The Club's Results

Many things we can learn from this race that we will be looking to improve for Uni IVs, but nevertheless a good result which sets out our agenda clearly to the other entrants. (Erica)

A bit rough around the edges, but considering that it was twice the length of our previous longest piece, and at a significanlty higher rating than said piece, it wasn't a bad effort overall. Just a pity that we never managed to overtake that VIII on the reach... (Jane)

Brilliant first race! We were settling into our rhythm while they were still doing 'wind 8...wind 9...', and from there we never looked back. Well we did actually, at them, spacking into the distance and inexplicably steering into our wash, while we pushed away with big phat (FaT??) meaty strokes. One of the best races I've had. Can't wait till tomorrow! (Jane)

An auspicious start. We were about a third of a length up on them off the wind, and then locked smoothly into our "tallness advantage" rhythm. The "teddy bears" pushed back almost level as we lengthened out, but they were clearly well outside their comfort zone. There was a single blade clash halfway down the reach, as they tried to force their way into our water. I decided to give them some leeway and let our innate superiority take its toll: down the reach we slowly walked through them, and then left them behind with a solid lift toward the bridge. After that they decided for some reason it would be more fun to row in our wash. We took it up for the finish in style, maintaining our lovely rhythm for the duration of the course. Let's see more of the same tomorrow. (Magnus)

No push battles here - both crews seemed to settle into a rhythm off the start and maintain it down the course. Ours was considerably faster. (Magnus)

Despite having no form on Tit Hall, this race was characterised by our trademark arrogance. as yesterday, we were unflustered by the side-by-side aspect, and we flaunted our power and height advantage by taking a smooth, swift start and settling into a confident and controlled piece. I'm sure we will keep this up as the week goes on, and even take it up a notch with our favourite killer pushes still to come...
Danielle x (Danielle)

After expecting to have to battle a gusting head wind and, at the last minute, a potential downpour too, it was a surprisingly pleasant row. That may of course have been due to our slightly cruisey rating, but the power was there and after taking their bowball approximately 10 strokes after the stride, we were never in too much danger. (Jane)

One word. Two syllables. Dispatched.

(I was going to write more, but Magnus has pretty much said it all already. A pity we had to use up some of our backlog of pushes, but they were damn effective!). I like winning, and I don't plan on stopping now... (Jane)

... 'cause we're having a good time, HAVING A GOOD TIME!



A racing shell, passing by. (Erica)

We rowed down to the start expecting to race with stiff opposition from LMBC. Instead, we found ourselves in clear water about a quarter of the way down the course.

The Maggie girls had an unfortunate first draw stroke, and we were up about a third of a length into the wind. As we settled onto our long rhythm, they frantically pushed to make up lost ground, and succeeded in drawing just about level with us again. At this point they were rating 36 (according to their cox) while our rowing was a lot longer and more relaxed than that. They couldn't maintain it, and their rating and power slumped massively over only a few strokes while we simultaneously went into a lift. The combination saw us sailing past them and we were soon unassailably ahead and could focus on making it another solid, consistent head piece.

Almost seems a shame to have the day off tomorrow. Bring on the final! (Magnus)

Woooooo!!!!!!!!

Not much more to be said really. We knew their plan, and we had a better one - when they went up 2, we pushed, and guess what was more effective?!

I like rowing and winning and medals and I like it best when they all happen at once! (Jane)

Once again, a surprisingly solid victory. After Emma's performance yesterday we were fully expecting to be down off the start, and to have a hard contested race all the way down the course. Instead we dominated right through the race, and I surprised the whole crew by calling our trademark race-winning push after only about twenty strokes... The girls performed even better than usual today, really putting the power in over the length of the course. Once we were clear, Emma never really posed a threat, despite calling at least three "final killer pushes".

When we got back to the boat house, I was congratulated by Lorry for "winning a medal just for being a passenger." I can't really complain - the race today was definitely won despite, not because of, the coxing. Although I left plenty of room for Emma, I was repeatedly shouted at by an umpire whose idea of a fair race seemed to be for me to cede the racing line completely and give my crew an extra-long row in the shitty shallow water on meadow side. Since we were a length ahead anyway, I thought it best to comply with the nonsense.

Oh well, whatever gets me thrown in the river at the end of a day's racing works for me in the end. Today we pretty conclusively showed that the Autumn Head was only a taste of things to come. Extra thanks to everyone who showed up to watch - it was fantastic to pull in at the finish to a fully fledged victory party! Chalk up another victory to First and Third's lean, mean every-other-crew-on-the-river humiliating machine! (Magnus)

Awesome! Well done guys! Seriously, cath and erica you are just getting greedy with the uni medals now.. :) Good to see the FaT women are still dominating - bring on lents.
xx ("Light weight" Lilie)

Booyakasha. (Neil T)

We decided to turn back around Chesterton, as Cath was having problems with some kind of leg cramps. We left her upside down on trestles in the boat bay, so hopefully we'll be able to take her out next week. (Magnus)

I think this race was pretty good proof of why it is preferable to have outings. Although we'd remembered how to row together by Chesterton, we were also by that stage VERY tired. We managed to hold it together though, and there were some committed pushes despite the spack. And anyway, who cares, cos we won!!!

ps has anyone seen a dead duck somewhere near Chesterton?? (Jane)

Obviously feeling the effects of the morning's VIII race, not to mention the lack of any IVs training for a few weeks, the start was a bit tentative, and King's had a 2.3 second lead (6:02.9 to 6:05.2) at Chesterton Footbridge with LMBC also ahead and Newnham just 0.1 sec behind. Then Magnus told the girls they were all lazy bitches, and they responded with a perfect demonstration of negative fade racing as with push after push the rate and speed increased consistently to the finish to secure a win by a commanding 13 seconds. Excellent stuff, just don't try it in the Bumps! (Neil T)