All race reports for Tom Andrews
Event: Pembroke Regatta 2006 - 2nd VIIIs
Posted as: Tom
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There was still a fair amount left in the tank by the end - hopefully enough to show Emma II how it's done in the next round.
Event: Battle for the Fleeces 2006 - 1st division
Posted as: Tom
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We were racing on the meadow side. Rachel attempted to line us up and once we had made sure that we had drifted all the way into the bank we got a rather panicked "Attention... GO!". The start was OK but not spectacular - at least we have an excuse! We wound it up and I was pleased to note that the Gent's cracked and were the first to stride. We held the higher rate for a little longer and even moved into the lead briefly.
The gents' had the inside line and started to creep ahead, at which point we panicked slightly. We never managed to quite settle into the long, powerful rhythm required but at least it was better than the "piece" I'd just done with the 6th eight...
By the railway bridge we were about a length down but a reasonable push into the bridge and an even better push out saw us pull it back to only half a length down. Alas, the Gents' had the inside line on the final corner and managed to push away again. We finished to a big cheer from the now 3rd eight about a length down.
It was a decent row - plenty of effort but thinking about efficiency between now and bumps could provide a huge speed increase.
While we were having the debrief in the crew room, Albert came in to say that actually the Gents' didn't want the fleeces. Obviously not content with stealing the boat, they wanted the moral high ground too... It's a small consolation but at least you guys won't get so cold marshalling for bumps :)
Event: Lent Bumps 2006 - Thursday
Posted as: Tom
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We had 3 good draw strokes and wound well, up to the low forties I think. We held for 10 and got the 1 length whistle. Magnus decided that we were gaining so well on CCAT by this point that it would be churlish to stride and we held for another 10 before striding down to a nicely relaxed 35.
After a 10 stroke push we got to within half a length of CCAT, who were probably rueing the day they took up rowing. CCAT then took a wide line into First Post Corner. We could hear the glee in Magnus' voice as he called the 5 stoke push into the corner and then informed us all of the CCAT cox's lack of steering ability.
Half way around the corner, we got a 6 feet call from Iain and Magnus decided now was the time for a bumps 10. It was a bit scrappy - I'm not sure bow pair were prepared for quite how bad the water water would be this close. After 2 strokes we had overlap and we were closing in fast.
CCAT refused to concede and kept going. It wasn't until Will Thorne (I think) told us to hold it up that we finally stopped. I was worried that we had been caught up in Wolfson's bump as Magnus hadn't told us that we had bumped. As it turned out, we were told to stop before Igor ended up in CCAT's boat...
As a special bonus to CCAT for not conceding, they got a hole in the side of their boat. They decided to pull in straight away, depite our bow being somewhere under stroke's rigger. To add to the fun, Jesus II bumped Queens's II and decided they wanted to park on our bit of bank. This led to some interesting double parking and us holding onto Jesus' oars to stop them floating into the racing.
Wolfson managed to bump Downing II somewhere in the Plough Reach, so we should be able to nail them tomorrow. Let's have more of the same!
Event: 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls 2006 - Shell
Posted as: Tom
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Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2008 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Tom
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Unfortunately the Christs' pair didn't feel like completing the comedy quartet and spanked us all over the place.
