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All race reports for John Earl

Event: May Bumps 1998 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
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Missed Maggie by a canvas (nearest approach) at Morley's Holt.

Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 1998 -
Posted as: Dubya
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Hehe. Very amusing. Bevan/Ingram were shocked and rowed home square blades to redeem themselves.

Event: May Bumps 1998 - Thursday
Posted as: Dubya
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Missed Maggie by half a length (nearest approach at the railings).

Event: Newnham Short Course 1998 - 2nd division
Posted as: Dubya
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It didn't take much to win, but they should have given us bigger medals.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 1997 - Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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We overtook 2 crews. We were awesome. We were also the fastest 2nd novice eight by some way, according to Dewire.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 1998 - 3rd division
Posted as: Dubya
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I thought they were scary and big. But we would have beaten them if the row hadn't been so scrappy.

Event: May Bumps 1998 - Saturday
Posted as: Dubya
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Head 3rd boat !! Rah!!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 1997 - 2nd division
Posted as: Dubya
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Panos caught a crab on the start, we lost about a length and a bit, but the LMBC crew were a little faster than us and stretched it out to about 2 lengths.

Event: Women's Head of the River Race 1998 - Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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Emma Wilton's original report: I would just like to say well done to the 1st VIII on a really impressiveresult. 3rd in Novice U isn't bad and the only colleges we were beaten by were Newnham, Pembroke, Emma and Queens. We completely whipped Clare!!!

Event: Lent Bumps 1998 - Tuesday
Posted as: Dubya
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We came up on them so quickly it was scary... I'd just called a stride (or was it ENGAGE?) when we hit them.

Event: Lent Bumps Getting-on Race 1998 -
Posted as: Dubya
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Going well till Henry caught a crab at grassy and we slewed into the bank, but we pushed off and carried on to beat some women's crews!!

Event: Head of the Nene 1999 - Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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"That's 1k [down, 4k to go, we'll settle in this rhythm for 3k and then] take it up for the last kilometer!" ... Would have been useful information but for the fact that none of bow four heard the part in brackets, with the predictable result: we all blew about halfway through.

We knew it was meant to be a longer race, we just thought we were doing very well!

Event: Fairbairn Cup 1998 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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All I can say is, we were well hard and we beat the novices. And I remember my hands were freezing at the start so I couldn't feel my fingers, and I regained feeling at the Railway bridge, after which everything was much nicer.

Event: Lent Bumps 2000 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
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The bump was the oddest thing. I didn't really think we were that close, and then suddenly I noticed white and red. And their cox's shoulder right there but she hadn't acknowledged. So I reached over and tapped her on the shoulder to remind her. Her hand went up pretty quick! Only afterwards did I realize what a coup it would have been to nick her hat in that moment. There's always next time though....

Event: Royal Canadian Henley Regatta 2000 - SeniorB Eights
Posted as: Dubya
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We were in this race for exactly 3 seconds, which is the time between the start gun and when Mr Kernigit's gate popped open and out came his blade. Took 500m to get it back in the gate... 4000 miles travelled for 10m of race!

Event: Bedford Regatta 2000 - Senior3 VIII
Posted as: Dubya
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In hindsight, perhaps they weren't that huge.

Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2000 - Shell
Posted as: Dubya
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Slow going up the reach. My sculling was definitely not up to it.

Event: Nottingham City Regatta 2001 - Senior3 VIII
Posted as: Dubya
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A somewhat better start in calmer conditions put us a length down on Reading and half a length down to Newcastle at 500m. In an exciting race we rowed through Newcastle by 1000m, then reeled in Reading to take the win by a canvas.

Event: Nottingham City Regatta 2001 - Senior4 VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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A heavy tailwind down the course meant very choppy conditions at the finish - and interesting racing! We had a slow start, at 500m were down by a length to Bedford Sch and two to Bournemouth. We rowed through Bedford in the middle 1000 and finished still a length down on Bournemouth.

Event: Fairbairn Cup - IVs 2000 -
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

It was a much better row than the previous one in the eight had been. This reflects more on the eight than on us. Thanks to Alex for coxing on short notice (though not for nearly crashing 2 mins into the race)!

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2000 -
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Sorry Andy, it was down to me that you raced in the afternoon and not the morning. When someone (don't recall who) asked a couple of days before the race if it were possible to race in the afternoon, I decided to arrange a division swap rather than just say no, on the basis that the weather report suggested conditions would be calmer in the afternoon, and also because you'd be able to start at the front of the division and be less vulnerable to traffic (since the previous year's finish position had been so poor -- you would have started 15th!). Didn't think about the stream; should have.

Also I don't think you went around grassy in this race; perhaps it's Chesterton you're thinking of?

Event: Lent Bumps 2001 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
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Wasn't that sweet, Simon. Caius were rather closer than 3 lengths behind when they got bumped.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2001 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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The 1st men's selection squad raced in an eight, twice. The first race was considerably faster than the second. They were the 4th fastest college crew, with most of the major players for Fairbairns competing. With Maris back in, and a settled crew, they should be in a position to challenge Emmanuel for the top spot in Fairbairns.

Event: Cam Sprints 2002 - Men's 1x
Posted as: Dubya
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Having raced the Head 2 Head earlier in the day, this was my second outing in a single in a month. The quality of my sculling being low, it was a very short outing indeed.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2002 - 3rd division
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Again a good row to the railway bridge, looking reasonably neat, about a half length down coming into the railway bridge so should have been in with a chance of winning (they had the inside station) but somehow failed to get on top of the situation.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2002 - 2nd division
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Peterhouse looked quite big, and took our girls for 3/4 length off the start, but we pushed back and coming up to the railway bridge we were still in touch - looked considerably sharper to me than in the first race. Mr Lee timed a good push coming under the bridge and moved back up to half a length on Peterhouse, but Alex Taylor of Downing, steering the Peterhouse boat, deliberately impeeded Mr Lee's course by cutting the Railway bridge corner sharply. In any other regatta this would result in a DQ (eg Neil steering the 3rd novices in the Clare Novice Regatta 2 years ago) but Nines' let it through, saying it would not have changed the result of the race, which is probably true (though it would certainly have been a lot closer).

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2002 - 2nd division
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Wolfson had already beaten Peterhouse 1, and they seemed to have put in a respectable Head of the Cam result (only 5 or 6 secs behind Sidney over a head course, and Sidney had been a bit quicker than us at Bedford), so we were prepared for a hard race. Again the start was not as loose as we would have liked and they moved up a bit over the first 5 or 6 strokes, though we had surged back down to 36ish before they finished winding and at that point started to move back. Our pace was considerably quicker than against Emmanuel (a comfortable rating of 36 instead of 34) because we were pressed a bit harder, but nonetheless we had clear water by the railway bridge and were not under pressure at the finish. A satisfying day out, and Mr Walker's first pot!

Event: Nottingham City Regatta 2002 - Senior4 VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

We beat the Wadham Oxford 2nd eight that had beaten us in our heat to come 4th of 6. The time was slower, partly due to slower conditions; but we pushed better off the start and up to the finish, so a satisfying result nonetheless. The winning crew's splits were [1.33.78, 3.11.97, 4.50.77, 6.27.09]

Event: Nottingham City Regatta 2002 - Senior4 VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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The crew's second outing together was the row down to this qualifying heat. Notts City is quite a high standard regatta, and the competition was stiff with lots of school eights preparing for Nat Schools in 3 weeks' time. Perennial old boy Rob Foster was there with his J16 Eton eight, whom we narrowly beat out of a qualifying spot for the S4 final (about 0.3s). The race was quite exciting, with all 4 crews within a quarter of a length of each other at the finish, having been so for most of the course. Our start was a bit sloppy and we didn't push the finish well enough, so we resolved to do better in the final.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2001 -
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

The 2nd men's selection squad raced in an eight, once. Not a bad result - 2nd of 3 college 2nd VIIIs entered, and then only by 3 seconds. Not bad, considering it was only the 4th outing this term for some of them!

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

I was on the bank for this. Basic plan was the same as previous day, except I was told the 4 minute race plan had become a 3 minute one. Wasn't quite that short, but they had the gap down to 1/2 a length at Grassy, made a good crowd-pleasing push past the Plough, to a canvas at Ditton; Emma tried to escape by steering to the far side down the reach but First and Third's superior speed made the bump inevitable. Christ's (and their extremely over-optimistic bank party) were left for dead; when we hit Emmanuel, Christ's were over 2.5 lengths behind.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2002 - 3rd division
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Lost to Darwin 1 by about 2 lengths. Looked a fairly technical row particularly in the 2nd half of the course, but just not quite enough power to hold on to Darwin.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
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Good effort, nearly caught Clare Hall back (got to 1/2 a length)! But sadly got hit in the gut.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

These guys really pulled it together to row away from Fitz, who were right on their tail all the way from Ditton (where we were very nearly bumped).

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Hooray!! Going up tomorrow, I think.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Disney are going down tomorrow. Well done boys!

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

This was a tough re-row, Magdalene II chasing us all the way to bottom finish at Morley's Holt, with nothing for us to chase. The crew went a bit hard off the start and actually managed to open up the gap to Magdalene initially, although this quickly became a length and a quarter. Magdalene only really started to close inside a length after first post corner, but the guys had not really worked out how to respond, so were hit by the Plough.

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

Occurred at the railings. Had a canvas at grassy, but took a while to finish it.

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

Everyone a bit nervy, so a poor row but a well deserved bump at the entrance to First Post corner. That's a first boat, two second boats and a third boat down this week. Jolly good show.

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

Got the bump just after grassy, lucky to get it as Darwin crashed at the corner and in fact had Alex not steered for the bump (there was plenty of overlap so this was fine), we would probably have ended up with a rowover. Well done to Alex and the whole crew.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2002 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

D'oh. Reasonably good row, but the scum beat us to the title by 2 seconds.

We took down the following 1st eights: Wolfson, Darwin, King's, Clare, Sidney, Girton, CCAT, St Ed's, Pembroke, and Catz

Event: Cycling Cuppers 2003 - Road Bike
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

After much difficulty attempting to find Neil a suitable ride (thanks to Martin for helping out in the end!), we eventually made our way to the race start, out on Newmarket Road a mile or so beyond the Quy roundabout. Happily, despite being half an hour late leaving Cambridge, we arrived only just after the main group.

Neil had never been on a racing bike before, but quick lessons in changing gear, utilizing the cycle computer, and playing with fancy pedals made him suitably (in?)competent in no time. He signed up to start 7th and I to start 12th.

Conditions were blustery, cross-tail for the first half of the course and cross-head for the latter half. Both of us had rather unstable starts but soon got going, apparently to do quite well against the rest of the field --- I finished 3rd (only 2 seconds from 2nd!) and Neil 11th. Trinity in fact had two teams; the second team featured Ash (sporting a gorilla suit) and Christina Hood.

Event: Lent Bumps 2003 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

There's a first time for everything... ;-)

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Lots and lots of lengths ahead of Binson... well done!!

Event: Cuppers Karting 2003 -
Posted as: Dubya
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Sadly the grandmother with shopping cart description is all too accurate. I could really have used some time driving where I didn't have to worry about coming off prior to having to race. Oh well.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2002 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Amazing wormhole action!

Event: Lent Bumps 2003 - Thursday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

A bit lacklustre. And a bit of a foregone conclusion. Perhaps tomorrow will be more exciting.

Event: Lent Bumps 2003 - Saturday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

We were pissed off with yesterday, geared up, psyched up and went for it. Didn't quite make it (1/4 length at Ditton, and it was bumpy), but had a damn good go.

Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2003 - Shell
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Wide corners at first post, grassy, ditton; bank incidents at gut, peter's posts; crab in first post reach. A quality piece of work indeed.

Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2003 - Clinker
Posted as: Dubya
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And at least you didn't lose to Ms Palmer. Yet.

Event: Head of the River Race 2003 - Senior3 VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

2nd fastest Oxbridge college (Robinson did 19:22).

Event: RTT Regatta 2003 - Open 1x
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

I was in the Pembroke boat for this one, it seemed very heavily geared. Or maybe my arms are just weak from all that cycling. Knackered from my 50k cycling race earlier in the day, I had a reasonable start which gradually turned into a substantial lead.

Event: RTT Regatta 2003 - Open 1x
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Hm. Wind had come up, I was knackered, and I'm shite at sculling. Put those three things together with a competent opponent and one thing is certain: I could not win. Rose would only have become stronger than we could possibly imagine.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Shaky start, but bumped before the motorway bridge. good show.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

We thought Kings would be harder to hit than Clare. But in fact we hit Kings quicker -- by top station (also quicker than Pembroke had done the day before). It was a much better row as we coped well with the dirty water (mostly by avoiding the shitty lines of the crews ahead). It seems we have gained a lot of speed this week.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Thursday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Not quite Mark (thanks for the compliment) - a pretty poor row we thought. But hit them anyway. Hooray!

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Stonking. Grassy.

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Tuesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Happened at grassy -- but they had closed up on Downing and CCAT were miles out from Jesus so should be fine for tomorrow, might be even in with a chance at attacking back.

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Saturday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

To Dan re his prediction: perhaps it will happen at 2am?

Event: RTT Regatta 2004 - Open 1x
Posted as: Dubya
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How come RTT gets to win his own regatta? Surely should be against the rules!

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Tuesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

At grassy apparently.

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2004 - Novice 1x
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Significantly over-geared because I couldn't find a screw driver to adjust the blades. Second half better than the first, as I managed some pushes out of corners which I hadn't had confidence for in the first run.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2003 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Our race number was 2^(2^3). I find this pleasing.

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

A bit ropey to start, but an exemplary row over the last third of the course. Well done, boys

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2003 - Cup
Posted as: Dubya
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*note. The only other 2nd novice VIII in the Cup was knocked out in this round.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2004 - 2nd VIIIs
Posted as: Dubya
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Dan, forget the seat and JUST TAKE STROKES!

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2003 - Cup
Posted as: Dubya
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They were dropped a length on the start because they didn't hear the marshal's start signal over the howling wind. They rowed through CCAT by the railway bridge, only to catch a crab and come to an abrupt halt on the finish straight.

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Tuesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Been there, done that. (in 1998)- and they were only slightly more competitive then..

Event: RTT Regatta 2005 - Open 1x
Posted as: Dubya
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Indeed a surprising start for me, scuppering my chance of winning the plate.

Event: RTT Regatta 2005 - Open 1x
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Although Dyson warned me he was going to jump the start, I didn't quite catch on to the fact that when he said the 'Att' of attention he meant 'just before the start umpire opened his mouth'. Of course this didn't really have much impact as Dyson was already washing me down with his puddles within a couple of strokes. I tried to keep the pressure on, and clearly did enough to avoid him doing anything silly like going over the line stern first, but not enough to bring him back in sight.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

A surprising result indeed. A little more confidence in ourselves should pay dividends tomorrow.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Saturday
Posted as: Dubya
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Quality row, our best by far though still under-rating a bit. No worries behind, didn't put much pressure on Selwyn in front, but still we're head 2nd viii! And our song is WICKED.

Event: University IVs 2005 - Light IVs
Posted as: Dubya
Event Link

Can't remember a Trin light IV beating LMBC. Congrats!

Event: University IVs 2005 - 1st division
Posted as: Dubya
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Pia>> This was a massively satisfying race. I
Pia>> don't remember the last time a 1300m race
Pia>> left me quite that paralysed and coughing.

Hmm. Pull harder, perhaps?

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
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Looked pretty neat coming past first post corner!

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Dubya
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Girton acknowledged coming into first post.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Dubya
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Listening on the radio ... RA RA!!

Event: Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon, Glen Lochay 2007 - C Course (45km, 2350m climbed over 2 days)
Posted as: Dubya
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The moment before we discovered we were leading

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2008 - 1st division
Posted as: Dubya
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Awesome result, congratulations!

Event: BPBC Karting 2009 - Twin-engined Honda pro-karts
Posted as: Dubya
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Tip: two-engined carts are considerably slower if one engine stalls due to the cold. This happened to me twice during this race!

Event: BPBC Karting 2009 - Twin-engined Honda pro-karts
Posted as: Dubya
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Hard work starting from the back of the grid but turned out ok in the end.

Event: Peck's Poker Party 2009 - Texas hold'em
Posted as: Dubya
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My big mistake was to give all my chips to Neil quite early on. I had somehow convinced myself that I had a 4H when in fact I had 3H. This was the difference between a straight and... nothing. Oops!!

At least I won something back later in the evening ;)