The Club's Results

The crew absolutely gurned their way down the course, cutting through the wash and munching up a fast crew. Let it be known - Clare M2 was fast, but FaT M2 was rapid. Clare looked devastated, we looked elated.

Massive props to Rachel, whose coxing got my adrenaline going like crazy when we came round Ditton. Awesome. Well deserved bump guys. 

Despite the start which had neither the rate nor the platform of the one yesterday, we gained half a length on Darwin very easily. However, we sat at one length for far longer than was expected or needed, rowing messily down first post reach. At Rachel and Fordy's call for finishes, the standard of rowing (and boat speed) improved substantially, and we gained very quickly on Darwin, gaining the second whistle around first post corner and bumping before the entrance of grassy.

Definitely not the best row we've done, but it was enough to get the job done today. I am very excited for what the crew can bring to the table tomorrow chasing a much faster boat.

Tomorrow's race with u chasing Downing M2 chasing Jesus M2 is sure to be a race to remember. All that is left now is to gear up for that and prepare to deliver as much pain to Downing as our legs give us. Ra ra First and Third.

In lieu of an original composition, I will reproduce an appropriate excerpt from scripture, while taking care to be entirely faithful to the original text:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to novice, and a time to leave;

a time to wind, and a time to rhythm; a time to bulk, and a time to cut;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to disband crews, and a time to gather crews together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to chase, and a time to fly; a time to bump, and a time to go down;

a time to time to hold, and a time to push; a time to keep silence, and a time to shout;

a time to catch, and a time to release; a time to race, and a time to rest.

What do rowers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden that FaT has laid upon them; none can fathom what FaT has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and row well; that each of them may eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil -- this is the gift of FaT. I know that everything FaT does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. That which is, has already been; that which is to be, already is.

(Ecclesiastes 3, more or less)

Both the paddle down and the start down plough reach was committed, clean and powerful, certainly the best I've ever done. The crew got excited as the bump on Downing suddenly seemed an imminent possibility. 

As per plan, we set off with explosive start and a powerful rhythm, but it seemed as if we underestimated Downing (or they also went very hard off the start), as we never significantly gained on them, staying on or slightly inside station for most of first post reach (despite covering it 4 splits quicker than we had on Wednesday). Around first post corner, Peter shouted that Downing was to bump Jesus "in the next 10 strokes": disappointing, but it seemed that a relatively easy row over with no threat from behind and no prey ahead awaited. 

How wrong I was. Downing somehow managed to miss a certain bump, and kept blowing up just enough to give Peter hope that we could get them. Our entire crew blew up somewhere along plough reach, but Rachel continued to call for pushes down the Reach and past the railings, resulting in one of the most painful experiences in my (albeit short) rowing career. After Grassy, we never really settled to a nice rhythm, and never gained a whistle, despite their awful steering and crabs. A post-race analysis at crew pasta showed that we rowed down the Long Reach 20% slower than we rowed down first post reach (which was actually slower than our paddling), showing the crew's commitment to the 4-minute race plan and hence why we were unable to munch up Downing despite them having blown up. 

Tomorrow, we get to try again, this time with a rapid Sidney crew from behind. (who will certainly get close) However, (with half the crew having been never bumped before) we are eager to embrace the pain and give it our all to hold them off. Whatever the result tomorrow, I am very to proud to have been part of this crew. We have already far exceeded expectations and avoided what seemed like certain spoons, and I have faith that what carried us so far this term will help us gain the result we want tomorrow. 

Personally, the "not panic" part worked a bit too well. We had a very clean start, and settled to a powerful but sustainable rhythm. Having experienced moving away from Pembroke when they got to less than a length down the gut on day 1, I never considered getting bumped a realistic possibility (especially considering how well we seemed to be rowing) until Sidney moved to half a length on us. (probably less, it is a bit difficult to judge distances from bow) Then Rachel called for a bumps push but Sidney already had the momentum - we got bumped around first post corner. 

Sidney was a fast crew, even by M1 standards, so I do not feel very bad about getting bumped: as Peter and David told us after the race, there was always some inevitability about this bump. In fact I feel that M2 has much to be proud of this term, considering that we ended up 5 places above where most people (including Peter and myself) expected us to be at the end of this bumps campaign.