First and Third Trinity

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30th Jul '08	May term round-up	by bjg
After the unbridled success of Lent term, May term saw more mixed results; fortunately the highs far outweighed the lows, including the club's first Mays headship since 1973 and the recovery of the Michell Cup after victory in 2006 and second place in 2007. A little after the end of Lent term, five members of the club were in action in boat races against Oxford. Tobias Garnett improved on his Goldie colours from last year by earning his Blue as the only undergraduate in this year's Boat Race, but lost to a strong Oxford crew. Rachel Croft rowed for Blondie, but did not have the opportunity to show her ability as an early crab elsewhere in the boat led to defeat. The only Cambridge crew to beat Oxford this year featured three members from First and Third, as Fran Rawlins captained the lightweight women, with Abbi Fox coxing and Julia Summers rowing, to a victory over their Oxford counterparts. The pressures of exam term always make it hard to find time for racing, so it was fortunate that there was plenty of action before it even started. The 1st men's VIII were invited to take part in the inaugural Ghent Student Regatta, organised by the University of Ghent, and beat opposition from Magdalen College, Oxford and Leiden, Netherlands before losing to the hosts in the final. In the week before term, First and Third had a bumper entry in the annual Small Boats Regatta, including an impressive six men's pairs, but our sole victory came from Richard Fletcher and Philipp Preiss in the men's Foster Fairbairn Pairs. After that, everyone returned to rowing in eights. The 1st men's VIII was the first crew in action, at the Nottingham City Regatta. They qualified for the final but, on a windy day, races were postponed and they had to go home before it took place. The day after, a women's VIII entered the Radegund Mile Head Race and came fifth. A week later and the top three men's VIIIs were all in action. The 2nd and 3rd men's VIIIs were both disappointed to come second in their categories at the Head of the Cam despite strong performances. A weakened 1st men's VIII travelled to Dorney for Wallingford Regatta and did not make it past their heat, but four of them raced again in the coxless four and qualified for the final. Another week later, three crews entered the Cambridge Head-2-Head, the highlight a category win for the 2nd men's VIII. The last couple of races before bumps were well into term and the last bit of 'fun' before exams started for most people. The Champion of the Thames Eights Head results were unable to match last year's, with no one winning free alcohol of any sort. The 2nd men's VIII were the fastest 2nd VIII but unfortunate that the categories were based on bumps division. A composite 1st and 2nd men's VIII entered the Cambridge 99's Regatta and performed well below the difference of its parts. The Lent Bumps successes looked hard to match, and so it proved as the club struggled in the May Bumps, beginning with the Fellows' VIIIs failure to get on in the May Bumps Getting-on Race. The women's crews and men's lower boats could not maintain their momentum from their Lent term exertions and all finished down for the week. The upper men's boats fared better: the 2nd and 3rd men's VIII retained their headships, the latter going up a solid two places. The 2nd men's VIII did well to maintain their 14th position by bumping Robinson but being bumped by Fitz, arguably one of the quickest three crews on the river. The 1st men's VIII took the Mays headship on Wednesday evening, bumping Caius as they came out of Ditton, and then rowed over comfortably for three days despite the loss of Tobias Garnett, who went to represent Great Britain in the World Cup Regatta in Poznan, Poland. This finally brought a 35-year drought to an end and finished Caius' 21-day stay at the top. These results were enough to win the Michell Cup by the narrowest of margins. Over the last three years the club has come first, second and first in the Michell Cup, and currently holds nine headships at various levels, which is a fair reflection of First and Third's current dominance on the Cam. (Jesus hold four, Pembroke three and LMBC one.) Points-scoring is heavily affected by changes in bumps position, making it harder to do well the year after a good year, so to perform so consistently well is no mean feat. The final rowing event of term was the Henley Royal Regatta. With two of the May VIII rowing with CUBC and one more unable to make it, it was decided to concentrate the club's talents in a four and to enter the Prince Albert. The only opportunity to put the crew through its paces before Henley was Marlow Regatta, where they made the semi-final despite limited time as a crew. They then qualified for Henley, but lost to semi-finalists Glasgow University. The two First and Third members representing CUBC at Henley were James Strawson, who gave eventual winners Newcastle University their closest race in the Prince Albert, and Tobias Garnett, who added the Stewards' Challenge Cup to his season's achievements by beating the Great Britain U23 and Greek national fours. The term also saw two grudge matches between the boat club and its alumni. In mid-May, Black Prince inflicted on First and Third their heaviest defeat so far in the annual FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge. A month later First and Third had their revenge in the FaT vs BPBC Cricket Challenge. This brought the multisport season to a close, with the final result an honourable 2-2 draw (FaT: rowing, cricket; BPBC: football, golf). This is an appropriate time to thank the alumni for their support, be it financially, through coaching or down at the river for races. All help is greatly appreciated and is a fundamental part of the club's successes. The Mays headship was won in a brand-new boat with a brand-new set of oars, both generous gifts from former captains. The club would not be in the eviable position in which it is today if it were not for former club members' efforts on the river during their time at Trinity and their continued effort from the bank. Finally, congratulations are due to women's captain Harriet Booker and men's and overall captain Ming-Chee Chung on an outstanding year. In particular, Ming captained the men's club to success in all ten major senior competitions this year: University Fours: light IVs, coxed IVs, 2nd coxed IVs Fairbairn Cup: VIIIs, 2nd VIIIs, IVs (retained) Lent bumps: headship (retained), 2nd VIII headship May bumps: headship, 2nd VIII headship (retained) I should be very surprised if any club has achieved this clean sweep before and am almost certain that First and Third has never even won the 'Grand Slam' of Fairbairns, Lents and Mays; however, after my efforts with the Lent term round-up, I shall leave the verification to someone else. The best of luck to next year's women's captain, Liz Hill, and men's and overall captain, Florian Gruessing, for a year in which we a hope to go from strength to strength.
8th Apr '08	Lent term round-up	by bjg
Following on from good progress in Michaelmas, there was a lot of hard work still to be done if we were to repeat the successes of last year's Lents. We had a double headship to defend and lower boats looking to improve on already strong positions. The Cambridge Head-2-Head provided the traditional start-of-term shock to the system. The 2nd women's VIII, including several ex-novices, put in a strong performance, the 1st women's VIII maintained their rate of improvement against the other colleges, losing by only a second, and the 1st men's VIII completed their unbeaten year against college crews. Next up was a trip to Peterborough for the Head of the Nene. In their first race of term the 2nd men's VIII carried the mantle of First and Third, following the 1st men's VIII's aborted attempt due to injury, and showed straight away that they were competitive even for a 1st VIII. The 1st women's VIII came in second fastest college crew, beating Jesus for the first time - good news, as Jesus were starting second in bumps. Meanwhile, the Gents stayed at home to win the lower boats division of Newnham Short Course comfortably, not far behind the overall winners, with the 2nd and 3rd women's VIIIs recording solid and entertaining rows respectively. At Robinson Head, the 1st men's and 2nd women's VIIIs retained their titles, with the 1st women's and 2nd and 3rd men's VIIIs just missing out. A couple of days later, the 2nd men's VIII were again racing as FaT's top crew at the Bedford Head where, in a strong field, they missed out on the college victory by just four seconds. Pembroke Regatta was the last chance to practise before bumps itself (a chance that only the Gents turned down), and the club had plenty of reason for optimism. The 2nd men's VIII competed in the 1st VIIIs' division and lost a close battle in the quarter finals, yet again showing their speed to be comparable to that of the quickest 1st VIIIs. The 2nd women's VIII won two races but lost to a very strong Jesus crew at the same stage. The 5th men's VIII lost to LMBC IV in the first round and the 4th men's VIII had an impressive run but couldn't quite go all the way, losing to LMBC III in the final. The 3rd women's VIII won their category, as did the 1st men's VIII for the third year running. However, the result of the day came from the 1st women's VIII, who won their first title of the academic year at the perfect time, beating a field containing all of their rivals for the headship. The bumps campaign started disappointingly, with the 5th men's and 3rd women's VIIIs narrowly failing to get on in the Lent Bumps Getting-on Race. They were certainly both crews who would have been sufficiently strong in previous years. Fortunately, this proved to be the last disappointment of the week, with the Lent Bumps themselves surpassing even the most optimistic of expectations. The 4th men's VIII went up 2, leaving them 16 places ahead of LMBC IV, the only other 4th VIII in the bumps, and with only three 3rd VIIIs ahead of them. The Gents VIII won their blades and a place in the second division. The 2nd women's VIII went up 3, having been left with nothing to chase on the third day, putting them within touching distance of the second division. For the second year running, the 2nd men's VIII proved to be much too quick for their position in the bumps charts, and five quick bumps earned them blades, the 2nd VIII headship and a place in the first division. The two headship crews were aiming to slog it over the course for four consecutive days. The 1st men's VIII did this in unspectacular fashion, never putting in a devastating performance but never being threatened from behind. The 1st women's VIII left Jesus for dead on the first two days and held off Emma without too much difficulty on the third day. On the final day, Emma gave it their all but our women put in the effort of their lives to row over a canvas clear. By any measure, this was a phenomenally successful set of bumps. This is only the third ever double headship and the first time that any club has retained one. It is the first time that a First and Third crew has ever retained a Lents headship (although 1st Trinity retained Lents headships in 1902 and earlier years) and the first time that a First and Third crew has retained a headship of any sort since 1967. The last time that any crew was higher than it is now was in 1987, and this was the first Lents since 1944 that no Trinity boat was bumped. The men's club now holds headships at all levels in the Lents (and indeed, with the exception of the 1st and 6th VIIIs, in the Mays). First and Third earned more Michell Cup points from the Lents than any other club, which is a remarkable feat for a large club in an already strong position. There was still time for a few post-bumps afterthoughts of varying degrees of importance. The next sporting event after the Lents was of the non-rowing variety, with the second annual FaT v BPBC Football Challenge. Black Prince made up for last year's defeat in emphatic style, with captain Neil Talbott scoring the first hat trick in this fixture and leading his team to a comfortable 3-0 victory. Three days later were the 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls, run by first-year Peter Ford. We met with limited success in the singles, but the combination of Tom Coker and Richard Fletcher was enough to win the doubles competition. Cardinal's Regatta saw four crews entered and the 'Fun IVs' division won by the Formal Dinner Brigade, and left Iain with some work to do on Titan over the holidays. In the last event of Lent term, the top two men's VIIIs, each with only two subs since the Lents, went to London for the annual Head of the River Race. As new entrants, both crews were low in the starting order, but came in 88th and 263rd, the best results recorded on this website for the 1st and 2nd VIIIs. The 1st VIII beat all college opposition, while the 2nd VIII beat six college 1st VIIIs (as well as both the other 2nd VIIIs). This was an appropriate end to an outstanding term's work by the whole club. Many thanks to all those who have contributed their time to coach and support the club; your efforts are appreciated by all involved. These results leave the club with plenty of momentum to take into May term. Let's hope that the next term is as successful as this one has been! (2 replies...)
7th Jun '08	May Bumps Updates	by bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS. The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows: Division Wed-Fri Sat Men's 6 13:00 11:00 Women's 5 13:05 11:05 Men's 5 13:45 11:45 Women's 4 14:30 12:30 Men's 4 15:15 13:15 Women's 3 16:00 14:00 Men's 3 16:45 14:45 Women's 2 17:30 15:30 Men's 2 18:15 16:15 Women's 1 19:00 17:00 Men's 1 19:45 17:45 We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT. Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing! Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (33 replies...)
21st Feb '08	Lent Bumps Updates	by bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's Lent Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our Lent Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS. The Lents begin at 2pm on Tuesday - the full division times are as follows: Division Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat M1 - 16:40 16:40 16:40 16:40 W1 - 16:00 16:00 16:00 16:00 M2 16:40 - 15:20 15:20 15:20 W2 16:00 - 14:40 14:40 14:40 M3 15:20 15:20 - 14:00 14:00 W3 14:40 14:40 - 13:20 13:20 M4 14:00 14:00 14:00 - 12:40 We hope you enjoy our results service again. Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (65 replies...)
4th Dec '07	Mich Term round-up	by bjg
Michaelmas term saw the men's and women's boat clubs facing different challenges. The men's squad was unusually experienced for this time of year but, with the main goals still many months away, had to maintain commitment and rate of progress despite the opposition being a bit slow out of the blocks. Also playing the long game, the women faced the task of rebuilding after the loss of several key squad members. Looking back on the term, both sides of the club have acquitted themselves impressively well, with the novices also showing touches of real class as they look forward to strengthening the senior squad next term. The Autumn Head was the first chance to see how we measured up against the other clubs, and strong results across the board suggested that we were reasonably well set up for the rest of term. However, University IVs still surpassed expectations, with First and Third winning all three men's categories: the light IVs and 1st and 2nd men's coxed IVs. The 1st women's IV proved to be among the quickest crews in the competition, but were ultimately not quick enough to retain their title. The following day's Fours Head results were disappointing, perhaps affected by post-Uni IVs lethargy but definitely a result of the rowing being too slow. Meanwhile, the novices had taken to the ergometers in the traditional mindless destruction of four weeks' painstaking technical tuition known as Queens' Ergs. The 1st novice men and women got off to a flying start, coming 5th and 2nd respectively, and everyone enjoyed the unique Queens' Ergs atmosphere. The week after came the Winter Head, the first chance for the novices to give it a go on the water and the last chance for pre-Fairbairns race practice for the seniors. It served both purposes adequately, highlighting that there was still plenty of work to be done all round. The day after, Emma Sprints was called off early on due to high winds, depriving the 2nd and 3rd novice women of their warm-up for Clare Novices. Clare Novices was the first major race for the novice squad. The 1st novice men showed the progress they had made since the Winter Head, winning three rounds before losing in the semi final. The 1st novice women were out-sprinted in the quarter finals by a determined Lucy Cavendish/Hughes Hall composite. The 2nd novice men were unlucky to come across one of the stronger first boats in their first round, while the 2nd novice women and 3rd novice men had decent runs to the quarter final stages of the plate competition. Novice Fairbairns was particularly eventful for the men's club. The 1st novice men was the only First and Third men's crew to make it down the course from start to finish in one attempt with more than six people rowing for at least half the race, and came a strong 4th place. The 4th novice men's (first) attempt was, fortunately for posterity, captured on camera. The women's novice crews all recorded solid results, coming 8th, 31st and 45th. The final event of term, Fairbairns, saw the usual high turnout of alumni, with Black Prince Boat Club entering a total of five men's and women's crews and beating all college alumni opposition. The Black Prince women won the Fairbairn IVs invitational category for the second time, maintaining their 100% record in this event. The 1st women's VIII finished 5th, but looking at this over the course of the term they are making rapid progress on the colleges ahead of them, none of whom are out of touch. The 1st novice women finished as the 5th fastest 2nd VIII. The 1st women's IV were disappointed to lose their Fairbairn IVs title to a quick Emma crew, but the 2s margin of defeat over the 3.2km course is another reminder of the progress they have made when compared with the 7s defeat to the same crew over 1.3km in Uni IVs. The men's boat club underlined its dominance of Cambridge college rowing past and present with all nine crews entered by First and Third and Black Prince the fastest in their class (including victories for the novices as the fastest 3rd and 4th VIIIs), picking up five trophies along the way. These included our first Fairbairn Cup victory since 1997 and the retention of the Fairbairn IVs title, with three rowers surviving from last year's crew, and was a fitting end to a term in which the senior men had suffered only one defeat in seventeen races on the Cam. Congratulations to all involved this term, and a huge thanks to all who have coached us. This is a great time to be at the club, and things look good for the future. The biggest challenges are still to come, but the club is in a strong position to meet them head on. (1 reply...)

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