First and Third Trinity Boat Club
Log In

The Club's Results

Lent Bumps 2009

1st women's VIII

Coxed by: Mark McKelvie

Wednesday
Bumped by Emmanuel
Panicked, rushed, unsettled; coupled to poor lines. First day nerves out of the way. (Mark)
Thursday
Bumped by Jesus
Very panicked, very messy. Air strokes in the draw strokes made us lose momentum right off the start and into the corner, and an explosive Jesus start had them close to 1 length by our 5th stroke.

We knew Jesus would give it all off the start due to a fast Downing chasing them, and our aim was to hold them off for long enough so that Downing would have a shot at the Headship later in the week. Unfortunately our lack of momentum round First Post meant that Jesus closed rapidly and we were bumped on the entrance to the Gut.

Our lack of experience showed today, as it did yesterday, but every time we go out there we build on that experience, so come Mays, and even next Lents, we'll be in a better position to fight back. (Mark)
Friday
Bumped Jesus
Well done, fantastic! A really great result to bump a crew back. Good luck for tomorrow. (AmeLia)
Phenomenal performance.

We were quite sure that Downing would bump us at some point, so our plan was to make it as hard as possible for them. With a demoralising bump on Thursday it was a case of damage limitation.

Our start was not perfect, but much better and a lot more relaxed than Wednesday or Thursday despite Downing getting an early whistle at First Post. That was the last whistle I heard from behind and we managed to stride (finally!) to 30 before squeezing to our race rate of 32. By this stage Jesus had opened the gap by an extra length or so.

We had a good Grassy corner thanks to bowside, and a good push into the Plough. By this stage I noticed Jesus wasn't getting any smaller. A tight Ditton thanks to strokeside pressure brought us back on station with Jesus, and an almighty push followed by an excellent rhythm brought us our first whistle (confusing several in the boat, given Downing was far behind!). A quick check of the cox box showed 31, and I could see ahead that Jesus was rating much higher than us, and their faces showed exhaustion. This was followed shortly by two blasts, the Jesus cox steering to the left and my voice apparently going up in pitch.

Absolutely loving the ride at this stage another squeeze got us three, then a continuous whistle. Calls to steer left along with a bumps push were followed by bow hitting 7's blade, creating an unusual double cross shape on the bumps chart, and completely messing up people's BumpIt predictions...

Utterly ecstatic, we don't care how the rest of bumps goes. We proved we weren't a spooning crew and we deserved a place high in the table, despite our general lack of experience.

***Video*** at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm4V21WVtKo (Mark)
You have no idea how pleased I am! Well I am sure you do. Awesome job, I am so proud of you. This is how you know how to row, so none of that fear again please. Go and bump Emma tomorrow! I will be checking the website during my conference talks... All the best!!! (Julijana)
Woop woop, huge congratulations girls and boy :) Just listened to the radio commentary whilst eating my breakfast and I almost choked on my museli with excitement! Best of luck for tomorrow, wish I could be there cheering you on tomorrow but I'll be dreaming of another bump tonight :) (Charley)
Hearing this news made my day. Best of luck on day 4 - I wanna see a V for victory traced out on the top of that table! (Jij)
Awesome!!! Can someone please put up a descriptive race report for all of us who missed out on this when it happened live. (S.C. Mertes)
This sounded immense on the radio. Huge Congratulations!!!!!! Go whack Emma tomorrow! (DM)
Well done girls, everyone is so proud of you, and you should be so proud of yourselves! (Louise)
Well done, ladies! Go return Emma's bump tomorrow! (Cynthia)
Woohooo! Go girls!! Good luck for tomorrow. (Erica)
Girls, this is PHENOMENAL! I am so happy for you! (Charles)
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Well done girls!!!!!! (Lyns)
Amazing!! Well done!! Looking forward to watching you go hell for leather at Emmanuel tomorrow! (Neil T)
Just saw the smiley pop up!!! :- D well done girls! (Charlie)
Just listened on the radio.. Sounds like a really amazing row - awesome effort girls! (Katie)
Saturday
Rowed over
Good job girls, and sorry it didn't work out today, but you are all here next year, so it's certainly something to look forward to. I am very proud of you! Have a good time at the dinner and the bop tonight, and I expect some awesome rowing next term and blades in May bumps. Also, please can someone write a detailed report on the rowing once everything is over? (Julijana)
A really good row.

Not many nerves existed now since there was nothing to really lose. Even if we were bumped we had already stopped the general consensus that we would go a long way down, and that made us very happy.
We showed that, despite having a slower start, we were quicker than Jesus over the course, and we knew that Jesus would have their whistles early on in this race.

Our start was perhaps the best out of all our bumps races, but the stride took a little longer than yesterday. Jesus got two whistles very early on and for quite a long time too, around First Post and into the Gut - turned out to very optimistic given there was still about a length between the boats during this time(?)

No more whistles followed and we opened up the gap from then on. Onto the Plough we were probably about on station with Emma, if a little out, but coming around Ditton Emma gradually opened up the gap until the end showing their speed and strength.

An excellent row from Emma who showed how they deserved the Headship this time round, but also an excellent row from the girls who beat the odds to drop no further than 2nd.

To overcome so many disappointments with injury, obvious from our performance at Pembroke Regatta, and no permanent replacement up until a week before bumps we have done ourselves proud.

Many thanks to all our supporters, and especially to Julijana for subbing in whenever we've needed her, to Kim for being our lifeline, to Jenny and Anne for supporting us on the bank, and of course to Iain who kept us going through the rough times and got us up to speed despite all of the hurdles.

We're already so up for fighting for it back next year. (Mark)
Congratualtions girls - a fantastic achievement to have bumped back yesterday and held your position today, that takes real guts and is something you should be very proud of :) I hope all the ex-novices enjoyed their first taste of senior racing proper and are hungry for more, and that the experienced pros are now keener than ever for Mays (Liz you know you want to...!). Enjoy a well-deserved rest and the dinner/bop (3 boat clubs = triple carnage... news please!) and I really look forward to watching some more bumping action on the last day of Mays :) (Charley)
Well done FaT W1. Looking at the last couple of years, there seems to be a history of underestimating this crew. I don't know whether that's a reflection of your own lack of confidence or just misjudgment by everyone else, but in either case I think you have proved a point this week. It takes a lot of guts to turn around and fight after going down two in the first two days, especially from the Headship, and all the more so when many of you have so little racing experience. You might not realise it, especially the freshers among you, but there are a lot of us bufties out there (in the Real World!) watching the progress of First and Third up and down the bumps charts. You've done us proud this week. Well rowed. (Erica)

1. Overlap
2. Concession
3. Ditton
[more...]


Facebook Instagram Youtube LinkedIn
If you have any comments or suggestions please email the webmaster. Click here to switch between designs. If you log in as a First and Third member, you can set a preference for a color scheme on your profile.