First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Clare Novice Regatta, Mich Term 2014

1st men's novice VIII (Cup)

1st men's novice VIII
bow Neil Ibata 2 P. Bradbury
3 Unknown 4 Duncan Barber
5 Connor Mui 6 Shahid Wahab
7 Jake Rowe str Tom King

Coxed by: Harry Stockwell

2nd round
Beat Queen's (~3 to 4 lengths)
Coming out of the fairly catastrophic Emma Sprints race (during which we crashed into the bank after three strokes, caught a crab and still managed to beat Clare Hall by about three lengths), I think that we all wanted to have a cleaner race. Unfortunately, that was not to be as we started off rating too high, almost caught (or did catch) a few crabs, and generally did not find a smooth rhythm until we realised that Queens' were performing significantly worse than we were and were nearly 3 lengths behind. At that point (i.e. just before the railway bridge), we took the rate down and finally found the power, length and togetherness that we were so conspicuously lacking in the first 400-500 metres of the race - and that we would also struggle to find in the next race.
We were certainly happy to win this one, but I think that it mainly served as an alarm bell (albeit not a particularly effective one) to really focus on the technique that we had been developing throughout those long weeks of daily morning outings (I mean - why else torture ourselves if it isn't to be the best novices on the river?). It was a pity that those first two races didn't reflect the real potential of the crew.
(Neil I.)
Quarter finals
Beat Darwin (~ 1 1/2 lengths)
This was certainly the closest race before the final. We didn't really know what to expect from Darwin, and I think that Neil rightly warned us that this might be the best Darwin novice crew that there has ever been. I was probably most apprehensive about this particular race (having been thoroughly splashed before hand probably didn't help lessen minor shivers).
The start was at a ridiculously high rate for novices - Harry told us that we were around rate 40! We never really got down to a decent, sustainable rhythm as in the previous race because we always had less than a length of clear water and felt pressured. This meant that the rate stayed high and the strokes short, and altogether I think that we were quite happy for it to come to an end. The Long Reach definitely feels longer when you're taking shorter strokes - but I guess that this is self-evident.
Anyway, the conclusion from Neil was that we could and should have beaten Darwin by about 3 or 4 lengths had we taken the rate down, taken more length on the slide and applied more pressure in the water, and I think that there was a general consensus from the crew and the bank party that it was somewhat frantic.
We all agreed that there needed to be an urgent change of plan for the next race, and that the rate should drop a couple of notches after our typical fast starts. In hindsight, it is probably thanks to this that we won the regatta.
(Neil I.)
Semi finals
Beat Jesus (~ 3 lengths)
We were expecting this race to be a very tough one but we wound up winning comfortably and taking the rate down as we approached the railway bridge with several lengths of clear water behind us. As a crew we made a number of good changes after the quarterfinal round - most notably, longer and stronger strokes at a more controllable rate. The technical improvements we made in conjunction with the comfortable margin of victory gave us a good amount of confidence going into the final.   (Connor)
Our best row of the day. After learning from the previous two races, the crew felt much more composed, and worked together rather than panicking about the opposition (which in both cases they didn't need to do!). Moving up from a 1 1/2 length win to a 3 length win even when taking the rate down under the railway bridge is testament to what the crew can do when they think about it.   (Harry)
Final
Beat LMBC (~ 3/4 length)
After a strong start, we managed to gain about a length on Maggie's crew. We maintained the momentum and rhythm all the way to the railway bridge. At the railway bridge, LMBC put in a burst and started to gain on us. We managed to hold them off and cross the finish line first, making us the winners of the Clare Novices Men's Cup 2014!!!!! (Shahid)

1. NW1 and NM1 + coache...


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