First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Lent Term 2008

1st women's VIII

Cambridge Head-2-Head (1st division)

3rd college VIII
Time: 16:38
The first half was committed but the power somehow didn't come together. The results also show that we were significantly slower than Jesus. In the second half we picked it up, and caught up the time lost before. Also, we were rowing with men's VIII's before and after us, and kept distance from the crew chasing us while nearly overtaking the crew in front. Finishing 1 second slower than Jesus and Christ's is not a bad result, because Christ's was significantly better than us last term, even if the rumor was that Jesus had mixed their first and second eights. The main point to be taken from this race is that we CAN stay head only if we remain committed and keep on training HARD! (Julijana)
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Head of the Nene (Novice VIIIs)

2nd in Novice 8+, 57th overall, 2nd Cambridge college
Time: 22:13
5s faster than Jesus.

Massive thank you to Sonya for joining us last minute and coxing so well after only one outing.

Practically perfect in every way... (Harriet)
Hey girls, it was nice to see you all yesterday and even better to see these results! Well done! You've clearly got off to a good start this term; make the most of that. (PS I am VERY excited about Lents...!) (Erica)
Awesome day! Thanks so much for the great experience !!
As for the race as such - I think there were bits that were absolutely great and some less mainly because of the damn wind or when we saw the guys on the side- but luckily there were few of those and we got back on track quickly.
At the end of the day we were faster than Jesus :) (Sonya)
I'm liking the tactic of stroke-side eating their own bodyweight in baked goods to rectify the balance problem! Pretty good for a 5k, the first 2k came quite nicely with a solid rhythm. Bit of a wobble in the middle, seeing M1 pulled over was v disconcerting, but dodgy patches only lasted a few strokes and we really picked it up for the end, although Sonia's "10 strokes til the finish" seemed to last a lifetime! Overall the cold and the wind were worth it to come 2nd in our division and beat Jesus :) (Charley)
Awesome! Bring up Bumps! (Ulrike)
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Robinson Head (1st division)

2nd
Time: 9:58
Well we weren't expecting to be 18s behind Emma. The attitude and the row were both confident throughout the race. There were good parts where it clicked, we had cover and were moving well. We lost it a bit coming past the boys crew, but that doesn't explain away 18s. So disappointing, but it'll give us some motivation to keep the pressure on and build up to Pembroke regatta. (Harriet)
Really strong committed row - tidy and powerful. So we weren't expecting Emma to beat us, but as Harrie says - this is just something to push you to push on. Bring on Pembroke Regatta and bumps baby! (Lyns)
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Pembroke Regatta (1st division)

1st round
beat Homerton I by a couple of lengths
Very bad rowing. Spacktastic, spacktacular. We still won. (Harriet)
Not much to say about this one. Just really bad rowing. Concentration and focus were not really aided by getting up at 6ish and by lots of adrenalin on the startline. Only positive aspect was to see that we can row really really spacky and still win a race. (Ulrike)
2nd round
beat Clare I despite rowing even more spackily
Even worse. Complete panic on the start and total disharmony afterwards. Only after one of the girls caught a crab we suddenly came to our senses and calmed down. At least the second half was a slight improvement compared to round 1. To cite Iain: 'I really appreciate that you try to make it more exciting for the spectators on the bank but is this really necessary?!' (Ulrike)
Quarter finals
beat Kings I by rowing well
Ah, the tactic of actually rowing. Seems to work... (Harriet)
Finally we started to row together. We were still very nervous though and didn't really calm down. And the thought of Emma in the next round left us even more nervous after this one. (Ulrike)
Semi finals
beat Emma to take back 18s
YEAH! There's always a first time... :-)!

We concentrated on this one and had the first really nice start. Consequently we pulled away from the first stroke, and apparently they never really came back. (Ulrike)
They owe us Robinson Head t-shirts... Awesome awesome awesome. This was for Uni IVs, Fairbairns IVs and everything else over the past few terms. And to think we were worried! Good controlled start matching them stroke for stroke, then we just put the power down and walked away to finish with clear water. Hell yeah :) (Charley)
Hah! That must feel good ;o) (Erica)
Final
beat Caius with clear water
Heroic. Very very very well done. And you didn't even need the Duckworth-Lewis method! Full steam ahead for bumps. (Neil T)
Fan-fucking-tastic!!! I am so incredibly pleased for you (and not at all jealous...). Roll on bumps!!! (Jane)
After beating Emma in the semi-finals we had already achieved everything we ever dreamt of. I guess that and the fact that we were all dead tired by that time (I kept yawning during marshalling and all the way down to the startline) added a lot to us being not even a bit nervous anymore for the final. We simply had nothing to loose.
Caius in contrast seemed very over-confident - having 2 blues in the boat - and hopelessly over-rated straightaway from the start. We were down a third of a length almost instantly. Although most of us probably didn't believe in a win anymore at this point we still thought we can as well give up when we reach the finishline and are still behind, so we settled into our rythm, focused on our own rowing and started to push back. We drew level under the railway bridge and started to overtake slowly. I guess they just gave in by then or were blown out from going at a ridiculously high rate, whatsoever, it seemed we just had more heart than they have, and consequently we had clear water at the finish line.

For the first time I feel that we really deserve to be FaT W1!!! And I'm damn proud to be part of this crew! As long as we want it, nobody is going to steal the headship from us!!! (Ulrike)
Awesome result, congratulations! (Dubya)
What a great result. Wonderful news, especially alongside yet another good day for the men.
All the very best to everyone for the next two weeks of preparation for Lents. (Martin P)
I was probably more excited about this result than ours; you guys were looking great and thoroughly deserved this. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (BJ)
A great finish after the rather spacky start Let's keep up the good work and kick ass in Bumps just like we walked over Emma - in style :) (Sonya)
Winners :) After a good start again they managed to take half a length off us by rating pretty high, but we just did our own thing and settled into a strong rhythm, coming up level just after the railway bridge and finishing with about half a length of clear water. My first pot - thanks girls for an amazing day! (Charley)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO PLEASED YOU CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE!!!!!!!!

I never won Pembroke Regatta in four years of trying (bitter, me??) and you girls have walked away with it, you are awesome and I am now really really REALLY looking forward to the Lents! Wonderful news! Well done!! :o) :o) (Erica)

1. Rowing up to the start

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Lent Bumps

Wednesday
Rowed over Head
Been listening on CUR1350. Great start! (Erica)
By the Mays, FaT should be running its own intercontinental service on +447797800300. You read it here first! (BJ)
Awesome! And if that's not even your best yet, the other crews must be shaking in their shoes! (I should add a thanks to Erica for her intercontinental text update service). (Jane)
We made Iain and Seb smile... or was it just a facial twitch?! :) Bit nervous on the start, but turned into a good solid row. More of the same tomorrow please. (And on a personal note I went up 52 places today...that's got to do wonders for my Bumps average!) (Charley)
Spectating isn't usually fun when the opposition doesn't even put up a decent fight. But this was very satisfying.

Ra Ra (Dami)
Not our best row ever, but job more than done. Tomorrow we will hopefully be a good deal less nervous and row as pretty as we know we can! (Ulrike)
I've been trying to listen to the radio but it keeps crashing so had to resort to refreshing the website every few seconds.

WELL DONE GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ra Ra First and Third! (Liz)
Fantastic start!!! (Pia)
Thursday
Rowed over Head
Well done again! All guns firing for tomorrow then... (Jane)
Good work girls. You have a lot of great results behind you to take into tomorrow's race. Halfway there now. (Erica)
Well done!!! Go make Emma cry tomorrow!!!!!! (Pia)
Well done girls! It was looking neat from the meadow side - good luck for tomorrow! (Mark)
Friday
Rowed over Head
YES!!!

More of the same tomorrow, please. Will be watching. Cannot wait to see you! (Pia)
Yes!! Listened on CUR. Now go finish the job tomorrow! (Charles)
Saturday
Rowed over Head
Rather a lot of photos for this epic race. Basically it's all of them! I thought it would help the crew and spectators relive every moment (if anyone wants to!). Well done guys, really stunning result. I hope that the record on this website stands for at least 40 years for you to show your grand-children!! (Martin P)
Looking at your card next to my computer I think it is time for me to thank you as well. You have made this term definitely worth it for me not only because I could have some great food with you at crew pasta ( oh..Juljiana's cake), I also had great fun and learnt a lot from Natasha, but mostly because you have taught me a very important lesson - determination and dedication allow you to get ANYTHING you want, even if it seems almost impossible at first sight.
Girls, thank you for the inspiration and you should be incredibly proud of yourselves- you are by far the best women's crew on the Cam!! (Sonya)
Woke up this morning and... yep, still head of the river!

When I joined up, nooooobody thought we would do it, least of all the girls! I always knew that we could, but that it would take a lot of work, but now that we did it, I still can't quite believe it. I'm not really sure how that medal got on my desk...

And now, a cheesy interlude:

Charley: You've always got a cheerful attitude and a big smile for everyone, but you can snap into serious rower mode in no time at all, and as stroke you make sure the others do too. You'll try anything for the coach and give it your all, despite whatever hard work came before, and lead the team into ANOTHER 8 min. bumps piece with perfect fortitude.
Tera: You bring some serious raw power to the boat, stroke after stroke, and your total determination shuts out pain and loss of sight and sound. When you slam in the finish, I feel it! Your commitment to the boat is an inspiration; always the first to offer to sneak out of a commitment or jump out of bed at 5.00 am.
Julia: You are our real Cinderella story, from novice to headship in two terms flat! The team is lucky to have snapped up you're natural talent and strength, and the world of rowing is all yours if you want it.
Harriet: You handle all the organizing and management so well you make it look effortless, I can't imagine how you do it, dealing with the dramas with real style, and still show up with a leadership attitude and the will to row strong day after day after day. You've led a scratch crew to headship!
Aline: Wow are we lucky to have you this year; you taught yourself English rowing style (frankly I still think American style is more effective but hey) with no complaints and no excuses, just determination to make sure that all you're power gets into the water with the rest of the girls. When I glance down the rows of oars making sure no one is slipping into their bad habits, I always have confidence in your blade and your stroke.
Ulrike: You alone, I think, were the most determined and the most sure that we could do it, and your faith was contagious. Your strength is unbelievable, through and around all the work you do outside of rowing, and you really set an example for making each stroke stronger and stronger and faster and faster than the last. You are right, rowing is fun, A LOT of fun when we get it right, and I hope you had as much fun in Lent Bumps as celebrating it!
Hanna: You care so much about this boat and the boat cares so much about you. You always took the good and the bad, and set an example for the boat in confronting the bad and fixing it. You knew when we could do better, and you made sure it happened! You're soft-spoken, sweet smiles are really misleading compared to the rowing animal you can become! Keep that smile for a long time now, because every hard outing and every rough stroke was sooo so worth it.
Julijana: Best for last :) You are way to hard on yourself, looking back, I mean look what you did! You are hard as nails, through and through, with the strength, power, and will to train to keep up and surpass rowers twice your size. You always knew that there was more to give and you gave it, every stroke. I think you deserve this more than any one of us.

Also, a very very very special thank you to Ian who is a psychological master and somehow kept the girls calm on the banks before their big races. I think in a real way they did it for you. Your face after the Pembroke victory was one I will never forget and made it all worth wild even if we hadn't won headship.

Whew! Well girls, they were stronger, bigger, with better erg scores, and they gave us a real fight to the death, but you battled through with blood sweat and tears (literally), and brought heart and soul to the boat, even when the rowing wasn't very pretty, it was still sexy as hell! You are an unbelievably class act!

Cox: 5'2'' and a bit (slightly bigger than bow), 7.5 stn., couldn't cox the Cam without banging into the bank until about a month ago, complete novice to bumps races but being in front helped! (Natasha)
I'm still grinning for you! It was nervewracking chasing you down the towpath, but the result was fantastic. You guys have worked so hard for this, you really deserve it. Make sure you gloat for all its worth! (Jane)
The toughest race I ever had. It felt like dying instantly when we rowed past the kink, and I remember thinking 'sh**, another 3 mins to go'. I have no idea how I managed to keep moving and putting power down until we finally (ages later, it seemed) passed the finish line. And I will never understand how the distance between the Railway Bridge and Peter's Posts can extend so much that it ends up being longer than all the way down from the start to there (somehow it did though).

Back in Michaelmas Term, when I thought of defending the headship all I felt was naked fear, and I was sure this would end up in total embarressment. Nobody believed we could do this, including ourselves. 5 months later, finding ourselves reffered to as 'legends', I still feel like living in a totally irrealistic dream! I keep waking up at nighttime, turning on the light to have a quick glance at my headship medal, just to confirm it is there and things really happened!

We worked hard to achieve this, and we paid with sweat and blood (most oar handles had stains after the race) for this victory. I personally was so knackered that I couldn't even open my water bottle anymore, and Iain had to heave me out of the boat. I hope I never have to go thus far beyond my physical limits again, but at the same time it was totally worth it!

We did it! (Still can't quite believe it.) WE REALLY DID IT!!!

We wrote history and made FaT the first club ever to retain a double headship!

Ra Ra First and Third!!!

3: Height - 5'6''; weight - 9.6 st; age - 33; highest boat before Mich 2007 - W2. (Ulrike)
You deserve this so much. I was going to email you all separately, but then I thought, I want other people to know too. I want the boys, and the lower boats, and all the other crews on the river to read these reports, and realise just how much this Headship meant to First and Third W1.

You've come so far since I coached you last year in the second and third boats. It's great to see that despite the problems you've had, you've all taken the self-belief that W2 and W3 had last year, and brought that into W1. It hasn't been an easy year, but you guys stuck it out and all that hard work has paid off now.

Crew spirit brings so much to a boat. This is an achievement you will never forget. I'm looking forward to see what you can do in the Mays (you only need one overbump and three bumps to get that Headship)!

PS You're the first ever FaT crew (men or women, since the merger) to retain a Headship for a second year! For 40 minutes you were the only ones. It's great to see the women getting somewhere first ;o) (Erica)
Wow what a day! I woke up this morning, a day after, and the first thought that came up to my mind was, damn I am late for our morning paddle! But then it dawned that there is no morning paddle today. We did it! We retained the headship!

We started Mich term as a crew who was miles away from staying head. None of us had rowed in W1, none had a 2k sub 8 min. The numerous ergs, circuits, and not to mention crazy long outings nearly every day, were all worth it! Race by race we were climbing up, from being 5 places down the top (Fairbairn's), to being 1s slower (Winter Head-to-Head), to being 5 seconds faster (Head of the Nene), and finally to being winners (Pembroke Regatta), when we finally realized that we can do this. It was certainly not easy. Rowing to the start every day was a huge mental challenge. We had amazing four calm starts (we had trained our bodies with all those practice starts this term), beautiful strides, and good powerful rowing (despite the wind) to push off any crew behind us. We really wanted this, we had bigger hearts and more determination than anyone else. We rowed over head four times as a crew, and trusted each other completely that everyone will give their best. And we did it! We are FaT W1! I am proud to have rowed with you girls and to have fought hard for this headship.

Many thanks to Iain, Seb, Neil, Tom, Peter Summers and everyone else who helped us become this crew and who believed in us.

Bow: Height - 5'2" (smaller than our cox!!!); weight - 8.1 st; finish position last Lents - 5th W3 division; highest boat before Mich 2007 - W2.

*Footnote: Trained for 7 weeks and rowed over head with a rib stress fracture, which I am finally going to give a rest (or at least until I get into a boat or do an erg). (Julijana)
Apparently word on the bank was that you had been down to London in the morning, done WeHORR and had just returned for Bumps. (S.C. Mertes)
We did it :) Our hardest race of the week, but we do like to make it exciting for our supporters... When it came down to it we were the stronger, fitter, mentally tougher crew - all those ergs, circuits and early mornings were totally worth it. We were completely unrecognisable from the fairly random selection of girls who rocked up to the boat house in Mich term: 5 from W2, 1 from W3, a couple of funny foreigners and someone who'd never been in a boat before! Thankyou to everyone who believed in us and helped us make history by giving us their time and experience (and sanity!), but thankyou mainly to the other 8 girls in W1 who have made such a difficult term so much fun and something to remember forever - now our names go on the black board atbh for people to look at doing circuits in 250 years time :)

Stroke: Height - 5'7"; weight - 10st (before crew pasta); finish position last Lents - Arse of the River; highest boat before Mich 2007 - W3 (Charley)
Awe inspiring! It was thrilling to run alongside for the final segment. I'm really really happy for you all! (Mark)
This is the best thing ever! ever ever! you are legends, I'm so very pleased for you! (Danielle)

1. Heading home victorious
2. Headship crews on th...
3. Men and women posing...
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