The Club's Results

I am still upset with myself for not making 100% sure where the finish was and just assuming it would be at the P&E as we thought. I apologise for my foolish mistake!
Otherwise the race went well and I was pleased with the performance for a scratch crew. Once we get the fitness back we should be able to keep it tidy and controlled also for the last third of the race and do much better next week. (Sonya)

2nd fastest 3rd VIII (beaten by Pembroke M3 and M4). Beat LMBC even though we wound it down way too early.

However more than a minute behind Fitz 2 and Pembroke 2, who are around us in bumps. I am giving it 30 seconds for being a scratch crew and winding down too early so we still have a lot of work to do. Girton 2 (the crew in front of us in bumps) were entered by scratched I guess. We managed to beat Queens 2 by 47 seconds, they must be awful. (S.C. Mertes)

'Bit of a shambles' is the way I will hopefully forget this race. We wound down as we passed the P&E realising about a minute later the finish was at top finish. Oops!

A good start, possibly needing a bit more time on the slide, but certainly getting the boat moving.

Speed dropped on the reach and we fell apart after the railway bridge as we tried to wind to the finish.

Only overtaken by Girton I and Jesus II.

We topped the fly and die index - under 4 minutes to the plough followed by a further 7 minutes to the finish. (Thomas)

Ok so a last minute crew changes involving the strokeman probably didn't help. We tried rate 30 on the first run but kept letting it slip to 28. A wind to the finish produced a massive change in boat speed, which shows either technique or power was definitely lacking during the middle third, my bet is on a bit of both. As Florian pointed out we were losing a lot of length at the catch.

The second half was better. When the catches went in together we really moved some boat and it felt a lot more stable and relaxed. Unfortunately this only happend about 3 times for 10 strokes at a time. Especially on the reach with Maggie 3 bearing down on us having caught up about 3 to 4 lengths there were some very good patches where we moved away from them and some very bad patches where they were gaining massively.

So we know we can go fast. We just have some technique issues to tweak and then put some power down together.

Weather was awesome, I do however have a headache from the sun despite having had 4l of water to drink today.

Overall not a bad result, 4s faster would have gotten us pots though. We were 16s slower than Churchill 2 (4 ahead in Bumps) and 38s slower than Christs 2 (4 behind in Bumps). None of the other boats around us entered. (S.C. Mertes)

A good row. I am pleased with the improvement we are making and it was visible in the race today as well. The way up was lacking length but we did work on this on the way back and I was very proud of you guys for those pushes on the reach that kept LMBC off.
We have still a lot of work ahead of us but today's race showed us that we have potential to be damn fast if keep the focus all the way through.

PS. Thanks Sarah and Florian for bankpartying and their advice!!! (Sonya)

Not a bad start winding to 38 but a pretty messy row after that with a crab from me 5 strokes from the finish line to top it all. According to Peter bow 7 hang massively at the catch so we really need to work on this over the next week.

The results reflect the shoddy row. The only M2 crew we managed to beat were Kings who are an entire division below us. If we want to go up in Bumps we need to get about 15 seconds faster.

Most of the crews around us in bumps were a little faster but not by much. Unfortunately the crews on either side of us didn't enter.

Queens M2 (5 in front): 4 sec
Churchill M2 (4 in front): 3 sec
Pembroke M2 (3 in front): 13 sec
Maddalene M2 (2 behind): 10 sec slower
Fitz M2 (3 behind): 18 sec
Christs M2 (4 behind): 13 sec
Clare M2 (5 behind): 15 sec (S.C. Mertes)

This race demonstrated that trying to spank a boat along with no particular regard for technique results in a hard row with no particular speed.

The start was good, controlled, powerful, the boat was moving. Around the corner the boat was not as nice and I felt things never recovered. Power went from the drive, which would not have been disastrous but for the lack of time on the slide. The rate got as low as 32, which considering we were rushing probably means that the drive portion of the stroke was round about 30, hence explaining the slow time.

Key points
1. Blade goes in at the front
2. Power goes on together
3. Slow on the recovery, and if it feels slow, it is probably too fast. Go slower. (Thomas)

Messy, but exciting! Girton's cox went very wide on the approach to First Post Corner. Sonya had the common sense to keep her line and took a nice corner, breaking down the 1.5 lengths of open water Girton were maintaining. As soon as the whistle went, the boys snapped into action and made their move very quickly and Mo made solid contact with Girton's canvas before they could bump Selwyn.

Now, boys, would you be so kind as to pull over BEFORE you start the celebratory cheering tomorrow... gave the umpires a bit of a scare. (Cynthia)

My first Bumps race as a cox and it was amazing!!!(I rowed my actual first race two hours before this one with certainly less success-see Danny's report)
I am certainly getting the hang of bumping so guys let's keep the good work up and nail Selwyn tomorrow! (Sonya)

Not good enough. At least this year they didn't overbump in front of us. (Thomas)

Long hard row over because we didn't commit to the push in the Gut. This will change tomorrow when we chase Churchill. (S.C. Mertes)

Commited and Fast. Gained after Churchill had a below par start and reeled them in to 3/4 length before the stride. Seemed to spend an age (about 5 strokes) sitting in the chop off their stern canvas before bumping and clearing to watch the carnage.

Thomas

P.S. Remember to log off the system when leaving the boathouse computer (Natasha)

Good race. They had a comparatively weak start so we had whistles before we'd settled. Another minute of sprinting brought us the bump on first post corner, giving us a nice view of the carnage as the rest of the division piled up on the opposite bank. (Alasdair)

I really really wanted to blow the whistle, as I didn't have the opportunity to do so, yesterday. I requested a bump before First Post Corner and M3 delivered. Well done, guys! (Cynthia)

Power and heart drove the boat within striking distance of Selwyn, but the endurance just wasn't there. Churchill thought they were going to catch you on the downswing, but you held them off. Fantastic effort all week, but today was stellar. Heads up, be proud of what you've achieved this term, boys! (Cynthia)

Since most of us are shamefully unfit, we went for a fast bump. After a strong start and several maximum effort pushes we had overlap on Selwyn II around Ditton. Unfortunately, our fitness then let us down and Selwyn got away, leaving us a painful row-over in front of a closing Churchill II.

Great race though, credit to Selwyn II for not giving up after a couple of whistles like some of the boats in the division.

Overall, a pretty good result considering the amount of training we did. Thanks to Cynthia and Dan for coaching and bankpartying, we would have spooned without you. (Alasdair)

I though the row over on the second day was painful. I had no idea what was to happen on the last day. This race was very close and devastating but we at least know we gave it all out there and put everything in the last race. That is something to be proud of as well and we will get our revenge on Selwyn next year.
Thanks guys for making my first Bumps(as a cox) so much fun and thanks to Cynthia and Dan who managed to keep believing in us and coached us! (Sonya)

Yeah so Selwyn proved today they are quite a bit fitter than we are. We had suspected this and went off really hard winding to 44 and settling to 38. We left Churchill II behind off the start. Selwyn II managed to keep it together with us on overlap around Ditton and then pulled away fairly swiftly as we hit rock bottom after an exhausting 1k sprint. Churchill II came within 1/2 a length on the finish line. Cheers for an awesome race guys and kudos to Churchill and Selwyn for making it a very interesting day. (S.L. Stoneman)