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All race reports for Matthew Byrne

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2001 - 4th division
Posted as: Matt
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Here it was - the crunch test of the lower boats crew selection policy. After the 5th VIII had obtained a gate from the 1st Women's VIII we were ready to start. Despite their having a ringer in the all-important No.5 seat who, in all honesty, rowed like a compete Lemon during the race, we held them off their carefully planned 'Blitz' start. After ten or so strokes of this, they got a bit tired (esp. the fat bloke at 5) and we rowed steadily away to win.

Event: May Bumps 2001 - Friday
Posted as: 2FaT
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A rather harsh assessment.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2001 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Matthew Byrne
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This felt like a really good row. Having Boars head closing up on us helped, as we could push off them. It fell apart a bit coming past the Plough, but we recovered and held them off until the motorway bridge.

Although a minute and a half off the pace, we didn't think it was a bad result, especially considering we had just one outing together in the race crew - that morning!

Event: Magdalene Silver Pairs 2002 -
Posted as: Matt
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After crashing 3 times and being overtaken by the opposition before Grassy, this was a shocking display of steering the Cam by the bow man that lost us the race.
I'm sorry, Hugh.

Event: University IVs 2001 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
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After the confidence building win yesterday against a rather poor showing from Hall, we approached this race with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. We were racing the LMBC crew that had beaten us in the previous Saturday's Autumn Head whilst rowing directly behind us and we were once again starting off in front.

They had looked fairly reasonable but by now we had doubled our outings number together as a crew and we were ready to take on and hopefully beat the Red Scum. We were expecting a close race and planned a continuous series of pushes down the course followed by a huge effort into the headwind up the Reach.

After the usual faff at the start while both crews attempted to get lined up simultaneously and avoid being blown across into the far bank, Guy gave a swift "Attention, Go!!" and we were away. No false starts from the opposition today. With a reasonable headwind coming down First Post Reach, the start was a bit slower than yesterday, and LMBC were slowly beginning to close the intervening gap. Sticking to the race plan, we pushed and pushed again, but Maggie were noticeably closer than Hall had been coming round First Post Corner, and may even have been slightly up on us. With both Jessie in the boat and Andy on the bank shouting at us to row harder, we pulled away around Grassy and down Plough Reach. As we were rounding Ditton, Maggie started to close up again and were inside distance on us. Having realised that there was absolutely no headwind on the Reach, probably for the first time in years, we pushed back again.

Just after the railings, with Maggie coming back at us again (why coudln't they just give it up ?), we decided to utilise our special move: the continuous wind; and continued to wind it up until we passed the finish line. Although they tried admirably, LMBC couldn't cope with the extra power we were putting on (including a few air shots and an almost-crab) and finished just afterwards; we won the battle, but the war goes on... Tomorrow it's Christ's II in the Semi-Final.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Matt
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We were once again starting by the outflow. As the count passed through "3," the bungline went taut in Rachel's hands and the bows swung round slightly to strokeside. Despite Tim's best efforts, we were still pointing across the river a bit at the gun, and Rachel's call of "Harder Strokeside !!" caused a bit of spacking, including the 6-man bombing the slide to get to stroke 2 of the race.
After sucessfully avoiding the bank, we started to take distance off the Emmanuel crew ahead of us, in a similar fashion to Wednesday. Due to our significantly poorer start, we were in the region of a length off at First Post, but behind us the "Lady Margaret '1B' crew" were obviously going for a "burn and die" race plan. With scenes reminiscent of the Queens' II affair from the year before, Maggie closed to within a canvas by Grassy, and as their cox steered slightly wide, a lovely curve from Rachel saw their bows pass from the inside to the outside of our stern. Maybe the infidel cox of the Maggie boat was trying to give her 2-man the chance of making the bump (According to Rachel this would have been the worst possible humiliation for her), maybe she just steered for the bump, or maybe she, being a Maggie-girl, was just plain incompetent, but we'd just been given the half-length hooter on Emmanuel in front, and as Maggie put the 'die' part of their plan into action, we pushed away from them and towards Emma for the bump.
Maggie tried to hang on to our wash for as long as possible, but after about 15 strokes at under a canvas, a delightful shudder ran through the boat as we managed to convert our pressure into a result this time around. The action occurred just before Ditton corner, and we needed to clear the river swiftly before Lady Margaret ploughed through the wreckage. With only a couple of minutes to spare, we cleared to the outside and found a nice weeping willow to adorn ourselves with, before cheering on Wolfson as they chased Maggie down the Reach.
As the euphoria of bumping settled upon us, an even sweeter feeling was felt as the realisation that we had denied Lady Margaret their blades slowly dawned on the crew.
Ahead of us, Peterhouse overbumped Disney at the same place they bumped us on Wednesday, so we'll be chasing the Mickey Mouse crew of the division tomorrow, and they're chasing Pembroke who got bumped by Downing just on Ditton corner.

Event: Winter League, 3rd Leg 2003 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
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A combination of having 3 subs for the race and none of us having rowed for two weeks made the race a slightly scrappy affair, but our relative time and position was consistent with previous results in the first and second legs. Overall we would have come fifth had we been allowed to compete for prizes, three minutes behind the winning crew.

28.29 Cambridge '99
28.56 Rob Roy
29.48 Cantabs
30.41 Huntingdon
31.26 1st & 3rd Trinity II

Event: Head of the Cam 2003 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
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Our third outing as a crew (we'd only been together for a day); but most of the crew had rowed together in the 2nd Lent VIII last term. We had a good go at it and posted a time consistent with those recorded last term in the Head-2-Head and the Winter League series.

Event: Cam Sprints 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
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We assembled at the boathouse with Esther, our guest coxswain for the day.
We went to collect our racing number.
One of the organisers gave Esther '69'. Twice.
Mark got a '69' from Esther.
We boated a division early in order to get one over on the opposition and sneak in a warm-up and some starts practice.
Corpus 1st VIII arrived at the start after a whole 100m warm up and did a quick spack-turn.
After a bit of difficulty we attached ourselves to the stakeboat.
A good start saw us move away from the Corpus VIII on the outside station.
The first half of the race was good as we extended our lead, but we got a little tired towards the end of the long, arduous course.
We managed to hold Corpus off with some decidedly unspectacular rowing, but our spacking speed was superior to theirs.
And we won our first race of the day.

Event: Cam Sprints 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
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We re-convened a little later in the afternoon and tried to boat for our division.
The organisers told us that
(a) They were running about a division late,
(b) That we were too late to be boating what was by now a division early.
So we turned the boat around and rowed off past the finish for our warm-up and practise start exercises.
Rowed up to the start and watched the oppo spack past and spin.
Lined up on the outside of the bend again, with a lot more skill and precision from Esther.
The start was OK, but we seemed to be a little tired from the previous race.
Our bladework wasn't the best, but we managed to row away from Trinity Hall II and win comfortably.
Esther said it was the worst "rowing" that she'd ever seen us perform.

Yay - We Won Pots !!!

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
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A solid start and chunky powerful row saw us take a length off Peterhouse I on the outside of the bend by about the pink house. Thereafter, the Peterhouse crew responded by coming back at us through the railway bridge. A slight misjudgement by Rachel saw a blade clash between our 7-man and their 2-man. We were sufficiently unsettled by this to let them gain a little more ground and finished about 1/2 a length to the good.
Peterhouse rather unsportingly appealed in unison as they crossed the line, and the umpire upheld the DQ.
On to the plate ...

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
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A worse start and first half than in the previous round against Peterhouse gave us about 3/4 of a length on the outside again. Coming through the railway bridge once again we sagged slightly as Corpus pushed, but we unleashed our last reserves of strength upon Rachel's command and held them off for a rather surprisingly close official verdict of 3 feet.

Event: University IVs 2002 - Lower IVs
Posted as: Matthew
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Our second outing in a crew; we started well, and settled into a rather spacky slow pace for the corners, not helped by a couple of air-shots from the 2-man. Coming round Ditton, we were trailing massively, but realised this in time and powered up the reach to claw our way back into contention for a quarter-final berth. Official result was a dead heat.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Wednesday
Posted as: Matt
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A strong, relaxed, powerful start took us to within a Canvas of Emma II coming around First Post Corner. With the bank party shouting and whistling for all they were worth, we couldn't hear Rachel shout 'Kill' and anyway, surely Emma weren't that useless. Anyway, as it slowly dawned on us that we were really close to them, we tried to row right through them, but every time we got towards overlap, a spacky stroke re-opened the gap again. Emma somehow held us at under half a length all the way to the Houses, with Peterhouse comfortably outside distance until this point.
Around about the Pink House, Peterhouse started to push up on us, coming inside distance for the first time in the race. We got a bit scared, since we still hadn't bumped Emma, and we fell apart slightly. At the same time, Peterhouse put in a big push off the bridge, and we were bumped about halfway between the bridge and Morley's Holt, still half a length or so off Emma.
Absolutely gutting.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
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A slightly worse start than yesterday saw us close a bit on Peterhouse off the start, but they managed to bump Emmanuel in the Plough Reach and were soon removed from our path. Wolfson behind were maybe a little inside distance coming around Grassy, but nothing to really worry about (yet!)
Avoiding the bump ahead cost us some line around Ditton corner, handing Wolfson a further half length or so in advantage. A series of pushes from the Wolfson crew gradually brought them closer to us all the way up the Long Reach; our answering pushes weren't quite as effective at keeping them away. This continued until they were getting dangerously close to our stern around the Pink House. With a wonderful bit of steering, we crossed very early under the Railway Bridge and hugged the meadow as Wolfson pushed their bowball past our stroke man, but on the other side of the river ! At about this point, it was noticed that Lady Margaret were slightly inside distance on Wolfson, and the sight of our old foe gave us renewed strength to push the infidels away. We slowly pulled the overlap back to a matter of inches as the Wolfson bows drifted, all too slowly, across the river towards our stern. With our seven man shortening up slightly to ensure no contact was made to his blade (although there was no real danger of this) Wolfson sagged for a couple of strokes. But we all seemed to have forgotten about the third crew in the race ...
In a flash it was all over. Lady Margaret had closed the final gap between the crews and as the Wolfson hand was raised in surrender, we wound it down and rowed from Morley's Holt to Top Finish at what felt like a rather light 34.

"There are no Wolfson chasing us. I will show you. IN ONE HOUR !"
"Our initial assessment is that they will all die" - and so it proved.

Event: Bedford Quarts Regatta 2003 - Senior4 IV+
Posted as: Matt
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We didn't quite have the ability to beat the eventual winners Magdalene, but they'd actually had an outing or two together beforehand. We gave them their closest race of the day, however, and there wasn't really much between the two crews.

Event: Cambridge Autumn Regatta 2003 - Senior3 VIII
Posted as: Matt
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A much better row than the first race; my lungs didn't feel anywhere near as bad after this one. Shame about the right knee and shoulder though ...

Event: Cambridge Autumn Regatta 2003 - Senior3 VIII
Posted as: Matt
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A good thing we had a practice outing in the morning, or else we'd have been all over the place ...

Event: Bedford Quarts Regatta 2003 - Senior3 IV+
Posted as: Matt
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My second race of the day, after losing to Madgalene in the S4 IV+, and we again lost to the eventual winners in the first round. A Hogley-inspired Curlew crew were the victors this time round. Not really a great row at all.

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Matt
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Copycats. :-)

Event: May Bumps 2003 - Saturday
Posted as: Matt
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After a slightly shaky warm up, we settled in to wait for the guns. After a couple of slightly dodgy draw strokes, we wound it up nicely off the start and settled into a nice relaxed racing rhythm. With Disney moving slightly on Pembroke off the start, we surged after them, and soon the encouraging shouts of "You're closing" from the bank lifted our spirits. As we rounded First Post Corner, the crowd noise hit us like a wall, and the shouts from the towpath blended into the background cheer and gasps of "Oooh !" and "Aaaah !" were heard from the crowd, evidence enough for the bumps veterans in the crew to show that there were two (or three?) boats in quite close proximity. As if on cue, the length hooter sounded as we came off the corner and this was quickly followed by the half-length just before Grassy. With Mark's Dad just arrived on the towpath at Grassy about 5 seconds before we came by, the treble blast on the horn sounded, signifying a canvas or less separated our bows from their stern. We dutifully took the rate up 2 (four) and were rewarded immediately with the continuous "overlap" hooter and about a stroke later with the whistles for us to hold it up as we bumped before the exit of Grassy Corner.
We collected the usual array of twigs and brambles and rowed home in celebratory fashion, with six twirling his blade every so often in his inimitable style. Passing Pembroke boathouse, we got a resounding cheer for saving them from their Spoons.
All in all, this was our best row of the week by a country mile, and I'd like to thank the rest of the crew for a great term's rowing.

Event: Kingston Amateur Regatta 2003 - Senior4 IV+
Posted as: Matt
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A rather powerful start took us to about half a length up initially (on the inside), but then our inferior fitness started to show itself and Vesta and Reading slowly moved past us to beat us comfortably. But despite coming 3rd out of 3, we made it through to the rep ...

Event: Kingston Amateur Regatta 2003 - Senior4 IV+
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

In the rep, we were facing Kingston Uni in a 2-boat race. We started on the outside this time and they slowly pulled away to win easily. But then they'd probably been training or something.

Event: Kingston Amateur Regatta 2003 - Senior3 IV+
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We lost. In the third race of the day, with Dewire in for Fisher,G, we spacked our way to a comprehensive defeat. So we made our way over to the regatta enclosure and cheered on the S2 FaTTBC/BPBC composite and some of the Granta crews that were lurking around.

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

... and so it came about that we were chasing the Peterhouse crew that bumped us yesterday. A strong, powerful start saw us moving away from King's and slightly towards Peterhouse.
A slightly scrappy row around First Post presented Rachel with the only concern of the race: a Downing II crew resembling little more than a log drifting with the current. Downing had been bumped by Peterhouse, but were still in the middle of the river coming into Grassy. The Downing cox tried to pull in on the inside of the bend forcing us out wide. As the Downing stern drifted out, it was clear that whilst our nimble craft was up to the task of taking a sharpened corner, the King's' empacher, with the turning radius of a supertanker, came within a hair's breadth of the LMBC crew who were parked on the outside of grassy after bumping Magdalene.
The crew then proceeded to row over comfortably, well clear of Kings, to a round of applause from the Ladies at the finish. Day 3 tomorrow ...

Event: University IVs 2002 - Lower IVs
Posted as: Matthew
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After much deliberation, a decision was made to re-row the race from Ditton to Top Finish, in the chasing format. Fitz probably thought they had the edge, as they had stormed away off the start in the first race, but since we'd been quiching horribly for that bit, we knew that we were easily the stronger crew in a sprint. And so it proved; the First And Third crew, by now gelled together into a lean, mean, racing machine just flew up the reach rating about 40 (or so it seemed). We won comfortably by 10s, despite the best efforts of the 2-man to do all his work just above the water's surface.

Event: University IVs 2002 - Lower IVs
Posted as: Matthew
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This one was just like Monday's race: spacky off the start, but we weren't as far behind coming around Ditton. Once again, our straight line speed proved superior to the opposition, and we won by 13s. The 2-man dutifully pulled another couple of air-strokes out of his bag of tricks so as not to break with the (by now) long-established tradition.

Event: University IVs 2002 - Lower IVs
Posted as: Matthew
Event Link

Technically the worst race of the week. No rhythm in the boat, rating really high with absolutely no length in the water at all. Having said that, at least we were putting the power down this time (although the 2-man wasn't always catching the water ... and the 3-man caught it rather too well on one occasion). Despite the quasi-crabbing and the occasional air-stroke (only as many as the previous 3 races combined !), we managed to stay roughly on station with Emmanuel around the corners. Our blast up the reach didn't really work as well as earlier in the week, with Dan only able to row half-slide, but we held on to win the event by a whopping 5 seconds.

Event: University IVs 2002 - Lower IVs
Posted as: Matthew
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I wasn't here for this one, but by all accounts it was a comfortable win from the head station with Hugh subbing in at 2.

Event: Emma Sprints 2002 -
Posted as: Matthew
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The second mixed VIII (Vicki, Helen, Andy, Matt, Mike, Andrew, Becca, Isobel and Sam) got of to a good start, quickly closing on the Jesus crew who had been given about 2 lengths by the start marshalls. After extending our lead to about a length, we switched to rolling fours and won comfortably.

Event: Emma Sprints 2002 -
Posted as: Matthew
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Helen had a supervision to go to and Vicki needed to get back for a rehearsal, so after toying with the idea of continuing as a VI+, we accepted Aileen and Anna from the 1st VIII as subs. Crew order was now Becca, Anna, Andy, Matt, Mike, Andrew, Aileen and Isobel, still coxed by Sam. Rowing the other way down the course, we started just behind the Emma boat, thanks to some calculated bribing of the marshalls, and once again rowed straight through them. After a brief flirtation with rolling 4's, Bow Pair were given a go, competently holding off the opposition, and maybe extending our lead a little. We brought all 8 in for a couple of strokes, easied, and drifted over the line.

Event: Emma Sprints 2002 -
Posted as: Matthew
Event Link

The Pembroke crew was quite competant, so we started off with all of us rowing quite hard. At halfway, we were just getting clear water when Pemroke caught a massive crab, veered across the river and had to stop. We consequently wound down and as Pembroke started off again, we moved to single strokes, easied, and drifted over the line (again !). Revenge over the crew that knocked the 1st VIII out had been achieved

Event: Emma Sprints 2002 -
Posted as: Matthew
Event Link

The Clare crew were slightly worse than Pembroke, but kept rowing for the whole length of the course, which necessitated rowing a proper race. Another comfortable win, and we got some doughnuts from the marshalls. Yum.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2002 - Lower VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
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2 seconds. Grrrr. Dodgy Jesuan timing.

Event: Winter League, 1st leg 2003 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
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After the trials and tribulations of yesterday's Head-2-Head, the rhythm never really materialised today. A time that was 30s slower than yesterday's second leg shows that we need to work on our consistency a little over the next few weeks.

Event: Robinson Head 2003 - Lower VIIIs division
Posted as: Matt
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Reduced the gap between us and the Maggie Scum to 14s from around a minute only two weeks ago - Not bad for our second outing in this particular crew configuration.
A solid rolling start followed by an unnecessary surge was followed by a good first half to the race, complemented by an excellent racing line from Rachel. As fatigue started to creep into the crew's rowing, the efficiency of the strokes dropped as we made our way up the long reach. After being told to "'ave it !" (thank you, Rachel !) coming under the railway bridge, we powered our way towards the finish line, but proved unable to post a faster time than LMBC 2.
A big thank-you to Henry and Iain (and Rachel) for shouting abuse at us for the best part of ten minutes.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We had a surge ???

Some good steering off the start pushed the Emma crew wide down the long reach while we sloooooooooooooowly pulled ahead. Lots of powerful strokes were taken, but we probably need to be more efficient in our rowing, and apply the power together.

Event: Pembroke Regatta 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

To add to Will's report, I could just see the Queens' cox starting to return to my peripheral vision (eyes in the boat !) when I realised that bow-side's blades were just skimming the edge of the bank. Remembering that there's a slight corner on the reach, I assumed it was just another excellently judged line from our cox when instead of the expected call of "Push," my speaker relayed a not-quite-sotto voce-enough "Oh, ****" as we landed gracefully halfway along the reach.
After pushing off, we pulled another top notch start out of our bag of tricks and powered off after the enemy, determined to catch them and make a fight of it. Coming under the railway bridge our line was a little wide and we slewed to a halt next to a Darwin crew. As the realisation that we'd lost our rudder set in, we decided to make our way home in fours, using the other four for steering; Rachel still had her hands on the rudder strings, though, and continued to steer on the journey home, despite having experienced the futility of such action in the race :-)

Event: Winter League, 2nd leg 2003 - College VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

A good row, including the now-traditional "'ave it" call; we came in seventh overall. The only other college crew entered was Selwyn I who beat us by around 40s. Compared to the top crews, we've improved since our last effort at this event.

Event: Lent Bumps 2003 - Tuesday
Posted as: Matt
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Pesky first VIIIs ... Grrrrrrr.
A storming row saw us take half a length out of Maggie off the start, but they quickly closed on Downing ahead and bumped out on first post, leaving us going for the overbump on Magdalene.
Peterhouse were about on station at this point, but due to carnage avoidance and a slight spack, closed to a quarter of a length coming out of Grassy. They pushed to overlap coming past The Plough but we held firm and pushed them away round Ditton. They came right back at us coming out of Ditton corner onto the Long Reach and eventually managed to convert at The Railings.
Kings behind were absolutely nowhere to be seen, and it was heartening to hear that we had been closing on Magdalene ahead. On to day 2 ...

Event: Lent Bumps 2003 - Friday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

... and we were chasing Downing II and being chased again by King's. 5 seconds from the gun, everything was running smoothly ...

... four seconds later a large gust of wind hit the bows. With no time to straighten properly, we started as best we could, but a combination of factors saw us parked on the bank before we could even think about winding it up. The wind blew us against the bank, thwarting all attempts to push back off and King's rowed past for the bump.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. It's not even Friday the 13th today, no-one walked under a ladder on the way to the boathouse, and I haven't seen a black cat in weeks. It surely can't get any worse tomorrow (touch wood) ...

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

... and we did manage to push off and stay straight today. Unfortunately with Downing II bumping out ahead, going down to King's and two bumps occurring just behind us, the best we could manage was a storming row-over, despite having an injured cox after yesterday's antics. Some quality rowing appeared during the course of the race, matched only by that performed by our new stroke girl (!) on the row home. We know we're at least the second best 2nd VIII around at the moment.

Roll on the Mays !!!

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2003 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

A storming row, only being beaten by LMBC II out of the second boats; the Red Scum seem to be having crew selection problems again this term with their second VIII only 3 seconds off their first VIII. Not bad for our first outing.

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Thursday
Posted as: M
Event Link

Marginally better than yesterday. Same result. Still supposed to snow tomorrow, apparently ...

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Friday
Posted as: M
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Well it snowed a little this morning, but just as the afternoon's racing was getting underway, a few solitary flakes drifted by as if to threaten us with a deluge of whiteness. Luckily the snow held off and we went for Caius off the start after gearing up slightly. True to form, they held us off at a length before opening out a lead. Downing were once again dropped off the start. The plan to blow at Ditton Corner was perhaps a little too effective and we let Downing get a little too close for comfort after the railway bridge. Thankfully we were nails enough to hold them off and crossed the line with millimetres to spare.

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Saturday
Posted as: M
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A good solid start and a controlled set of corners paved the way for an extremely strong reach. Despite feeling the most sustainable row of the week, we dropped Downing off the start and continued to move away until reaching Top Finish.
Nice.

Rah Rah Rah.

Event: Concept 2 Sprint Relay 2004 - Men's Other Mays
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Individual Times:

Matt   01:26.9
Martin 01:34.1
Bryn   01:32.2
Dan W  01:33.1
Mark   01:37.7
Dan N  01:32.3
Tom    01:26.1
Chris  01:25.1

After frantically trying to find a sub for Ill Phil, we finally managed to persuade Mark Sankey to miss going out for dinner and race an ergo competition instead. Turning up at the last possible moment (as the crew is wont to do), we found ourselves drawn against a mixture of first and second VIIIs from Mays divisions 2 and 3 (and Maggie's 3rd Lents crew).
Soon it was time for the "Go", and a rather quichey start from Matt had us in 2nd place at the first change, behind Darwin who it turned out has started with a couple of beasts. Martin and Bryn put in some solid performances to see off the challenge of the Evolutionists, but a rather large Corpus crew, erging alongside, had managed to sneak up on us without us noticing. Corpus pulled into a two-and-a-half length lead, despite the best efforts of Short Dan, Super-Sub Mark and Tall Dan. Coming into the last kilometre we unleashed our big guns; Tom caught us back a length on the "Wigglers," leaving Chris with the best part of a length and a half to make up. Coming into the last 20m, Chris was dead level with the Corpus boat and it seemed like a dead heat as they crossed the line practically together in true Boat Race style. Then the times were flashed up and it turned out we'd won by just over a second.
And we got pots too.

Rah Rah First And Third

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2004 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Spacked up the start a bit, and Girton took about 1/3 length lead with the corner in their favour. We managed to hold it together up to the railway bridge, where the technique suddenly all clicked together and we moved past the tiring Girtonians to finish almost 1/2 a length up.

Event: Cambridge 99's Regatta 2004 - 2nd division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Wound to 43, and strode it down to about 37 for the whole course. CCAT, meanwhile, wound it up into the 50's, and just disappeared off down the river rating about 40

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Wednesday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

The stern section of BP2 was returned to us this morning after the mishap in Lent Term thanks to the sterling efforts of MC Peck.
We rigged up and went for a short practice paddle around noon, to get the feel for the new boat before the river closure came into effect.

We were chasing a Pembroke boat which we didn't know much about, but whom we suspected could be bumpable over a course despite containing the blues president and chased by a Sidney boat containing a Lightweight Blue. Downing II, 2 ahead were suspected to be quite slow, we weren't sure about the overbumping possibilities on Peterhouse at the head of the division and LMBC II were 2 behind but thought to have a reasonable turn of speed.

Moving back to reality, the gun went off and we wound it up nicely off the start, marred only by 2, 4 and 6 having a simultaneous mini-shipwreck on stroke 7 and a couple of strokes later clipping some foliage on the outside of the bend just as we were coming into first post corner.
It was at this point that the initial cries of "Go Wide !!" from various people on the bank began to filter through the general hubbub. It became apparent that Pembroke (complete with CUBC President Wayne Pommen) had caught Downing II at the entry to the corner and then made a complete hash of clearing. A superb piece of coxwainship from Jenny, and an impressive amount of power from 2 and 4 saw us initially jink left around the Pembroke stern, which was at this point on the inside of the bend drifting at 45 degrees to the bank, and then sharply right so as to take the corner whilst avoiding the Downing crew which had cleared to the outside.
Meanwhile, the chasing Disney crew had remained roughly on station with us and seemed to have been slightly closed upon by Maggie II behind (if you were the type to trust the LMBC whistle brigade ...). Pembroke managed to clear fully by the time they came past the wreckage and the Sidney cox had a near-perfect line round the corner available. This was duly taken and the "Lord Protector 400" managed to close some significant distance on us, reducing the inter-boat distance to about a length.
We held them around Grassy, past the Plough and the cheers of our loyal suppoerters, and around Ditton where we came into the headwind. Sidney took advantage of our wind shadow and the reach became a game of push and counter-push. Through these Sidney slowly closed on us until they got to just under half a length off at the Pink House. A bumping ten followed which brought them within inches of our stern after about 15 strokes. Jenny had called a "Kill" push midway through their bumping push and this really started to kick in just under the Raliway Bridge. We started to increase the separation between the boats as we pushed together as a crew. After a further few strokes and an ever-widening gap, we felt we had broken their challenge and it seemed that both boats realised that a bump between the crews was unlikely to occur. Sidney continued to push all the way to Top Finish, but never threatened further.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be more used to the boat and the rowing might be a little better. Chasing Downing II, chased by Sidney

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Today, the balance felt better than yesterday and the crew was fired up by the knowlegde that a bump would be definitely possible.
Our start was clean, controlled and powerful, and we took half a length off Downing II in the first ten strokes. We wound it up to 44 and settled nicely into a sustainable rhythm, and inexorably closed the gap around First Post Corner and Grassy until we were well within half a length of our prey as we came into the Plough Reach.
At this point, the bumpy water unsettled us somewhat as Downing put in a series of last-ditch pushes to keep us at bay. The two boats tussled their way around Ditton corner, with the gap oscillating between half a length and a canvas.
Finally, coming onto the Long Reach, we managed to put in a concerted push together and break through the rough water to bump at the Railings.

Well done to Dan N and Bryn for their first ever Bump.

Tomorrow we're chasing Peterhouse, who today were bumped by Pembroke, and being chased by Downing II.

Event: Cambridge Winter Head 2003 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Felt quite good from in the boat, considering we had 2 subs. Rating somewhere around 35 off the start and dropping down to around 33 we had a nice row albeit with slightly dodgy finishes.
And we beat Maggie. With Macons. Unfortunately, we let Caius , Emma and Churchill beat us.

Event: May Bumps 2004 - Friday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Took a bit off Peterhouse off the start, but they pushed it back to distance through the gut. They got a canvas on Fitzwilliam at Ditton and converted at the Railway Bridge, leaving us to row over. Behind us, Disney bumped Downing II, leaving Wolfson chasing for the overbump a long way back.

Full report to come after crew pasta ...

... which ended up as Crew Pizza Hut. Four orders of "Feast For Four" surprised the waitress and only Mark decided to forego a Meat-laden delicacy, ordering a Vegetable Pizza instead. Bow four however, as a measure of compensation, went for the Stuffed Crust Cheese Feast option for one of the pizzas ...

Anyway, back to the race report ...
We wound it up nicely and settled to a more comfortable rhythm than yesterday's race
Pulled away from Downing II convincingly and watched Sidney slowly closing in for the Kill. Wolfson behind were closing on Sidney and it was unclear as to which of the two boats would bump out. Peterhouse ahead, after being closed down off the first ten strokes or so, reopened the gap to a length and a half and pushed up to within half a length of Fitzwilliam at Ditton. Despite taking until the Railway Bridge to finally bump, we were never close enough to challenge for a bump ourselves and after passing the bumped out crews, decided to wind it down for the finish and save ourselves for the next day.

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

Good start and surge saw us close on Fitz.
They then proceeded to suffer a "spectacular failure to Grassy" and we rowed past and pulled in. Up 2 !

Event: FaT/LMBC Punting Regatta 2004 - Open Punters
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

The first race of the regatta saw LMBC coxes racing FaT. LMBC were drawn on the Wren station, with the FaT 2nd May VIII Punters crew on the Paddocks station. It was neck-and-neck most of the way down the Trinity Reach, but there was a large amount of blade clashing in the Gut due to the necessity of First and Third having to avoid a puntload of tourists, achieved by steering hard to the Wren side of the river. A shoving match took place, ending with both boats pointing at the bank, with First and Third nearer the turning point. A swift disentanglement was followed by a sprint to the Bridge of Sighs, and a quick spin by both crews. The race back to Trinity was reasonably uneventful, save for the Maggie tactic of having supporters on the bank grab ahold of their punt and drag it along. In spite of this, FaT M2 managed to win by the merest fraction of a length, sailing gracefully under the bridge to applause from the partisan crowd.

Event: FaT/LMBC Punting Regatta 2004 - Open Punters
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

The "Semi-final" (as in "the first half of the final") saw Graham pit his wits against the best of the LMBC Punting Brigade. Despite us being drawn on the favourable Wren station, LMBC surged into a lead of about a length early on in the race, and despite a good push through the Gut and along LMBC reach, LMBC opened the gap to about a length and a half by the Bridge of Sighs ...

Event: FaT/LMBC Punting Regatta 2004 - Open Punters
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

... whereupon the Red ones overshot the spinning point slightly as both crews changed punters. With Matt on the deck, First and Third executed a near-textbook spinning manoeuvre (via the northern wall) a couple of lengths upstream of the LMBC punt and now we had the lead. Despite a repeat of the running along the bank antics from the Maggie team, First and Third managed to win comfortably by a length.

Event: Head of the Nene 2004 - Senior3 VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

A solid controlled row saw us rate about 29 over the course. We kept it together well, but probably should have rated a little higher throughout. Newcastle Uni behind faded after the first few minutes, but the S2 Lea RC crew who started two places behind managed to come past us near the end. Despite overrating us considerably and being about twice our size, they took minutes to actually overtake once they'd caught us.
Unofficial time by Andy was 18.42, but we're waiting for the official results to come out ...

Update ... Results are now out and we lost to Abingdon's S3 crew by one second. Am feeling very frustrated now.

Event: Lent Bumps 2004 - Wednesday
Posted as: M
Event Link

A reasonable start saw us close slightly on Caius, but we never really hit top gear and the top 3 all separated out down the long reach. Downing put in a cheeky push towards the finish but were never close enough to cause a problem.
It's apparently supposed to snow tomorrow; we'll have to wait and see what happens ...

Event: Cambridge Autumn Head 2003 - Lower College IV+
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We lost to the 2nd IV. The shame of it !!
Although the headwind increased nearly threefold between their race and ours, we still should have won.
At least with the light IV taking a break after rowing the first bit of the course too fast, the results bear out Dan's "matched crew" selection policy, and neither crew lost to the LMBC 'Elite' 4- :-)

Event: Cambridge Autumn Head 2003 - Upper College IV+
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Definitely your dodgy stroke-side rowing ...

Event: Head of the River IVs 2003 - Senior3 IV+
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Not a great result, but at least CUWBC didn't beat us ...

After discovering that the Light IV had managed to get all 8 clams for their 4 blades, which were at Cygnet, whilst we were outside Vesta at the other end of the course, and collecting a 'drop' of said clams deposited by agent Ingram, we had a rather uneventful row down to the start, enlivened only by an Eton bow-loader determined to scrape their race number off using my rigger during the hour or so of marshalling.

We eventually spun in front of Goldie VI and proceeded down towards the start line in a leisurely fashion. As we wound up for the start, we noticed that the Goldie boat had decided to position itself about a foot or so off our stern and their cox proceeded to shout abuse at us whilst they moved out to overtake. With him shouting for us to cede the stream (despite the rules stating the opposite), and Rach not taking the slightest bit of notice of his exclamations, the Goldie boat came past us rather too easily and had successfully completed the manoeuvre by Barnes. After this there was a lull in the action, as there was little further threat astern, whilst the Etonian crew ahead had seemingly buggered off into the distance. Some pushes followed before we caught up with a struggling Magdalene II boat and another crew fighting it out. As we were speeding past, a returning boat decided to cross in the wrong place at the wrong time, forcing Rachel to jink sharply out of the stream. Muttering curses under her breath, our usually mild-mannered cox'n urged us on past Chiswick Eyot and Magdalene.

As we approached Hammersmith (Two-thirds gone, apparently) we went for more pushes, but by now were in the middle of no-man's land. With nothing slow enough left ahead of us, and nothing particularly fast behind us, the momentum sagged a bit coming past Harrods, in spite of our best efforts to keep going. Coming past Barn Elms, it became apparent that crew 348, Uni of Hertfordshire (I think) had managed to catch up with us and had us in their sights. Pushing away, we found some more speed and slowed their assault, but they steadily closed further on us as we pushed all the way to the line.
The general feeling in the crew was that it was a reasonable row, but the results show we were 30-40s off the pace.

Event: University IVs 2003 - 1st division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We marshalled in good time and processed down to the start after the women's races had drifted by. After spinning and pulling in to the bank, we were informed that the idiot in the grey barge was afloat and causing the races to be held up. After about a 15 minute wait, the aforementioned vessel hove into view and proceeded to crawl past the marshalled crews.
Eventually we set off. Lining up in the strong crosswind didn't prove too difficult, but Jesus had a few problems. As soon as both crews had a semblance of straightness, Laura gave the "Attention ... GO !" and we were off. A powerful relaxed draw was followed by a quick loose wind, and we proceeded to move outside distance on Jesus up First Post Reach. Moving into the Gut and around Grassy, we were cornering so well that Rachel had to call bowside to lighten up for a couple of strokes in the middle of Grassy. We held it together down past the Plough and then moved round Ditton with Jesus floundering in our wake. As we moved into the 30 knot gusts of headwind up the long reach, we had about 10s or so on the opposition, but we stormed up the reach, albeit a little spackily, and increased our lead to about half a minute by the railway bridge.
After watching Catz finish the previous race, Convey apparently looked up and said "Where's Jesus ??" as we came past a lot sooner than the finish marshals had been expecting with Jesus out of sight round the bend.

Event: University IVs 2003 - 1st division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Rowing against half the Peterhouse May VIII was always going to be tricky. On the way down we managed two of our best starts yet and the real thing lived up to expectations. A strong and technical row down First Post Reach and through the Gut resulted in being just outside station on Peterhouse. Moving into Grassy, Rachel realised that the rudder was not having enough of the desired effect due to some bits of tree we'd picked up. We lost further ground around Grassy and Ditton before deciding to take it up a bit coming down the reach. With immense amounts of power going down, we absolutely flew up the reach, but it appeared that the Peterhouse crew had also pushed and we couldn't quite catch up what we'd already lost in the first half of the race.
Our best row of the week, but sadly, not quite good enough to win on the day.

Event: Novice Fairbairn Cup 2003 - 1st division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Wahey !! The girls showed how good they really are with a storming row.

Ra Ra First And Third !

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

Unofficial Time 12:48

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2003 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

After agreeing not to blast it off the start, we performed a strong, controlled wind, and settled to a nice "low" (!!) rating of 36. After a few minutes of this, we drifted down to a more sustainable 34 which we kept for the rest of the course.
A solid row, marred only by a slightly spacky bit towards the finish as people got tired, saw us come in 3rd best college crew behind Downing. We beat Maggie (by a second) and Caius, and put the so-called "All-Stars VIII" firmly in their place, so things are looking OK at this point in the year.

Event: Fairbairn Cup - IVs 2003 -
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

After getting straight out of the VIII and into the IV's, some people were still feeling the after-effects of the previous race. We started off at a nice 32 which dropped down a bit in the middle of the race, but we managed to bring it back up again at the finish as we overlapped a Sidney crew across the line.
A slightly disappointing row, which was reflected in the final result.

Event: Cambridge Head-2-Head 2004 - 1st division
Posted as: The man with the broken seat
Event Link

A fairly average paddle for the first leg; we trundled over rating about 30 with a lot more in the tank.
The second leg saw my seat develop problems through the corners, and completely fall apart at Peter's Posts, leaving the crew to finish the race with only seven rowing.

Event: Newnham Short Course 2004 - 1st division
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Rah Rah First And Third !

After rowing flat out into the 20+ knot headwind for just over six minutes, my legs were pretty dead, but it seems it was worth it in the end. Now we just need to row with a bit more togetherness and we'll go quite fast. The race was better than the Head-2-Head, but there's definitely room for improvement.

Event: Head of the Charles 2004 - Club Fours
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Defending last year's third place was always going to be tricky given that those attaining that position for BPBC were inelegible this year. Despite meeting our bowman, Dave from U. of Chicago, over 36 hours before our race was due to start, we thought it was going to be a tough race. One 'über-tower' and three outings later, and it was unfortunately fairly clear that we were unlikely to win the race but, ever-optimistic, were hoping to get a finish somewhere towards the middle of the pack and have a jolly good row.
On the morning of the race, it was announced that the course had been shortened to 2.3 miles instead of the usual 3.0 due to a slight swell in the basin. This was Good News for the legendary fitness levels of certain Black Prince members.
At the start of the race itself, the crews behind were showing that they had a faster cruising speed than our front-loaded Empacher could muster, with its mix of British and American rowing styles. Things were going fairly respectably down the opening straight, and morale seemed good in the crew, but coming into Weeks Bridge, a rather deceptive and tight boswide corner, the fates decided to show the full force of their displeasure. All was well until the apex of the corner when crew number 5, U. of Chicago, came within overtaking range. As the rules require the racing line to be conceded, with draconian time penalties for infringements, this caused the good ship 'Jake' to steer hard to the outside of the corner to avert collision. After this, we probably rowed twice as far as the rest of the field, having to cede the line on each subsequent corner as more and more crews came past. Near the end, our coxbox decided to die on us, causing spannering of our intended "Up 2" pushes and seeing crew number 17, Bosporos, come past to seal our fate (and win the race themselves).
As if this all weren't enough, we got back to MIT BH to find we'd been hit with 2 minutes of time penalties which set us firmly at the back of the field. These were later rescinded, for reasons unknown, putting us next-to-last in our category and six seconds behind the women's IV.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2004 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

My first outing on bowside since last year's Fairbairn Cup. And it showed as I did justice to my placement in the 3-seat with some decidedly dodgy bladework; poor Martin at 2 was completely drenched in Cam water before we'd even started the wind ...
Probably could have rated a bit higher than we did and gone a bit faster (above 30 would have been nice). At least we beat the FaT Novices' and BPBC Women's crews, and were the fastest 3rd VIII in the competition...

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Wednesday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Plus ça change ...

Event: Lent Bumps 2005 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

... plus c'est la même chose

Event: Drumps 2005 - Monday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

At least you didn't have to finish the 2001 races with the tequila station, and then have 6 out of the other 7 "team" members refuse point blank to have anything to do with the foul stuff ... leaving me with 4 or 5 to do before we could proceed to top finish ...

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2005 -
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

A very slow start by Black Prince (Jon sent his 1st shot of the day sailing gracefully into the lake, whilst I managed to scuff my tee shot on the 3rd straight into the ditch) saw the FaT boyz quickly race into a 3up lead as Graham Sills started in fine fettle.
"Don't worry," said Jon, "it's all about momentum ..."
We duly halved the fourth despite me sending my tee shot into the trees on the right and Jon failing to clear the ladies' tee (helped admirably by the ditch that I'd used to such good effect on the 3rd), but a couple of execrable tee shots on the fifth saw FaT increase their lead to dormie 4up.
On the sixth, Jon decided his ball was far too dry and proceeded to send it for a swim whilst I fluked a par to reduce the FaT lead to dormie 3up. At the seventh, I left my tee shot slightly short, whilst Chris used his amazing ability to putt the ball to within a foot of the hole from anywhere on the green to halve the hole, a skill that served him so well during the rest of the day's play.
With the pressure now off and the loss guaranteed, BPBC duly won the final two holes without breaking sweat, aided and abetted by Chris showing Jon how to find water properly on the eighth (Jon's water shot was nowhere near as good as Chris', so Chris repeated his demonstration). We'd gained some momentum, but it was a case of too little, too late.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2005 -
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

I got a phone-call from Tom in the middle of a strokeplay practice against Messrs Fisher(G), Blackburn and Peck - after a birdie at the fourth to take me into a two shot lead over Fisher and Peck, a quadruple bogey at the fifth saw me in back to joint second with Peck, two shots behind Fisher - to say that he couldn't make his match and would I kindly sub for him in the afternoon singles.
As my plans were to go for another practice round at the time, I agreed to sub for his match against Mr Scott.
Mr Scott's failure to start resulted in a second strokeplay practice against Messsrs Goodson and Bevan; due to Goodson's captaincy duties we played our match between the two double-singles matches either side. I managed to card a 33, my best round of the day by a country mile and we were able to watch the drama of the other singles matches unfold around us.

Event: Head of the Charles 2005 - Club VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Many thanks to Ken for subbing into the cox's seat at the (very) last minute. Shame we weren't quite as good as the blue boat.

Good start, winding up quite high before settling into a vaguely sustainable pace. Our lack of fitness started to show during the second mile and a couple of blade clashes, (mini-) crab from Clive and loose backstay at 2 didn't aid our efforts to row fast.

A decent solid row, but we probably should have gone a little faster.

I'm sure Graham will give a fuller account when he gets back.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2006 -
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Never played foursomes before, so was interested to see how it worked out. Swing was a little rusty and had a tendency to drop the ball short.
We went 2 down, managed to halve the 3rd and pull one back on the 4th after some dodgy chipping from the oppo.
Went behind again on the 5th, and ran further aground on the 6th to leave us down dormie 3. A flukey tee shot at 7 saw us pull it back to dormie 2, but a missed putt at 8 let the FaT boyz seal victory with a halved hole.
All in all an enjoyable round of golf, except for the weather.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2005 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Met ATBH around 9am, and the crew were all introduced to one another. Decided that a two stroke practise outing would be sufficient to gel as a crew before the start of the race.

We went off rating 35 or so, cruised at 31-32 for most of the race and took it up for the finish. A good solid rhythm throughout was offset by a distinct lack of power through the drive phase, possibly due to a slight lack of rowing-specific fitness.

Christs M1 came past under the railway bridge and we noticed FaT M2 had closed slightly behind us in the later stages of the race.

All in all an enjoyable row, nice and tidy, but lacking a bit of purpose. Disappointed to find we'd come in behind Kings M1 (and FaT novices), but at least we beat the women ...

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2006 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

It started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better; but apart from that it was excellent.

Event: Lent Bumps 2007 - Friday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Result!

Event: Twickenham Regatta 2007 - W VetA 1x
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Looked quite comfortable from the bank.

Event: May Bumps 2007 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Congratulations on regaining the 4th VIII headship.

Event: Henley Royal Regatta 2007 - Temple Cup
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Watching the crews warm up on their way down to the start, it looked like this would be rather a tough ask for the crew.

Rowing into a strong headwind and fast stream, the american crew used their 2 stone per man weight advantage well, and were a couple of lengths up in short order. Never looking particularly troubled, they eventually posted 7.19, the second fastest time of the day, and would look to have a good chance of winning the event.

Event: Cambridge Alumni Regatta 2009 - Open VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We were talked into a scratch race vs Newnham, as they had no oppo, and were handed a 20s handicap off the start (presumably similar to what we would have had racing the Fitz Vet F crew).

A much better race (and more sustainable rating) than the first round saw us slowly close up and bump them under the railway bridge. Unfortunately in a regatta, we needed to cross the line first, and ran out of river before we could complete our overtaking manoeuvre.

Event: Cambridge Alumni Regatta 2009 - Open VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

We were informed on the start line that the Fitz boat (containing a rather youthful looking bow pair in shiny new kit) were claiming Vet C status and we would therefore be having a 6s handicap applied to us. After appealing on the grounds that we were possibly Vet B, this was reduced to 4s. No allowance was made for us being a mixed crew.

After a rather long 4s, we set off in hot pursuit:
Attention ... Go ... Pause ... Check Stopwatch ... Pause ... Check Clipboard ... Pause ... Three ... Two ... One ... Go

Despite rating ridiculously high, we closed to around a length by the finish.
Fitz went on to win the whole thing, but our losing time of 2:13 meant we were 15s slower than Kings - the fastest losers of round 1 - and so we failed to progress to the semi-finals.

Event: FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge 2009 -
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Despite me having one of my best ever rounds on the course (helped by a lack of water in the hazards), the result would have been exactly the same without my contribution, as Mike equalled or bettered my score on each hole.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2008 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Fairly awful race. Maybe we should do some form of training before next year's.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2009 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Definitely the best result for BPBC II since I started rowing with the crew in 2005. A rather ambitious race plan of rating above 30 for the whole course paid off, and repeated pushes back to 32 kept it going nicely.

A far more enjoyable row than usual, and we placed quite nicely in the middle of the field after Jesus admitted their initial time of 18:32 was 3 minutes too slow.

Still think that we ought to try to get more than a 10 stroke training outing in before next year's race.

Event: Head of the River Race 2010 - In3
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Looked ok from where I was sitting. Seemed to push off the crew behind quite well ...

Event: May Bumps 2010 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Rah !

Event: May Bumps 2010 - Thursday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Excellent result.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2010 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Best BPBC II time since 2004 - All that training obviously paid off.

Same again next year, chaps ?

Event: Lent Bumps 2011 - Wednesday
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Rah !

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2013 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

Distinctly pedestrian.
Need to cheat next year and have a practice outing or 2.

Event: Fairbairn Cup 2014 - Invitation VIIIs
Posted as: Matt
Event Link

A consistent (-ly poor) and unspectacular row, in the best tradition of BPBC M3 crews. Wintech's David Jones may be a tricky beast, but at least it's not Peter Brandt. Shame about the crabbage, without which we'd at least have beaten all the women's crews.