The Club's Results

I think this was a creditable performance for a scratch crew and bodes well for bumps. No other boats entered Lents 3 which gives us an early edge over boats which will be around us in bumps. We also managed to beat a couple of 1st boats and Peterhouse L4 (which doesn't actually exist?!)
We decided afterwards that the power was a bit inconsistent, but there was a lot of effort put in to make it hard for a men's pair to overtake us. Timing was generally good, balance improved throughout showing the potential for this to be a good term for W2. (Little Jenners)

Nice work for such a jumbled up crew. Due to the 1sts being at Peterborough and general sickness we were short of stroke and cox so a bit of a reshuffle was needed. Special thanks to Amy for subbing in and to Dami for coxing us there and back.

We started off well, but then the rate change didn't go as planned due to a cox box failure just before. We got it back together and managed a convincing few pushes. Noone slacked off at all, despite Charlie telling us that he could see the finish while we were still in sight of the motorway bridge!

Good work girls, see you all tomorrow. xxx (Harriet)

Excellent result! Though deprived of both stroke and cox (albeit with first rate subs Charlie and Amy!!), this crew has managed to build on its solid H2H result two weeks ago and has put in a time 11s faster than its chasing crew, Newnham III and 21s faster than its Bumps Day 1 target, Clare II...

From here it can only be onwards and upwards... towards (*finally*) a well deserved permanent place for FaT W2. (Pia)

Simply the most awesome side by side since the boat race!

With one sub in the crew and one rower on death's door and no practiced starts or rowing for five days, we were going for all or nothing tactics.

Off the start both crews were level before Dom 'the bomb' Hockley employed some seriously agressive tactics and steered into the other crew. After much yelling by the marshal First and Third eventually returned to their station half a length up. Queens started pushing back, so Dom with a look of Gladiator resolve on his face took his crew back into the fray. Much clashing ensued with strokeside valiantly holding onto their blades for dear life. After a tete-a-tete struggle for supremacy down the reach with both coxes being warned First and Third moved to a dominant length lead which they extended by another half a length at the finish.

However.

Such was the combatitive nature of this race and Dom's casual approach to the lane divide, that the Marshall - employing the three strikes and your out approach (it should be noted for the record that Queen's were warned at least twice) -decided to disqualify us.

Still this was First and Third W2's finest hour so far. Dom, I am sooooo proud of you and bring on the bumps.

Special thanks should also go to Nicola Hensall for subbing in at the last moment. (Charlie)

YAY!! Got on, and well deserved too. Today was a good race, and all the crew put in a committed performance which reflected how much we wanted it... more to be seen next week, watch this space! :)

Special thanks to Amelia for bank-partying, to Jane for being on the Reach when we were tired, and to Will for carrying Harriet's broken blade home after rowing himself. And to Charlie for coaching. And all my fellow crew, oh i love you all! (Clair)

Coach's advice to cox prior to outing:
Dom, positively no screw ups today. Be really careful with the boat and don't take ANY chances.

Cox's reply to coach prior to outing:
Sure thing Charlie. Don't worry I'm on it.


Boat situation fifteen minutes into outing:
One collar on blade broken.

Solution:
Coach has to run entire length of course with spare blade. By his own admission not the happiest time of his life.


But they got on in the end, so no worries. (Charlie)

Unfortunate. Nothing more to say really. We were clearly the strongest boat in the group surrounding us and we should have bumped Clare easily had we not had problems as we had already moved to only a length apart with our first five strokes. However, obviously it just wasn't to be today. We'll prove ourselves tomorrow. (Lyns)

Awesome, so well done! You must be absolutely stoked :) Roll on Friday and Tit Hall - you can so get them!

J (Jane)

I gave the girl in bow of Newnham III a rating of 6.5 which went down to 5.5 when she got closer...Just so you know it had dropped down to 4 by the end of the race, and i feel i was being generous...no worries, and well rowed. (Dom)

Hehe, seeing you guys come back in greenery really cheered up my 12k erg :) Well done guys, more of the same on Friday! ("Light weight" Lilie)

Finally!!! This was a thoroughly overdue and well deserved bump! With the knowledge that you have such killer pushes in you, the rest of this week should be good fun... ;)

Very proud! xxx (Pia)

On our row up to race we saw Newnham III coming back looking extremely dejected and minus greenery and we guessed you must have bumped, and sure enough it didn't take long for you to come along bedecked in leaves - whooo! Congratulations! I knew you could do it. :) Fingers crossed for more bumpage and greenery tomorrow. (Amelia)

Class girls, absolute class. We gained the length we needed to bump them after the motorway bridge quickly, bumping them just before the corner, while they couldn't close the quarter of a length they'd held on Tit Hall since the motorway bridge. Mahahaha!

Look ahead now... Friday, we get Tit Hall!! (Lyns)

That was so exciting!!! and not at all "wierd"!...I'm getting better at analysing rowing now!!! That push was amazing, I can't believe we took a length with it! But we're back on form and ready for more racig on friday! Well Done girls! I'm so happy!! (Fran)

Well done girls!!! I was so proud, Newnham were right up behind Tit Hall for the entire race but couldn't pull off a spectacular push like our girls that gained them over a length to get the well deserved bump!!! (Amy)

oh i am so pleased! as harriet says... 10th time lucky! good work girls, it was so exciting :D i think the trick was wearing both my pairs of gold socks, (which made my feet FAT-ter so they fit the shoes a bit more) oh how good! (Clair)

YAY! This has been a long time coming... (Harriet)

Fantastic, well done!! :) Wish I could have been there to see you get them. (Amelia)

Woohoo! Congratulations on two great bumps! You can get Downing tomorrow-- wish I were there to see it happen. Good luck! (Mika)

This just wasnt a fair contest today, Tit Hall had no chance against our women. The girls were quietly sunbathing as tit hall pulled up the start and their nonchalant attitude definitly intimidated the lesser crew. The confidence was not misplaced. It was a very short race today with the bump coming just beyond the motorway bridge, the whistles were coming so fast as you guys were doing really really really really really really really well. Superb work today girls!!! (Amy)

Well done! I actually have tears in my eyes writing this! Wish I could have been there! Katie (K.J. Birley)

Yay! Nice and easy one there. On to the next one tomorrow!!!

Special thanks to Jo - our last minute sub - fantastic row hun! Mwah! xxx (Lyns)

Congratulations girls - 4 days of excellent racing, barring a bit of bad luck! Well done all! :o) (Erica)

Fantastic result, well done! I'm so pleased for you. Next year you'll be the top placed crew in the GoR and can continue storming up the charts to finally earn a permanent place. See you at the dinner. :D (Amelia)

Bumped... and sank Downing II! All of us gave every last bit for this last race, and it was worth it. As we closed on Downing, their bank party's hooting for their attack on Clare Hall seemed ever louder, and the crew worked hard together to get them before they forced Clare Hall to spoon. It was true "cannon-rowing" that gave us the bump :)

My favourite part? That their stern 4 waited till they were neck deep in water before abandoning ship! (Clair)

Wow! These last two days of racing have been crazy and amazing - to get a chance to row in the bumps with you guys was the best thing I could have asked for, it was such a pleasure to row with you! You really are a rock-solid (and sexy) crew, you deserved every bump you got. And to sink another boat, well, it was certainly an experience I won't forget quickly!
Love you all! (Hope you're feeling better Katie!)
Jo xoxo (Jo)

What can i say...add a bit of violence to a sport and it gets ten times more exciting. This was a very close race with downing within metres of the boat in front of them but this definitly did not phase our girls. They kept rowing on, as did downing...even when they were on the bank! Highlight of the lent bumps was definitly the sight of the downing crew swimming for the bank, classic! Hopefully the video footage of it came out alright. (Amy)

well...going into the bumps we had arranged 4 back up plans:
Plan B: sorcha would jump into the boat in front and hit the cox
Plan C: like plan B, but with me, the cox, running the length of the boat and jumping into the boat in front.
Plan D: Cannon rowing - sorcha inspired idea, which involved mounting the starting cannons on the bow and stern and shooting the crew infront and behind.

Oh and also if in doubt there was always plan A, plan A was there is no plan A!! cunning!

Downing did'nt concede, and so i called for an extra push, I then tried to take the inside of 1st post corner, however i had no control over the steering. It appears that we were attached to their bow! It wasnt until i saw their cox jump overboard that i presumed we had bumped (as still no consession from downing), and so we dutifully backed it down.

However by this stage their bow was riding high on the bank, and their cox seat had flooded. As each section filled up, the boat sank deeper into the river. Stern 6 eventually swam to the bank...

Sorry downing... i think that sinking the boat must have been plan E...

Well done all xxx (Dom)