The Club's Results

Had a nice lie-in (except Will, who was subbing into the 2nd VIII!) (Smiley Mark)

TR 4.

We pulled far too hard in this race and put in far too much effort. We are a gents VIII so why to people feel the need to be so physical?!?! We could have won rowing in fours at 26. 'COS WE'RE GREAT. (Dan Newton)

Peter Brandt.

Personally I was insulted that Pembroke kept us in this division when clearly the opposition was markedly inferior. In religious terms a Jesus III is never going to beat a Trinity III because not only do we have III Jesus' within our description but III Gods and III Holy Spirits. At 9 celestial bodies to 3 we are 3 times as good. It's simple mathematics.

On a more important note Phil slipped into the Cam on getting out during marshalling - a foot went either side of the backstay. As Will put it 'He's singing a different part in the choir nowadays'. He changed out of his leggings and into Keith's trousers. No one saw his willy. The rigger was bent but we rowed on it and won.

Then we got told if we changed boats before the semis we'd be disqulified; so we changed boats. Back to the boathouse and back up to the start we were told we had been disqualified. But the guy wasn't very assertive so we kept rowing. And when we passed the P&E we kept rowing. And when we got told by the marshall to pull in just before the motorway bridge we pulled in. And she hadn't heard about the disqulaification and Selwyn (our opponents) had been held back at the P&E so we were home and dry!

Either word never got round that we were disqualified or by the time our marshall heard we were rowing down to the start. Teehee. Bet that makes John's who lost to us in the final feel loads better - they lost to a crew that had already been disqualified (and that had had more than it's 3 warnings which also leads to disqualification). We're so naughty. (Dan Newton)

I saw this race from the 2nd VIII's marshaling position under the railway bridge. Our boys held a narrow lead on Selwyn coming through the top of the reach and under the bridge. About fifty yards after both boats had passed us (1st & 3rd to the meadow side), the Selwyn cox steered across the middle of the river, leading to a series of blade clashes. It looked to me like 1st & 3rd got the better of the resulting havoc, especially after Selwyn oversteered back into their lane and lost a bit of speed. Didn't see the finish, but it looks like our guys managed to hold them off despite having the outside lane on the final corner. (James)

Titan.

Bit of hanky panky at the start saw us have to hold it up and restart. Unfortunately stroke's blade from Selwyn was mere inches from the side of our boat at the time and bucketed water over Dilini and I on the hold up. Cheap tactics I thought.

The race was arduous and tough but afterwards I got to play noble gent in looking after Dilini the shivering wee wet thing. This included holding up blankets for her to swap trousers behind (they were donated by Mark), rubbing her legs to get them warm (not sure if this helped but I did it anyway, her lips were to cold to form the words 'Get off me you perv') and hugging. This was my highlight of the day. Oh yeah this and the next race...... (Dan Newton)

1. We won
2. We beat Maggie
3. Job done! (Smiley Mark)

Titan.

With Dilini wrapped up in an emergency blanket looking like a sweet we rowed down with purpose, pride and pneumonia. Our race attitude was less controlled aggression, less determination and focus - it was more along the lines of 'well we're here, in the final, may as well win I suppose'.

We clashed and bumped and got whistles blown at us (and them) and clashed some more. It was excellent fun, ra ra. Then we won. As you do.

Then we easied next to them who were next to the grey barge and had a chat. 'Great race lads' 'Three cheers' 'We'll get you next time' 'Thought you had it for a minute there' etc etc until...

(Mr Thorne) 'Maggie you're drifting into the grey barge'. At this point their stroke flipped, talk about sore loser, he did not want to talk to us, not at all. And told us so amongst profanities and the like. The marvellous thing about VIIIs being so long though is that you can't hear stroke all too well so his bows and ours carried on with their chatting. His look was textbook. The redness of his face matched his shirt, and I could have sworn there was steam coming out of his ears.

WE BEAT MAGGIE. WE WON. Until someone proves otherwise, we are officially the fastest 3rd VIII on the cam. I bet there's not many people who can say that.

Thanks to Keith for subbing, Will for subbing, and Dil for risking life and frostbite to take down Maggie. (Dan Newton)

I think this was one of the most exciting days of racing I've been involved in. It was always going to be a fairly tough day with two subs in the boat, and a general lack of any fitness within the crew. On top of all this it was very cold, and we rowed badly even at our best moments. Still, we won, and managed massive blade clashes in nearly all of our races! (Phil)