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The Club's Results

Lent Bumps 2002

3rd men's VIII

Coxed by: Andy Wong

Wednesday
Bumped Downing III
Despite heavy winds and fairly good opposition, the men's third was able to bump relatively quickly. Some discrepancies arose in the actual point at which the bump occurred, but most onlookers agree that it happened under the motorway bridge. A good row by all. (Andrew)
A reasonably good start saw both Downing III ahead and Peterhouse II holding station with us. We suddenly made up ground on Downing and had overlap on them from just past the motorway bridge to just before First Post Corner, while Peterhouse faded away. Due to some slightly passive umpiring and stubbornness on the part of the Downing cox, we lost a bit of paint scraping our bows on their stern, before we finally pushed them towards the bank. Friday sees us behind Fitz II, who were bumped today. All in all, a good introduction to the bumps for the uninitiated in the crew, though the ban on greenery was a bit disappointing. (Andy)
Woohoo! The mighty III's march onwards. Here are some of Downing's thoughts yesterday (snaffled from their website):

"1st and 3rd have been giving it all the talk in the chat rooms, setting themselves up for a big fall! Time for the third VIII to bump some 2nd boats and piss the CUBC hon sec off! :o)" Well, let's just say that they achieved one of their goals, though I think that they forgot he was allowed to fine them...

Roll on Fitz II I say! (Supertanker 3)
Rah rah! Well done boys - always nice to see Downing going down :-) (Martin)
Friday
Bumped Fitzwilliam II
Well we did it again, despite Fitz II having matching all-in-ones in a (failed) attempt to scare us. Downing made a great start and gained on us, but by the time we had strided, we started to pull away from them with every stroke. We don't know what would have happened next as we hit Fitz a couple of metres after the railway bridge.

Well its Jesus III tomorrow who have been bumped every day so far before 1st post corner. We'll be trying to maintain that trend... (Michael)
We did our start, then we did the stride, followed by preparing for a push on the legs. Oh, and then we stopped, cause there was a boat in the way. Bring on Jesus III. (Andy)
Saturday
Bumped Jesus III
This was possibly the most stressful race I've rowed. The start went well and we wound up to race pressure gaining rapidly on Jesus III while pulling away from Fitz II. Tben with canvas on Jesus disaster struck and our 4 man broke his seat. Visions of blades evaporated as we saw Fitz II start to gain. However with encouragement from the bank, we quickly realised that we had significant speed as a 6. Downing caught Fitz and that left Homerton about 3 lengths behind us.

4 recovered and we quickly got back to race pace. Jesus had failed to capitalise on our mishap and we were now moving faster than at any other point. With cheers from the crowd on the bank at the Plough, we knew we were really close and we finished them off after Andy took a great corner round Ditton. Simply unbelievable, an absolutely fairytale finish to a great Bumps. (Michael)
Well, after the pretty easy bumps of Downing III (crabbed) and Fitz II (fell off seat), we were left with Jesus III who so far had failed to get past First Post. Lacking a cox box on the way down, we managed to snaffle one off the women at the start. Our start was reasonable, but nothing special, so it was a long haul to bump Jesus. Just before Grassy, we were a canvas away, and then had a little overlap, when disaster struck. Four's seat came off, which somewhat slowed us round Grassy. Fitz behind us were unable to pressure us while Jesus pulled out a length with their extra two rowers. Coming out of Grassy though, the crew got it all together, and with all eight cylinders going again, we closed on a tired looking Jesus and bumped just past Ditton. Great feeling, carrying a flag back to the boathouse. Bring on the Mays! (Andy)
Good start generally in that we made up a little ground on Jesus III, and stayed approx steady against Fitz II. Then we started to eat away at that one and half length lead, while leaving Fitz II trailing. One whistle. We kept on going. 2 whistles, we started to picture those blades. 3 whistles, I was placing those blades onn my walls. "Overlap", came the call came, 'Kerplunk' went Dave Gill's seat, pop went my visions!

Fitz II were at least 2 lengths behind us at this point, but now they started to gain. The rhythm faltered as people wondered what had happened, and Davey boy wrestled with his seat, every now and again taking a futile stroke in frustration. Sitting behind him I was trying my hardest to avoid both getting hit in the back and impeding Iain's blade. It seemed like an eternity, and Fitz were gaining, albeit slowly, with evrry stroke. Jesus III were apparently held to a length for most of this time as well. About the time that Downing III caught Fitz II (3/4 of a length behind us), Dave decided that he'd had enough of a rest, and that his seat was fixed. As we joined in, the rhythm again became a little unsettled, but soon calmed down. The encouragement from the bank party and the spectators made a difference at this point as we desperately made a push to reach Jesus before we came to the Reach. They also had a push to escape, but the vocal encouragement of a couple of old bufties in splashtops, sampling the ale from The Plough gave us the bit of extra inspiration we needed as we started to come to the corner. All of a sudden the strokes were going well. Despite the tiredness, we had reached 'The Zone' as a crew, and we charged after Jesus. 2 whistles. 3 whistles. Surely we can't hold this pace much longer I thought....

But then, finally, relievingly, there came the familiar shudder throughout the boat, and the call to easy. As we pulled in, it was clear that we were all rather pleased with our achievement over the last 3 days, and I know I shall remember today for a long time to come.

WELL DONE BOYS!!! (Supertanker 3)

1. First post reach
2. Passing the plough
3. First post corner
[more...]


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