The Club's Results

I don't know if we're meant to be counting ourselves as the 1st VIII... The announcer certainly did, as he told the amassed crowds that we'd finished second in the Lents. We were possibly a bit of a let-down.

The race itself was great fun - marshalling and racing with 400 boats is pretty exciting! It felt as hot as mid-August (although I see it was actually only 20 degress) and everyone had their shirts on their heads to try to prevent sunstroke. For the first 10 minutes we rowed as well as we have done all term; on the Cam we would have got a pretty good time for the head course. Unfortunately the HORR is a bit longer, and we got a bit tired.

So, in the end, 17s off our top-250 target, but we put in a lot of effort and it was a good way to round off our time together as a crew. And Wales and England both won so I'm happy.

By the way, Jacob won S4 with the Dev Squad. Well done! (BJ)

I was so tired from this race that I overslept the next morning and missed my flight to Ireland! That's commitment.

Other highlights include:

* gorgeous weather, to the point that we shed our zephyrs to beat the heat
* a rugby tutorial from Tom and Bryn as we watched the Six Nations in a charming pub frequented by lots of old people
* the random-number generator employed by the above establishment, used to subtly adjust the minute-to-minute price of pints of coke (1.45, 1.55, 1.50) and lemonade (1.00, 1.40, 1.45)
* Bryn's smug silence as Wales emerged victorious among a very pro-Irish crowd in the pub
* our ill-fated decision to carry the valuables bag on board in a "water-tight" compartment, thus leading to mobile phone failures and wallet soakings on a scale previously unknown to man
* a stellar first half of the race
* Seb besting Jacob in the three-cracker challenge, with a time of 75s
* vaguely still being able to walk today

Fun race, fun times.

Addendum:

Does the following chain of events belong in a comedy or a horror film? (1) Valuables bag goes on board, thereby getting soaked, which means that my (2) phone is ruined, leaving me with no backup for my alarm clock the following morning, which (3) doesn't go off in time for me to make my flight to Ireland, having not been set properly, in turn causing me to (4) lock my bike by the wheel only in front of Trinity in my mad scramble to find a working phone and call the airline, leading to (5) the theft of my bike in broad daylight, only to be informed, after (6) physically going to Stansted Airport to speak to the airline, that I would (7) have to pay a penalty to get on a flight the next day, which I paid. Sigh.

So in addition to fun, let me now brand this weekend as expensive! (James)