First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

May Term 2007

1st women's VIII

Radegund Mile Head Race (College VIIIs)

2nd of College crews
Time: 6:36
Bit wobbly. But not as wobbly as my cycle back.

Maybe drinking at 11am after racing wasn't the best time to test my ale tolerance. (Lyns)
Not too bad. Should have held it together a bit better in the middle part, but it wasn't a disaster. Nice to round off training camp with a race and some free drinks! (Erica)
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BUSA Regatta (Women's Junior VIIIs)

Heats
2nd
Time: 8:15
We had drawn the most difficult looking heat of the WJ8 competition, so it was with some trepidation that we paddled up to the start line to meet our opposition. A pleasant surprise awaited us, however, when the marshal told us to line up against only one other crew! Four others in the heat had scratched and we were left facing only Oxford's A crew in the competition (they turned out to be Osiris, fresh from victory against Blondie the previous month).

Anyway, despite the difficult opposition the pressure was off a bit because we would go through to the next round automatically on finishing the race. We took the opportunity for a full dress rehearsal to calm our nerves, practising our lifts and pushes, and finally finishing about 3 or 4 lengths down. (Erica)
Repêchage
3rd
We invested 10p in a copy of the results from the heats, and were pleased to see that on the basis of previous performances we should be able to secure a place in the final by rowing well. We were also pleased to see the Cambridge lwts record the fastest time of the heats by some way, setting them up for a good race later on.

Meanwhile, conditions on the lake had deteriorated. Rowing up to the start, we were faced by large waves both from the wind and from the launches' wash. The plan was to race for third place in the rep and the last place in the final. In the end, we found ourselves easily pulling away from two other boats and almost level with another, pushing for second place. They put in a big push coming out of halfway and gradually moved away from us. We stayed steady in the driving wind and concentrated on maintaining the pressure in the water, finishing well clear of the two last boats to book ourselves a place in the final. (Erica)
Final
6th
Reaching the final was rather more than we had hoped for at the beginning of the day and a good result in itself, so when the organisers called a delay in racing due to the bad weather, we were almost inclined to call it a day and go home! However, having got that far there didn't seem much to be lost by waiting (apart from risking the wrath of the bus driver who had some drinking booked for the evening). Eventually we were allowed to boat and followed the CUW lwts up to the other end of the lake. We were under no illusions - we expected to be slowest crew in the final and were prepared to go out and row the race for second-last. The start was difficult due to the wind - several crews were blown around and Oxford Brookes took off at a very odd angle and ended up rowing behind us in our lane [to be continued...] (Erica)

1. Another rowing picture
2. Rowing over in isola...
3. Catches going in
[more...]

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LMBC erg champs (Women's 1st), The Herd of Elephants (and three gazelles)

Won - average split 1:43.7
Time: 13:49.8
Our pack of rampaging (and more delicate) wild beasts walked all over Emma with ease. Pity that no-one else turned up to challenge us...surely they're not all scared already?
(average split time including changeovers 1:43.7 - I can't submit it in the Result description as it tries to add it to the overall time) (Jane)
I don't think I really count as a gazelle with my little legs.. besides, that would imply some grace on my part (and apart from anything, the floral lycra does away with that, excused by the fact that i'd come straight from the BH and my third outing of the day, and yes, the adjective you're looking for is _beautiful_). Overall we rocked, though I'm glad they took off the changeovers cos I sucked at that. Just wait till we get all that power in a boat! (Joff)
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Cambridge Head-2-Head (1st division)

Winners W1, 1st Overall
Time: 21:04
Having just started rowing in a new post-BUSA lineup, and still without a set crew, this race was more about getting in a good long head piece and bringing the rhythm together than it was about pushing any boundaries.

The first leg was surprisingly good in terms of basic rhythm, which came together a lot more nicely than it had in the previous few days even at the higher rating. However, we struggled to bring our pushes solidly together and took longer than necessary to overtake (on the outside of Grassy!)

The second leg started reasonably well but we never quite found the same comfortable rhythm we had had in the first piece. However, we did respond to lifts more cohesively and coped reasonably well with the headwind.

It was a pleasing addendum to win pots for the row, but the small margin to the following crew (Newnham) suggests that we need to raise our game in the coming weeks. Luckily, there is a lot of potential to do that :o)

Erica (Pedro)
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Champion of the Thames Eights Head (Women's 1st Div. Mays)

3rd in W1, 3rd Overall
Time: 5:17.4
Eerm...according to the online results, we were actually third, beaten by Queens (??!!). Anyways...

A pity not to get the pots, but not a bad result regardless; just imagine what might happen if we have more than two outings together pre-race!! I thought our start and build were pretty good, but we didn't deal well with the gusts of wind as we came round Ditton, nor the push for the finish. Inbetween however there was some quite decent rowing, though plenty to improve upon in the next few weeks. (Jane)
Third to Jesus (although they had a rather sneaky not-really-actually-at-the-university-6-girl) by 2 ses and Queens' by a second which was a bit gutting. Thought we had a strong row though, perhaps helped by the fact that we'd controversially stuck to the same crew as we'd had for the last two outings. Few more outings together and we might even go a bit faster. We'd better go a bit faster. Bah. (Joff)

1. Women again, but bigger
2. The women, but bigger
3. Women again
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May Bumps

Wednesday
Bumped Churchill
Our first attempt was committed but frantic. Contigency plan #31 failed to find us our rhythm, but regardless, we had closed to half a length (?) coming out of grassy. Perhaps rather negligently, considering the carnage caused in recent years, our myriad plans had failed to include Downing-induced river blockage, and we were foiled by a river full of stopped boats.

Iain and JPD made herculean efforts to get back from M1/M2 in time for our second attempt (not to worry, contigency plan #107 dealt with heart attacks), and we were very much boosted to hear of M2's bump on Caius just before our start. This row was much tidier than the first (possibly helped by the relative lack of wash?!) and we hit a good rhythm coming down first post reach. They held us off with a couple of good pushes but we got them outside the Plough. Job done. (Jane)
Thursday
Rowed over
Well, the bumps chart says it all really. LMBC were bumped back by Downing in rather unexpected circumstances after what looked like an overhead crab parked them on the outside of First Post. We made it to a length off the overbump on Clare by the Railway Bridge, but ran out of river. (Erica)
Looks like you got pretty damn close to the bump on Clare, I'll be rooting for you all the way today! Best of luck. (AmeLia)
I had avoided posting a report for this race because I wasn't sure that I could avoid using rude words. The overbump has eased my pain somewhat. We let ourselves down in the middle third of the race, and our storming reach (4 lengths in 2 minutes! I've never wished that the reach was longer before!) wasn't quite enough to get us the overbump. What it did do, however, was give us confidence for the next day's racing. (Jane)
Friday
Overbumped Clare
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Well done! I'm so pleased for you. Congratulations!! Enjoy tomorrow (and maybe try holding out until the Plough for a change). :) (AmeLia)
Watching Queens' spanner into the distance as we (I) took Iain's advice and set up a nice long strong rhythm. He may have even said that certain members of CUW were rowing 'well'. This may on the other hand be a vicious rumour. Ground down Clare over the course, excellent coxing from Abbi gave us the advantage we needed to take them with not a huge distance left to the finish. (Joff)
Amelia has pre-empted my race report - WOOOO!!! Some excellent pushing-out meant we were up on Maggie off the start, and made further gains down first post reach. The pushed away however and got the bump on Downing, which meant contingency plan #155 (by far the preferred option) sprang into action. An excellent line from Abbi and some prompt clearing by Maggie took us clear of the carnage, and we powered down Plough reach with the overbump very much in mind. Calls of 'on station' as we came onto the reach meant it was very much on. My legs, arms and lungs were distinctly unhappy with me at this stage, but I informed them that there was no point wasting four minutes of pain for the sake of another two, it couldn't hurt much more right? (wrong). We gained fairly steadily down the reach, culminating in one of the best views I've had in ages - their cox sitting beside me with my blade lodged on their stern. Amazing! And especially satisfying to see (or not see) Queen's nowhere near. F*** over Trinity indeed! (Jane)
Saturday
Bumped Trinity Hall
Not our best row ever but by no means our worst; it did the job. Unfortunately Tit Hall stopped rowing once bumped, and as we were stuck on their stern, we both ended up drifting into the barges on the inside of grassy rather than clearing properly. This caused Maggie to take a very wide line around grassy and plough into the outside bank (though I think they eventually got away). Then came Downing being bumped by Clare with Queens in hot pursuit, meaning that when the bump occurred, all three of them went into the far bank. Christs were unwilling to hold it up and took out the Queens cox at full speed. Meanwhile we had all blades in on both sides and were precariously balanced between a barge and the oncoming crews whilst remaining wedged onto Tit Hall's stern. Eventually, after the klaxon eventually convinced Peterhouse to hold it up, we were able to extract ourselves and pull in for greenery. Certainly the most bumps carnage I've seen in a while - made for an exciting last bumps race. I miss rowing already. (Jane)
Thankyou all for being so awesome to row with, for tolerating my 'strops' (particularly Abbi :) and the craziness of trying to organise mens and womens hour outings when you're supposed to be doing both. I'm missing you all already! Here's to finally being in a decent starting position in Mays (though I've STILL not managed to bump every day of mays in W1. However, I reckon going up 5 probably makes this acceptable.) (Joff)

1. Round Ditton 5
2. Round Ditton 4
3. Round Ditton 3
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