First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Fairbairn Cup 2004

A 4300m timed head race on the Cam for VIIIs
Fri 3rd December

The official results published by the organisers, Jesus College Boat Club, can be found here. At the bottom of this page there is a summary of the results of college crews and a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.


BPBC 1st men's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

1st
Time: 14:04
The amount of noise generated from and around the College boathouse as we went off was very cool indeed - thanks to everyone for their support.
The rest of the race was a very painful blur. (Simon)
A fairly standard Fairbairns race plan of building a solid rhythm to Chesterton, working hard down the Reach, and holding on through the corners whilst trying to take it up, was executed in a superstandard way by this powerful and experienced BPBC effort. The chart in the boathouse suggested we'd remember quite how long this race is as we came past Simoco, but I reckon I'd worked it out before that. Certainly the pain was significant as we came past the P&E, but the rhythm we'd built by then was stronger than in previous years, and we were able to maintain a surprisingly comfortable 34 down the Reach. By the corners things were getting a bit hazy, and Grassy nearly finished me off when Raf called for a push from 2 and 4. However, we managed to focus in for a superb lift out of First Post, despite much of that straight being taken eyes shut in my case. The worst moment for me was after taking three strokes with my eyes shut and opening them hoping to see the gunshed marking the last few strokes. Sadly it hadn't appeared so I tried another three strokes eyes shut. When it still didn't appear I decided enough was enough and perhaps only some sheer gritted teeth rowing would see me through the line. Which it did. A really enjoyable row, and I haven't been in that much pain since the finals of the Nat. Champs. (Rose the Twat)

1. JPD displays his ski...
2. Another of BPBC
3. Alternative BPBC pic
[more...]

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1st men's VIII, Senior VIIIs

7th College VIII, 10th overall
Time: 14:44
Went over the course at 31. Must do better. (Tom C)

1. Rowing past Midsumme...
2. Rounding Chesterton
3. Past the boathouses
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BPBC 2nd men's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

Fastest 2nd VIII, 15th overall
Time: 15:05
Our paddling was pretty solid from the outset, with plenty of opportunity to lay down what power the we could muster, limited by rusty technique / lost fitness / sleep deprivation as appropriate. After a disasterous start and a couple of minutes to settle, we found a good rhythm which carried us through to the railway bridge and then a half-decent lift down the reach. It felt like we lost speed in the latter stages, certainly not managing much of a lift into the finish, but nonetheless posted a strong time in amongst the college 1st VIIIs and well ahead of any other second boats. Some great work from last-minute addition Russ in the cox's seat ensured we kept Benchers at bay on the row home as we enjoyed a bit of 'non-competitive steady state' in front of them (Jon)

1. Passing Downing boat...

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BPBC 3rd men's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

1st invitational 3rd VIII, 29th overall
Time: 16:18
We beat the novices. By 6 seconds (but who's counting?). (BJ)
My first outing on bowside since last year's Fairbairn Cup. And it showed as I did justice to my placement in the 3-seat with some decidedly dodgy bladework; poor Martin at 2 was completely drenched in Cam water before we'd even started the wind ...
Probably could have rated a bit higher than we did and gone a bit faster (above 30 would have been nice). At least we beat the FaT Novices' and BPBC Women's crews, and were the fastest 3rd VIII in the competition... (Matt)
We were the only 3rd VIII in the competition. And Matt was splashing so much on bow side that about 15 strokes into the race I had to have a go at him.

Nevertheless, it was fun to be on the river and racing again. Particularly enjoyed the 'new race' call at Ditton.

Hope to go faster next year. 6 seconds is far too close for comfort! (Martin)

1. Working had past the...
2. Past Midsummer Common
3. Powering past the bo...
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1st men's novice VIII, officially the 2nd men's VIII, Lower VIIIs

5th College 2nd VIII, 31st overall
Time: 16:24
This race held two highlights for me:

1) equaling our time over the Novice course from yesterday (10:05), despite saving plenty of juice for the additional 1.6k of the Senior course, and . . .

2) making our titanic push to overtake Hughes Hall just past Grassy Corner. Coming out of the Long Reach, the separation stood at three lengths. That's when cox Magnus Jones earned us at least half a length in mere seconds with his tight steering job around Ditton Corner. (All thoughts of yesterday's "secret pressure" at the same location were cast aside.) Then the distance melted away rapidly as the Hughes crew began to flag. The overtaking soon became a foregone conclusion, and the frantic cries of one of the Hughes bank party said it all: "That's the First and Third SECOND eight, and they're novices!"

Special kudos to substitutes Matthew Sargeant and Sebastian Pancratz, normally stern pair for the second novice VIII, who filled in admirably as bow pair.

Sixteen minutes of pain notwithstanding, this was my favourite outing of the term. (James)
The guys set off really well, initially rating 33 and moving like a train! I was getting a little worried that they'd gone off very hard, and that they'd not survive 4km of this pace, but they soon settled into a nice controlled rhythm rating about 30 or 31. A couple of weeks ago, a similar rating looked a little frantic at times, but it just goes to show how much they've improved by how good the rowing was.
It became clear by Chesterton that we were closing slightly on X-press and quite a lot on Hughes Hall (2 in front of us). X-press overtook Hughes at around this point. By the time we reached the railway bridge, Hughes were about 5 lengths clear of us and we were closing fairly fast. As we crossed the novice finish line, I clocked them as 10:06 since the start - only 1 second slower than yesterday - despite the fact that the race was more than 60% longer!
As we approached the end of the reach, the pace did seem to stall a little, and Hughes ahead held us at around 3 lengths for a while. Ditton corner was the point at which we'd agreed we'd start going for home. A great lift around the corner saw us go from 3 lengths off Hughes at Ditton to around 1/2 a length at Grassy - and the boys finally made the overtake at First post corner, spurred on by several Black Prince rowers who had come up from the finish to support.
The guys then lifted for the finish, crossing the line in 16:24, several lengths clear of Hughes Hall.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with how they all rowed. The rhythm was great throughout, and despite the fact that they'd only been rowing for 1 term, they were only 34 seconds off winning the fastest 2nd VIII prize, and managed to beat nearly 1/4 of the field of senior VIIIs. Black Prince III were also only 6 seconds infront, composed of 6 1st VIII colours, and 2 2nd VIII colours.

Great row guys, hope everyone comes back to row in the Lents!! (Richard)

1. Huge reach from Jacob
2. Neat at the start
3. 1 length into the ra...

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1st women's VIII, Senior VIIIs

5th College VIII, 7th overall
Time: 17:01
Nice boat to row in - felt like a good row. Pleased to come so high up! (Lilie)
A good row... a good 5th outing... a good start to Lent term.

We had planned to take the course at 28... 32 turned out to be what we strode to and stayed at. Not quite as comfortable as the chilled 28 from our last outing, but I could hear Philosopher Charlie in my head, trying to explain why, 'mathematically' a crew that does an uncomfortable 32 will do better over a 4k course than one which rows a beautiful 28. Our restarts out of the corner worked very well, albeit never practiced in the VIII and the last one out of First Post really lifted the pace again before the motorway bridge, and overtaking Hughes and Clare Hall made for some 'excitement'-especially coming into Ditton corner.

As we crossed the finish line I thought warmly of the Fairbairns pics photographer who, by coming late, didn't only nearly get us disqualified but thankfully also made me miss breakfast...

Quite pleased with the result, sorry we didn't get Newnham, Charlie ... see you all for Lents!!!

xx Pia (Pia)

1. Stern 5
2. Neat bowside blades
3. Bow 4
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BPBC 1st women's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

1. Past Midsummer Common
2. Bow 4 past the boath...
3. Past the boathouses

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2nd women's VIII, Lower VIIIs

4th 2nd VIII, 31st overall
Time: 19:05
A very pleasing result for our 2nd Ladies VIII (hint hint, Lilie... ;))!! Owing to some last minute substitutions, this was a scratch crew, who rowed surprisingly well together and gave the King's 1st VIII a good run for their money. Ungracefully, the King's cox steered into our women, causing both crews to have to hold it up and restart. Chris, brinking on tears of proud joy at the boat club Bop, reported a passionately faster row after the incident with our comrades from Kings.

Nicely rowed, girls. Hope to see lots of you back next term!!! xx (Pia)

1. Passing Downing boat...

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<h4>Course</h4><p>JCBC shortened the course this year, to 4200m, by using the upstream post at Little Bridge as the finish line. This is usually only done in high stream conditions.</p><div align="right"><font size="-1"><a href="#top">^ top</a></font></div><hr><h3><a name="selectedresults">Selected Results</a></h3><h4>Men's VIIIs</h4><p><pre><b>Finish Crew Time</b> <b>1 Black Prince I 14:04</b> 2 Benchers 14:17 3 Caius I 14:20 4 Jesus 14:21 5 Downing 14:28 6 Boar's Head 14:30 7 Churchill I 14:31 8 Emmanuel 14:31 9 Christ's I 14:36 <b>10 First &amp; Third I 14:44</b> 11 Magdalene I 14:46 12 Wolfson 14:49 13 King's/Homerton 14:52 14 LMBC I 14:56 <b>15 Black Prince II 15:05</b> 16 Clare 15:06 17 Fitzwilliam I 15:08 18 Trinity Hall 15:11 19 Selwyn I 15:16 20 Darwin I 15:26 21 Queens' I 15:47 22 LMBC II 15:50 23 Girton I 16:00 24 Crabtree 50+ 16:02 25 Caius II 16:08 26 Champion of the Thames 16:09 27 Magdalene II 16:15 28 Churchill II 16:17 <b>29 Black Prince III 16:18</b> 30 X-Press 16:19 <b>31 First &amp; Third II (Novices) 16:24</b> 32 Selwyn II 16:36 33 Queens' II 16:38 34 St. Edmund's 17:05 35 Billygoats President's Eight 17:26 36 Christ's II (Fellows) 17:42 37 Christ's II (IV+) 17:47 38 Hughes Hall 18:09 39 Darwin II 18:28 40 Girton II DSQ</pre></p><h4>Women's VIIIs</h4><p><pre><b>Finish Crew Time</b> 1 CUWBC I 15:52 2 Pembroke I 16:33 3 Newnham I 16:44 4 Clare 16:44 5 Caius 16:45 6 Stools/Cambridge '99 16:52 <b>7 First &amp; Third I 17:01</b> 8 Downing 17:11 <b>9 Black Prince 17:15</b> 10 Jesus 17:19 11 Selwyn 17:22 12 Emmanuel 17:23 13 King's 17:25 14 LMBC 17:31 15 Trinity Hall 17:35 16 Wolfson 17:37 17 Churchill 17:46 18 New Hall I 17:47 19 CCAT 18:02 20 Newnham II 18:15 21 Girton 18:19 22 Christ's 18:20 23 Pembroke II 18:24 24 St Catharine's I 18:26 25 Magdalene 18:30 26 Queens' 18:45 27 New Hall II 18:46 28 Sidney Sussex 18:49 29 Peterhouse 18:57 30 Champion of the Thames 19:02 <b>31 First &amp; Third II 19:05</b> 32 Hughes Hall/Selwyn 19:15 33 Newnham III 19:26 34 Clare Hall 19:36 35 Darwin 19:46 36 St Catharine's II 21:37</pre></p><div align="right"><font size="-1"><a href="#top">^ top</a></font></div><hr>
Cambridge weather: text

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