The Club's Results

The crews for this event were supposed to be matched mixes between (2-3) seniors and novices. Some changes between the crews, due to division preferences, meant that FaT B was a stronger crew than FaT A, which, thankfully does not mean that FaT B are not going to get those deserved L3 Pennants...!

Having coxed a fairly high-rating FaT B, I was pleased we settled into a nicer, but a little less agressive rythm with FaT A. It seemed that our 6 ex-novices were a bit tentative on the first leg (understandable, it IS a long race)- it felt a bit heavy all the way to the motorway bridge. Racing back down was a lot more enjoyable, with an incredible lift at the railway bridge which was sustained all the way to Top Finish.

All in all, a very pleasing start to the term. Well done especially to all the ex-novices, thanks to Iain for a training plan that incorporates a Head piece in every outing and to Andy for coxing.

xx Pia (Pia)

We went over the course at a fairly powerful but untidy 32. We overtook. We pushed off the bridge. It lasted a long time and was painful. In summary, it was Peterboroughish. :)

On a more positive note, we beat Queens' (chasing us in bumps) and Christs' (being chased by us) by miles, as well as Tit Hall, and would have won Novice VIIIs if Pia hadn't had points! Pembroke and LMBC both narrowly beat us, and Clare were the fastest college VIII by about 20secs.

Oh, and we also beat a Magdalene men's VIII! (Amelia)

A neater and tidier row than last week at Peterborough, but the power lacked throughout, which is reflected in our disappointing result (last week we were clocking similar times to Pembroke and LMBC W1, this week Pembroke and LMBC W2 beat us).

Hopefully we can combine the power and aggression from Peterborough with today's neatness over the next two weeks. (Amelia)

Hhm. Stern 5 barely had enough time to get some dry kit on and hop from Sirens/Margot into Denys. Crew Hockey fiend Zoe came limping straight off the ice at Peterborough, in short Danielle and Caterina were the only non-invalids...

The row up was good, we looked a lot tidier than the crews around which we carried through to the race. Where the Head of the Nene had been chaos there was control but there was none of the mindless brutish resolve that kept us spacking over the 5k course at Peterborough in about the same time as Pembroke and Maggie.

I reckon we were just too drained from our first race. Pembroke Regatta should provide better stimulus for bumps charts speculations... (Pia)

After beating us by a considerable margin in the Robinson head last week, Robinson probably expected to get the better of us, especially given their tidy paddling up to the start and poncy matching kit.

However, we had other ideas. Our start was spacky but determined and very powerful, and as we strode into our race rhythm Jenners was calling to increase our two seat advantage. We continued to pull away down (sic) the reach and I think they started to give up at this point. Coming under the Railway Bridge our rate came down a couple of pips from 36 and we cruised in style to the finish. Job done. (Amelia)

Woohoo! Blue and gold triumph over the clearly inferior blue and yellow. They probably rowed technically better than us (not difficult), but Who Cares?

Now we all sound like bronchitic horses, but at least bronchitic horses that beat Robinson and are well up for (Peterhouse?) in the next round. Bring 'em on... (Erica)

OPERATION: STEALTH WARRIOR

The race plan was:

1) Bow pair to wind to 55 and sit there comfortably until slight affliction of tiredness set in.

2) Middle four to appear out of Stealth Position and slot into the relaxed rythm, catching Robinson completely off guard (as they were under the impression of us only sporting cox and bow pair).

3) At around the railway bridge Stealth Stern Pair appear and complete the shattering of radiation-blue-yellow mental health.

4) We win.

Alas, by being such a beatable target, Robinson destroyed all such plans. We resorted to conventional tactics and beat them nine-on-nine.

Facit: Spacky but fast. (Pia)

After seeing the smug Binson crew taken down a peg or two, I didn't want to be too complacent about our chances over Peterhouse. However, once we started racing it quickly became evident that we were much the faster crew. We took almost a length in the first minute or so and continued to increase our lead throughout. Operation Desert Hump was definitely a great success. (Amelia)

OPERATION: PEARL RELEASAGE/ DESERT HUMP

It was sad to be put against the crew of our most reliable cox sub and Fairbairns IV cox, Katie Barber of Peterhouse... but for the sake of Robinson Head redemption (beaten by Pembroke II and LMBC II!!!) sacrifices had to be made.

Having dubbed ourselves 'The Black Pearl in the White Shell' on the startline of the previous race, we had expected a 'release the Black Pearl' call from Jenny, however she had refused on the grounds that it reminded her of Ed Peacock's 'Unleash the Tiger'. Fortunately, we managed to convince her otherwise and with 10 strokes to Peters Post, Jenny called for the pearl to be released causing an unpresedented shifting of boat to the finish.

We also rowed better in this race. (Pia)

We were a tad late to the start line, leading to a certain amount of derision from the marshals, and smugness from Emma. Shortlived smugness: we pulled away from them and they never looked like coming back at us. We were far from late to the finish line.
Impressed! (jo)

OPERATION: RHINOCEROS DOWN

Oh, poncy smug Emma... you just had it coming... the general disdain from the marshalling side was caused by my coxing the 3rd Women in the preceeding division. Within 10 secs of 'and wind it down', I had landed outside the pike and eel, passed my coxing attire to Stroke Dami, who was being replaced by Sarah H, who had rowed the 1st VIII to Chesterton (...) and was running towards a moored Denys.

We rowed all the way up to the start, spun on the start line and were started unceremoniously and somewhat off target following a disturbing roar (as a laymen I can only guess that the mating call of the rhinoceros was being imitated) from our over-confident opposition.

We had the best start and technically most competent race of the day, with a first stride to 40 and a second to a sustained 35. The rhythm felt powerful and controlled and we chizzled seat after seat of a lead on Emma. They started waining (sp?) coming into their advantage corner such that we were 1.5 lengths ahead coming under the Railway Bridge. We then lifted it for the finish, extending our lead to 2 lengths.

As amateur a cox as I may be, I am generally keen on keeping one's eyes on one's own kind. However, I couldn't help but notice a general sense of growing FaT W1 awareness amongst our W1 peers marshalled at the Railway Bridge as the day went on... (Pia)

I was just getting optimistic about the slim possibility that we might actually beat Emma, when I heard that Zoe and Jane had to leave. Hmmm, this was going to be difficult. However, super-subs Jo and Mika slotted in well on our row up to Chesterton, where we proceeded to marshal for a very long time, waiting for Pia to get back from her W3 coxing effort. The Pembroke marshals seemed very keen for us to push off, despite our lack of stroke. Eventually Pia materialised and we rowed up to the start, very very late and had less than two minutes to spin, de-kit, line-up and start racing, which was all observed smugly and disapprovingly by Emma in matching kit. Their smugness lasted even less than our dekitting, spinning and lining up did, and we disposed of them with an efficient and powerful row. Whooooo! 3 down, 2 to go...

Apparently at the P&E, a shocked and surprised Pembroke marshal walkie-talkie-ing results to whoever was starting crews was heard to say "FaT have just *trashed* Emma!?" *smug* (Amelia)

For me, this was the huge highlight of a *very* long day. I don't think anyone really expected us to win which made it all the more exciting. I was able to hear and respond to the calls from the Maggie cox and every call I gave was matched by massive efforts from the whole crew, to push us ahead to clear water by the finish. A great race and a well deserved victory :) (Little Jenners)

Wow. We are *great*. Maggie definitely didn't see this one coming, and I must admit neither did I! Everyone had written us off, having lost to LMBC 2 last week (ahem), and it was an amazing feeling to beat them, and to beat them fair and square. To put the icing on the cake, the boys also put out Maggie in the semis - ra ra first and third! (Amelia)

Maggie bank party: 'Sorry girls, I've got a meeting, so I won't be able to watch you race clare in the final' Maggie boat: general smugness. [This seems to be a common theme for today, but I think we've proved that despite our non-poncy, non matching kit, and our somewhat wanky paddling, we actually go Quite Fast] They weren't smug for long. We were quick off the start, and took them down by about a length by the railway bridge, with them pushing back all down the reach. We relaxed a bit out of the railway bridge, but they didn't have enough left - took it up for a powerful and *extremely* satisfying finish. Very Good Race. Us: 'Ha' (Lilie)

OPERATION: DEFECATING RADIANCE

What a race. Haven't had so much masochistic fun since last year's Mays.

We took two seats off the start and slowly increased our lead on bad bad Maggie. They did determinantly push back a couple of times- there was no point, until our advantage corner under the Railway Bridge, where we could be certain they weren't going to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. (All due respect to Jenny, at this point who quietly called to match LMBC pushes, visibly undermining the Enemy!)

I mainly attribute this to their ill-founded belief (so commonly found in LMBC members) of superiority and our doubt that we could actually 'have them'. Once the realisation set in that we were on for beating Maggie Scum, the boat speed lifted noticably and we pushed them away to a one length lead and victory.

Glorious. The icing on the FaT dominance cake was to witness M1 put their red-bladed equivalents in their place in the subsequent division!

Ra ra indeed. (Pia)

In the end, the better crew won this race. A win in the final would have been a bonus, but for me personally, the semi final was the highlight of today's racing. We had a brilliant day, which couldn't possibly have been nearly as successful without our army of subs (Mika, Tera and Jo during the races, and Sarah and Amna rowing to Chesterton with us), without Dan for coaching and without Jenners for her amazing coxing. :) Thanks everyone! (Amelia)

Our start was maybe not as good as usual, but that's no real excuse. They were faster than us and deserved to win. We held them to just under a length along the reach, but they slowly pulled away to finish about 1 and a half lengths up. Second place is a Good Result [I had expected to be back in bed by about 9am, but we kind of kept winning] Very pleased to have got to the final. (Lilie)

OPERATION: FROM DAWN TIL DUSK

Well, it was late and they were very strong. Although it might never have been on the cards to win this one, with a bit more determination and self-belief, this could have been a lot closer. But at this point we were all cold and still basking in our glory... having destroyed Maggie and 'trashed Emma'. Congratulations to Clare for a deserved victory, thanks to all super-subs, particularly Mika (three races!!), the Darley-Pickard bank party and to Jenny for great coxing and amazing cornering!!

Let's act on Clare's stroke's prediction... and blade... (Pia)

Job done.
Their crab meant the last half a length was easier than expected, but were gaining consistently from the start. A slightly scrappy bit of rowing to the bridge, but the second stride felt really good!
And I think we've given a new meaning to club stripeys :) (Little Jenners)

Hurrah! A nice start; strode down to 38 and closed to within a length, then strode again to 32 and finished them off. Bumped just before first post (? I think... am still slightly hazy on geography beyond the motorway bridge after last year) (Erica)

Bow 4: up 44, all before first post corner. It's kind of getting annoying now, looking forward to a proper gutsy row tomorrow, might even get beynd ditton :D (Lilie)

Well this was fun. We knew that from previous race form, we were much quicker than Christs, but didn't want to get too complacent. In the end, it was very quick and very easy and the race was over before we'd even really got going, I don't think anyone was really even tired when we stopped. :)

Tomorrow we're hoping to hunt down Churchill; brilliantly, Pembroke hit them today which we hadn't expected. I'm excited already! (Amelia)

I think we're great. THANK YOU PEMBROKE!! (Thank God we called them last night...)

xx (Pia)

Good start, bit of a spacky first stride [to 38]. Second stride went well though, and we started to reel them in comfortably. The nearly-but-not-quite-best-ever-first-post-corner by Jenners helped us along nicely, and as we approached grassy I could start to feel their wash. They took it quite wide, and we held our [again] good line round grassy to go straight into their stern. BUMP! Tomorrow will be HARD as Girton bumped an apparently spannering Tit Hall, depriving pembroke of their blades, but giving them a [probably] easy bump tomorrow. Well, we will see. For now - Ra ra 1st & 3rd! (Lilie)

!!!! We did it!!!!

Despite a somewhat uncoordinated start, and knowing that Pembroke were likely to get Tit Hall in about ten seconds, we strode to a really solid race pace and just kept it there, closing to station on Girton by Ditton. Pushing out of the corner, we hauled them in and they conceded about halfway down the reach.

A really confident row; we knew we could do it on paper and we showed them we could do it on the water.

Newnham will be a hard row tomorrow but they've got to be scared by our meteoric rise thus far (and the STRIPES!). (Erica)

5...4...3...2........ BOOM!!!
And we are now 8th on the river - 8th! Think it's the highest we've ever been :) :)
Ground them down over the course, bumped, oh sorry I mean _overbumped_ half way down the reach.
Cue mad jubilation and Cath swinging the honourary cox [not quite as good as our actual cox] round and round...!
WOOHOOO! Most satisfying row *ever*

Ra Ra 1st & 3rd (Lilie)

AMAZING!!! This felt better even than beating the Red Menace in Pembroke Regatta!

We had been feverishly trying to work out a way to engineer an overbump, this, bar the world's biggest equipment failure on Pembroke, being our only way to secure some seriously desired blades. One of our post-stomping plans included using Paracetamol against the effects of lactic acid (but Cath says it doesnt work, so dont try... she's gonna be a double Dr...) but in the end we managed it, unbelievably, yet fairly and squarly....

ish... a gust of cross-tailwind stretched Jenny's bung-arm in a Braveheart kind of manner until even she could not hold on to it any longer and let go... before the gun. This put me in a state of shock so that our eventually ensuing start was what one might call well spacky. We strode to 38+ but subsequent strides established our race pace of 35/36. As expected the Pembroke ladies bumped out fairly soon after and with Tit Hall having steered towards the non-towpath side to avoid the bump, übercox Jenny took an insanely successful line through the two stationary crews.

Passing Pembroke was truly one of the most encouraging moments of the race- with a good 5 1/2 length to go (at around First Post) self belief hadn't quite set in, and the wall of cheers from last week's surprise sparring partner really kept us going as we pushed, still spackily, towards Grassy.

Becca North later said that seeing us come into Grassy, it seemed like we had given up the idea of hitting Girton, but following a 'push out of the corner call' from Iain, we suddenly seemed to lift it and this is when we FINALLY found our race form. At this point, it might have been just over 4 lengths, I personally dont have a clue. But as we moved into Ditton, Amelia claims to have heard Iain shout '2 lengths'.

I only got the 'we're on station' from Jenny, who had been continually telling us that we were reeling them in and to make the best of our corners, which she, obviously, took brilliantly. But Ditton was the critical moment when Little Jenners turned into The Overbump Biest... there was a lot of agression coming through the coxbox, making clear that we had little choice in what was going to happen between the, arbitrary, ends of the reach. Coming out of Grassy, Iain shouted 'inside station'.

I think at this point every one of us had realised that we were going to make it and the distance calls to the bump at the railings came in shorter and shorter succession. It is unbelievable how our speed did not drop once throughout the race and how much we were still able to lift it towards the end.

'Hold it up!!!' was the signal for all hell to break lose. I seem to remember sort of crying, everyone was screaming with relief and we got out to obstruct the towpath jumping around and hugging (after the last crews had come by of course) for ages and ages. We went to thank Girton, who must have been gutted but were very gracious, then got back into the boat sans greenery. We managed to find some later and had the most elated row back to the boat house.

Who would have thought we'd be starting 8th on Saturday... I can't wait for that gun tomorrow. As much as I like Newnham... and as much as tradition obliges us to wish they could bump LMBC... we're very much up for a last day of carnage!

Thanks everyone for a fantastic row, to all our bankparties, biased and unbiased umpires and Bumps organisers (...) and all those other lovely people cheering. FCUK ©, I love being captain!!!

xxxxxxxxxxx (Pia)

Wow. This was a truly amazing row, definitely our best ever piece, and such a fantastic result. We all knew we had it in us, and as soon as we heard we were on station the boat lifted and went into a whole new gear. I can't honestly remember most of the race - it's all a bit of a hazy blur - but I certainly do remember the sensation of us hitting them! :)

Jenny, you were brilliant today, we couldn't have done half as well without your encouragement (and downright bloodymindedness!).

If we stay switched on and row as we rowed today and have done all week, we can definitely get Newnham, which would put the icing on our enormous, very extravagant, multi-tiered, blue and gold cake. :) :) :)

xxxxxxxx (for the rest of the crew)
xxxxxxxx (to share amongst the bank party)
xxxxxxxx (for Iain!)
xxxxxxxx (for all the totally unbiased FaT SUs, DUs etc)
xxxxxxxxxxxxx (for everyone else!)

PS I also _love_ the fact that we bumped Girton whilst wearing their colours!! Ho ho ho! (Amelia)

I was standing at the finish, listening in on the CUCBC radios, and the reports from the umpires went something along these lines....

FaT within 4 lengths of Girton,

(a minute later) within 3 lengths of Girton,

(20 seconds later, if even that much) First and Third within 3/4 of a length for the overbump on Girton

(10 seconds later) whoops of excitement from all at the finish (especailly given that 6 out of 7 were FaT affiliated!)

Well done FaT! Fantastic performance. And well done little Jenners for what must have been first-rate coxing!

Congratulations! (Aileen)

I think I probably had the best seat on the river for this one!

Gusty wind on the start and slight confusion from the bank about the bow-rigged nature of our boat meant a dropped bung (oops!) and a spacky first 3 strokes. We brought it back together and kept approximately on distance with Pembroke down 1st post reach until they inevitably hit Trinity Hall before the corner. In a last gasp attempt to avoid the bump, Tit Hall caused me a couple of heart stopping moments by moving across the river. Both crews cleared quickly though and (with a little gentle encouragement) pulled their blades out of our path.

Then was my first sight of Girton, i'd guess about 4-5 lengths ahead.
Into the corner a powerful ratio shift took us to our race rhythm. A couple of good corners later, we were 3 lengths away and gaining fast.
More bumped out crews on the entrance to Ditton were 'advised' by Iain to move their blades, so we could get a good line, eating into Girton's lead as they went slightly wide.

The explosion of power as we came onto the reach was amazing, and spurred on by Iain's 'you're inside distance' call, we knew that we were going to do it. It happened so quickly after that, a length.... half a length...... quarter....overlap.....BUMP!!!!!

A truly great achievement from everyone in the boat :) (Little Jenners)

Such an awesome and well deserved result for a fantastic crew!
Newnham were simply out-classed, although even if they had got LMBC, this crew were more than capable of an(other) overbump on Jesus!
SO well done! xxxx xxxx (Abbie)

Bumped just on grassy after Newnham clipped both corners. Sure Pia will clarify in her essay/report, but a bit of a shame that we did bump so soon as the over bump may have been on again!! Woohoo though, 'proper' blades this time, bring on the headship next year hehe!
:D Ra Ra 1st and 3rd!

p.s well done Cath for now having an aggregate of 'staying level' :D
p.p.s and self congratulation for bow 4: up 64..!
p.p.p.s and of course super cox/rower Jenners: crossed blades and a rudder?!

mmmm off to go and bask in self-glorification and get drunk!
and [finally] thanks to Pembroke for being such good sports :) (Lilie)

Sorry we messed up ;) or was it the Newnham cox? (Pia)

Despite a spacky first minute which saw Pembroke come slightly inside station, we settled into our race rhythm nicely and were in the process of grinding them down when, as far as I can make out, they clipped the corner, someone came off her seat and we ploughed into them coming out of Grassy.

Rowing home with the flag was just so fantastic, thanks to all of those making up the wall of blue and gold sound at the Plough and down the rest of the course.

I just wanted to reiterate thanks to Pia, Iain and Jenny who have all done their jobs brilliantly this term. :) (Amelia)

All a bit anticlimactic really. I'd psyched myself up for a row similar to Friday, expecting Newnham to put up a good fight and be ground down over the course. However, they (or especially their cox) must have been scared by the way we shot up the charts behind them, because they clipped both corners in the gut, resulting in their 7-girl losing her seat and a somewhat earlier bump than expected.

More interesting to note is that they were closing on Maggie at the time, who were closing on Jesus - so if only Newnham had rowed a little faster, we would certainly have been on for our second overbump of the week on Jesus. So, a *slightly* disappointing result but I guess we can settle for Up Six this year... never mind! (Erica)