The Club's Results

Relaxed and confident row down, and a good hard start and first few minutes. Christs were too slow though, and Robinson hit them as we sat within a length.
Rowed the course looking for the cheeky overbump, and a bit of firm pressure practice, and established a good rhythm to take into tomorrow's race (Jon)

This was a good start to the week; the disappointment at failing to bump is tempered by knowing that we put in a very solid row and could have done nothing more, Christ's making a mockery of their excellent HoRR result by succumbing to Robinson, on whom we were closing, within a couple of minutes. Bring them on tomorrow. (Neil)

Look, how am I supposed to rid myself of adrenaline in forty strokes? Suggestions on a postcard please. (Neil)

Mark Hall, our coach for much of term, summed up the plan: "Absolutely no complacency - there's no way Christ's can be that bad again". We made a fast start, were at a length after 5 strokes, had overlap at top station, and made the bump before First Post. Mark, they really were THAT bad.

Bring on Binson -- amusingly they missed Tit Hall today. (Simon)

Starting just beyond the bridge, a good, but not outstanding, start saw us close quickly on Robinson, being three quarters of a length in deficit at First Post Corner. Despite some scrappy rowing, pushes up the Gut and round Grassy Corner allowed us to close to a quarter of a length. At some point in Plough Reach we had overlap, but were unable to close for the bump, and by Ditton Robinson had edged away slightly. Once into the reach they moved away from us, and by the railway bridge were safe. A very disappointing failure, and one for which we are determined to make amends tomorrow. (Neil)

We paid for our profligacy yesterday by being bumped at the Railings by St Catharine's.

Nothing else to say. Gutted. (Neil)

We had a solid rhythm and row through the gut and round Grassy before the distance began to decrease between us and Magdalene. Darwin were sitting outside distance and were therefore posing no threat. A push from Alex was responded to well by the crew and subsequent superior steering led us round Ditton with a length clear water. A large proportion of the reach was needed to reel them in but we finally succeeded and returned the favour from last year. (Sally)

Not our best row ever. They had a lot of anger after yesterday and we didn't seem to gain enough on CCAT at the start to make a convincing push. All credit to Magdalene, they had a good row and had overlap just after Ditton before bumping us about half way up the reach. Today they were good, tomorrow though we're bloody eager to show that we're better.

Bring It On. (Anna)

After a decent start we settled into our rhythm a lot faster than yesterday and were hungry to bump Magdalene back. However, Robinson didn't keep Magdalene occuppied after 1st post and we were going for the overbump with Darwin chasing us. They looked close round the corners (everyone always does to me though) but we made ground in the Plough Reach. We came into our own in the Reach where we had failed to yesterday and took a couple of lengths off CCAT. Darwin held distance pretty much all the way but were never within more than a couple of lengths (all distances are purely from a knackered 2 girl perspective and therefore dodgy).

Tomorrow we intend to end on a high and use some of the agression we had today to find a bump on Robinson tomorrow. A fantastic row which showed total class. As before - Bring It On. (Anna)

Hurrah!!! Bumped Robinson at 1st Post. It just takes us a bit to get into these things ;-) (Anna)

We were starting at station 4 and knew that Robinson were awful and up for spoons so the race plan was simple: bump them as close to first post corner as possible. Spirits were high and the rowing very neat and tidy with a definite air of determination about it. Anna F kept the complaceny low by reminding us that Binson could just have had a shocker yesterday and that we might have to work for it. Thankfully though, she was wrong and we did bump on first post corner. I couldn't tell you what happened in the race as it was too short but comments from the bank were along the lines of: a 'text book bump' if there could ever be such a thing; and the 'fastest crew in W2'.

The row home was fantastic - champagne in the boat, cheering from the bank, greenery in your hair and smiles all round. For the first time I was actually quite sad that the Bumps were finishing and desperately wanted another couple of days racing just to get us back into W1 and maybe finish some business with Magdalene. However, it isn't to be so next year's crew will just have to settle the score.

In conclusion: one of my favourite days on the river and a fabulous way to end the year on the Cam. (Sally)

We had a pretty good warm-up and paddle down to the start, hitting our ratings of 30 and 34 with ease. Spinning with plenty of time to spare we were heartened to see a good bank-party presence in the form of ex-2nd May boaties Mike Goodson and Graham Fisher.

Our start went pretty much according to plan, the annoying wash from other boats messing us up a bit but not too badly. What was unexpected, however, was that in the bowseat it is virtually impossible to hear anything the cox is saying. Hmmm...as a result I just guessed that I was meant to row hard, especially as Queen's II closed dramatically down First Post Reach.

Coming round the First Post corner it was evident that Queen's were about a metre off bumping us...hmmm...time to pull hard again! After some damn good steering by Sam we shrugged them off and they faded away to ultimately be bumped by Wolfson. Very good row by them though.

After ditching Queen's it was done to catching Jesus II. We seem to have them 1/2 a length for ages, until at least on the Reach the gap closed. Overlap, several kill calls (apparently) and desperate one-man pushes from the bowman followed with no visible effect.

Finally, we got them just after the Railway Bridge before Morley's Holt, yours truly being so elated that he stuck his hand in the air - clearly forgetting that he wasn't coxing this race. :) LMBC II tomorrow (I think)... (Dan)

In the style of a buftie who has been away from the club for ten years or so:

It had been a non-ideal warm-up for the race: passable, but a bit nervy. Our fears were put slightly to rest by a good practice start by the
plough, and it remained to prove what we all knew that we could do.

We had a reasonable start, closing upon Jesus and getting an early hooter. However, it was at this point that it became apparent that Queens, knowing we were faster, had decided upon a one-and-a-half minute race plan, aiming to "do or die".

To give them credit, it nearly worked, with them closing to about a canvas at first post corner; however, they hadn't taken account of us being made of sterner stuff, and holding them off, Sam displaying some great coxing all the while. Down the gut, they were giving everything they had to just not have us pull away, and blew up rather soon after, being 1-2 lengths away at Ditton, and 5-6ish lengths back when they were bumped by Wolfson who had a rather more sensible race plan: a good attempt that we felt throughly deserved the three cheers that we gave them after the race.

During this time, we had closed to about half a length off Jesus at Ditton. Their wily cox then proceeded to urge his crew on to greater and greater things, convincing them to give their all and then some. This, and the (non-deliberate) failure of many of the crew to hear when our pushes were and thus time them together, caused the rate of closing to reduce to a crawl.

Many a bump has been missed in a similar situation, but the crew spirit was never to give up, and we eventually broke them just after the railway bridge.

Overall a fantastic race, one that was great to watch, and all crews could hold their heads up high at, but shorter ones would be preferable for the rest of the week! (Anything to do with being short)

I thought we had agreed afterwards that Queens had been overlapping us for a while. It was not what we had anticipated but did indeed make for an exciting race. (Martin)

Today's race was a far more pleasant affair than yesterday's overall. After a mediocre row down to the start with concerns over JPD's fitness on everyone's mind, we pulled in with plenty of time to spare before the gun. Once again lots of buftie support was on hand and much appreciated.

The start was a good one - better than yesterday - but once again it was nearly impossible to hear any of Sam's calls thanks to the huge amount of noise emanating from the bank. We decided to surge to a higher rating to counter any attempt to burn us up by Jesus, but as it transpired they made little impression and we were soon within a length of Maggie.

As we responded to each of their pushes we slowly gained on LMBC but were left with a tantalising 4-feet-one-minute, 3-feet-the-next gap coming past the Plough. Finally we got overlap coming onto the Reach and the 2nd "Kill" call of the race led to a beefy surge and my blade hitting their stern.

This time I resisted the temptation to stick my hand in the air and, credit to the LMBC cox, he acknowledge promptly. As we pulled over the elation of claiming my first bump on Maggie went to my head and I ended up soaking Maris with a "We've won the Boat Race" style splash in the water. Meanwhile Henry celebrated by catching a crab. Girton tomorrow...it's going to be a tough one. (Dan)

More cox-box problems for the 2nd VIII today as we were forced to do our warm-up down to Chesterton with nothing more than Sam shouting commands at us. Despite this minor impediment we took the opportunity to demonstrate our feet out square blades stroke build to Girton as they warmed up ahead of us.

The rest of the row down was incredibly shoddy with, what has been largely agreed as, our worst practice start of the week outside the Plough barely reaching 40. Small matter, however, as in the race itself we set off reasonably and could see LMBC were making no impression on us from behind.

Unfortunately our impression on Girton was decidedly un-impressive...half a length by the end of Grassy was all we'd managed. However, at this point the crew decided it was time to row together and put in good pushes down Plough Reach and most spectacularly round Ditton into the headwind. This brought us to within 10 feet or so of Girton - a gap which was whittled away slowly but surely over the next strokes.

Finally as the "Overlap" and "KILL KILL KILL..." calls came we put in a monster push to pull up alongside Girton. Some hard steering by Sam brought us onto them and their gorgeous cox somehow ended up just where Martin wanted her - sandwiched between his blade and Maris'. Errr. A fine for dangerous coxing for Sam and some scratches for Rebecca, for which we apologise.

No splashing of water today, or general foolhardiness by the bowman - I must get my sense of humour back by tomorrow. Peterhouse...and our coach from earlier this term, Tim Wooge. (Dan)

The last day of the Bumps... The last one for us as a crew, and the last one for me ever. The last step in the long way to victory, and the most important one as well. It is now or never that we earn our blades and show that we haven't trained hard all term for nothing.
The warm-up felt much better than the day before, though probably not quite as relaxed as some of our best paddling: the adrenaline was taking its toll. I can't speak for everyone, but for me the short intermissions in the rowing while marshalling at Chesterton and, later, waiting for the start just above the Motorway bridge seemed to drag on forever. While we were rowing, the rowing itself was enough to keep my mind occupied and off the race ahead, but during the waiting I really felt like all I was was a huge ball of nerves. We were so close to victory, and yet in a sense so far-- if we screwed up today, it wouldn't really matter what we had done the three previous days-- the job would not be done. While you're waiting around like that, it's hard not to think of all the things that could go wrong...What if I catch a crab? What if Girton does what Queens' did on Tuesday, but better... What if...?
Looking over at Peterhouse didn't really help either; stroked by Tim Wooge, who had coached us earlier in the term, backed by a lightweight Blue at seven, and six huge blokes in the bows, the boat promised to be a tough challenge. We also knew that it had taken Caius longer to bump Peterhouse than to bump either Maggie or Girton in the preceding days. As I was contemplating all this, Martin turned to me and voiced what precisely the sentiments I was having: "This is going to be a long race, isn't it?"
Luckily, the reverberating sound of the four-minute gun soon interrupted our musings. The time for thoughts and worries was over. It was now time to do our job. And we knew how to do it; we had already shown it during the week. All we had to do was to do again what we had been doing all along, as Iain Law reminded us all while pushing us off. Iain has a wonderfully simple and straightforward manner of saying things, which has been a great help to us all year. When he says something, you can't help but agree.
5..4..3..2...GUN! Our start was strong, and in no time at all Iain's voice over the megaphone informed us that we had closed down to one-and-a-quarter lengths. Unlike some of the previous days, the next milestone calls followed in quite rapid succession: three-quarters, one-half, one third... This was probably not our most relaxed rowing ever, but it still felt controlled, and we would later be very much surprised to learn that we had strode (??) to 40, and were still rating 40 as we entered the gut. "Quarter of a length," shouted Iain, and what seemed like a split second later, this had turned into "OVERRRLAAAP!" which we all had agreed to take as our kill call. The next thing I know, the boat was shaken with a loud thud as we ploughed into Peterhouse (we later found that the bows of BP2 had been quite badly dented in the collision; sorry, Iain!). We had done it! The blades were ours! This was by far our quickest bump of the week, and the quickest one in our division that day. It was also the first time we had bumped quicker than Caius had bumped the same boat the day before. And, despite rating 40, we all later agreed that the row had felt quite sustainable and that we could have carried on at the same pace at least until the reach, had Peterhouse proven to be the tough opponents we had expected them to be.
Sitting in the middle of the gut with most of the rest of the division still coming down, we had to postpone celebration until later and quickly pull in to the far bank. Possibly because we all realized how serious the situation could become, we were much more disciplined today than we had been after our previous bumps, managing to pull in in plenty of time for other boats to pass. Finally, the last boats were gone, and, having shouted our three cheers for Peterhouse, we rowed up to the reach, cheered on by the crowd. We pulled in in there, picked up some greenery, and were greeted by our bank party. We got champagne from the bufties, and a can of beer each from Sam. The job was done. It was now time to kick off the party. The row back to the boathouse was reasonable, given the difficulties involved in rowing while holding a can of beer and simultaneously attempting to pass a bottle of champagne along the boat.
It is hard to describe the feeling after a blade-winning last bump on the last day of the Bumps, culminating a year's worth of aspirations and perspiration. Elation is probably the closest word I can think of, but it still falls quite short of the actual experience. If you have experienced it yourself, you will know what I mean.
For me, however, the last day of the bumps was a bittersweet moment. I had my "blade and glory," in the words of our 2nd May VIII song, but it also meant that my time at Trinity was over. I will never be rowing with these guys again (except perhaps some day in Black Prince). Worse yet, I will probably not even see most of them again, and will definitely not see all of them for a long, long time. It really feels like I'm leaving part of me here. I'll make sure I come back to pick it up someday... (Maris)

And so it came to the last day with our blades in sight. Despite knowing that we were quicker than Peterhouse, we tried not to count our chickens too much before the race - good crews go up 3, only lucky ones go up 4 - or so the saying goes.

As it happened, I don't remember much about the row down, but our start was pretty phenomenal and when it became apparent we were gaining on Peterhouse we binned the stride and kept going hard and fast down First Post Reach. Soon enough we were inside a length, and there wasn't a chance in Hell we were going to let Peterhouse get away!

Our final push gave us the Bump in the gut, at which point I got absolutely drenched by someone in the Peterhouse boat (Tim Wooge?) catching a colossal crab. We pulled in and cheered Jesus and Girton on behind us before heading to the Reach for the start of the champagne and beer fuelled celebrations.

On our return to the boathouse we discovered a rather large hole in the hull from hitting Peterhouse - we were really flying. It was smiles all around and especially pleasing for me as I achieved my first blades at my last ever Bumps for First and Third.

Now placed as the 4th 2nd VIII on the river, let's hope we can continue going up and regain our ultimate goal of a place in the 1st division. Good luck to next year's crew!! (Dan)

After initial equipment failure, involving a cox box being passed from Trinity->Magdalene->Clare->Trinity, we had a controlled row up to our station, including a very quick practice start in Plough Reach.

After spinning, we drew into the wrong station, but were quickly ousted by Homerton and their shifty looking bank party.

Our start was fairly neat and powerful, and we settled into a good rhythm, with lots of work going down in the water.

Behind us, Homerton closed slightly to about a length, whilst ahead Girton pulled away. Just before Grassy, Homerton bumped out, leaving us with the challenge of making up several lengths on Girton to claim our bump. However, ahead of them Queens' were just too slow and Girton unfortunately bumped out in Plough Reach.

We continued to row powerfully and it initially looked set to be a fairly comfortable row over. We had not accounted for the very speedy Catz crew behind us however, who gained continuously around Ditton and on the Reach. Thankfully, they had to finish at the Railway Bridge, by which time they were within a canvas. Coming under the bridge, we wound it down and collapsed, relieved, on the other side momentarily before being reminded that we had yet to finish.

A gentle paddle took us (almost) to the finish at Peter's Posts, before we were again told that we had _still_ not finished! (Thanks Neil).

We therefore rowed over, with excitement and variation provided kindly by Catz, and their failed overbump attempt!

Well done everyone, and thanks very much to our enthusiastic bank party. :)

Roll on tomorrow; Queens' - we're coming to get you! (Becca)

We had a slight 3-way crew change today due to a 1st viii rower being unable to row, and therefore Jenny was moved up for today's races and we had a sub (on the wrong side!) which involved some alterations to crew order.

However, once the t-shirts had also been swapped so that the numbers were in the correct order once more, all seemed generally much happier, and we set off to row up to the start.

Our practice starts were solid and pretty quick, and the row up was generally together and powerful.

Once we'd spun, the time seemed to run out very quickly and before we knew it, we were racing again (hang on - didn't we do this yesterday?!). The start was better than yesterday, and we pushed into Queens' to reduce the distance to a length. However, Jesus behind us were also closing.

Unfortunately, a blade popped out of its gate in First Post Reach which led to a rather major crabbing incident. Soon Jesus' bows were all to close for comfort, and despite a gutsy, if a little desperate, push from the remaining 6 rowers, we were sadly bumped.

Being Jesus meant they weren't allowed greenery however - ha. This slightly sweetened the blow for me at least. ;-)

Tomorrow we have a determined and fast Catz crew chasing us, who are presumably looking to demolish us after we cruelly denied them their overbump yesterday, and an equally quick Jesus crew ahead, who are on for their blades. We shall just have to wait and see what happens... (Lardy)

Unfortunately Catz were a much faster crew, and despite our efforts, they got us just past the motorway bridge. :( (Amelia)

It was Catz II that bumped you. Well done to escape on wednesday, I think you have Baz's brilliant quick thinking and steering to thank; our cox is very impressed (Esther)

Arriving at the start to find an empty station behind us, we suspected at first that Vet School had scratched, but they did turn up and with several (reportedly 4) Blues in their boat. While this only added to the impression we had gained from the previous days' results that we were likely to get bumped, I set off determined to give my best.

We held them at 1/4 length away for a bit, and reportedly even gained a little on the Catz crew who bumped us so quickly yesterday, but the effort required to do this was unsustainable and we were bumped before First Post Corner. (Becky)

Things were pretty even off the start, but once we strode and pushed into the motorway bridge we started to catch up with Jesus III, bumping them by First Post Corner. (Matt C)

A good race. We did not make an optimum start with Peterhouse II gaining half a length and Jesus III pulling away. By the time we strode things were more how we expected with Peterhouse losing a substantial distance to us. The whistle started to be blown at the Motorway Bridge and Jesus III were rowed down at First Post Corner with Peterhouse at least 3-4 lengths behind us.

Fitz II tomorrow, who have been bumped and were in a pack Jesus were gaining on. Bring them on! (Michael)

Managed to get them before 1st Post corner, good solid row. (E.P. Peacock)

Our best race yet, my best ever. With reference to the rating of 39 I am proud to report that we also had some cover. (Rob)

We thought Sidney II would be in a different league to the previous two boats. They had entered several races and did well. We overestimated them. With the fastest start I've ever made in a boat we had taken a quarter of length from them before we had finished our wind and a bump followed several lengths before First Post Corner.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Girton II fancy their chances against a slow Selwyn II ahead of us, but if we manage a start half as good as today that will be academic. (Michael)

We gathered that Sidney II were a fast crew, but would crack under pressure. A good fast start winding to 46 had the desired effect and they reluctantly conceded halfway between the motorway bridge and 1st post corner. (E.P. Peacock)

Wicked race. we wound to 46, strode down to 39 comfortably held it there and had them by first post. Bring on Girton! (Daniel)

We had to easy in the gut when Girton bumped out in front of us. It is hard to quantify the delay this caused but Sidney II who started behind us and were well back got quite close. It think we lost a length or two and so without a delay we would have had a good chance of overbumping Downing III. However, in the event we were not quick enough. (Rob)

Not as good a start as friday, but still not bad and had only half a length or so on girton coming into first post corner and then they bumped the muppets in front of them. anyway due to our proximity to their tail we had to stop before we plowed into them. this enabled the sidney crew behind to close to within a length or so before we took off again after the overbump. not sure why but we didnt quite row as well as we had been and although we closed to about 2 lengths off we couldnt finish it. (Dan)

when we stopped in the gut, sidney really gained on us and the previously unlikely prospect of being bumped seemed about to happen. we made a scrappy restart, but the rest of the race was difficult and demoralising. (E.P. Peacock)

A scrappy start, with no discernable stride. I was later told that we'd closed to within a length of the weak Peterhouse II, but Magdalene II were simply a better, stronger boat. Try as we might, we couldn't pull away from them, and they eventually came about half way along side and our blades clashed. Tomorrow we'll be the sandwich boat in M4. (Champ)

First came a catalogue of errors: I had to arrive later after DUing, and scrapping one of my scheduled slots, after we ended up in a lower division than we'd started; we had to wait for the Golden Boat to return with BP4, and when they did it turned out they'd snapped a rigger; we had to take the unfamiliar BP5, with its several knackered seats and wrong footplate positions; and of course, we had no cox box, so late as we were, we had to stop and have the Club's single working box passed across from the returning women's 3rd crew.

Eventually we ended up at the start, ready for a gruelling row over, followed by another one 90 minutes later. This prospect couldn't have helped morale. Nevertheless, we started well and rowed considerably better than yesterday. Clare edged towards us. We pushed into Grassy and managed to pull away slightly, but their excellent coxing and superior power returned them to our side, where we clashed.

In conclusion, we've utterly wasted the effort and achievement of last year's men's 4th VIII, and decisively returned to the division they started in. This has been mainly due to the misfortunate of being followed both days by disproportionately stronger crews, although I'm sure Mark and Andrew especially, as veterans of last year's 4th, will be feeling very disappointed. (Champ)

Unfortunately we've found ourselves on that downward slope where every day we're being chased by one of the strong crews that've moved up the previous day. We keep being told that technically, we're miles ahead of any of the rugby boats that keep appearing behind us, and that though they'll start fast and spack as hard as possible, we'll eventually glide away from them with style and poise. In reality, they just start too fast, spack too hard, and manage to keep it up for just too long. As such, we haven't yet made Ditton Corner. (Champ)

Unfortunatley this race seemed to follow our familiar pattern. We do an ok start, then slowly they close us down, until we were bumped after first post corner. Cue some amusing parking by Catz, us, Emma and Peterhouse who had bumped out in front. Blades for Catz, spoons for us. Oh well, glad we could help. (blades and spoons in a year)

To put it simply, we were shocking. That doesn't just go for today, it goes for all four days. We really did earn our spoons.

There can be no excuses. It wasn't a case of being stuck in the middle of a bunch of huge crews. Clare III were big, and Magdalene II just looked awesome, but Emma III were tiny. Really, they all looked the same size as me (and if you don't know what that means, about 9 stones). Unfortunately they were together as a crew, and probably technically better than us.

That sums up our biggest failure. No time on the water led to a total lack of togetherness. We did our best start by far in the practice, but when it came to the race start we lost it. I'd put it down to a lack of trust in each other under race situations. If you think it'll be rushed, if you think it'll fall over at the finish, it will.

Hopefully next years 4th VIII can reverse the trend that we started. (K. Noble-Nesbitt)

I think this was a harsh assessment. You don't need massive amounts of training to do well in the lower divisions. Sheer strength beat us. (Champ)

Over the last 7 years the 4th VIII have risen some 24 places in the May Bumps to become the highest 4th VIII on the river. A series of excellent crews over the last 3 or 4 years have continued to go up despite the increasingly good competition from surrounding crews.

This year, starting in the 3rd division, even maintaining position overall would have been a great achievement for a good crew (whether huge or technically excellent) - and being bumped is certainly no disgrace whatsoever. The 3rd division certainly doesn't count as 'lower divisions' - going up requires hard work and some good fortune too. However, Clare, Magdalene, Catz, Emmanuel - these are boat clubs that have enjoyed success this term, and finding ourselves on the downward ladder to these 2nd and 3rd VIIIs (all of which won blades), this was certainly bad luck and a tough position to be in.

Had this crew been rowing 10 years ago, when 1st & 3rd IV was starting several places behind even LMBC VI, things would certainly have been different. Hopefully, after having completed four days racing as the highest 4th VIII, the crew have had at least some positive things to away from the experience even if it wasn't the results they were wanting. (Martin)

Considering this was the crew's first...ahem...tenth outing together this was a really good row. The start was nice and powerful and we moved up on a rather weedy looking King's II ahead.

The stride, however, led to a bit of a drop in power and boatspeed and soon Clare III were gaining with remarkable pace from the stern. Although I tried to concede early, apparently it was quite late - in my defence, I was holding on to the rudder strings at that point.

Tomorrow we'll try and get them back and make more improvements to go harder, faster and for longer! (Dan)

Peterhouse II managed to leave the bank at a 45 degree angle meaning that they crashed and were bumped within a matter of strokes. Subsequent bumps behind 1st and 3rd left the river clear and stress free (relatively) and allowed the girls to row really well through the gut and into grassy. Unfortunately the boat wouldn't go round the corner and they momentarily paused on the outside of the bend. They got moving again and made it to Ditton before being hit by Downing.
Everyone was really impressed on the bank with an extrememely positive and hearty race from what was essentially an inexperienced crew.
Well done girls, you did us proud today! (Sally)

Yes...don't really have much to add to Sally's account other than to admit responsibility. It was a really stonking row by the 3rd VIII that deserved at least a row-over and was by far the best I've seen them row.

It was my incredibly bad cornering that was responsible for getting bumped - all credit to the crew and lots of scowling glances at Dan tomorrow... (Dan)

Sadly the crew had to scratch due to a number of injuries. (Martin)

Sadly the crew had to scratch due to a number of injuries. (Martin)

Wind up for 15, ease into your stride and look to go the distance... not a bit of it - up 2 after 10 and bumped within 20 strokes.

Celebrations muted by our bank team, "Get out the way Trinity .. GET OUT THE WAY ... GET OUT THE FUCKING WAY!!! (Ally J)

"Don't worry, it'll only take 15 strokes" said Dan Jane as he tried to persuade me to row with the Golden Boat. Don't believe this man. He is either seriously delusional or a pathological liar. So as Kit Evans, with an admittedly original excuse (down in London to go on TV to talk about Tae Kwon Do) dropped out, I was called into the boat with, ooh, hours to go before we raced. A quick check of the results so far revealed that we were chasing Caius IV, who double-overbumped on day 1. 15 strokes in, and we hadn't hit them. Surprise surprise. Anyway, we were inside distance, and although the previous evening's warm-up session at Life was beginning to show on the crew, we closed to around a length by 1st post corner. Downing IV (in front of Caius) decided to be bumped at this point, and both crews initially drifted into the near bank, allowing us some clear river to go at Hughes Hall for the overbump. But this was not good enough for the marshal. Oh no. Ordering Caius to clear to the far side of the river, he sent them straight into our path, and although Sarah did well to avoid them, she could do nothing about ploughing into the Downing boat sat on the bank. Apologies to the cox of Downing IV if you're reading this, we hope we didn't hit you too hard.

Anyway, tomorrow, Kit is back, I'm out again, and Downing IV are the next fodder for the Golden Boys. Bring on the overbump on Saturday... (Mike)

This was a merciless execution within two minutes, and all the sweeter because I fined Downing for failing to clear. Superb. (Neil)

Now the highest 5th VIII on the river. (Martin)

It was always going to be a tall order having seen the size of the Emma rugby team boat. We got off to a decent enough start, making up ground on Sidney Sussex III who soon bumped LMBC VI. However all along the run to the motorway bridge it was clear that the Emma crew were gaining on us. We kept them at bay for quite some time until just after the bridge when there was no option but to concede.
Oh Well!! We'll get them back tomorrow!! (Michael)

It was always going to be tough facing another rugby boat, this one was fresh from an over bump in the lower division. Are task was not helped by having to push down to the start due our cox having rowed in M6! Today was actually a lot better race than yesterday, the start was cleaner and we pulled away a littlle from the Caius crew, they then gained on us and there followed a rather long battle with us pulling out a little only to be pegged back. Eventually they got us on first post corner, which was actually quite good given we started at the lough!
Oh well, we'll just have to see what we can do as the sandwich boat tomorrow!!!........ (Michael)

Yet again the sixth eight were involved in a tough battle only to be bumped after a long race. Rowing from the head of the division the crew morale was rather low as we knew that our best option was to row over in M6 and go straight back to the start for M5 without a break, nonetheless we were prepared to give it a go. We made good ground off the start and pulled away from a surprisingly strong Catz IV crew who fought back. We continued to jostle with them past the Plough gaining a bit on Plough reach, but alas the Catz crew seemed to corner better than us turning into the Reach and eventually managed to bump just in the reach. A dissapointment for us all, especially given that at one stage it seemed we had them beaten. (Michael)

Today was the day to do something to avoid the dreaded spoons, and that we did (though not without a hiccup along the way). Our task today was to chase the Catz crew who had caught us in the Reach yesterday and at the same time avoid a rather weak Jesus VI. We set off and were soon informed that we were slowly gaining on Catz this gradual gain was met by a gradual pulling away from the Jesus boat, however this was never going to be a quick race... We hit the reach with about 3/4 of a length to gain on Catz and continued to wear away at them. When we went under the railway bridge the gap was still closing and at one point got to around 1/4 of a length. Then disaster struck, our man at 7 came off his seat and soon caught a mammoth crab, at that point we could see that the bump was not to be. There followed a bizarre chain of events which saw us hit the bank at the P&E, see Jesus approach fast and finally get back into a stride which saw us row comfortably over........

At least we avoided the dreaded spoons!!!!! (Michael)

I bank partied this race and it was amazing to watch, was a very good row which very nearly got the crew ahead. however i doubt philip gales crab affected the result. (E.P. Peacock)

After a reasonable start, and watching the 8th VIII being bumped behind us, we seemed to slow down quite a lot. Although we were then pseudo-overbumped by a fast-moving scum boat from the GoR crews, they were actually four places behind due to the awarding of a technical row-over to the crew in front of them. Luckily for us, this meant that their bump on us was disallowed. (James)

A strong start saw us hold off Sidney IV and gain to within three-quarters of a length of Catz V, but a bit of confusion in the boat meant that the required push never came and Sidney closed us down. (James)

Our best start yet was complemented by Eddies steering into the far bank off the start, but they came back very strong and we didn't answer them as quickly as we needed to. (James)

This was the first day when we managed to put down some substantial power. However, the entire row up, race and row back were dogged by a complete inability to sit the boat, which forced late squaring and impacted on timing when rating higher. We held off Catz V for quite a while, but in the end it was our technique that failed us. (James)