The Club's Results

I don't think anyone wrote this up at the time because we were all shocked by the result. This is how I remember it a year on...

Caius had beaten us by a massive 16 seconds in the winter head, so we'd been working very hard in the last couple of weeks. It felt like we'd moved on a lot, and we were rowing very well indeed for a mich term eight. It went a bit wrong in the last couple of days, with Florian getting ill, but Phil jumped in and the boat didn't feel much different.

Before the race, Henry gave us an inspiring pep talk, informing us that when Caius had beaten us they'd had a couple of subs in the boat: Kleinz and de Groot. After hearing this, we really thought we could beat them. In retrospect, I'm sure it was a lie, but a very good one.

The execution wasn't amazing, we didn't deal that well with the conditions, and the rate was a pip or two below our target. I personally rowed so badly that I couldn't face getting back into a boat the next term. But even so we didn't expect to lose by anything like as much.

Was it a disaster? I think that Caius were exceptionally strong, probably the fastest crew to race Fairbairns in the last 5 years at least. I think beating Black Prince almost for the first time was a great achievement. Who really gives a toss about these other colleges? (Tom C)