The Club's Results

Never underestimate the opposition. Even if they look as bad as this. They might have been bluffing, but on this occasion they weren't. (Neil T)

(Neil T)

I have little to add to the other reports apart from pure 'hype'. (Forbes)

This was a sterling performance from NM1 in their natural habitat: the dedicated row. After a fairly decent start, they started to pull away from Caius, when an overhead crab from the 5-seat looked set to determine the end of this race. As the bank party had flashbacks to the previous face-off between these 2 crews, when stroke had caught a boat-turning crab, 5 and 4 lacked no speed in their determination to crush any crustacean disturbance and resume the rhythm. The failure of Caius to capitalise on this incident allowed for NM1 to push through, but a few strokes after the crab the result looked almost guaranteed. While Caius were clearly breaking, possibly because they sensed the phoenix NM1 surging through, our boys pushed hard, trusted their beautiful long strokes and took it by around 3/4 length. Magnificent. (J. Armstrong)

The plan was to test ourselves by giving Caius half a length or so advantage by way of a tactical crab. Unfortunately we found ourselves still level afterwards so immediately caught another for luck. Having switched to all eight we smoothly got back on terms and rowed through them. Never in doubt (honestly, it really wasn't). Well done boys: one race from history (and Life). (Neil T)

The stern of Denys Lawrence remained intact, but only just. Alex was eventually persuaded to help. Spare kit was employed. Beth thought it was an accident. Homerton were beaten a Long Reach (approx). (Neil T)

Having last met Jesus in the final of Emma Sprints were we moved through them and took the win, this was a race worthy of being the final but sadly came too soon. (A. Strange)

This was an impressive performance from a crew which has clearly stepped things up over the last couple of weeks. An excellent start saw us move smoothly away from a much bigger Caius I crew, with the advantage stabilising at around half a length. Once Caius found some rhythm they started to gradually chip away at the advantage, but our composure was held until Caius gained parity coming into the Railway Bridge. Thereafter the rowing became just a little frantic s the boys fought hard to stay on terms, with some of the previous smoothness and togetherness lost. Nonetheless this was a valuable racing experience with lots of positives to take away, and given that Caius I went on to make the final this now looks an even more creditable result and bodes very well for Novice Fairbairns. (Neil T)

Having heard they were to face NW2, Pembroke NW3 hastened to scratch their entry, allowing our girls unimpeded progress into the semi-final. (J. Armstrong)

The quality of rowing and the balance off the easy to the start did well to intimidate Pembroke NW2 before the race. This was evident as FaT NW2 took 3/4 of a length by the stride. The girls settled well holding off Pembroke, but the pace was perhaps too high. Cracks started to show and whilst the girls fought valiantly to stay ahead, Pembroke managed to pull them back and break through. Many thanks are due to the numerous subs we needed over the weekend; for some of them this was their first race in a boat and without them we wouldn't have been nearly as competitive. (Tom)

Due to a few availability issues, 5 of NM5 were bolstered by borrowing the stroke of NM2 and using 2 female coxes. With the valiant Neil Ibata stepping in to cox his first race, we ventured forth from the boathouse, almost a scratch crew with little or no experience of high rate. Nevertheless, we had a fairly decent practice start and stride and sauntered up to marshalling feeling pleased with the outing so far. King's NM2 had a poor start and didn't pull away nearly as quickly as we thought. However our lack of rowing as a crew unfortunately showed about 20 strokes in, and, although there were patches of some nice strokes, King's were smoother and took the win. (J. Armstrong)