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All race reports for Phil Horler

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2004 - 2nd VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Fairly poor start meant we were about 1/4 length off from the beginning. Held position until we got close the the railway bridge where we lost ground to go almost a length down. Started to pull it back near then end but was too little too late.

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Thursday
Posted as: Phil
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The start was reasonable, not as good as our practise outside the plough and maybe not even as good as yesterday. Rowing after the stride was a lot better than yesterday though.

I was getting a bit worried by grassy when Peterhouse were within half a length and seemingly closing, but a good push out of grassy and a nice rhythm through plough reach saw us stretch our lead to about a length. Then came the wonderful sight of their 4 man loosing his seat around ditton, forcing them to take a terrible line, allowing us to move even further away. Rest of the row was pretty relaxed after they were overbumped by Tit Hall halfway down the reach.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2004 - 2nd VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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A poor start meant we stayed level with them until half way down the reach. Began to pull away and were almost two lengths ahead by the railway bridge, from which point we rowed like spanners. Rated at no more than 28 throughout.

Event: City Sprints 2005 - CRA Nv 4+
Posted as: Phil
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We decided whilst in the boat bays that we weren't going to get our boat out until the hail stopped. If we missed the race then fine, but we weren't going to get wet (soft I know, but we're more acclimatised to pub sports now. We probably would have gone out in the end anyway - the shame would have been unbearable otherwise). The weather broke for just long enough for us to boat, and as we pushed off the rain came down hard again. Serves us right for being pathetic I guess.

We rowed a lot better in this race, probably down to the increased stability which results in a crew with an average weight of 85kg rowing in Scylla.

Event: Ross Regatta 2005 - Senior3 4+
Posted as: Phil
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Having enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Shepherd household the previous evening, we were up early in order to be at the river by 8am to race the "Sunday Winner" slot. As it turned out this slot was not taken, so we had to wait till midday to race our first round, giving us time to catch up on some sleep the important current affairs reported in Zoo magazine.

After arming ourselves with Zoo's "Man Facts", we eventually found our opposition and rowed down to the start. The plan was simple; row together. We got the inside lane and so started about half a length down, and knew that we had another half length defect to make up at the finish due to the angle of the line. The race went a lot better than at Bristol (although still pretty scrappy), and we found ourselves on almost level terms at the halfway point. However, we were never really able to put in a good push together and fell apart a little in the last 10 seconds or so, thus handing Chester the win.

As in Bristol, our first round opponents went on to win, winning each of their other two races by at least half a length, once again proving that if we had rowed at the level we are capable, we may well have won the event. In spite of this, we all had a great weekend and look forward to getting in some good training next term and winning some races.

Event: Bristol Avon Regatta 2005 - Senior3 4+
Posted as: Phil
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Fuzzy Duck? Who are they? Well, they were old boys from some school or other, looked pretty big and not nearly as bad as you might expect.

The race itself was appalling. Although bow 3 had been doing a couple of weeks training in a IV, unfortunately Din couldn't make the regatta due to long standing commitments, so Jacob stepped in to fill the seat. Suffice to say the 20 seconds of paddling down to the start was not enough for us to gel, and despite a reasonably together and quick start, we fell apart horribly after about 10 strokes. I don't really want to go into the details of the race (it was very unpleasant); lets just say the combination of wind, choppy water, out of time and over rating rowing and a number of boat stopping crabs left us very wet and very embarrassed.

Fuzzy Duck went on to win the final by 3 lengths, making us the 2nd best in the category even with our agricultural rowing. If we could have rowed at about 50% of our best we would have won. Easily. This at least gave us some hope for Ross the next day, but as it stood we deserved a more severe thrashing than we received.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Thursday
Posted as: Phil
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We had dedicated this race to Andy Fordham. In hindsight this was probably a bad idea.

Event: May Bumps 2005 - Wednesday
Posted as: Phil
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I spoke to a member of the Kings crew, and he said that a member of their bank party told them to hold it up as he thought they wouldn't be able to get through the carnage ahead. I can't really comment on what was going on ahead of us, but since we made it through no problems at all I'm guessing they could have. And the umpires clearly thought the same, hence the technical bump.

All in all, the first half of the race felt pretty poor from within the boat. After a stunning practise start it was a shame that the real one was so panicked, but I suppose that's what you expect when the majority of the crew have never done bumps before. When we relaxed and took the rating right down it felt quite good and the boat speed picked up, and the pushes in the reach were excellent given our level of exhaustion by that stage (and all the more amazing considering some members of the boat were all for pulling in for a pint at the Plough if we were still racing by then). Tomorrow should be a very exciting day.

Event: City Sprints 2005 - CRA Nv 4+
Posted as: Phil
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With 3 of the 4 rowers having done no training whatsoever since March (unless you count playing darts, drinking ale and eating pie), this was a pretty impressive result I feel. Perhaps the 1st VIII should spend a little less time on the water and a little more at the oche....

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Saturday
Posted as: Phil
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Our rowing was solid but un-spectacular today. We didn't make a massive impression on Catz to start with, but they were clearly rowing at their limit, which meant they caught a crab and lost a seat half way down First Post Reach. We however could have continued to row out the course as we were, and so hit them just over halfway down First Post Reach.

Up 3 is a good result, not quite the one we were hoping for, but never mind. Maggie 3 got spoons today, so we're in with a good shot of taking 3rd VIII headship next year!

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Friday
Posted as: Phil
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This was a disappointing race in that we were quicker than Clare II, and would have almost definitely bumped them by Grassy. Unfortunately Catz II are woeful, so Clare hit them at First Post corner when we were around half a length off.

The row itself was fairly good, and the row over was solid and committed. It's a shame that the crews ended up in this order, but hey, this is bumps and it's days like today that make it so exciting.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2005 - College lower VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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I think this was one of the most exciting days of racing I've been involved in. It was always going to be a fairly tough day with two subs in the boat, and a general lack of any fitness within the crew. On top of all this it was very cold, and we rowed badly even at our best moments. Still, we won, and managed massive blade clashes in nearly all of our races!

Event: Robinson Head 2005 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Well Dan......the rating..... Won't say much on it, but I thought it was a lot better than it has been, fairly sharp but still quite relaxed.

It felt as though we put down a lot work, and although the reach wasn't great, overall I was very happy, especially given that we beat Catz 1, Corpus 1 and only a second off Sidney 1. Shame we didn't get Binson 2 though....

Event: Newnham Short Course 2005 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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What a great result! Beaten only by Caius II who are about a division and a half ahead of us in bumps, and managing to beat Maggie III by a minute and a half (either they had a massive equipment failure, or they're just rubbish).

The race itself was solid and went off without any major incident (a pretty rare thing for me). Got a good, chunky rhythm down 1st post reach which set us up well. Unfortunately it went a little soggy in the Gut but we were able to pick it up a little after Grassy and kept up a reasonable pace through to the finish, although our planned sprint from Grassy never really materialised. We could probably rate a little higher in the future and be a little more committed throughout, but, all in all, a good start to the term.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2004 - Cup
Posted as: Phil
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This was an awesome race. The crew started well, slowly pulling away from Caius at the start and gradually extending their lead to a length as they neared the Railway Bridge. They then held Caius at a length to the finish. An excellent display of technique and control over brute force.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2004 - Plate
Posted as: Phil
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Having never practised racing starts before, the 4th VIII did well to start pulling away very early into the race. Wolfson then crashed into the bank within the first 30 seconds, at which point they took a huge lead which was maintained at a ludicrously low rate until the finish. Overall a good row which set them up nicely for the next round.

Event: Cambridge Autumn Head 2005 - Lower College IV+
Posted as: Phil
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Not the prettiest or most comfortable row, but we got stuck in and gave it everything. Rowing in the College Lowers division we lost to Christ's only entry (who were 2 seconds slower than our 1st coxed IV - suspicious no?) and a Maggie crew who gave their "1st" IV a good whipping, so we were fairly pleased with our placing.

Event: Maiden Sculls 2006 -
Posted as: Phil
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There was a pretty strong headwind on the reach, and the water was very choppy, but I'd done some training in fairly dyer weather so felt confident I could cope with the conditions. This, unfortunately, turned out not to be the case... Bryn tells me that I'd moved up a little in the first ten strokes, and then I caught an almighty crab and almost fell in. Having recovered I decided it would be best to rate lower and make sure it didn't happen again. The crab, and some rather tentative sculling (caused by wet and slippery handles after they got a soaking from the crab), caused me to drop back by a length in the middle third, which I then held for the final third.

All in all it wasn't a bad days racing, and I've had a lot of fun training for it. Apparently Adam went on to narrowly lose the final, which means I couldn't have been all that slow. Its just a pity that the quality of my sculling was dictated by the weather rather than my ability, but that's just the way it goes some times.

Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2006 - Shell
Posted as: Phil
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Still feeling the effects of my 21st birthday the previous day, and not having been in a scull since October, my preparation for the race was less than ideal. That said, this result is still such turd I'm really quite ashamed.

Having never done any sort of firm pressure in a single, I wasn't sure how I'd react to a head piece. I think the sculling itself was reasonably tidy, but by Ditton my forearms were beginning to burn. At the Railway bridge they were in agony, and I was swerving all over the course, unable to steer any sort of line.

I think if I can learn to take corners well, I'll probably take 10-15 seconds of my time, and if I can learn to actually use my legs and give my arms a rest, I might be able to put in a vaguely respectable time.

Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Saturday
Posted as: Phil
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We went with the same long distance race plan as the previous day, intending to really attack it on the Reach. The rowing was pretty good, perhaps not quite as good as on Friday, but still an effort to be pleased with. Closed to about 3/4 length soon after Ditton but unlike our opposition on pervious days Peterhouse showed some ability and determination, rowing away from us at the Railway Bridge.

Ultimately up 2 is a good result from a quick 2nd VIII which overcame a number of set backs during the term. A bump on Peterhouse was always going to be a tall order, and I think we can all be proud of our efforts throughout the week.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2006 - 2nd VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Our start wasn't bad, but the Emma crew clearly have an excellent one and so dropped us pretty quickly. Can't really say how the gap changed during the race, but we had some good pushes, marred only by some poor patches soon after each of them....

Not a bad days racing all in all, but some work needs to be done in the next week or so before we row at the level of which are a capable.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2005 - Student Novice VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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This was a pretty good race, and an encouraging start to Fairbairns training this being our first outing in this line up. It felt quite solid, but rather sustainable to Ditton corner. Here we took it up and really attacked the Reach overtaking the 1st of many (2) crews. Went a little dodgy from the Railway Bridge onwards owing to the churn kicked up by the 2-3 crews directly ahead (Dami's calls became increasingly more interesting - "We're going to push to take the crew ahead" 5 secs later "OK...let's push to take both the crews ahead, I'm going through the middle of them" another 5 secs later "Right....lets take all the crews ahead".

Caius II beat us by the sound margin of 18 seconds which is a little disappointing, but they've been training in that crew for most of the term, so with a couple of solid weeks behind us in the VIII we should be ready for them at Fairbairns....

Event: University IVs 2005 - 2nd division
Posted as: Phil
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A good start, and reasonable mid section meant that coming onto the Reach we were about level. Our wind might have put us slightly within distance, but then I put a spanner in the works by losing my seat, which then totally jammed at the back of the slide. I tried rowing without it for a while, but after meeting with limited success we soon crashed into the bank. Needless to say we were all gutted - a feeling not helped by the knowledge that Jesus went on to win the final.

Event: University IVs 2005 - 2nd division
Posted as: Phil
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For some reason Maggie have given all their crews names instead of numbers, but this was probably their 3rd coxed IV (1st and 2nd being in the upper division). Looking at the Autumn Head results we knew we shouldn't have too much trouble. From my seat we didn't seem to pull away much down First Post Reach, but by the time we got to the the Reach it was clear we were ahead, and despite Chris losing his seat for a while we still got a convincing victory. All in all we didn't go as fast as we could, but the row wasn't our worst and with a rest day before our next race we should get some real speed in the semi's.

Event: Cambridge Small Boats Head 2005 - S4 2-
Posted as: Phil
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Well hardly an impressive result. By the gut the rhythm started to feel pretty good, but then we failed to take Grassy altogether. There was no boat damage but it took what felt like an age to get off the bank again. This disrupted us quite a lot and the rowing down Plough Reach was rubbish. Ditton was a stunning corner, James judging it to perfection with the bank only inches from his blade. Our rating wind after Ditton had the desired effect, but after about a minute it started to sag a little. We continued this mediocre rowing up to Peter's Posts which for some reason I thought was the finish and so stopped rowing. We were then told by a marshall that the finish was infact Top Finish, which we then wove our way towards in spactacular fashion. In hindsight its probably a good thing that we incorrectly stopped rowing when we did as we were heading towards the bank.

Our bank party clocked us at about 11:20 to Peter's Posts, which means we spent approx 1:16 sitting about and then crawling towards Top Finish. Not Good.

Event: Cambridge Autumn Head 2006 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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A solid and committed row which we were all fairly pleased with. Disappointing to have lost to Kings and Pembroke by 6 seconds, but then we had all raced a couple of hours earlier in IVs. For a scratch crew at this stage of term the whole row was promising.

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Saturday
Posted as: Phil
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Not quite the fairytale end to my FaT rowing career, but perhaps bumping a crew so stacked with University talent was a bit too much to hope for. We were all pretty nervous about this one, and it showed in the race as we failed to find the same easy, relaxed rhythm of the previous day. Maggie were clearly fired up and really went for us, and were within distance for a minute or two down the reach before fading away. I think we just weren't sure what to do when we hadn't closed on Caius by the Railings, and although maximum effort was applied all the way, the speed never properly came. Its quite a tough mental adjustment to suddenly find yourself in 2nd place when I at least hadn't even thought about the possibility till Friday night.

It's been an incredible year for the club at all levels, and its been amazing to be involved with it. All the best to the boys for next year, there's no reason whatsoever that this boat can't be faster and really push for the Headship. I've been looking forward to the end of bumps all week, but only a day after I already miss it....

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Phil
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'Come by Maggie?' is what Emma should have said.... Still, I think Tom's Ron Coleman impressions did more than enough to piss them off.

Quite possibly one of the best races we've done as a crew, and certainly the best bumps race I've ever been a part of. The boat sat up beautifully through the rough water down Plough Reach, clean water made the Reach easy and we probably rated about 37 throughout (although we were assisted by a strong stream). It felt good to bump Maggie's brand new Fillipi a day before it was to be officially named. Get in!

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Phil
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WOW! I knew Eddies ahead would probably be too quick to catch, but I would never have predicted an overbump. Awesome job girls! Eddies will be quick behind you tomorrow, but you'll have something to chase....

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2007 - Mixed VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Level for the first 30secs, this might have been an intetresting race. Then I heard their cox call their rating - 36. We were cruising at about 28 so it was clear that we'd win. Sorry Lilly for the BANSAI push call near the end which resulted in a rhythm hi-jack by the boys. It wasn't pretty, but it was fun.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2007 - Mixed VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Given the quality of our rowing down and practise starts I was actually concerned we might lose this one. We didn't.

Event: Champion of the Thames Eights Head 2007 - Men's 1st Div. Mays
Posted as: Phil
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Well we took the "course record" (its only in its fourth year, so I'm not sure that it really counts), and certainly enjoyed the multiple pints of beer/bottles of "champs" fizzy stuff we were given, Bryn and Tom especially, (2 bottles each, one for fastest college crew, another for "most impressive start"), but we know that we can go faster, and now know exactly where we can find it.

Disappointing that both LMBC and Caius failed to turn up despite entering, but I suppose we'll get our chance to race them in bumps.

Event: Poplar Regatta 2007 - S4 8+
Posted as: Phil
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A big head/cross wind made the rowing tricky and gave us a very slow time. The rowing wasn't terrible given the conditions, but we lost some length and didn't rate very high. I'm sure that with a bit more training, and a stroke man who hasn't spent the previous 36 hours celebrating his birthday, we'll achieve suitably high rates.

Event: Poplar Regatta 2007 - S4 8+
Posted as: Phil
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Lashing rain and howling winds creating large waves made us very cold and very wet on the way down to the start, and filled the boat with a huge amount of water before even reaching the start. Conditions calmed down a lot by the race and we went off with a reasonable tail wind. First half went alright, dropped Churchill (in the next lane) fast and led the pack from the start. The water got a lot more choppy in the second half making the rowing a little messey and we quiched it through with 750m to go as it was clear we were going to qualify. Favourite coxing call; "Don't worry", as Tom informs Emma she's drifted into Churchill's lane and she hits the rudder hard to get back over. She probably just got bored with the straight line racing and decided to invent a Grassy corner halfway down the course.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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I think this was probably one of the best races I've ever done, and was the moment when I truely started to believe we could and should take the headship. We were all pretty tired coming into our 5th race of the day, but were fired up and really went for it. Wound to the mid-high forties, held it at about 41 for the first minute and then strode to 38 for the rest of the course. Andy clocked us at 3:29.

However, the best bit for me were the message boards. Some guy, we think from Downing (surprisingly enough), had been mouthing off about how bad we were, and when we were through to the final posted a message that he was going down to watch us get spanked. Almost the next message was him declaring the result, but that he'd seen enough to be sure that we'd still get bumped by Jesus. Top stuff.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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Emma had a blistering start, and we were almost instantly a third of a length down. But we kept at it, and by the Railway Bridge we were almost a length up, which we then stretched out to the finish.

Event: Cambridge Autumn Head 2006 - Upper College IV+
Posted as: Phil
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Almost the definition of a mediocre row. Nothing really went wrong, but then again nothing really went right. Now at least we know which areas of the race we need to work on.

We've got a week to make up approximately 30 seconds on our (hopefully) 2nd round opponents Christ's - a tall order, but we're taller.

Event: University IVs 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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100m is not easy. Apparently.

Event: University IVs 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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Not a bad row by any means. We probably could have gone quicker, but not 14 seconds quicker. By the sounds of things we were about a length or so down on them coming into Ditton, at which point we hit the cross wind and obviously failed to cope with it as well as them. I think the uncomfortable conditions suited them a little better than us (they relying more on grunt than anything else), but even in perfect conditions we would still have lost, just not by quite as much.

Event: University IVs 2006 - Light IVs
Posted as: Phil
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How could the light IV be expected to win as well as making a 'row-on' appearance in 'The Band of Brothers' (see photo)? I'm just glad the boys of FaT company made it out of Normandy unscathed.

Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2006 - Cup
Posted as: Phil
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A relaxed and controlled rhythm was found quickly by the girls off the start, and they quickly moved up to a length and a half lead as Downing struggled with seemingly every aspect of rowing. In the seconf half though the opposition got it togehter and with the bend under the Railway Bridge in their favour they came back at the girls to be a length off. The girls then held them at this distance with relative ease.

I was very pleased with the relaxation and confirdence displayed by the crew - a rare thing in Clare Novices.

Event: Head of the Nene 2007 - S3 8+
Posted as: Phil
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The warm and calm conditions made this race particularly enjoyable (I never thought I'd be doing Head of the Nene in an all-in-one), and the result was very pleasing. An excellent way to see off BP1/TR1/FTT801 as the top boat.

Event: Robinson Head 2007 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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Well as it turns out, due to delays in rigging etc, we once again raced in BP1/TR1/FTT801, and the Nene was in fact not its send off as the top boat, so we were keen to win. Another good result, but we all know there's still a lot of work to do and a lot more speed to be found.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Wednesday
Posted as: Phil
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The wind conditions were probably the worst I've ever rowed in. The start wasn't affected as badly as I thought it would be, but as we rounded First Post Corner the wind got worse and progress down the Gut was really quite slow. Plough Reach was pretty calm and we really stormed up on Caius whilst rating around 36-37. Rounding Ditton we were less than a canvas off their stern, but when we hit the 30mph headwind the boat more or less stopped. I was struggling to get the blade in the water at all, and everyone was rowing half slide at best. At this point a number of us thought we'd thrown it away, but somehow Caius struggled more and we hit them about 10 strokes later. They then just sat in the middle of the river with our bow wedged under their stroke man's rigger whilst we celebrated (read, 'acted like total dick heads'). They looked devastated, and probably hated us for all our shouting, but they managed something resembling a three cheers (more than I think I would have been capable of in their position) - a great display of sportsmanship.

The fact that we dominated all term, took the headship and comfortably held onto it still amazes me. We had no 'superstars' in this crew, unlike Caius last minute addition of last years CUBC president (there was a rumor Jesus also dropped in a 2006 Goldie rower, but I don't know if that ever actually happened), and only three of us had ever rowed in the 1st VIII before. This was also pretty much the same crew that took a beating from 4 other Colleges in Fairbairns, and so at the start of term I really thought that our training would be an exercise in damage limitation. We worked very hard all term, binned almost all commitments to get quality water time, and reaped the rewards. However, there are a number of people without whom we would have struggled: Rachel and Pia for excellent captaincy last year, putting the club back on the winning road; Ming for his incredible coaching all term; Neil Talbott for making us believe we could do it; Richard Church for his words of wisdom from a man who's done it all many times before; Iain Law for being generally great and Clare BC for making us realise (in Pembroke Regatta) that every race is a fight.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Tuesday
Posted as: Phil
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Bloody hell that was a bit dramatic. A solid start allowed the crew to move up steadily. By the gun shed they were about 3/4 of a length off, Peterhouse wound it down to get through some carnage. As a result the guys suddenly found themselves with overlap, but then a crab and subsequent collision with the bank left them about 3 lengths down. To be fair, I'm not sure whether the bump would actually have been awarded as Peterhouse had had to wind it down.

The guys got it back together, rowed OK to Ditton and then really pulled together on the Reach. On station at the Railings and then suddenly taking about a foot a stroke to make the bump at the Railway Bridge. Gutsy stuff all round, but let's aim for a little less excitement tomorrow.

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Wednesday
Posted as: Phil
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Did Flo race in his tennis blazer again? What a show off....

Event: Lent Bumps 2008 - Saturday
Posted as: Phil
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Please could Peter include his height for posterity? People will probably think it's a joke.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2009 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Phil
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Yeah Andy, how hard can it be to work a stop watch?

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2010 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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We crossed the line first, but there were no winners in this race.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2010 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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Pleasing. Very pleasing.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2010 - 1st division
Posted as: Phil
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I tried to psych out Strawson before the race. Apparently it didn't work. Or maybe it did, which would be even more embarrassing.

Event: May Bumps 2010 - Wednesday
Posted as: Phil
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I suggested before the race that the boys go for a 3 minute race plan. This tactic was based on three assumptions: 1. Emma ahead would bump Churchill within 3 minutes; 2. Kings would bump Christs behind within 3 minutes, and; 3. when crews go for a 3 minute race plan, they usually hold back sufficiently to see them through 5-6 minutes of solid racing if necessary.

The first assumption proved correct, the second incorrect and the third assumption woefully off the mark. I've never seen a crew attack the start of a race with quite the level of commitment these guys managed, and at about the 2 minute mark they were starting to blow. Christs closed in at a terrifying rate around Grassy and having been on the bank with M2 for three years now, seeing Christs close to 1/4 of a length was like deja vu all over again. However, the boys dug deep down the Reach and crossed the line with about 1/3 of a length in hand. The rowing wasn't pretty, but the result was great and set up the rest of the week.

Rows like this embody everything that a great FaT M2 should be.