The Club's Results

In contrast to the predictions of the met office, the May VIII were able to row down to the start in relatively calm conditions, spinning with 7 minutes to go. Pushing out was smooth and the start aggressive and controlled, although Downing ahead and LMBC chasing both gained slightly in their respective directions. Racing through the gut, Downing, stacked with Cambridge kit, were about 2 lengths clear and bearing down hard on Emmanuel who were later to hit Jesus, while LMBC, stroked by Tom Edwards-Moss of this year's blue boat, were about a length away. Coming round Ditton this had been reduced to half a length and this was eroded gradually further as both crews pushed simultaneously into the reach. By the railings Maggie had three hooters and despite a Herculean effort they forced overlap and bumped soon afterwards, with Downing about 2½ lengths away. Although this result was a bitter pill to swallow, some crumbs of comfort can be taken from the fact that in the distance, both Trinity Hall and Christ's were significantly slower than any of the big six and should pose little threat over the next couple of days. (Neil)

At least we don't shit in our own pants. (Michael Parker)

In time-honoured tradition the scum closed ruthlessly off the start, and the 1st VIII were back in the traditional territory of being only 1/4 length ahead at Grassy. However, whilst things did go to plan for a while thereafter, Maggie somehow acted less soft than usual and we were hit at the railings. (Martin)

This was very disappointing. Our efforts to find a rhythm within our boat meant that we let Hall advance - and yet again our pursuers were perhaps 1/2 length or less away at Grassy and closed to Ditton. Our pushes remained effective down the reach, holding them out to just beyond overlap for most of it. However, finally they found a little extra strength, or something, and we were bumped again, this time just beyond the railway bridge.

This is not the most comfortable way to row a bumps race. Although bumps preparation has suffered set backs and problems this term, the determination showed today will be stepped up - a new level will be found to defend our new position tomorrow. (Martin)

Again conditions were milder than had been predicted, though a light but continuous drizzle had set in during W1. Fortunately this was not sufficient to cause the starting cannons, already deafeningly close to the May VIII's starting station, to be moved under the motorway bridge. As on Wednesday, their start was controlled and technical but lacked the aggression and power of either LMBC ahead or Trinity Hall, chasing; after twenty strokes the gap to the latter was reduced to a length and this was closed further down the gut until there was just over a canvas of clear water at Grassy. At this point 1st and 3rd stepped up a gear and Hall made little more impression down Plough Reach, with the gap remaining constant at around 6 feet through Ditton and onto the Long Reach. This distance was then gradually eroded and by the Railings Hall were starting to get overlap. The separation fluctuated between overlap and about four feet for the next few hundred metres as Hall pushed and 1st and 3rd responded; by the Railway Bridge a bump looked inevitable but one final effort took us three feet clear again. Sadly this was not enough and another lift by Hall saw them bump halfway between the bridge and Morley's Holt. (Neil)

Setting out to stay outside distance on Christ's, we had a good strong powerful start (after being deafened by the cannon under the bridge) and moved well to First Post Corner. The gut, and Grassy in particular, were weak, though, and they closed to 2/3 of a length. From that point our rowing deteriorated and was well below what we should expect of ourselves. We were bumped by the railings. (Martin)

Saturday's weather was generally very unpleasant; many people on the towpath were covered in mud from head to toe and soaked to the skin, although by M1 the weather had calmed somewhat and conditions were much better. After a minute's silence, the guns went and 1st and 3rd set off, determined to row over at worst. The race pattern, though, was very similar to the previous three days, as Robinson proved that their cruise speed was faster than ours; racing through the Gut, they had closed to a length and by Ditton the gap was no more than half a length. Meanwhile, Christ's were outside distance, although they made no serious impression on Trinity Hall. Coming past the Railings Robinson began to overlap and although 1st and 3rd gave their all, they never opened up clear water during their final pushes. Steph was finally forced to acknowledge at the newest landmark on the Long Reach, the Fallen Tree, to complete a miserable week for the May VIII. (Neil)

Despite having gone down 3, we set out in a positive and determined fashion - convinced that we had what we needed to achieve atleast a row-over infront of our weakest pursuers of the week. Our attitude rewarded us with a better row, but not the result we badly wanted.

After just two difficult years, the May Boat lies just one place away from its lowest position ever. Good luck, John, for 2002. (Martin)

After a good start we were well away from Girton and going for the bump on Selwyn. Unfortunately carnage in the gut caused both Selwyn and Newhall ahead of them to stop (they had a rerow later). So through the corners it was down to just us and Girton, who stayed pretty much on distance. Around Ditton they began to close up and we had a tough race up the reach with them snapping at our heels. Guttingly they managed to hit us with only a few strokes to go. (Rosie)

Difficult to describe without use of expletives. Bow 7 had a confused start after we were blown into the bank, (at least I think that's what happened, unless CCAT have taken up telekinesis). We got back together well though, and with all VIII rowing pushed away. But not enough. Magdalene failed to go fast enough to get them before they got us. We were bumped in Plough reach. (Rosie)

But we rowed really hard and got up to half a length off CCAT. Had a great start and held them off for a good while before getting bumped outside the Plough. (Rosie)

We set off determined to row over and not get spoons, sadly Magdalene had other ideas. The start was not quite as brilliant as friday but we quickly got the boat up to speed and magdalene did not get too close too quickly. However they were a fast crew and by Ditton were aiming their bows into us. At that point Julia (subbing for Alex) called for a push, and push we did, dramatically getting clear water again and allowing Julia to move the stern around to safety. Up the reach we kept pushing away, but sadly getting bumped became unavoidable. It was very disapointing to get spoons, and especially to be hit by a crew who we took down last Mays, but it was a good row, we gave it absolutely everything we could. This year has not been good, but there is now a core of experienced rowers who can go out for revenge next year! (Rosie)

The low point of my college rowing career. We pulled our guts out and watched Sidney gain on us all the way down the Reach, finally overbumping us at Morley's Holt.

We sat there, totally quiet, pulled into the bank for what seemed like an age. On the way home Crawford passed us on his bike - Harding broke the bad news... (Dan)

A powerful if slightly messy start rating 40 saw us hold station with Downing II ahead and LMBC II behind. As we settled into our race rhythm rating 35-36 in the Gut LMBC II moved up on us, but Girton moved up even quicker on LMBC II to bump out at Grassy. Sidney (I) were still a long way behind, but our rating and boat speed never dropped. On the Reach it became clear that Sidney were significantly quicker, and must have been gaining nearly half a canvas on us every stroke. They hit us at the Railway Bridge, unfortunately failing to easy on Chris' acknowledgement of the bump, resulting in a bent rigger.
Despite the disappointing end result, we rowed reasonably well to achieve our highest sustained boat speed of the term, and the determination with which we rowed was inspiring.
Thursday: Chasing LMBC II, chased by Emmanuel II. (Jon D)

A change of tactics saw us wind to 42 and then hold 40 in an attempt to catch LMBC II. We took about 1/4 length out of them on the start and another 1/4 coming out of First Post Corner, but Emmanuel II behind were too quick, and bumped us after 90 seconds in the Gut. Similar to yesterday - a bit messy with reasonable speed, but simply not quick enough.
Friday: Chasing Emmanuel II, chased by Caius II. (Jon D)

True to his word, John wound to 42 today but despite some last minute huddling behind a car, Emma were just too good for us.
So, is it 44 tomorrow then John? (Dan)

Having been bumped quickly by Emma II yesterday, we did not expect to bump back, so instead concentrated on holding off Caius II. Jesus II had pushed Caius II hard off the start on the first two days, so the plan was to sprint from the start until Caius were bumped by Jesus. Caius had overlap on us coming out of First Post Corner, and Jesus had overlap on Caius. We held them for maybe 10 strokes down the Gut, but they bumped us just before Grassy. A disgruntled row home didn't help affairs. Come and watch us attempt to rate 50 off the start to hold off Jesus II for as long as possible tomorrow.
Saturday: Chasing Caius II, chased by Jesus II.

P.S. At least we avoided being hit by the scum by being overbumped on Wednesday. (Jon D)

A slight adjustment in crew order saw us hitting around 42 of the start again, but Jesus II were more powerful and bumped us just before First Post Corner.
Tomorrow: Get pissed again. (Jon D)

We had a nice row up to the start, despite having had a slight earlier panic about whether Margot (who the 3rd VIII were using) would be back in time, which she was, and had a couple of minutes after spinning to relax and focus.
We were slightly unprepared for the gun, and as a result did not get quite as good a start as we would have liked, but we soon settled into a nice rhythm and prepared to bump Downing.
For quite a while there were screams from the bank telling us that Downing were fading and kippering and spannering, but despite this there were no hooters, and no stern to be seen!!
It then became apparent that in fact Downing had overbumped in front of us, and we then realised that a row-over was going to be necessary. Jesus took a very good line around the corners and gradually started to come up on us, and at the top of the reach they were only about a canvas away. We gritted our teeth and kept going, but their boat got ever and ever closer, as we both zig-zagged down the reach. They had overlap on us for a lot of the way, but due to Chris' excellent coxing and our determination, along with cries of 'you can do it, you are better than them, you are stronger than them!!' every time a bump seemed almost inevitable, we managed to pull away just enough to avoid it. After what seemed like forever, we were told that we only had 15 strokes to go, and we all gave it everything we had left. I don't think I have ever been more relieved than when I saw Simon Blackburn's arm coming down as our stern passed under the railway bridge, confirming our row-over.
Tomorrow we have the joys of whatever rubbish Downing overbumped down to us; we'll show them just what we're made of!! (Lardy)

We had a pretty good start, but did not wind as high as we perhaps could have done, and therefore did not take much, if anything, off Homerton II at the start. Jesus IV behind us were bumped by Girton II just under the motorway bridge, and from then on all we had to concentrate on was the bump.
As much as we pushed, we never really closed Homerton down to less than a length, except at one point past Grassy when apparently we were within 2/3rds length.
Once we were beyond the railway bridge, there was nothing chasing us at all, and we were still striving to catch Homerton up. However, in the end, the bump eluded us, and again we had an exhausting row-over right up to the line.

Tomorrow we have a fast Girton crew chasing who will be hoping to bump us, but if we start well and push away into Homerton, hopefully we'll be rowing home with greenery. :) (Lardy)

Now what did I say yesterday about greenery . . . :)
Well, this is going to be brief. We span at the lock on the 4 minute gun, prepared ourselves and were pushed out, ready to face the opposition.
We got a much better start than on the previous 2 days, winding to 43(!) - thanks Lara - and settled well. Pretty much as soon as we had settled into our race rhythm, our bank party were tooting their hooters. Despite a couple of minor mishaps (airstrokes, falling off seat etc - let's not worry about those), the hooters continued, as we reeled the Homerton boat in. First one hooter, then two, then three, then continuous, all in the space of under a minute, and before we had really started our race it was over with the wonderful sound of 'hold it up!'
Yes, we bumped!! Somewhere between the Motorway Bridge and First Post Corner. Yippee!!
Margot's bow unfortunately took a bit of a beating from the bank (sorry, Iain), but it was for a good cause. We adorned ourselves with greenery and had a nice relaxed row home - a much longer row home than we have been used to, but hey, that's bumping for you (I'm certainly not complaining). :)

Tomorrow, Girton II ahead of us (they overbumped today) will provide some tough opposition, but we CAN get them. If they happen to bump out before we've got them, we'll be going for the overbump on Pembroke II (I think). Bring it on!!!! (Lardy)

Girton let us down... The rat bags should have bumped downing ahead of them, and then we could have bumped Queens. We got bored and Homerton TRIED to get us back for yesterday... ha, ha, ha... (R. J. Reed)

We rowed over. I will write more once I have had a shower and a bit of sleep. Ra ra ra!! (Lardy)

The Gentlemen of the 3rd VIII convened this afternoon, and once aquaintances had been made, paddled to the start.
A glorious afternoon, a leisurely row and the thought of a pub stop on the way home were marred only by broken seats, rudders and riggers.
Still, our practice start could have been worse; the real one was. Rudely bumped by Selwyn II somewhere before Grassy, we at least were able to retain enough energy to make it back to the Fort St George. (Dom)

Gentlemen should not have to row over. Simple as that. Today it happened, Girton II might have got within distance after our smooth but 'leisurely' start, but by the end they were trailing by 4 lengths.
The crew was v. disgruntled about having to row the whole course, not being able to stop off at the P&E made matters worse; post race debriefing had to take place at the Plough. Such is life. (Dom)

An untidy plough reach before Homerton charged in to view cost the crew dear; thereafter panic spread as it became clear that their new pursuers were absolutely flying.... Had the crew realised they only needed to pass Peter's Posts they may yet have held on - but fell apart and were hit pretty much on the finishing line. Particularly disappointing after the good row over yesterday. (Martin)

The prestigious and enigmatic 1st and 3rd IV (featuring the bow-four all-stars) were today chasing Homerton I, who were in turn chasing LMBC IV. Chasing us were Pembroke III. There was a slightly uneasy atmosphere in the boat-house before the race, as we were warming up along side the Homerton guys, most of whom were considerably bigger than us. However, our knowledge they were basically a boat made up of clumsy PE teachers was reassuring.
A nice brisk row down to the start left us with only two minutes after we had spun before the gun went, but this was probably a good thing. Our start was very controlled considering it was the first day of the Mays, and we made some ground on the Homerton boat. However, our hopes of achieving a giant-killing over bump (and thereby in some sense gaining revenge on the PE teachers for all those laps of the playing field we were made to do at school) were ruined by the arch-enemy, Maggie 4. Yes folks, they were shit. They had all the grace and finesse of Bernard Manning and were equally inept at rowing. They were bumped just before Grassy, but luckily we had anticipated the occurance of just such an eventuality, and our practice row-overs ensured that we had the confidence to do what was now required. By the time Homerton bumped, we had moved considerably clear of Pembroke 3, and with the two boats ahead of us gone, it only remained for us to row over, which we did comfortably, with a ~15 length lead of Pembroke at the Railway Bridge. In order to save energy for the big effort on Thursday, we took the rate down, and floated gracefully and casually past all the admiring women's crews on the bank. At least I think they were admiring us... perhaps it was us that were admiring them. Anyway, Henry's call of "Looking good for the ladies" was greeted with mixed reaction from the bank.
Having demoralised Pembroke 3 by such a commanding victory - we were still increasing our lead even after we took the rate down - we should have no problems from them tomorrow, and will be able to concentrate on pasting the Maggie 4th boat. The only thing that could prevent us doing so is if Homerton send down someone feeble from M3, and LMBC hit them before we can bump. Should that happen, a repeat of today's race will follow. (I hate Chris Tarrant)

A stirring crew pasta yesterday evening should have us all set for a good row and easy bump today. No such luck. From before we were on the water, when it was realised that our blades were gone and we'd have to switch coxbox, the day's rowing was an unsatisfactory experience. Sitting the boat turned out to be too big a challenge for us, and general frustration turned into bitchy complaints and retorts. At least the weather was nice.
These problems plagued us throughout our practice start and race. We bumped, of course, but we did it badly.
Our main objective for the day having been achieved, our motivation appeared to flag, causing the paddling home to be even worse than what we'd seen so far. Tomorrow we do not have such an easy match, and will be required to do better if we wish to move up head of the 4th division (and beyond...). Fortunately, the raceplan plays to our strength, and I believe that if we pull ourselves together we should be able to do it, and row a race to be proud of. (G. Harboe)

A rather harsh assessment. (2FaT)

It is said that the sign of a good sports team is when it can win without playing well. 1st and 3rd IV certainly did that today, recapturing the coveted 4th boat Headship by bumping LMBC IV at Grassy, despite having a scrappy row down and a shocker of a practice start, as well as rushing and overrating during the race itself. They are capable of much, much better, and will need to produce it tomorrow to topple Corpus II at the head of M4. (Neil)

We had some complications before marshalling, but the rowing itself seemed to be much more together than yesterday. Rowing down to the start we had a couple of fairly solid practice start and full pressures, and I think we all had a good feeling for the race.
Then a minor disaster struck. Four's (Neil's) shoe came off his footplate. If we couldn't fix this, we'd have to scratch! I for one felt quite sick at the thought. Fortunately, Iain managed to patch it up with some duct tape. We were, if possible, even more psyched than before.
Plenty of time to loosen up on the bank. Relaxed and focused in the boat. A good start: not perhaps the quickest we've done (and we heard later that Corpus moved away from us), but technical and sensible. The surge didn't really happen, but our cox Henry called another one straight after, and we settled into a good, sustainable rythm that would wear down the crew ahead slowly but surely.
An amazing first corner (as we were informed later) took off half a length of distance, and as we really got into the beat of it we just gained continuously on them. The hooters were late in coming, but we were encouraged by the bank party who told us to just keep going, just keep doing what we were doing. Two hooters in Ditton or so, three and four soon thereafter. At that time, Corpus folded and we had our bump! An amazing rush.
Now head of our division, we'd have to row again as sandwich boat in the third. I think we spent the break in between sensibly, and morale was good on the row down. We knew that the crews ahead were likely to bump out early (since Sidney had already bumped Magdalene on the first day, before being overbumped down by Homerton continuing their migration up the divisions), and we'd have to go for the overbump on Jesus III. It was going to be hard, but we hoped possible. (G. Harboe)

This race wasn't so technical, but we were putting more grunt force into it. Probably because we were less confident than in our last race. Not bad overall, though, and satisfyingly exhausting: I doubt we could have done much better than we did. In the end it wasn't enough, however. We gained continuously on Jesus, but when we reached the railway bridge without the bank party going totally insane (as they're wont to do when a bump seems likely) we knew we weren't going to catch them. Jesus increased their lead slightly from there, but in the end we had still halved the seven boat lengths that separated us from the start.
There went our blades. It seemed appropriate that the rain started pouring down as we prepared to row home. It was in a subdued mood that contrasted strongly with the excitement after our first race that we brought the boat back to and into the boathouse.
Had we got them, we would have been starting behind our gents' 3rd VIII tomorrow, making for an interesting race as we would try to secure our blades and they avoid their spoons. Now, we will have to row over as head of the division in front of Corpus, which should be more challenging than on our first day, but hopefully not as painful as today's row-over. Then we should be able to bring Magdalene II down to the fourth division and make sure the 4th boat next year will start in the third.
All in all, this day really showed what the bumps are all about, with sunshine, rain, wind and thunderstorms making the weather as diverse as our luck. Although a slightly disappointing result, it's an experience I wouldn't be without. (G. Harboe)

Twas brillig and... etc.
Well, we knew we were in for a long hard row-over ahead of Corpus II, but the we were likely to cope better with the rain. In fact, I'd say that row-over was the best race I've rowed in (at least it felt that way). They gained about half a length early on, but we held them off, and as soon as we got into the reach we knew we had broken them. As we strode away, the Corpus coach could clearly be heard telling them "new race" as they were trying to avoid blade-hunters Clare. We won comfortably in the end, and Clare didn't get that close to Corpus, so the top three were unchanged.
Unchanged, that is, unless we could bump Magdalene II. Having been the boat semi-responsible for making us miss blades (although arguably it was Homerton for being too good) we knew we could get them, and they couldn't catch anybody ahead, so we had the whole course to do it. (I hate Chris Tarrant)

Henry's cox box ran out on the row down, but through helpful bank partying, and consolidating calls of "controlled..." in the boat, we were able to coordinate bow four with stern four anyway, and we ground Magdalene down with a big effort. Magdalene probably earned their spoons overall, but they gave a decent fight today. (I hate Chris Tarrant)

A technical bump. Scratched due to failure to find sub. (Rosie)

For several members of this crew, it was the first experience of Bumps - for others, the Lents had proved to be rather disappointing. Today, however, we all tasted joyous victory, and it was sweet, sweet as a Mint Aero boxed drink.
The advice given to us by Neil was "it's not a forgone conclusion that you'll bump", which turned into "I really can't imagine that you won't bump" when he heard we were chasing a Maggie fellows' boat. The difficulty, though, was that we had quite a good crew behind us - Robinson III. They were sure to be better than us, but we had a good chance of catching LMBC VI first.
The start was a bit panicked - it was ok, but not as good as the last practice start on the way down. Robinson was slightly faster, and closed the gap to about one length, but we were bearing down on Maggie even faster. Neil's frantic cries from the bank progressed quickly though "one length!", "half a length!", "six feet!" and "four feet!", which I couldn't help hearing even though he'd told us before the race not to listen to the bank. I can't quite remember, but I think we had overlap just past the Motorway Bridge. We then seemed to take an inordinately long time to make contact, although I think in the end we bumped in under a minute. And we were righteous with the Lord.
The bank party presented us with a difficult choice of greenery - evil spikey twigs, or silly sticky stuff which brought Simon out in a rash within ten seconds. (Champ)

The division was delayed this afternoon, by a Trinity Hall boat hitting a barge on the way down to the start, breaking a blade, and having to send someone back to their boathouse to get another one. This resulted in a lot of sitting around waiting for various guns which were delayed or repeated.
Behind us were, of course, the weak Maggie boat we bumped the day before, so were weren't worried about any threat from them. Ahead were Jesus V who had been triple-overbumped, falling seven places to land in front of us. We were told this had been due to a crash, so we shouldn't assume that they were awful. However, they were. We started better than the day before, and we were all putting in more effort due to our belief that Jesus would be more difficult prey than LMBC VI had been. We caught up with them just past the Motorway Bridge. Despite clear overlap, the Jesus cox refused to concede - Kamil at bow took the only sensible course of action, and smacked her on the back with his blade.
After a little bit of chaos trying to get out of the way of a Caius boat, we set off on the row back, followed by our Jesus opponents. It was then that we could see how bad they were - they looked like a giant spasticated spider. Either that or they were trying to do a Mexican wave with their blades.
Tomorrow will be more difficult. (Champ)

Thanks to Andy Wong having an affair with Hera, the favour of Zeus was not with us today. We knew we had a challenge, with Clare IV ahead of us - not quite as good as us, but almost. We should have been able to bump them had it been just our two crews. However, in front of them was Fitzwilliam III who were bumped very quickly the day before by Hughes Hall. We could only hope that Fitz would hold out, and Neil said he was going to talk to them and tell them that if they put in everything at the start, then we would get rid of Clare. However, they didn't (or they did and they were useless.) We had a disasterous start (the catalogue of errors included: bow pair having to drop out for several strokes, stroke pair dropping out for several strokes, at least 7 and my (3) blade catching the bank on a tight corner), Clare bumped them by the Motorway Bridge, and we were left with a grueling row over. The LMBC and Jesus crews we'd faced previously had been bumped out, leaving only Addenbrookes chased by 1st & 3rd VI behind us, about 20 lengths away. They scared us on a couple of occassions, coming round corners, but they never really got to within a threatening distance. Still, today was most probably the most physical effort I have ever put into anything during my entire life. (Champ)

Thankfully I didn't write yesterday's report yesterday, as I would almost certainly have written 'a quick bump tomorrow against Fitz III'. They were awful against Clare, a fact which denied us our so-close blades. We thought that if we started like the first two days, we'd have them before the Motorway Bridge. Not so. It was a bit of a confused start, with JPD and Neil both counting us down, but in a contradictory manner (JPD was half a second out), and a family of swans adopting a combative position between us and Robinson III. We sped off, expecting to bump quickly, but instead crept slow towards them, with excrutiatingly sparse announcements of distance gains. Robinson, of whom Neil had said "they'll gain on you, but not nearly as quickly as you'll mow into Fitz", were catching us nearly as fast. By the Plough, Robinson made a push for 10 and came far too close, whilst we were within feet of Fitz. Then there was a lot of noise and I hadn't got a clue what was going on. People were shouting - should we still be rowing? Should we be pulling into the bank? It was only when 2 and 4 pulled us in and someone told me we'd actually bumped (Dan at 2 had hit Fitz' bow several times and had been shouting "concede you bastards!") that I collapsed, aching. Why had we taken so long? Neil thought Fitz had subbed a couple of stronger guys in, although I think it's far more likely that we were just exhausted after yesterday, and were rowing quite poorly in comparison to previous days. We spent plenty of time pulled in at the bank, collecting some quality greenery, and then gently rowed back (more or less ignoring the VI's demand for a head-to-head), once again righteous with the Lord. (Champ)

We remained at 1 & 1/2 boat lengths behind Caius until "Grassy" were our lack of fitness began to show. They finally finished 3 or 4 lengths up. Behind us Catz IV crashed out so we had no competition. (D. J. Gammon)

Damn, that was so unlucky!
We got within half a length to Addenbrookes when suddenly bow's seat went off - consequently forcing bow pair to drop out for about thirty seconds.
We surely didn't recover from that with respect to our bump but the boat behind us couldn't profit from that either - whoever they were... (Pete W.)

Of course, bow's seat had to go off again which obviously slowed us down for a while. Addenbrookes bumped out quickly only leaving us the terribly great option of an overbump (or even worse). But Sidney was just very much faster than us today and, admittedly, they probably would have got us even without our "usual" technical difficulty.
At least we didn't get bumped before the motorway bridge.
As an overall summary, thanks to a double bump on Thursday we've produced a net bump for 1st&3rd gaining headship of the sixth division.
I've really enjoyed it a lot and, after all, it's been a good result given that these were this crew's first four outings ever. (Pete W.)

We got off to a good start... pretty much everyone ahead of us quickly bumped, leaving us 2km of rowing... Bummer since we are a super-gents boat. The only interesting thing to happen in the next eight minutes was Emma 6 failing to catch us while only six of us rowed due to "technical difficulties". (E. Parcell)

A much better start on previous days saw us close on Emma VI off the start; once the crew they were chasing bumped out, Emma started to fade and we closed them down well, bumping on Grassy. (Neil)

Firstly, thanks to Neil for finding us an appropriate bowside sub for today. He turned not to be such a crap rower after all :)
We got off to an amazing start, the best so far, leaving Emma 6 miles behind. Our plan (or shall I say, Neil and Guy's plan) was to hold off Emma 6 for as long as possible and give a chance to the Trinity 7th crew in front of us, who were chasing Cats 5.
(Un)fortunately, this didn't quite work - our high-on-Redbull crew caught up with Trinity 7 within one minute. Due to technical issues with the coxbox, we failed to hold the boat up when the bump occured (before the motorway bridge!)...resulting in almost killing the Trinity 7 stroke and seriously damaging our own boat...d'oh!!
Great day for Trinity!! errr... (K. Suruliz)

We had a good start and wound the rating up well, closing to within half a length of Girton IV, but were bumped by Emma before we could finish the job. (James)

We started off very confidently. Bumps occurred quickly both behind and in front, leaving a slog for an overbump in front and the danger of being overbumped from behind. Although we made gains towards the former, it quickly became apparent that our fitness was not up to it.
In the end, past the railway bridge and just a few strokes from a row-over, we were double-overbumped by Wolfson III. It need not have happened, but we panicked when we saw them gaining and it all fell apart just before the finish line. Tragedy. (James)

After closing St Catherine's down somewhat, they ploughed into the bank and we rowed past for the bump. Although our cox wouldn't let us adorn ourselves with leaves, it was a triumphant row back anyhow. (James)