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The Club's Results

Lent Bumps 2009

The Gents, Massive

Coxed by: Tom Lovering

Tuesday
Rowed over
We knew it was unlikely we would bump Darwin, since based on this term's results they were faster than much of the first division, let alone the second. Therefore the hope was that they would bump Homerton and we could chase Emma II for the overbump. Unfortunately for us, Darwin closed to inches on Homerton but Homerton bumped Emma just in time to escape. We then rowed as hard as we could but there was no way we were going to catch them.

On the plus side, we pulled a long way away from the crews chasing us, and Darwin are certain to make mincemeat of Emmanuel on Thursday so hopefully come Friday we'll have something to hit. Today's rowing was messy but fun in a way, and definitely far from our worst performance. (Charles)
Thursday
Bumped by Queens' II
We expected a straightforward rowover today, so we failed to bring the focus that this race needed. Queens, on the other hand, really raised their game, and they ground us down steadily over the course. By the time we hit the reach the gap was down to half a length, and about halfway down they pulled out a huge push, for which we had no answer.

However, based on the previous day there's no good reason for us to have let this happen, so tomorrow we'll be switched on, aggressive, and rowing properly again. (Charles)
I guess today's result was a consequence of complacency and a lack of concentration. Queens came out of the block a lot faster than we did and we fell apart when they closed in on us. This was perhaps was our worst row ever as a crew.

It's an unfortunate result but we're confident that we can pull things together and row to an acceptable standard and recover from this setback. Shit happens, the rest of the week is a test of whether we can harden up and get over it. (Tsunami)
Friday
Rowed over
Absolutely awful, but committed rowing. Neither together not pretty but damn were we pushing fucking hard. A poor effort by Queens to clear the racing line meant we had to hold it up whilst Selwyn got within half a length of us before we were allowed to restart. We rowed our balls off and opened the gap up to station by the time we crossed the finish line. F**K YES boys. Let's reclaim our position tomorrow! (Tsunami)
Whew, that came quite close, or it felt like it. The commitment really felt like it was there today, on the row up and off the start. We knew we would have to go a lot faster off the start than yesterday to avoid a repeat, and we did. We were making a small amount of ground on Queens' all the way up first post reach and we pulled away from Selwyn nicely. Then we came round the corner and were confronted by carnage; I took a look behind while holding it up, Queens' and Emma seemed to be trying to get perpendicular to the river and there was no way to get past. Just as RTT informed us there was probably room to get past and get going again Selwyn appeared round the corner and came storming up on us; we restarted with them less than half a length away and managed to get the boat speed up again fast enough that they didn't get us. We then proceeded to row pretty badly all the way down the reach but some real solid commitment in the pushes lead to us slowly pulling away from them again. I couldn't tell exactly but it looked like Selwyn were outside station again when we crossed the line. Even though it would have been a technical row over it was still reassuring to hold them off.
It was clear from the first half of the race that if we know we have to row really well, we can do, we just have to have something to motivate us right from the start, like chasing the crew in front. Even in the second half when our technique was poor we showed that we can still move the boat well if we just commit ourselves properly. I'm happy with the result and I think we have a good platform to go from tomorrow, we just need to not get complacent again, everyone else has caught Emma but that doesn't mean we will if we don't put in everything we've got. It's the last day, we need to go all in because that's what they'll be doing too. (Aaron)
Today we came back with focus, and a better race plan, namely to bump Queens. Emma made sure that didn't happen, but it certainly gave us more motivation than our "painful survival" race plan yesterday!

After 50 strokes we had put plenty of clear water between ourselves and Selwyn, and may have closed slightly on Queens but not close enough for a whistle. However, just round first post corner Emma and Queens bumped out, and managed to park right across the river. We held it up, waited 10 seconds, and as Selwyn zoomed towards our stern were gently advised by RTT to get rowing again. Thanks, Tom!

So we resumed with Selwyn inside half a length and pushing enthusiastically for the bump, but we made sure the outcome would not be in doubt by gradually pushing them back off until we were back outside station at the finish. For me the moral is that even when rowing poorly, bringing the right attitude gives the boat a couple of extra pips. We only have ourselves to blame for what happened yesterday, but Queens will probably go on to get their blades and I think it's fair to say they've done enough to deserve them.

The scores on the doors:
Technique 3/10
Guts 10/10
Turbolegs 6/10
Jurassic crab recovery 9/10
Desire to throw RTT into the Cam - 11/10 (Charles)
Technical rowovers are really boring. (RTT)
Going for this row over was the confidence booster we needed after yesterday's disappointing bump. It wasn't a total technical disaster either, although by no means was it any good in that respect.

Where we gained was commitment. We didn't care that even if Selwyn bumped us it would be a technical row over anyway because we had to hold it up until they were within a half length of us. All we cared about was dominating them, putting them off-station by the time we crossed the line, just because we believed we could. They didn't make it easy for us, as they were committed and determined too. But we need more of this bloody-mindedness if we're to succeed tomorrow.

All in all however, rowing over has never felt so good.

UPDATE: Now Bumps is over I definitely nominate this as our finest hour. (Jij)
Saturday
Bumped Emmanuel II
This was clearly our worst row ever - it should have been a lot easier but we chose not to make it so. Had we rowed like we did at Robinson Head or perhaps day 1 of Bumps even, it would have been over under the Motorway Bridge. As it happened we had to wait all the way til First Post Corner and narrowly avoided Christs overlapping us.

We should probably have done a bit better than staying level, but that's Bumps, complacency on day 2 led to our current situation.

But still, a committed and gutsy row. Pity about the technique, but there you go.

Gents: Massive. (Jij)
Painful, spacky and short. But in the end, we got the job done. The commitment was there and held it together just long enough so that we'd hit Emma before Christs got us. It was dramatic, Christ's knew Emma were on the verge of spooning so they went off hard, almost gaining overlap on us at the point where we'd hit Emma. But it doesn't matter, we got the result we needed.

Gentlemen, it's been an epic term and I have to say I could not have wished for more from a crew. You boys have been FUCKING AWESOME. 2 wins in Robinson Head an Pembroke Regatta and holding onto our already high position for a 3rd VIII in bumps is a pretty decent achievement lads. The banter has been immense and I owe a big thank you to the rest of the boys for making this term so worthwhile (and generally putting up with my arsey-ness).

Gents: Massive. Indeed. You can't stop us motherfuckers cause we're on a fucking boat. Yeah Buddy ;). (Tsunami)

1. Rowing home with gre...
2. Setting off home
3. M3 are happy after b...
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