The Club's Results

The first leg was impressive for such an inexperienced, scratch crew. The rowing was committed ('chunky' in Emma's opinion), and we held it together for the whole piece. Coming back, however, we were nearly overtaken on First Post Reach (by a men's VIII) and the attitude in our boat suffered. Luckily we were saved by their cox failing to notice the corner, and we picked it up again enough to overtake the crew ahead. All in all, a good experience, and as Jenny said the important thing is that we have a second VIII good enough to enter races at this stage of term. (Harriet)

A very good solid row today with the boat sat well and moving quickly around the corners!
Would've shaved a few more seconds off had Darwin actually conceded the line when we were up their stern, eventually forcing us to overtake towards the end, but all in all it was a good indication that Bumps racing should go well later this term. (Mark)

Well done! You looked fit crossing the finish, and you definitely deserve this. Make the next week count, and hopefully there'll be more prizes on Saturday. (Harriet)

We have a trophy!! I've never won any races before so I'm so proud of everyone that rowed today! We even beat some 1st boats! No free t-shirts, even though a Robinson official said we would get them if we won our division :(

Still, bring on Bumps! (Liz)

Wooooooo! Congrats girls! Excellent aggression, excellent commitment. In particular the row up to the reach was looking very technically strong and you had some really good bursts. Really build on this for bumps - blades for you girls!!!

Congrats again (from the politest bank party of the day!) (Lyns)

GET IN!
the first half of the race up until the reach was awesome - apparently we were rating around 30 but it felt so relaxed and the boat was really moving along nicely. the reach presented some wobbly moments and we weren't really clearing the puddles. still, we finished quite strongly and i can't quite believe we managed to win! gutted that we don't get our free t-shirts :( and hopefully we won't ever meet strange worm-fisherman-person again. he was odd.

special thanks to danny, hannah, olivia and louise for subbing! (Kristina)

Solid start but despite being slightly slower on the start we ate away their early advantage and were up by 1 length before we finished our start. Continuous opening of the gap from there (Mark)

Similar to the race against Queens II, this was also a good performance, producing a gap of at least 10 lengths towards the end. (Mark)

Probably the best performance out of the three, the rhythm was very solid and a lot of speed was being produced. The balance was good, and the rating, despite being an average of 33/34 throughout the race, felt good.
Lost to a strong Jesus crew who were physically bigger, yet we held their advance from around the railway bridge to 3 lengths and didn't let them have anymore, and in fact were gaining on them about 100m before the bridge.
Do that again in Bumps, and I will be shocked if we don't bump every day. (Mark)

A good start, a little wobbly for a couple of strokes after that, but the rhythm was re-established very quickly and the bump was swift after the push for Bumps call.
Clare are going to be tough; we need to get them before they get Corpus, otherwise it'll be Newnham all the way! (Mark)

Awesome! We worked for that Bump and it felt good! (Liz)

yaaaaay :D definitely felt like we earnt this one!! some awesome lines from Mark and gutsy pushes out of the corners meant we bumped coming out of Ditton. very proud to be part of this crew...let's go for corpus on friday!! xoxox

ps. thanks to rachel frigot for subbing. (Kristina)

We knew Clare would work very hard to bump Corpus before we got near to them, and credit to them for working hard to keep us off for as long as possible.

But some excellent drive in the water around corners kept the speed up, and the commitment along Plough made me so proud to cox such a crew - Clare really did push at this point and I thought we'd lose them but you all gritted your teeth and coming round Ditton we cut into them and claimed our Bump. (Mark)

Bad luck. Remember, good crews go up three. Make it a decisive bump tomorrow to end a week to be proud of. (Harriet)

This was the outcome we feared the most today, since we were quite confident Clare II would not get us. Instead a suprisingly bad Newnham II, who had managed to fend off Corpus all the way on Wednesday to row over, were bumped half way down the Gut, with us no more than 1/2 a length off Corpus.
That took us by surprise but we went on to row over quite solidly with a comfortable gap behind us. Unfortunately there was no chance of an overbump since we were started third, so it is really disappointing that we are no longer on for Blades.
Despite the result, that was a fantastic piece of rowing, and it was really pleasing to have such power and commitment in the boat - let's finish on a high tomorrow! (Mark)

An excellent row to end our racing for Bumps.

My stomach twisted when I thought that Corpus decided to 'do a Newnham' today, i.e. row much more poorly compared to what they were capable of doing the day before, with a Newnham double whistle coming around First Post corner before we had even had one whistle.

We got stuck in though, knowing the bump had to come soon or never, and loads of credit to the girls for digging in, with a double and triple whistle coming virtually together. Convincing bump in the Gut! (Mark)

Well, the second women's eight has always been the place to be! I'm sure you're disappointed not to get blades, but that's the way Bumps goes in the lower divisions - you can't help it if there are some "interesting" crews lining up around you. I just wanted to say that when I was in the second women's Lent eight in 2004, we got put on at the Foot (/Arse, if you like) of the River, and I'm pretty damn impressed by how close this boat is to being in the second division just 4 years later. Come back and do some damage in the Mays! (Erica)