The Club's Results

Our basic plan for the race was to not crash, not fall in, and make it round the corners; anything on top of this would just be a bonus.

We'd heard that the Pembroke pair were pretty quick, so were looking forward to a good race. Having made it up to the start without crashing once (for the first time ever) we were already doing well. :) Catherine lined us up superbly on the start line, and after quite a bit of waiting round we were finally off.

Our first stroke was pretty shocking but the rest of the start was reasonable, although probably ought to have been a bit sharper. Just as we were striding down to race rhythm, the Pembroke pair (un)fortunately crashed into the reeds just downstream of the motorway bridge so we opened out a lead which we maintained and increased throughout the race, despite our spacking around the corners and dying on the reach. A slightly hollow victory given Pembroke's crash, I'm sure they would have given us a great race. (Amelia)

This was truly unbelievable - we couldn't have hoped for a better result! There had been lots of banter between the two pairs over the past few weeks, discussing 'our' final, but neither pair were sure of winning our semis as the other crews looked pretty classy. Once we both had actually booked our slots in the final, the tension mounted and further banter was exchanged along the lines of 'wouldn't it be great if we 'decided' that we'd dead-heated and didn't have to race, and got the medals anyway'. Hmmm, good plan.

Well we both arrived at the start line, and it seemed that in fact a technical dead-heat "wouldn't do" for CUCBC, and we were actually going to have to fight it out. Arse. I for one certainly wasn't relishing the thought of the post-race changing rooms atmosphere.

A lot of faff at the start further heightened tension and my nerves were at breaking point when eventually we were allowed to go. The race was shoddy and we didn't row well, and the howling headwind didn't help matters when we practically came to a standstill on the reach. We crashed. We were told several times to 'go now', 'more pressure', 'lift it now', 'it's very close, more pressure' etc etc etc. Eventually, as my lungs were about to explode/implode (not sure which, medicine has never been my strong point), we finally hauled our boat to the finish. And waited for the results. And waited. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

When a dead heat was announced, it seemed for a few minutes that we might have to re-row. Uh-uh. In my mind, re-rowing was not an option. So we had a brief congratulatory-we-are-great hug and discussion, and decided that probably sharing the points, going home, all getting medals/blades/names on boards and Pimms were really the thing to do. So we went home. Enough said.

Bring on the Magdalene Silver Pairs next year...!

Thanks to our team of banksteerers and coaches, without which none of this would have been possible *sniff*; Guy, Martin, Andy, Dan (also thanks for loan of the boat) and Jacob, plus Melissa from City for the loan of our superb craft, Clara T. (Amelia)

It's worth noting that the rules actually state that the final should be declared a draw in this case - it's only in preceding races that there must be rerows until there is a winner.

Well done everyone. The boards will look very cool! (Martin)