The Club's Results

Bumps before First Post aren’t meant to happen this high in Division 1. This was some fast rowing. (K. Ergene)

(M.E. Crane)

(M.E. Crane)

Due to the division starting early I missed most of the race, but arrived at the perfect moment at Ditton to see W1 close out their second bump of the week! Great effort by everyone in the boat. (P. Robinson)

(M.E. Crane)

A good strong start meant W1 held Downing on station until the gut, with Clare dropping to 2 lengths behind. However the rhythm was slightly too high and fast, and coming through grassy this began to tell as Downing pulled away to 2 lengths and Clare closed the gap. W1 stayed determined coming through the plough, but Clare again moved closer, until they had overlap coming out of Ditton corner. It was at this point that everyone in the boat decided they didn't want to be bumped, and promptly found a fantastic rhythm to walk away from a Clare boat which struggled with the headwind on the reach. This rhythm meant the gap to Downing started to slowly close, but sadly it would not be enough to go for a late bump, and so the crew held strong for a solid row over. Another chance at bumping into the top 4 tomorrow, and definitely achievable with their best rowing! (P. Robinson)

Seriously impressive stuff from M1 today! Silent focus after Bomber's pep talk was the theme on the start line, and it certainly paid off. An intimidating start left Catz M1 lengths behind. But Clare had a good start as well, leaving FaT on station after around 30 seconds. Slowly but surely the men began to gain on Clare, gaining a whistle after about a minute. Slightly confused to hear Bomber shout 'go on Peterhouse - lose them!' I looked forward to see Clare catching up with Peterhouse! FaT would have to speed up to catch Clare before Clare got Peterhouse. And they sure did. The whistles just kept on coming, and FaT bumped Clare just after First Post corner!! Bomber actually jumped with joy, hitting his bike handlebars in excitement! An amazing and committed row boys - well done! Now smash Pembroke. (M.E. Crane)

We pushed off with plenty of slack in the chain, so were slightly closer to Catz than I would have liked - however in the end it made no difference.  Our start was not the best we've done but the rate came up to around 41 even in the wind, and we quickly moved away from Catz and soon onto a length off Clare.  The crew did well not to panic with the whistles and held our speed along FP reach.  Clare had tried and failed to catch Peterhouse and very quickly came back to us on the corner.  In the end we didn't need to call a push as our cruising speed was sufficient - later in the week this won't be the case.  My feeling is we have a lot more tricks up our sleeve should we need to pull them out against faster crews. (Jedge)

Not our best row, but it was efficient and did the job. Nerves ran high on day 1 on bumps, and this reflected on the paddle down which was quite tense and didn't have the calm relaxation that we've gotten used to in the past few weeks. Having entered barely any races all term, there was always going to be slight mystery to if we were actually as fast as we thought we were, and it was nice to confirm our speed by smashing Clare at first post corner, and we enter tomorrow with confidence that if we row as well as we know we can, the result will come.  (D. Lee)

C.f. race report for W1. A very good day for FaT. (K. Ergene)

We were definitely very fortunate in this race - that said FaT M1 haven't had the best luck in the last few years so perhaps it was about time for some to come our way.  As my 50th bumps race with the club I'm happy it was an eventful and memorable one. (Jedge)

This was always going to be an interesting race with speed differences between all the crews ahead and a strong headwind. A good first few strokes were followed by a few not so good strokes, including a fairly large overhead crab from a certain member of the crew... However this was very well recovered at race pace, and before long we were closing the gap on Peterhouse again. Luck was on our side today as Clare behind were unable to capitalise after a steering issue off the start costing them some speed. M1 hit a strong rhythm down first post reach, but a row over looked to be on the cards as Peterhouse had closed to a canvas on Christs in front. Again the dice fell in our favour, as going through first post corner Peterhouse caught a boatstopper and their boat proceeded to stop. Christs happily rowed away, and M1 happily took their second bump of the week! Tomorrow looks to be another great opportunity to move up the charts, but hopefully in a less eventful manner than today! (P. Robinson)

(M.E. Crane)

M1 came into Friday with confidence and momentum from the 2 prior days of racing. Christs M1 looked to be rowing very cleanly, but we knew we had the speed advantage from Thursdays 'interesting' race. A good solid start saw M1 move to within a length very quickly, and they continued to close the gap along first post reach to gain overlap by the first corner. Christs attempted to respond, but M1 did not slow up, getting the bump coming into the gut. Tomorrow will be the true challenge of the week, starting behind a strong Robinson crew, and a chance to get blades! (P. Robinson)

We knew we could turn over Christ's pretty easily - they actually put up more of a fight than I expected but the result was pretty inevitable.  Tomorrow should be more challenging - we should be prepared for a bit of pain and iron out some of the sloppy bladework that's preventing us from moving really fast (Jedge)

The row up was very good - there was a definite energy and intent behind the practice start and the paddling had a very nice flow.  We knew this would have to be our best row of the week and that we wouldn't be able to bump quickly like the first three days. (Jedge)

We seemed to generally keep pace with St. Edmund’s (for the most part), but didn’t quite turn it up enough on the pushes, and occasional mistakes meant we dropped back slightly. We pulled away on the corners and almost made it away from them on Ditton, but our stern was caught by the St. Edmund’s bow’s blade’s tip, after many strokes with significant overlap. (K. Ergene)

(M.E. Crane)

The heavy rain had a telling effect on the boat, with the speakers becoming muffled before the race had started. The start was suboptimal; a very taught chain led to the boat swinging out slightly to stroke side and a couple of missed strokes from stroke side exacerbated this. The start was fast, and we initially moved on St. Edmund’s, but Darwin then turned up the heat and caught us following the exit of Grassy. (K. Ergene)

The crew had a clean technical start. The boat was mostly sat, with a great rhythmic push at the beginning (especially with the "draw" calls. We were getting very close to Catz M2 and would have probably caught up to them had Magdalene M2 been slower. The team had a very nice response to my calls, especially for the squeezing and the sitting up round the corners. Even though we got bumped, we still maintained M3 headship in the end!

(Ilsu Erdem Ari)

We put up a solid fight in rather windy conditions. History will forever wonder how much of our mettle was down to the sobering effect of Kerem's firm and remorseless countdown as we sat under the bridge waiting for our ears to get destroyed. We held off Trinity Hall very well halfway or more to Ditton Corner, with Clare gaining on them in turn. With a front seat view to all this predator-prey drama on the watery prairie my only thought was for us to push as hard as we can until Trinity Hall get taken down. Sadly Clare let up the pressure or messed up their line coming through Grassy, while Trinity Hall made a push we couldn't quite match coming up to Ditton Corner. Generally great response from the whole crew to push calls from Ilsu. Looking forward to going after Trinity Hall on Friday. (Mihkel)

M3 quickly gained a length on Trinity Hall II but, on the corners, they unfortunately succumbed to a loss of power and timing, resulting in them being bumped approaching Ditton. The bump-back on Friday is definitely achievable! (K. Ergene)

An even better start than the one on the first day, with more concentration and less excitement. Much more focussed and constant pushes. Great responsive crew, especially round the first corner. The “sit up” call was very effective and the crew managed to keep the boat fairly sat, despite the strong wind and agitated water. We managed to row faster than Trinity Hall in the first part of the race. However, we got bumped, mainly due to the strong wind and to a loss of power just before the second corner. Had we been chasing Trinity Hall, we would have certainly bumped them. In any case, the crew managed to have a strong start and maintain it strong up against a very powerful wind. 

(Ilsu Erdem Ari)

With an even more technical and powerful start than the previous two days, this race ended in despair as even Clare Hall were found to be better than us. (In complete denial of the existence of Clare Hall, I personally think it's unfair that Clare gets two boat clubs. Having two boat clubs is surely a mark of shame on any college.) The race plan was simple: do exactly the same as on Wednesday. The fools! Although we did achieve exactly the same as on Wednesday, we now knew the impossibility of a 2.6km row-over with such an unfit crew. Despite an incredible start, gaining somewhat on Tit Hall, looking for the revenge bump, we did not give it our all and Tit Hall soon gained some distance as we tired. Meanwhile, we were let down by Fitz who decided not to continue their blades-wards trajectory with some frankly abysmal rowing after an initial gain on Clare Hall on the start. As we tired, we could see Clare Hall gain on us. To the not at all deafening cheers of the largely apathetic audience (I assume there is no minimum number of people to constitute an audience), Clare Hall rowed further and for longer than they would have hoped before bumping us.
(Luke Barratt)

The plan was to fly off the start and bump back Clare Hall M1, or die trying. Tremendous work from the whole crew as the whistles were sounding by First Post and we almost got them. We couldn't muster a powerful enough push for the bump and let them draw away, but had put so much clear water between ourselves and the pursuing Fitz M2 that they in turn fell prey to Churchill without ever threatening us. We rowed over towards the siren song of BCD and retained M3 headship. (Mihkel)

W2 put in a super strong effort today (almost all of the crew's first ever Bumps race!). They held off Jesus W3 in a VERY tense sandwich situation (Jesus had overlap for a good few seconds before being bumped by Downing W2). Ellie (the amazing cox) said she was considering conceding, but then she saw the determination and grit of the wonderful crew and was like HELL NO. She called a power 10 (although the crew didn't hear this as the cox box died...) and FaT escaped! Unfortunately a very fast Queens W2 managed to catch FaT just after Ditton. The crew is determined to put up more of a fight tomorrow (hopefully aided by a cox box)! Much love girls, I'm very proud xxx (M.E. Crane)

Unfortunately, the race was very short-lived. Fifty metres in, they rowed past Jesus’ station, who were unable to race after issues with their cox box. Praise should go to Ellie, who paid attention in the Coxes’ Meeting, didn’t row into a stationary crew, and pulled in quickly to claim the bump. (K. Ergene)

A nice and easy day for W2. Due to Jesus W3 having a broken cox box, all the crew had to do was do a (wonderful I must say) start and then pull in behind Jesus for the Bump! YES GIRLS :D Bring on Friday! (M.E. Crane)