The Club's Results

Well done! Great result (John)

A fantastic result which we can be hugely proud of! This is the highest an Oxbridge College has ranked in a while, and it is based upon hard work and excellent coaching! Thanks in particular to Jon Davies, Tom Rose and Iain Law who have contributed a great deal to teaching us to row, and to keep on pushing us to our limits!
Personally I enjoyed every single stroke of this race, because there had been such a build-up to it. This was it, this was what we had been training for all year. We had ups and downs in our preparation, but to go out on the day it really counts, and to just do it feels incredible. Stern pair set a crystal clear rhythm which perpetuated through the boat like an epic rowing rave, awesome. Thanks for this guys, it has made every single minute on the erg, in the gym and on the water worthwhile.

This is only the start of the FaT epic domination, May term here we come! (Flo)

Well done guys - fantastic result. Great to see First and Third doing so well at a national event! (Dan)

No one has yet commented that St Paul's finished 171st and 230th, so the three-year old target of beating them on the Tideway has finally been achieved. (BJ)

Nice one, well done!! (Erica)

Came off the water feeling a little ill, alcohol after the race didn't help, but some food did.
I enjoyed the row, felt like I was rowing well within myself, until I blew massively about 10 strokes from the line.

A mix up with Bristol University Boat Club entries has got us the Halladay trophy.
It is awesome to get the club some nationally recognised silverware, however this is tempered by knowing that Bristol Uni were faster than us, and had they not made a paperwork mistake they could have had the trophy. (Thomas)

Conditions were excellent, calm water and very little wind. It felt more like the Cam than the Thames, which really boosted our confidence. We started with some schoolboys right on the stern, but moved away fairly easily. In the middle of the race we suffered from being in a competitive vacuum, and maybe didn't work quite as hard as was needed. On the plus side, there was enough in reserve to really attack the second half. The push off the bridge was almost too big when combined with the extra adrenalin imparted on us by the cheering crowd, but no-one actually blew up. We met some rough water from crews ahead around the football ground, but were rewarded with the opportunity to overtake Glasgow University just before the line. For me it was a very well balanced row, with the legs, lungs and forearms suffering just about equally.

The result is a good step forward from last year, reflecting the term long focus and the extra week after bumps. Unfortunately we just missed out on the top 50 target, but it was always a tall order, especially with the strong overseas contingent this year. Compared with recent college results we did pretty well. For the record, the best results by other college crews in the last ten years are: Oriel 55th in 1999, Emmanuel 71st in 2000 and 80th in 2001, Christ's 74th in 2002, Goldie 68th in 2005 and 56th in 2006.

How fast can a college go? With the whole crew training from September and 50% increase in volume (ie similar to top universities), I reckon top 30 is doable. But with the Temple so far out of reach it would be rather pointless.

We also won a trophy. Apparently it's more because of technicalities than speed, but then the whole notion of awarding prizes to lots of crews that didn't come first is quite ridiculous, so we might as well enjoy it. (Tom C)