First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Pembroke Regatta, Lent Term 2008

A side-by-side knock out regatta on the reach, over 1100m
Sat 16th February

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1st men's VIII, 1st division

1st round
Beat Emmanuel by 4 lengths
Time: 3:28
Waking up at 0600h did not help the race preparation, and coupled to the freezing conditions the two crews who lined up at 0815h were feeling a bit sorry for themselves.

We were pretty confident but determined not to have a 'Clare Scare' like Pembroke Regatta 2007 - the start was to be ridiculously unsustainable, through to a ridiculously unsustainable finish.

Emma had a bad start and we had a pretty fair one - much splashier than in practice now we had a crew alongside. Nevertheless we hit about 50, sustained at 44 and strode down to 39 - at which point we were length up and cruising far, far faster than the oppo.

We didn't sit back on the lead and Leadbetter mercilessly called for a legs push to double the clear water before the 500m point. Job done - we sat on them at about 34ish.

In fairness to Emma, FaT are notorious for their poor starts and this race took them by surprise. We wouldn't have this advantage in later races. (Dan)
2nd round
Beat Fitzwilliam by 1 length
Time: 3:16
After's Emma's remarkable capitulation in the 1st round I thought the whole regatta was going to be a walkover. I certainly wasn't expecting a serious challenge from Fitzwilliam. I think we had confidence in our start and went pretty quickly, but not enough to take a lead.

Drawing inspiration from last year's boat race, we didn't panic and stuck to our plan, staying level around the outside of the reach. Emma timed a big push perfectly, seizing the initiative as the river turned in our favour. It turned out to be decisive, and we cruised the last 20 or so strokes a length up.

It's nice that the other colleges have finally shown an interest in competing. (Tom C)
Fitz were big, and had blatantly been making the use of their shiny new boathouse - every time I went to the boathouse in the evenings I'd always know that there would be some poor bugger pulling his guts out in Fitz BH.

We're not a massive crew so pulling up alongside them would have felt a bit daunting if this sort of thing hadn't been happening for eight years. They wanted it, so did we. Bring it.

Our start was messy and there was a whiff of panic (possibly from the other crew, but equally possible from us) as neither crew pulled away. The fact we knew we would have to unleash hell meant the stride had to happen quite a few times before the rate finally came down to 38. This didn't help with finding length at the front, and was not our most efficient rowing.

Nevertheless, we stuck to our pattern and trusted in the training plan (e.g. the technical pairs work at the Nene). We didn't make any massive moves; were just a bit sharper and fitter and it began to tell as we came under the railway bridge.

Although this was no indication of their fitness over the course, I feel very, VERY sorry for the poor crews being chased by Fitz this bumps. (Dan)
Quarter finals
Beat Robinson NRO
Apparently one of their guys has broken his hand. Not good; hope it's better for the Mays. (Dan)
Semi finals
Beat Christ's by 3 lengths
Time: 3:24
These guys had watched the previous races and knew a massive start was required. The adrenaline kicked in and we both hammered off the start.

Both crews a little splashy - bow pair in FaT doing their own thing, as usual - but both found a good racing speed. We pulled away under the bridge, which led to some spectacular rate 36 rowing once we were in front: just tapping it along, no effort whatsoever. What a pity for an extra mph or so we have to kill ourselves, eh? (Dan)
Final
Beat Clare by 3 lengths
Time: 3:18
We wanted to see what we were capable of, and killed ourselves. Main things to learn were that rate 40 is sustainable for an entire kilometre, and that emptying the tank in the first 500m doesn't lead to a fast 2nd 500m.

Congratulations to Pedro, as this is his third consecutive win at this Regatta. (Dan)
This time we were racing the clock. The effort was certainly there, but the speed started to disappear in the second half. I was quite disappointed that we were slower than in round 2, having worked a lot harder. The two possible explanations are that it'd been a long day, and maybe 38 is more efficient than 40 at this stage. I'm leaning towards the former. (Tom C)
This was Iain's first chance to see our controversial but 'fun' racing start. He didn't approve. (BJ)
That's Pedros Hat Trick sorted... Pretty good days racing, lot of work still to do for bumps. (C.S.Dunleavy)

1. The speed coach was ...
2. Ming examining the r...
3. Still level at halfway
[more...]

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1st women's VIII, 1st division

1st round
beat Homerton I by a couple of lengths
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)
Very bad rowing. Spacktastic, spacktacular. We still won. (Harriet)
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)
Hah! That must feel good ;o) (Erica)
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)
Final
beat Caius with clear water
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)
Heroic. Very very very well done. And you didn't even need the Duckworth-Lewis method! Full steam ahead for bumps. (Neil T)
Awesome result, congratulations! (Dubya)
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)
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 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)
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)

1. Rowing up to the start

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2nd men's VIII, 1st division

1st round
Beat St. Edmunds by 3 lengths
Time: 3:28
A high-powered start was rewarded with a 1/2-length lead, which the crew pressed out to a length and then clear water by the railway bridge, cruising to the line in a respectable time, good result. (Will L)
Quarter finals
Lost to Clare by half a length
This was our first race as the bumps crew, and so it was our chance to see how quick we actually were. The first round was reasonable, and once we had edged away from them we were able to cruise at 34 to the finish. The second round against Clare was always going to be more difficult, and in the second half of the race our lack of technique began to tell, and as they began to gain on us there was probably a bit of panic, which didn't help. A shame to disappoint the fantastic bank party.

Racing in this division did mean that we couldn't repeat last year's results, but on the other hand we got a good race, which is more important with bumps in mind. 3:35 was apparently enough to win M2, so although our rowing was compared to a washing machine by a clare coach we seem to be doing some things okay. Still plenty more to come...

Also if LMBC 2 want to earn their pots we're keen for a bit of a spar. (John)
Surely the sparring will come on day 3/4 of bumps... Bring it on! (Lorry)
Ballsiest race I ever saw! Took on one of the better 1st VIIIs and raced right to the line.

A slightly overpowered, spacky, nervous start saw both crews level for the first half of the reach, FaT then nosed in front around their corner and were 2 seats up coming into the railway bridge. The corner evened things up and as the crews went into the last 200m Clare's experience and efficiency began to show, we flagged and lost our technique, Clare edging into a 1/2 length lead with a superior sprint finish. Great racing.

The crew proved they can hold their own amongst 1st VIIIs and deserve to be in Div 1 in a fortnights time. (Will L)
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2nd women's VIII, 2nd division

1st round
Beat Queens II, by 8 lengths
Solid start but despite being slightly slower on the start we ate away their early advantage and were up by 1 length before we finished our start. Continuous opening of the gap from there (Mark)
2nd round
Beat Kings II, by a mass of clear water
Similar to the race against Queens II, this was also a good performance, producing a gap of at least 10 lengths towards the end. (Mark)
Quarter finals
Lost to Jesus II, by 3 lengths
Probably the best performance out of the three, the rhythm was very solid and a lot of speed was being produced. The balance was good, and the rating, despite being an average of 33/34 throughout the race, felt good.
Lost to a strong Jesus crew who were physically bigger, yet we held their advance from around the railway bridge to 3 lengths and didn't let them have anymore, and in fact were gaining on them about 100m before the bridge.
Do that again in Bumps, and I will be shocked if we don't bump every day. (Mark)

1. W2 fighting Jesus

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3rd women's VIII, 3rd division

Final
Beat Pembroke III
i'm so proud of you guys!! especially after all the drama before the race (may that homerton blade rest in peace). even though you were about two seats down on pembroke for most of the first half, you kept the length and pressure up in the water, drawing level just before the railway bridge and increasing the lead all the way to the finish. row like that on friday and i have no doubt you will get on. ra ra 1st & 3rd!! (Kristina)
so so so so pleased with this result! The highs and lows of the day have considerably shortened my life expectancy.

You had a good 'first race' which highlighted a few problems to work on so we were quite confident rowing up to race.
Unfortunatly circumstances resulting in a return trip to the boat house and you narrowly missing the final (thank goodness Rachel pursuaded the marshalls to wait). But despite the stress you put it all behind you and had an amazing race. The start was much better and everyone kept eyes in the boat and never let them get away.
Keep up the good work and I will be on the bank for bumps!! (Alex)
After the byes in the earlier rounds and the crash which meant we were rowing in a different boat it was fair to say we had an eventful day.

The race itself was awesome. We had one of the best starts we have ever done, getting the rate down to a reasonable level before our first push. We were a few seats down for a good bit, but our pushes drew us level. After the bridge we managed to get clear water, and although they tried to come back at us you absorbed their pushes really well and rowed really well all the way to the finish.

Well done again. Now lets get on! (DM)
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4th men's VIII, 3rd division

Quarter finals
Beat Jesus III by inches
Close throughout, won by a very small distance. A bit spacky, but the commitment was definitely there. (Alasdair)
Semi finals
Beat Queens' III easily
They were about a length behind after the start, then they crabbed and easied for a while. We took several more lengths and then paddled it back. (Alasdair)
Final
Lost to LMBC III by 1 length
We were a few seats down after the start, and the power dropped. They had clear water by the railway bridge, and though we started putting more power down towards the end, we were too far behind to catch up.

Overall, it wasn't a bad performance, but we can't afford to lose to third boats if we want to do well in bumps. (Alasdair)
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5th men's VIII, 3rd division

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