The Club's Results

This was a confident debut from M5. Although the crew have only been together for a week, today proved that we've established something really good to work on over the next few weeks til bumps.

A slightly ambitious start saw us rating 33 under the motorway bridge, but it wasnt long til we'd settled onto a springy 28. Balance was a lot better than it has been in some of the paddling, and we were gaining on the crew in front. Ilya took some great lines through the gut and grassy, but by then the tiredness was beginning to set in and the boat speed started to drop. The sight of Emma W1 behind us soon got the legs working again, and there were committed pushes on plough reach. Coming onto the reach, Emma came up for the overtake - the crew kept their heads, kept the pushes coming, and it took a good forty strokes for them to push through. Heads never went down, and the boys held their form right through the railway bridge and to the finish.

I'm really proud of this result, and proud of you all for some great individual performances. We need to keep training hard this week and make big steps on before the Getting on Race, but i'm confidnet that this crew has what it takes. (Emma)

This was a really good first race against daunting opposition. M5 may not be the biggest guys, but they certainly outrowed Fitz III, extending their lead steadily throughou the course. Fitz's unnerving shouting and attempts to push back were dealt with calmly and thye never really made headway. (Emma)

We couldn't have asked for more from the crew in this race. LMBC 3 can give our M4 and even M3 a bit of a run for their money, but the boys were unphased and had their best row of the day. The start was much better and stern pair did a great job keeping the rate high. Fitness was beginning to tell as we came round the bend at the railway bridge, however, and we lost it over the last thirty strokes or so. LMBC had by this time strung out their lead to a few lengths.

The Getting on Race is the big test now. Watching you from the bank i'm sure you can make it, but we'll need to move on from today amd hit this week's outings hard to make sure of the result we want. (Emma)

"A good and committed row" (quote: Emma) which was close to the best we could do on the day.

After crossing the motorway bridge we settled into a nice 30ish pace. Chen (at 2) was in charge of the corners around Grassy and nailed them beautifully.

Coming up to the beginning of the Reach after Ditton we lost a bit of boat speed, but with encouragement from a great bank party we increased speed again as we came up towards the finish.

Unfortunately, the result wasn't enough to make it to the bumps, but the row definitely showed that there is potential in M5. (Niels)