The Club's Results

We hadn't learnt a full racing start, so they took half a length within 15 strokes. We held them level until the railway bridge, not allowing them to push off and wearing them down. We kept a good rhythm and took long strokes as they tired and began to make mistakes. We brought it home with a huge push beginning just before the bridge, and rowed through them to a lead of roughly a length in the space of 25 strokes. (Alasdair)

Wolfson crabbed off the start, giving us a length's lead going down the reach. We held them off nicely for the first 400m, but then things fell apart. Numb hands in the cold weather led to a first crab, allowing them to draw back level. A second, boat-stopping crab just after the railway bridge caused us to swerve over to the wrong side, and we rowed the last 15 strokes behind them, never really regaining the rhythm.

There's a lot to be pleased about from this regatta. We showed that we could establish and sustain a solid, long rhythm in the first race, and were let down at least partially by inadequate kit in the second. If we can work on extending that performance from 3 minutes to 10, we can do very well on Thursday. (Alasdair)

A very disappointing result for such a strong, coordinated crew against such a weak crew.

An early crab in the start was quickly corrected, but it had caused an irreversible seat failure meaning the majority of the course was rowed in sixes. To then lose with overlap shows how strong and able the crew was - expect a comeback for Novice and Senior Fairbairns! (Mark)

What a gutting morning - we went hard off the start but a crab (which was quickly recovered from) resulted in the seat coming off. We rowed the course in sixes, maintaining overlap for the whole race. This showed some real grit and determination, not to mention terrific rowing. Some totally inappropriate celebrations from the Selwyn boat were a shame. Well done girls - bad luck really hit us hard there. We look now to Fairbairns, and I am totally confident of a great performance.

There are always more races to win. (R.J. Fletcher)

A breathtaking effort from our crew.

After a (very unlikely and rare) crab around the second stroke of the start, Selwyn gained a quick length and a half as we struggled to recover the rhythm, and it quickly became apparent we were going to be rowing without two of our strongest members owing to a seat failure.

A lesser crew would have thrown in the towel, but the remaining six had established a good race pace, and after the first push were gaining on a flagging Selwyn crew. The remainder of the race we were steadily shortening the gap, making at least two seats with every push. If the course had been another 200m I seriously think we would have beaten them.

So it's not the result we wanted, and Selwyn's jubilant celebrations at having beaten 3/4 a crew were bordering on offensive, but it was a stunning performance and a race I'll remember for a long time. (Tom)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QfG8ibNnTq0 (Thomas)

Can i just add what a quality bit of coaching that is too!

Thats the first time i'd seen your race, guys, very impressive performance considering the new crew order. It looked like you maintained a nice rhythm under pressure in the first part of the race, and got your reward by really cruising the second half... We'll be flying by fairbairns!! (Emma)

Crabs swung us into the bank, while about half a length down. Less panic and fewer mistakes would have won us the race, but some good rowing suggesting a possibility of an excellent fairbairns performance. (Thomas)

Turned up manifestly on time only to be told that due to the incompetence of Clare BC, the marshalling instructions contained three different marshalling times for our division, and we'd gone with the online draw rather than the pdf. AAAAARGH!!! (Emma)