabs from various members of the crew cost us time and rythym. One of these crabs saw the bowside blades get dangerously near to the bank, but a few good firm strokes from bowside and quick crab recovery saw us clear of the bank again. With a women's 2nd crew looming behind us, it was time to push hard for the finish. This resulted in several good bursts of speed, but also some frantic, out of time rowing.

Anyway, we crossed the line and didn't get on, but everyone seemed to have had some fun rowing this term.

Event: Robinson Head 2005 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Richard
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A good row overall, but seat failure at Ditton which resulted in only 6 rowing until the railings cost quite a lot of time. I think there would have been a good chance to overtake Wolfson M2 had the seat not come off.

Event: Newnham Short Course 2005 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Richard
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And looks like you beat a host of 1st VIIIs as well, including Trinity Hall, starting 4th overall!

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2004 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Richard
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The guys set off really well, initially rating 33 and moving like a train! I was getting a little worried that they'd gone off very hard, and that they'd not survive 4km of this pace, but they soon settled into a nice controlled rhythm rating about 30 or 31. A couple of weeks ago, a similar rating looked a little frantic at times, but it just goes to show how much they've improved by how good the rowing was.
It became clear by Chesterton that we were closing slightly on X-press and quite a lot on Hughes Hall (2 in front of us). X-press overtook Hughes at around this point. By the time we reached the railway bridge, Hughes were about 5 lengths clear of us and we were closing fairly fast. As we crossed the novice finish line, I clocked them as 10:06 since the start - only 1 second slower than yesterday - despite the fact that the race was more than 60% longer!
As we approached the end of the reach, the pace did seem to stall a little, and Hughes ahead held us at around 3 lengths for a while. Ditton corner was the point at which we'd agreed we'd start going for home. A great lift around the corner saw us go from 3 lengths off Hughes at Ditton to around 1/2 a length at Grassy - and the boys finally made the overtake at First post corner, spurred on by several Black Prince rowers who had come up from the finish to support.
The guys then lifted for the finish, crossing the line in 16:24, several lengths clear of Hughes Hall.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with how they all rowed. The rhythm was great throughout, and despite the fact that they'd only been rowing for 1 term, they were only 34 seconds off winning the fastest 2nd VIII prize, and managed to beat nearly 1/4 of the field of senior VIIIs. Black Prince III were also only 6 seconds infront, composed of 6 1st VIII colours, and 2 2nd VIII colours.

Great row guys, hope everyone comes back to row in the Lents!!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2004 - Plate
Posted as: Richard
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Having not seen the 4ths row for ages, I was extremely impressed. Apparently they'd rated about 18 in the first race and still got an "easily" verdict. In this race they reached about 24 spm and took a length advantage very quickly. A crab half-way down the reach saw Christ's get back to about 3/4 of a length by the time we'd recovered, but the boys pulled it back together well to get the advantage back to just over a length by the Railway Bridge, which they held all the way to the finish. Impressive stuff, good luck on Saturday!!

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2005 -
Posted as: Richard
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Oops, sorry about that. :-(

Event: May Bumps 2006 - Saturday
Posted as: Richard
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I had hoped that the crew had mentally prepared themselves for a fairly long race. King's had stepped up their game from the start of the week, and were determined to avoid their spoons. Their pushing out at 90 seconds to go confused me initially, I really thought they were going to set off at the minute gun - but as it were they didn't go and stayed pushed out, meanwhile the breeze had left their bows pointing at a funny angle.

I was slightly worried that King's would push away from us initially, and that M5 would panic slightly if we were outside distance early on, but as it turned out, we held station all the way up until a King's crab just before 1st post. King's recovered only 1 stroke later, but from then on, we started moving up. Coming through Plough Reach, the boys had just gotten their 3rd whistle and a nice line into Ditton forced King's a little wide. I thought that there was a very slight glancing bow-on-stern contact as we exited the corner (and I wasn't the only one to see it) - but the King's cox didn't conceed, and the JU didn't indicate anything to that effect - so a chase down the reach was needed to make certain of the bump. Every bumps push we put in was countered by King's trying their hardest to push us back - but our pushes took *slightly* more than theirs every time. At one stage our bowball was right up just beyond their strokeman, and one last beefy surge and we made a much bigger contact than the one out of Ditton - the bump occuring just before the White House. The King's cox didn't conceed again, but the umpire informed us that we had been awarded the bump. All credit for King's for holding us off for so long and making the crew work hard for the bump. All in all, a great performance for the week - some really impressively long bumps and satisfying row-overs - and it's been great to have bank-partied you this week.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2006 -
Posted as: Richard
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I'd not played much golf recently, and hadn't played a matchplay event since a guest appearance for the Uni 2nd team back in February (we lost..heavily). FaT put us into bat first, and a half-swing 54º wedge later, and I was within 5 feet of the hole - the opening birdie seeing myself and Raf 1 up. Raf's excellent 3 at the 2nd (despite allowing for slightly too much swing on the first putt) got us to 2 up - FaT had both missed the green and failed to make the par to halve. Alex's tee shot at 3 went to about 15 feet of the hole - I had to make a 3-4 foot putt to halve his par. Jacob elected to take an 8-iron on the 4th, but absolutely nailed it - well clear of the hedge at the back of the green! I had another pretty good tee shot and with 2 putts into the hole, Raf and I were 3 up. I think at this point Raf pointed out that I was still one under par with my own ball - after that, the golf deteriorated significantly. FaT also started turning up the heat. Jacob hit the flagstick with his greenside chip at the 5th and won a hole back for FaT. The 6th we took back, after Jacob lost a ball somewhere in the hedges at the back of the green. We were dormie up, but had to try and finish the job. Jacob decided that this would be a good time to attack, and a timely birdie at the 7th kept FaT in the match. Raf and I were both on the 8th green, in decent shape - needing only a halved hole to win the match. The two FaT players had both missed the green - and were in varying degrees of trouble. Our pars were good enough for the 3&1 victory.

Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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The Senior Umpire was certainly screaming at Downing to stop rowing. Yes, an overtake clearly counts as a bump - all umpires get told this at the pre-bumps meeting. I'm sure that all coxes get told this too. Perhaps this is one cox that didn't go to that meeting?

Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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Good stuff FaT M4. You're bumping almost as quickly as the 4th Lent VIII in 2003 of which I was a part. But don't get too complacent just yet. Bumps can throw up some funny situations - we'd bumped 3 times within about 25 strokes - and then something, um, unfortunate happened....

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2006 -
Posted as: Richard
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And (courtesy of the book, cheers Martin) you have to go back to 1984 to find a 5th Lent VIII before the 1995 one on the website.

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2006 -
Posted as: Richard
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Good effort guys. Shame you didn't get on. You were about a minute and a half faster than the 6th VIII I coxed in the last Lents GoR. You were also only 3 seconds slower than last year's 5th Lent VIII who were very good!

A good time, excellent for a 6th VIII. Hopefully you'll all come back to row the Mays.

Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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Nice work guys. First "proper" bump for the 2nd Lent VIII since 2002!

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Richard
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A good start, but Eddies just opened up a little ahead, and Peterhouse closed slightly. Peterhouse seemed to have some very optimistic whistles. The crew held Peterhouse well at about 3/4 length all the way to Grassy, but I'm not sure what happened next as we didn't make it round the corner. We parked on the outside and Peterhouse rowed past for the bump. Gutting.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2007 -
Posted as: Richard
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This scoreline could have been significantly closer; I'm glad my putting was on form.

I hit one or two of the tee-shots right of the green. The ones I hit straight, I had to watch in disgust as they sailed through the back of the green, my sand-iron tee shot on the 5th hole almost finishing in the ditch about 20 yards beyond the back of the green. I did manage in stopping it on two of the greens, well below what I'd expect from a maximum of 140 yards out. Sadly, my chipping wasn't that great either, and, although I was generally getting it in the vicinity of the hole, I was often leaving 8-12 foot putts to save par. Thankfully, the greens at the Lakes are surprisingly good (better and quicker than my home course greens for example), and my putting was good enough to make some of those putts.

It could have been much closer, Jim missed a 3-ish footer for par at the 6th which would have halved the hole, and you can't help thinking if some of my mid-range putts hadn't dropped, it could have been close all the way to the end.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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I've not checked, Bryn!

It was a good row though. Decent start and they moved well away from Homerton behind - despite them pushing off properly today. Round the first corner we had the first whistle, the 2nd came around the Little Bridge, 3 whistles under the Motorway Bridge. Overlap and the bump happened just before the Gunsheds. Homerton took quite a while to come past! Back where they started - and a good chance of getting CCAT tomorrow for an up-1 for the week.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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The crew got off ok, and moved slightly towards Clare II ahead. Unfortunately, Girton II behind were moving up much more quickly. They made contact in 1st post reach.

On Friday, maybe another shot at the overbump on Caius III looks likely.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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A decent push out this time, and the girls got a better start than yesterday. Christ's II ahead got a bit away from us as we settled - and went on to get the bump on Emma III pretty early on. Meanwhile, the 12 crews ahead of Emma also bumped out pretty early on. We had no-one to chase!

It seemed that most of these bumping crews seemed to bump out on 1st post corner - Sarah's coxing to avoid this obstacle course was excellent.

Going around Grassy, Pembroke seem to head for the Ditton bank and hit a barge. We settled into a nice lower-rate row to take it home. Unfortunately, the incredible wind in the reach seemed to take our bows out a bit wide and we had some blades get close to the far bank. We pushed off, but seemed then to head to the near bank - again catching blades on the bank. Pembroke, however, were still nowhere to be seen - we eventually got moving again and paddled the 50-100m or so to the lower finish to row over.

Anyway, a better result than on Tuesday, hopefully the girls'll be able to bump Emma III when they next race on Friday - and apparently the weather is expected to be better as well!

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Tuesday
Posted as: Richard
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I feel I probably should apologise to the crew for this one. The wind caught the bows and the chain went taut, skewing us round a bit. We ended up pointing a little towards the far bank and in trying to get round, we clipped strokeside blades on the foliage. After we were back together, Christ's had their first whistle, and closed on us going into the first corner. The gap closed to a few feet round the corner, but the girls pulled it together well to push off them for a while. We were finally hit just beyond the gunsheds. Disappointing for me in mucking up the push-off - especially given that Emma III ahead were potentially bumpable. Sorry, girls

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 2007 -
Posted as: Have checked the bumps archives
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Amelia, the reason you can't remember how long it's been is that this is the first ever appearance of a FaT W3 crew in the Lents!! Congrats all!

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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Start was good, pretty quick and smooth, and we held station on Magdalene II, and managed to move away to what looked like 2 1/2 lengths from Peterhouse II. Unfortunately Magdalen II hit Fitz II ahead of us, at which point we rather lost our way somewhat. Some impressive coxing combined with an effective push narrowly avoided the bump round Grassy, however we seemed to loose it somewhat down plough reach, so despite taking evasive action round Ditton, they had a major overlap, and a blade clash sealed the bump. More thought required on efficiency and technique on Friday if better results are to be had.

^^^^ Think I must have been logged in when this was written. It's fair to say Magdalene had pulled away a fair bit when the bump occured. After evading overlap round Grassy, the seemingly inevitable occured around Ditton. A good try, but it's tough for a 4th VIII in the 3rd division. Let's see what the crew can do after a day's rest.

Event: Lent Bumps 2009 - Wednesday
Posted as: Richard
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This was a bit close! The bump happened literally at the finish. Wolfson had already gotten their bowball over the line - but it's a stern finish in bumps - and contact was made before the stern had crossed the line. Excellent work!

Event: Lent Bumps 2010 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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This was a really good effort. Christ's were all over the back of them by the middle of 1st Post Reach, but they dug deep to survive onto the bottom of the Long Reach. We might have got away as well, until a crab in Plough Reach gave away some of the clear water we had opened back up.

Ahead, Emma never opened up until the crab. The boys had closed, and I nearly gave a whistle, but we were on a corner at the time, and by the time we had come out of the corner, having avoided parked crews on either side, the gap had opened slightly.

Event: Lent Bumps 2012 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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There was not much the crew could have done about the result today. Catz II were quite a quick crew for their position on the river and moved up very quickly from the start to make contact at the Motorway Bridge.

Event: Lent Bumps 2012 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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A great race. The margins were bit like yesterday, but the girls had the final killer push out of Ditton and finished the job as their blade caught our stern. Hopefully they'll go one further tomorrow and end up 2nd on the river...

To answer Thomas' point, <statto>today is the first time that the 1st Women have been higher on the river than the 1st Men since 1982 - 30 years ago.</statto>

Event: Lent Bumps 2012 - Friday
Posted as: Richard
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Almost an action replay of yesterday. Christ's moved up rapidly to make contact just before the motorway bridge. It's disappointing not to finish the week as top W3 crew, but at least they're higher than Maggie W3!

Event: May Bumps 2022 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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An incredibly close run thing. After initially pulling away, Jesus made their move on the Reach, closing to overlap just after the Railway Bridge. After a few misses, contact was finally made, hull on hull, when our bowball was just about level with the finish post at Morley's Holt - where Jesus would have to have stopped.

Event: May Bumps 2022 - Thursday
Posted as: Richard
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Trinity Hall failed to show up, so it was a simple row-past the empty station and pull in to complete the bump.