First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Fairbairn Cup 2007

A 4300m timed head race on the Cam for VIIIs
Fri 30th November

The official results published by the organisers, JCBC, can be found here. At the bottom of this page there is a summary of the results of college crews and a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.


1st men's VIII, Senior VIIIs

1st
Time: 14:04.36
Training plan called for technical pairs work...

...but seriously! We arrived at the boathouse a very confident crew with a job to get done. There really was a lot of trust in the boathouse this year - each of us knew the rest of the crew had trained their arse off - and we weren't afraid to lay the power down even in longer pieces.

The start was very smooth, rating over 40 without really thinking. The first third went very much as planned; sitting on a comfortable rhythm, putting the power down as a crew. If anything this was slightly faster than I was expecting, and I was very proud sitting at 7 in such a classy boat.

Coming out of Chesterton hurt more than I expected it to, even though I've done this once or twice before. My main mistake here (and I think quite a few of us did this) was wrenching the finishes a little, gripping the handle a little too tightly on the recovery. The rate didn't drop and we didn't tense up an awful amount, but it did mean my forearms were burning down the reach.

Last third was mostly about trusting the base rhythm while holding onto whatever was left. We were still powering along nicely, but ye gads it hurt. Good wind for the finish, some inspiring bank partying (cheers nm2 boys!), and generally a decent row.

Not the result we were looking for, unfortunately, but only 1.16 seconds off. Hats off to the lightweights: for all the banter, it must have been crap being a light crew on the reach this year as the tailwind was pretty blustery. Perhaps some sparring will teach us how to row...?

Plenty more to come, which is exciting. We really need to hit the weights to front load the catches a little more halfway through long races - a Bumper to anyone training twice on Christmas day, knowing the oppo will only be training once! (Dan)
As with Uni IVs, this race was won in spite of rather than because of me. I spent the morning throwing up and was in no condition to race, but decided that a sub would be more disruptive to the crew. I still think that this was the correct decision, and hope I wasn't overly influenced by a selfish desire to win Fairbairns. It became clear not long into the race that I was dead weight, which isn't ideal in the heaviest crew member. Sorry about the lack of middle four pushes, guys...

It was frustrating that this felt like the best row we've had in a while, and I'm sorry not to have contributed to it. There's clearly some sort of negative correlation between how hard I pull and how well we row - perhaps something to think about for the future.

It would be nice to think that, if I'd been healthy, we would have beaten the lightweights and maybe even dipped under 14 minutes, but who knows and, ultimately, who cares? We still got the shield and the big races are a long way off. The honeymoon period looks to be drawing to a close, though: Maggie and Downing are closing rapidly and no doubt Jesus and Caius will follow soon enough.

Our other aim (other than beating the lightweights) was to be closer to CUBC than the colleges; luckily Strawson seems to have done the job for us on that one... (BJ)
It being extremely unlikely that we could lose to a college crew, this was a race against CULRC. Our timing team called us dead level at the railway bridge, and we responded by lifting it to 35 in the tailwind. There was a little drop in power around Ditton corner, but we recovered well and never lost our rhythm in the final third.

A solid performance, nothing special. Comparison with Pembroke suggests we should have been about 5 seconds faster. I suppose this can attributed to Bryn's illness, and I felt that we were slightly over-geared for a long race.

We didn't win this on the day; we've been winning it every day since the end of September. Winning Fairbairns is huge, it's an achievement on a level playing field. Thanks boys. (Tom C)

1. Bryn wants out
2. Over
3. No pain
[more...]

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BPBC 1st men's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

13th, 1st invitational VIII
Time: 14:59.22
One of the mystifying things about Fairbairns is why I seem to come back and race it almost every year despite never really enjoying it. But, all things considered, this was better than expected. It was quite short, but the Darley/Robson combination set a good consistent rhythm. It was definitely better than last years effort too. However, next year I'll try and at least be healthy even if I can't be fit. (Dan)
Helped out this year by a little bit of practice, we managed a much more comfortable row than last time around. A relaxed 32ish most of the way felt maybe a little too relaxed, but who knows what pushing harder might have done for the quality of the rowing in the latter stages. Our major opposition came from a reasonably stacked Emma boat, whom we beat by 15s to regain the Invitational title.
A lot seems to have changed since I left, and I'm not just talking about table football in the bar... we beat Caius and were beaten by Homerton. What's going on there? (Jon)

1. BPBC from a bridge
2. BPBC past Emma footb...

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2nd men's VIII, Senior VIIIs

18th overall, 12th college VIII, 1st Second VIII
Time: 15:13.85
Pretty good race...about as much fun as senior fairbairns can be!
Overtaking Selwin just before the finish was an added bonus.
Recent training was a bit dodgy, but as usual on the day we pulled it out of the bag. (M.H. Dehabadi)
Yeah taking Selwyn (spellt correctly in this report) on the line felt good. Mo's "three cheers for us", not so good and frowned upon by both bank parties.

Anyway, pretty good race with some good unsustainable pushes. Let's carry this through to Lents and get the 2nd VIII headship back. (S.C. Mertes)
'Spelt' is spelt correctly in this report. (BJ)
Why are we incapable of training like we race? Like Winter Head, considerably surpassing my expectations and producing good solid pushes throughout the race and pretty good crew cohesion (I think?). Mo's cheering definitely dodgy... (Peter)
Slightly messy, but good enough to win our division by over 10s. The start was untidy, with half the boat listening to the marshal and the other half doing nothing, but once we got in to the wind we brought it together and held a relaxed 32. We didn't attack the first third as hard as we should have, and I think we lost at least 5s to worrying to much about how difficult the rest of the course would be.
Coming out of Chesterton, we had an untidy push that gave us only slightly more speed, but reminded us that we could go faster. As we began to gain on Selwyn the power came up, and we moved well down the reach and around Ditton, so that we overtook them just as we crossed the line.
Hopefully they thought the cheering was for them, if not, sorry. Next term we will have to commit during outings, not just during the races, and then we can have a go at the 2nd eight headship. Thanks to everyone who coached us, we couldn't have won it without you. (John)

1. Guns....... there!!!!
2. And the winner is......
3. The catch(s)
[more...]

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BPBC 2nd men's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

40th, 1st invitational second VIII
Time: 16:20.36
Well hey, we beat NM1 by 2.6 seconds. Awesome. (Albert)

1. BPBC II from a bridge
2. BPBC II past Emma fo...

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3rd men's VIII, Senior VIIIs

1. M3 from a bridge
2. M3 past Emma footbridge

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1st women's VIII, Senior VIIIs

5th
Time: 17:23.95
Not bad, but not brilliant either. The rate wouldn't settle so there wasn't a chance to put in the good solid row we'd planned. According to Iain we kept up with Jesus until after the Plough, where we lost the rhythm/focus and dropped some time. Still, we were 15s behind them at Winter Head and only 20s over this longer course, and we never ever have to row this far again! (Harriet)

1. rowing home
2. bow four
3. almost done
[more...]

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BPBC 1st women's VIII, Invitation VIIIs

15th, 2nd invitational VIII
Time: 17:48.68
Quite a tidy row at a consistent r30 - perhaps too tidy, as we stayed within our comfort zone and didn't really attack the race as we might have done. Our strategic use of macons (see photos) and (shh!) practice outing beforehand sadly failed to give us the ~90secs gained by Friends of Zambia's zebra-speed-striped lycra.

That said, it was an enjoyable row (Fairbairns??) and a pleasure to come back and watch First and Third do their stuff. Well done all! (Erica)

1. Still rowing with ma...
2. Check out the macons
3. black prince women

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4th men's VIII, NM2's first senior race, Senior VIIIs

1. M4 from a bridge
2. M4 outside the boath...

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2nd women's VIII, Senior VIIIs

1. W2 from a bridge
2. W2 past Emma footbridge

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<h3><a name="selectedresults">Selected Results</a></h3><h4>Men's VIIIs</h4><p><pre><b>Pos Crew Status Pos in Cat Time Diff Halfway Diff</b> 1 CUBC T.O. 13:27.87 +0:00 06:50.12 +0:00 2 CUBC II T.O. 13:51.27 +0:23 07:01.22 +0:11 3 CULRC T.O. 14:03.17 +0:35 07:01.62 +0:11 <b> 4 First and Third Trinity Col 1 / 26 14:04.36 +0:36 07:02.31 +0:12</b> 5 CULRC II T.O. 14:17.83 +0:49 07:08.88 +0:18 6 Lady Margaret Col 2 / 26 14:19.62 +0:51 07:12.03 +0:21 7 Downing Col 3 / 26 14:22.43 +0:54 07:10.63 +0:20 8 Pembroke Col 4 / 26 14:28.35 +1:00 07:16.51 +0:26 9 Pembroke (OXF) Col 5 / 26 14:33.09 +1:05 07:21.30 +0:31 10 Churchill Col 6 / 26 14:50.48 +1:22 07:27.28 +0:37 11 Jesus Col 7 / 26 14:54.99 +1:27 07:27.64 +0:37 12 Homerton Col 8 / 26 14:56.05 +1:28 07:32.79 +0:42 <b>13 Black Prince Inv 1 / 12 14:59.22 +1:31 07:35.65 +0:45</b> 14 Caius Col 9 / 26 15:01.38 +1:33 07:31.88 +0:41 15 Christ's Col 10 / 26 15:05.96 +1:38 07:40.25 +0:50 16 Emmanuel Col 11 / 26 15:06.07 +1:38 07:28.38 +0:38 17 Magdalene Col 12 / 26 15:12.31 +1:44 07:40.89 +0:50 <b>18 First and Third Trinity II Col 1 / 11 15:13.85 +1:45 07:40.78 +0:50</b> 19 Trinity Hall Col 13 / 26 15:14.71 +1:46 07:41.85 +0:51 20 Emmanuel II Inv 2 / 12 15:15.58 +1:47 07:47.93 +0:57 21 King's Col 14 / 26 15:18.57 +1:50 07:44.24 +0:54 22 Queen's Col 15 / 26 15:23.77 +1:55 07:43.69 +0:53 23 Caius II Col 2 / 11 15:24.24 +1:56 07:45.40 +0:55 24 Crustaceans Inv 3 / 12 15:25.36 +1:57 07:46.36 +0:56 25 Wolfson Inv 4 / 12 15:29.00 +2:01 07:48.18 +0:58 26 Downing II Inv 5 / 12 15:31.36 +2:03 07:52.31 +1:02 27 Pembroke II Col 3 / 11 15:35.90 +2:08 07:54.66 +1:04 28 Clare Col 16 / 26 15:45.87 +2:18 07:52.16 +1:02 29 Darwin Col 17 / 26 15:48.05 +2:20 07:51.72 +1:01 30 Jesus II Col 4 / 11 15:48.09 +2:20 07:57.06 +1:06 31 X-Press Inv 6 / 12 15:52.06 +2:24 07:55.57 +1:05 32 Girton Col 18 / 26 15:57.23 +2:29 07:59.56 +1:09 33 Sidney Sussex Col 19 / 26 16:04.54 +2:36 08:04.13 +1:14 34 Tabby Inv 7 / 12 16:08.02 +2:40 08:11.07 +1:20 35 Champion of the Thames Inv 8 / 12 16:08.80 +2:40 08:13.97 +1:23 36 Churchill II Col 5 / 11 16:13.54 +2:45 08:10.28 +1:20 37 Leys School T.O. 16:14.72 +2:46 08:16.24 +1:26 38 CCAT Col 20 / 26 16:17.36 +2:49 08:24.95 +1:34 39 Selwyn Col 21 / 26 16:19.09 +2:51 08:10.53 +1:20 <b>40 Black Prince II Inv 1 / 3 16:20.36 +2:52 08:11.63 +1:21</b> <b>41 First and Third Trinity III Col 1 / 3 16:23.00 +2:55 08:16.29 +1:26</b> 42 Cross Keys Inv 9 / 12 16:23.64 +2:55 08:16.87 +1:26 43 St Hugh's (OXF) Col 22 / 26 16:30.54 +3:02 08:12.58 +1:22 44 Corpus Christi Col 23 / 26 16:31.10 +3:03 08:19.40 +1:29 45 Girton II Col 6 / 11 16:33.29 +3:05 08:16.56 +1:26 46 Darwin II Col 7 / 11 16:44.26 +3:16 08:26.12 +1:36 47 Jesus III Col 2 / 3 16:47.53 +3:19 08:30.12 +1:40 48 Selwyn III Col 3 / 3 16:51.09 +3:23 08:29.45 +1:39 49 St Radegund Inv 10 / 12 17:01.45 +3:33 08:34.89 +1:44 50 Christ's II Inv 11 / 12 17:02.37 +3:34 08:48.80 +1:58 51 Fitzwilliam Col 24 / 26 17:04.02 +3:36 08:26.72 +1:36 52 Sidney Sussex II Col 8 / 11 17:13.06 +3:45 08:36.29 +1:46 53 Lady Margaret II Col 9 / 11 17:14.64 +3:46 08:30.84 +1:40 54 Fitzwilliam II Inv 12 / 12 17:25.13 +3:57 08:44.02 +1:53 55 Selwyn II Col 10 / 11 17:34.97 +4:07 08:48.82 +1:58 56 X-Press II Inv 2 / 3 17:46.53 +4:18 08:58.22 +2:08 57 Clare Hall Col 25 / 26 18:18.40 +4:50 09:15.71 +2:25 58 King's II Col 11 / 11 18:19.16 +4:51 09:16.14 +2:26 <b>59 First and Third Trinity IV Col 1 / 1 18:46.39 +5:18 09:33.67 +2:43</b> 60 Crustaceans II Inv 3 / 3 19:55.09 +6:27 10:06.67 +3:16 61 Peterhouse Col 26 / 26 20:35.25 +7:07 10:08.26 +3:18 62 Downing III Col DNS 63 Trinity Hall II Col DNS</pre></p><h4>Women's VIIIs</h4><p><pre><b>Pos Crew Status Pos in Cat Time Diff Halfway Diff</b> 1 CUWBC T.O. 15:48.02 +0:00 08:02.49 +0:00 2 CUWBC II T.O. 15:56.03 +0:08 08:05.74 +0:03 3 Friends of Zambia Inv 1 / 5 16:18.80 +0:30 08:14.79 +0:12 4 Christ's Col 1 / 18 16:54.93 +1:06 08:31.08 +0:28 5 CUWBC III T.O. 16:57.08 +1:09 08:34.06 +0:31 6 Newnham T.O. 17:03.27 +1:15 08:42.16 +0:39 7 Jesus Col 2 / 18 17:05.70 +1:17 08:31.37 +0:28 8 Pembroke Col 3 / 18 17:12.11 +1:24 08:37.73 +0:35 9 Downing Col 4 / 18 17:22.45 +1:34 08:44.28 +0:41 <b>10 First and Third Trinity Col 5 / 18 17:23.95 +1:35 08:42.22 +0:39</b> 11 Jesus II Col 1 / 4 17:24.49 +1:36 08:48.82 +0:46 12 Emmanuel Col 6 / 18 17:32.05 +1:44 08:43.99 +0:41 13 Pembroke II Col 2 / 4 17:44.87 +1:56 08:49.91 +0:47 14 Emmanuel II Inv 2 / 5 17:48.56 +2:00 08:48.29 +0:45 <b>15 Black Prince Inv 3 / 5 17:48.68 +2:00 09:02.25 +0:59</b> 16 Girton Col 7 / 18 17:55.77 +2:07 09:05.08 +1:02 17 Lady Margaret Col 8 / 18 18:15.84 +2:27 09:04.64 +1:02 18 Churchill Col 9 / 18 18:15.99 +2:27 09:08.55 +1:06 19 St Catharine's Col 10 / 18 18:19.51 +2:31 09:17.16 +1:14 20 Magdalene Col 11 / 18 18:22.52 +2:34 09:16.73 +1:14 21 Homerton Col 12 / 18 18:22.74 +2:34 09:18.14 +1:15 22 Downing II Inv 4 / 5 18:29.24 +2:41 09:20.34 +1:17 23 St Hugh's (OXF) Col 13 / 18 18:32.20 +2:44 09:23.28 +1:20 24 Sidney Sussex Col 14 / 18 18:34.46 +2:46 09:17.93 +1:15 25 Hughes Hall/Lucy Cavendish Col 15 / 18 18:55.81 +3:07 09:30.86 +1:28 26 Selwyn Col 16 / 18 18:56.19 +3:08 09:26.55 +1:24 27 Darwin Col 17 / 18 19:03.16 +3:15 09:44.61 +1:42 28 Champion of the Thames Inv 5 / 5 19:17.93 +3:29 10:01.67 +1:59 29 Trinity Hall Col 18 / 18 19:18.65 +3:30 09:43.42 +1:40 <b>30 First and Third Trinity II Col 3 / 4 19:41.18 +3:53 10:00.61 +1:58</b> 31 Newnham II Col 4 / 4 21:14.30 +5:26 10:48.14 +2:45 32 King's Col DNF</pre></p><div align="right"><font size="-1"><a href="#top">^ top</a></font></div><hr>
Cambridge weather: text or graph

1. FaT lightweights
2. black prince men
3. Strawson's tongue


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