The Club's Results

A lovely raging tailwind - why oh why have we never had one until now?! Mind you, wind = good, but just not today. Bring on tomorrow... (Rupert the Bear)

Plus ça change ... (Matt)

The first half of the race wasn't great, but pushing Downing miles away in the second half was very satisfying. Since we won't be able to do that tomorrow, we'd better get a bump. (Tom C)

there were some good bits, but we can definitely do better.

i think our performance can be fairly well represented by our position relative to other boats:
downing were on station off the start until we got round grassy, therefore our rowing was crap at this point. also, caius gained maybe as much as a length in the same distance.

then we remembered how to row and suddenly downing disappeared behind us and we stayed roughly the same distance from caius until the finish, or perhaps even gained a little.

so tomorrow we row like the second half of the race for the duration. (stroke)

... plus c'est la même chose (Matt)

The minute gun went a minute earlier than we'd expected, so it was a bit of a rush to finish the pre-race pit stop, get in the boat, kit off etc. Luckily I remembered to put my feet in with 8 seconds to go so the start was pretty good.

The whole race was much better than yesterday with some good pushes down the reach, so Caius had to work hard to hold us at about 2 lengths. With a similar improvement tomorrow we should be seriously challenging them, and as Emma failed to make any real impression on Downing we'll have nothing to worry about behind. (Tom C)

I took a short video on my camera of the run into First Post, it is here. (Martin)

perhaps it would be fair to say that our row to ditton wasn't quite as good as yesterday, but it wasn't bad. there were good pushes out of first post and grassy, although it was a bit scrappy in places.

at ditton, caius were 2 and a half lengths off and we did our 'unsustainable push.' it did work well and the boat really lifted, but we were always going to be a bit far away to actually get the bump. it did mean that at our closest point, just before the railway bridge, we were only just outside station.

according to our race plan, this proved to be unsustainable and we died a bit after the railway bridge. this is probably fair enough, although if we'd heard whistles, it would have been an entirely different matter.

we'll throw everything at them again tomorrow. (stroke)

A feeling of deja vu. Next year... (Andy)

We threw the kitchen sink at them, but sadly they had most of the bathroom to hand. 11.5 seconds down at top finish.

Must've been our best row, was committed all the way with plenty of good lifts. Happy with the performance, but we still lost. Bullocks. (Tom C)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

!!!! 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

We put down our worst piece of high-rate rowing in weeks, and we deserved to get bumped by Queens just as we were about to round Ditton. From the 7 seat, it looked like they couldn't have been more than another two or three strokes away from getting overlap. Tom Rose estimated they would have needed another 30 seconds to finish it off; I think that's probably on the high side, given the girth and smelliness of the turd we were laying. I really can't figure out what we did to let them get so close in the first place, since we'd probably added half a length through First Post Reach while going at a pace that felt too sustainable to be appropriate. In fact, by First Post Corner I remember thinking that we were in no danger from them, and that it was down to us and Downing.

Unfortunately, we're now in front of a quick Wolfson crew tomorrow. This means the race will be over quickly, one way or another. Let's hope we can reel in Downing first. (James)

A disappointing row, no doubt largely due to first day nerves. Hopefully it will go better on Thursday.

Our start was merely quite bad, enabling us to close to about a length on Downing II ahead and stay level with Queens' II behind. We then put in a push of spackiness, allowing Queens to close rapidly through the gut and around grassy. If they didn't get overlap they certainly got within a very small number of feet, but Wolfson (who are quick) saved us just when the bump seemed inevitable.

Once the danger from behind had disappeared the work dropped, and we never threatened Downing for the rest of the race.

The main positive is that we've rowed better than this all term, so a row anywhere above mediocre on Thursday should give us a fair shot at Downing. (BJ)

The "small number of feet" was about 6 inches outside the plough. (Richard)

A much more satisfying row. Of course, the beauty of bumps is that our shameful performance on Tuesday got us a row-over, whereas our hard work today got us bumped.

Knowing that we were being chased by a quicker crew who had bumped Queens' just when they were about to bump us outside the Plough, we planned on burning out by grassy and hopefully bumping Downing before then. Well, we managed to burn out on schedule but didn't get bumped until Ditton (very tiring). We got to about 6 feet off Downing, but unfortunately just couldn't force the bump before Wolfson caught us. If only we'd rowed like this on Tuesday...

It bodes well for tomorrow that Wolfson bumped us a good couple of hundered metres later than they did Queens', and in roughly the position where they would have been 4 lengths up on us on Tuesday. But that probably means another painful row-over tomorrow... (BJ)

This makes two days in a row of undeserved results. On Tuesday, we deserved to get bumped by Queens and instead rowed over. Today, we deserved a bump on Downing II but instead were bumped by Wolfson before we could finish the job.

Our first few strokes were off a bit, probably due to a nasty wind that only got worse under the road bridge. We quickly found a nice rhythm, however, and held it down the first half of First Post Reach. From there our race plan was clear: make two unsustainable pushes down the rest of First Post Reach and again into the Gut, with the aim of burning out by Grassy. It was death or glory: either bump Downing II by then, or go down to Wolfson, who we reckoned were a station faster than we were over the first half of the course.

We almost made it. I couldn't hear any whistles save Wolfson's, but we were told after the race that we'd closed to almost a canvas on Downing by Grassy. We took the corner wide and presumably lost some of that ground back. We then held off Wolfson for a surprisingly long time, since we'd raced our plan to perfection and pretty well burned ourselves out by Grassy already. The bump against us came just past the Plough -- and past where Queens II went down to Wolfson on Tuesday, I might add.

Overall, it was a better row than we had on Day 1, although we've rowed better still in training. It was also a well-executed race plan, since I felt we had a strong platform upon which to apply unsustainable power before Grassy. Mainly, we just need to learn to keep rowing together when we're ready to die. Since Downing II bumped CCAT halfway down the reach, we will find ourselves chasing them again tomorrow -- this time for an overbump, which though unlikely, certainly isn't out of the question. Queens, having rowed over, will be gearing up to bump us rapidly given the craptacular display they saw from us on Tuesday.

Bring it. (James)

Our start was lethargic and Queens' II were already being given 3 whistles by first post corner, albeit a little prematurely. Coming into grassy they had it deservedly, but a slight crab kept them off a little longer. We started to put in some good pushes and held them off around Ditton and all the way up the reach. This was extremely knackering, as we had their bow hanging just off our stern for what seemed like a lifetime, but was actually about five minutes. They finally put in one last bumps 10 and got us about 20 strokes after the railway bridge (and about 20 strokes from the finish).

Then it turned out Wolfson I had lost their rudder at Ditton and we'd bumped them.

So for the second time Wolfson have deprived Queens' of a deserved bump on us. We feel particularly sorry for Queens' as they were very gracious after the bump.

That's the third day running we've got a result we didn't deserve - let's hope tomorrow goes according to plan! CCAT bumped Downing back, so it's a case of 'as you were'. (BJ)

Can this week get any unfairer?

First, what actually happened but doesn't go down as the race result.

I remember Queens coming at us hard from right off the gun, and we didn't push back very well. Then suddenly we found it in the Gut and held them off at somewhere around half a length . . . and held them . . . and held them. They would get 3 feet off our stern, and we'd push them back to a quarter length. They'd get within 6 feet and we'd push them to half a length. I was absolutely dead halfway down the Long Reach from all the pushes Magnus was calling to match their pushes. And still we held them for several hundred more meters, finally getting bumped halfway between the railway bridge and safety.

I then remember taking ragged breaths and cursing a lot as we rested on the bank for a few minutes within easy sight of Bottom Finish. We were then told of what had happened with Wolfson. I'm happy to have officially bumped up, but we certainly didn't earn this one. And I also feel awful for Queens, whose tenacity and good cheer were equally commendable, and who certainly didn't deserve this. (James)

We're soft. After three days of hard racing (yes, ladies, being bumped does hurt more than bumping), we just didn't put up any kind of fight. At least we didn't have to row much past first post corner... Oh well. A bit of an anticlimax after the drama of the previous days, but we finally got a well-deserved result! (BJ)

Been there, done that. (in 1998)- and they were only slightly more competitive then.. (Dubya)

Yeah, we didnt know what to expect from Downing today. Turns out we had nothing to worry about. Had overlap by the motorway bridge. I'm sure they put up a better fight back in '98... (Fergus)

Been there, done that. (in 2002. and Mays 2003)

Bumped easily probably closer to the motorway bridge than first post corner. Downing were slow off the start, and didn't improve much thereafter. Solid row.

Dunno about '98, but in '02, they were similarly slow. (Andy)

Been there, done that (in 2003).

Andy, you also did it in 2003, as well as 2002. (Richard)

My god we're good.

We pushed out (Thanks Willum T) with great aplomb. Drew for a few. Wound it a little (only with 6 rowers - no sense in overdoing things - phil, fix your seat next time...). Then we strode...

And that was about it. They could at least have made it a bit more entertaining.

HOLD IT UP! Went the call. 2 AND 4! (to get us towards the bank). But what's this - Peterhouse are coming along too tight to the bank from behind - we haven't time to get across... PANIC!) Okay, ALL 8 FROM BACKSTOPS. And off we went again. Held off Peterhouse for long enough to get into the bank. They started a station behind, they were even slower than Downing!

One down, three to go. Minimum. (Dan Newton)

Been there, done that ('98, in exactly the same boat).

Downing have a "unique" method of pushing off, meaning that the bank party were left with the rather curious moral quandry (spelling?) of whether to call "1 length" before the starting cannon....

They were slightly less awful in '98 (only just - probably took us 10/15 strokes further) but were a lot more vocally rude. (Anything to do with being short)

They were rude because we bumped when they crashed on the exit of Grassy, didn't they? Other differences include it being a lovely warm sunny day in 1998! (Martin)

When you think that yesterday we rowed mostly with 6 men and all the excitement came in the clearing then it seems logical that today we row with mainly 7 men and the excitement comes in the marshalling. Maybe...

Rowing down, feeling good, what should happen but Rob's rigger sheers through due to his brute force and constant 110% application. I'll explain it technically and if it doesn't make sense to those who don't know the rowing terms then you may need a rowing dictionary:

Of the three bar things on the metal thing that holds the oar in, the middle (thickest) bar broke in two.

Bummer!

Luckily Iain the super boatman was on hand and he bound the rigger together using nothing but his bare hands, a make-shift splint (from an iron rod he just happened to be carrying), and a lot of gaffer tape.

Rob was to row ghost pressure, and 6 a bit too to balance the pressures. We're sorted. Pushed off. BUT NO....

Pushed off too hard, Honey drops the bung, we drift back into the bank. At the gun Mark's first move is to push off the bank, then draw. Needless to say it's not the best start.

We found out later this was also because Rob 'the rigger breaker' Patterson had not tied his feet in. DOH!

Once he got them back in (about a minute in) and we had 8 rowers the bump was a doddle.

Hopefully friday we can move up to 8 rowers and have the excitement IN the race. As Phil said, we've had all our bad luck and good luck in two days so we're on our own from now on. Surely nothing else can go wrong. Can it?

p.s Rob - private land training between now and fridays race - sit on an erg and practise feet in, feet out, feet in, feet out, feet IN. And repeat... (Dan Newton)

...And as for the Jesus 3 man who thinks he's in the fastest M3 VIII on the river... Well they ain't as fast as the fastest M3 VI/VII on the river, and one of these days we're gonna row all VIII. Then they'll be sorry. (Albert)

The row to first post was a bit 'agricultural'. We only closed on Clare II at one third of the rate they closed on Catz II. Further ahead LMBC II failed to take Grassy corner and so upset the form guide which led us to expect to be chasing them for a mammoth triple overbump. We chased Homerton down the reach in unremarkable fashion. Well done Clare II. (Rob)

This was a disappointing race in that we were quicker than Clare II, and would have almost definitely bumped them by Grassy. Unfortunately Catz II are woeful, so Clare hit them at First Post corner when we were around half a length off.

The row itself was fairly good, and the row over was solid and committed. It's a shame that the crews ended up in this order, but hey, this is bumps and it's days like today that make it so exciting. (Phil)

Race plan: All 8, feet in.

The beauty was in the simplicity.

We did a good start and moved up on Clare II. They bumped a crappy Catz II crew though. Their stroke man gestured forcefully at us as we rowed by. Most unsporting. This means that (a) they were petrified of us and (b) he has a small willy.

***CORRECTION - my sources tell me Clare stroke was actually cheering us on. Very sorry dude. I was too quick to anger and need glasses. I'm sure your willy is fine.***

Overbump was a maybe but we couldnt make four and a half lengths on them before they made one and half on the people they were chasing and bumped out.

A triple overbump, even for us, was not gonna happen.

In the end we realised that blades are just pretentious. If you get blades in the 3rd boat you're labelled a 'ringer'. We're too modest for that and so decided that up 3 is a much better result...... (touch wood) (Dan Newton)

This was our revenge for Catz denying us blades yesterday (although our poor technique on first post reach played a part too). It was all over very quickly. Shame there's no "day 5" where we'd get another chance at Clare II. (Fergus)

Our rowing was solid but un-spectacular today. We didn't make a massive impression on Catz to start with, but they were clearly rowing at their limit, which meant they caught a crab and lost a seat half way down First Post Reach. We however could have continued to row out the course as we were, and so hit them just over halfway down First Post Reach.

Up 3 is a good result, not quite the one we were hoping for, but never mind. Maggie 3 got spoons today, so we're in with a good shot of taking 3rd VIII headship next year! (Phil)

Ah... bummer, if I may say so!!

The crew looked dead set for a nice easy bump the like of which F&T II Ladies have recently become famous for delivering.- Down to a length on Jesus III off the (fast) start, closed to 3/4 soon after... and then... disaster struck. To be more precise, crab struck No 2 and quite badly so. With the blade stuck parallel to the boat and the crew not used to such blemishes on their rowing as crabbing, it took a good 30 strokes to row all eight again, during which time Jesus dropped us to 2 lengths and Pembroke III (chasing) didn't really go anywhere.

The crew restarted well and slowly ground down on Jesus. They were back on station just outside First Post and at a length at Grassy. Unfortunately the astounding shortness of the course came to Jesus' aid in the end and a deserved bump to be postponed until tomorrow...

xx (Pia)

It's a pity we didn't manage to quite get this back together after the crab and bump Jesus.
Also unfortunate that the course is so unbelievably short! (Little Jenners)

This (for the short time it lasted) was a good solid row. We kept it controlled off the start, strode well and were reeling in Jesus, when Clare II caught a boat stopping crab. A few strokes later and we were holding it up ~3/4 length down and were given a technical rowover.
Sometimes bumps racing just isn't fair.
Let's make sure we row as confidently on Friday and see what happens. (Little Jenners)

Despite heavy tailwinds, we set off with a strong start. Things felt generally neater than yesterday, and we were within a length of Jesus as we passed under the motorway bridge. Within 10 strokes of emerging on the other side, however, we were forced to hold it up because Clare (2 ahead) had caught a bad crab and ground to a halt. They handed Jesus the bump on a silver plate, and we were given a technical row-over to show for it.

Very frustrating, but so go bumps. At least the 10 seconds we did row felt solid.

Friday we chase Clare, who will surely be motivated to get Jesus after today's debacle. (Mika)

The girls had a great start, and were closing on jesus very convincingly when Clare caught their spectucular overhead. Despite the fact that Clare appeared to be moving backwards, Jesus took a while to get them and by that time we FaT were too close to steer round and go for the overbump.

Bumps: They just aint fair. (jo)

A gutsy and committed row sadly went unrewarded and continues a frustrating week for the second women.

Clare II, ahead, are a fast boat when they're going well; our crew's best efforts could close them only to a length along Plough reach. This was doubly frustrating because Clare effectively sat as a buffer between us and the slow Jesus III. Furthermore they failed to send Jesus back down for us to have another crack at them on Saturday. Clare were bumped by Jesus on Wednesday only after a crab shocker and, despite closing to overlap twice on First Post reach, allowed Jesus to escape (and even go on to bump) after more mishaps at bow at the crucial moments (the poor girl - what a miserable week!).

It is high time for some good luck; we are quicker than the half-dozen crews ahead and have been prescribed an unusually heavy dose of bumps bad luck so far. Here's hoping for Saturday's race. (Martin)

Today was definitely our best row. Not only was there strong desire to do well before we began, but we kept the strength on pretty well the whole way through.

As we rounded the first corner, we saw Clare, Tit Hall AND Jesus pulled over together, crushing our hopes of an overbump (haha). But the strength never dropped (certainly not like yesterday!) and we pushed it all the way home. Newnham might've wanted us, but never got close. A satisfying row to end a rather uninteresting and somewhat frustrating week.

Thanks to our various bank party contingent, to Iain for his calls and advice throughout the week, to Ruth for her coaching and especially Amy for her support and last-minute subbing!

...and hey, at least we got to have a snowball fight, right? (Mika)

Well done girls, the bumps charts really dont do you justice!! It's very unfortunate how events unfolded this week, but sticking out four frustrating row-overs like you did will do you no ends of good for Mays...

I'm impressed with how technically well you are all rowing, this being thanks to Iain's and Ruth's excellent coaching and your doing pretty much the same amount of training as some college's 1st VIIIs. If we add some serious improvement in fitness next term you should do very well indeed!!!

Love you girls,

xxxxx (Pia)

Another very good row, another rowover. As expected, the crews ahead bumped out. Slightly unexpectedly, three of them went at once, merrily blocking the river as they did so. Fortunately they managed to just about clear in time, and some careful coxing by Richard got us through the gap, the girls did a good push to pick up speed again, and completed the row to ditton.

Well done girls, I hope to see you all in the Mays, getting some well deserved bumps :-) (jo)

Well, no blades, no spoons. We roared off the start, cutting their lead to a length after three strokes on the inside of the corner, but as the river straightened and our stride failed to settle they held us off. Fitz then bumped Peterhouse, and our own FaT III bumped Downing, so by the end of First Post Reach we were chasing a double overbump.

As one of the only two boats left on the river, we stayed focused and soon regained the ground we'd lost on Jesus twisting through the bumped crews. Sadly down the reach they saw us, pushed back, and the distance was just too great.

Aiming for Peterhouse tomorrow. (Alex)

Indeed, our start was good, but we didn't stride to a nice race pace, and our RATIO was rubbish. We've now raced the whole course but tomorrow we want to row a lot better. (Neil)

This was unfortunate. The guys were closing nicely on Peterhouse II infront, and were probably just inside a length off at the motorway bridge, when Fitz II decided to catch a crab and get bumped back by Peterhouse, leaving the guys chasing an overbump. Meanwhile, Caius III behind had crept up on us, and were pushing the guys quite close near the top of first post reach. The Caius bowman's blade caught the FaT stern, and we were bumped out at 1st post corner. Might have been interesting if we'd have still been chasing Peterhouse, could have been quite close.

Friday sees us chasing Caius III for the bump (Peterhouse II for the overbump), behind starts Queens' III. (Richard)

Our rowing is only getting better. The stride worked, though naturally there's room for improvement, and we more or less kept station with Caius ahead (the bump was never on).

We'd set ourselves for a long and gruelling rowover - says the cox - ahead of a fast Queen's III. Sadly, they were closing by the time we passed under the motorway bridge. We matched their first push, just about lived through the second, and then tried to survive the final half of first post reach with a few inches of overlap already conceded. They had more in the tank.

Well done to Queen's on a deserved bump, and to Caius in somehow overbumping by Grassy! Tomorrow we'll be looking to nail that stride, and maybe get some more power in the water as well. (Alex)

A technical rowover in fact. Girton and St Eds both looked on station behind us when we had to hold it up not long after the Motorway bridge due to Queens and Downing having cleared slowly. We held it up and Girton held it up, only for Girton's bank party to tell there crew to go for the bump, which they duely did on our near stationary crew. Smart move.

Fortunatley it was their bow and not out stern, cox or stroke that bore the damage. Eventually we were told it was a technical rowover, not the technical overbump on Peterhouse we were after! (Neil)