The Club's Results
Champion of the Thames Eights Head, May Term 2009
A Head race for eights from the Plough Pub to the Penny Ferry.
Sun 17th May
The official results published by the organisers, Champion of the Thames RC, can be found here. At the bottom of this page there is a summary of the results of college crews and a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.
2nd men's VIII, Men's 1st Div. Mays
8th in M1, 11th overall
Time: 5:00.6
Time: 5:00.6
With emergency sub Fletch getting in the boat at Ditton we barely managed a stroke all eight before the race. Good length at the front but finishes a bit untidy. The start wasn't bad and attacked Ditton well but then the effects of the previous night's Maharajah Ceylon came into play and I had to cap the rate at 35 to avoid shitting myself.
3rd men's VIII, Men's 3rd Div. Mays
4th in M3, 29th overall
Time: 5:27.2
Time: 5:27.2
A decent race, with a very powerful start at rate 41. Lost some speed at the end of the reach but picked it up again for the finish. Rated 32 for most of the race. If we can manage to hold the speed a little better over 1 to 1.5k we should be fine for bumps.
Good points to take away:
1. A (fairly) stable boat with no water in it when we took it to heads
2. A lot better rowing than the last outing (apparently)
We were faster than the boats directly behind us in Mays (7s Churchill II, 17s Fitz II) however also 13s and 18s slower than the two boats behind them (Magdalene II and Christ's II). None of the boats within a sensible distance in front of us in Mays entered.
Good points to take away:
1. A (fairly) stable boat with no water in it when we took it to heads
2. A lot better rowing than the last outing (apparently)
We were faster than the boats directly behind us in Mays (7s Churchill II, 17s Fitz II) however also 13s and 18s slower than the two boats behind them (Magdalene II and Christ's II). None of the boats within a sensible distance in front of us in Mays entered.
If the race was only to Ditto corner, we may have won... Lots of room for improvement!
4th men's VIII, Men's 4th div. Mays
5th in M4, 43rd overall
Time: 5:38.6
Time: 5:38.6
Firstly, I've had a complaint about lack of paragraph use in my race reports, I'll endeavour to improve.
Anyway, on to the race. As a precursor we recently had an outing in which we were described as rowing very prettily, but with little power, so our focus was to really gun it safe in the knowledge that the course was only about 1.3km long. Our practice start and the paddling up seemed encouragingly powerful and fast, so at spinning we were confident of a solid result...
The race started with a pretty smooth effective start, followed by a wind to what I believe was about 39, but I may be wrong here, however it didn't feel too rushed, and we thought we had set off well. The situation changed rapidly around Ditton corner, as we turned into what amounted to an utterly epic headwind, and rapidly lost boatspeed. The loss of boatspeed led to a more unsettled section of rowing, with people (notably myself) struggling for length as our slide was resisted by the wind. This culminated about halfway down with a minor crab as the wind caught my blade in the middle of attempted feathering, leading to a mistimed catch and crab. I also learnt after the race that at one point the wind moved Aaron's blade so much he lost hold of it with his outside hand.
Anyway, we continued down the the railway bridge, and got back into the wind shadow. Having got out of the conditions, the rowing rapidly picked up, and we appeared to pick boatspeed up quickly, and finish reasonably strongly.
To conclude, it was a disappointing result, as we were beaten by the boat chasing us in bumps, however the weather reports indicate we rowed in about 50% greater windspeed, so not altogether calamitous. The technical ability seemed to be largely there, need to work on the guns though...
Anyway, on to the race. As a precursor we recently had an outing in which we were described as rowing very prettily, but with little power, so our focus was to really gun it safe in the knowledge that the course was only about 1.3km long. Our practice start and the paddling up seemed encouragingly powerful and fast, so at spinning we were confident of a solid result...
The race started with a pretty smooth effective start, followed by a wind to what I believe was about 39, but I may be wrong here, however it didn't feel too rushed, and we thought we had set off well. The situation changed rapidly around Ditton corner, as we turned into what amounted to an utterly epic headwind, and rapidly lost boatspeed. The loss of boatspeed led to a more unsettled section of rowing, with people (notably myself) struggling for length as our slide was resisted by the wind. This culminated about halfway down with a minor crab as the wind caught my blade in the middle of attempted feathering, leading to a mistimed catch and crab. I also learnt after the race that at one point the wind moved Aaron's blade so much he lost hold of it with his outside hand.
Anyway, we continued down the the railway bridge, and got back into the wind shadow. Having got out of the conditions, the rowing rapidly picked up, and we appeared to pick boatspeed up quickly, and finish reasonably strongly.
To conclude, it was a disappointing result, as we were beaten by the boat chasing us in bumps, however the weather reports indicate we rowed in about 50% greater windspeed, so not altogether calamitous. The technical ability seemed to be largely there, need to work on the guns though...
A pretty solid and committed row in very unpleasant conditions. Our time wasn't helped by being blown off course on the start, and my pretty poor line round Ditton (turning right in Richard Church is still a subtle art I have yet to master). I thought the rowing was some of the best we have done to date, with a real sense of the boat being lifted and sent, particularly when we got out of the wind and could get to full compression and square up without having to sacrifice one in favour of the other. Perhaps we went off too hard, but this was probably the injection of power we needed to feel.
Regarding the disappointing result, the concensus is that conditions were so vastly different between divisions for the results not to be reliable, so we should not be too discouraged by being beaten by LMBC 4 and other boats we were expecting to outperform. That said, Caius 3 were in the same division, so while there is no need to be depressed about our result, there is no room for complacency either.
Regarding the disappointing result, the concensus is that conditions were so vastly different between divisions for the results not to be reliable, so we should not be too discouraged by being beaten by LMBC 4 and other boats we were expecting to outperform. That said, Caius 3 were in the same division, so while there is no need to be depressed about our result, there is no room for complacency either.
1st women's VIII, Women's 1st Div. Mays
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1. Catch!
2. Still racing 3. W1 racing down the r... [more...] |
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2nd women's VIII, Women's 3rd Div. Mays
5th in W3
Time: 6:50.3
Time: 6:50.3
There was some confusion at the start about whether or not the marshall was telling us to go. In future we should probably listen to Danny and not the marshall. But it was a pretty good start. And we got the boat moving fairly quickly for a bit. And then we came round Ditton and the boat speed dropped massively into the wind. Danny called a push for ten and we picked it up and started rowing better. In the wind it felt like a long hard struggle of a race, especially coming down the Reach. Sonya's blade caught inside the boat and we all ended up out of time but we got it back together and wound for the finish.
In all, not a bad result but we need to panic less when things go wrong in the boat. And I need some string to tie my feet in.
In all, not a bad result but we need to panic less when things go wrong in the boat. And I need some string to tie my feet in.
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1. Balanced
2. Watching the puddles go 3. Weight not really ce... [more...] |
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6th men's VIII, Men's 6th div. Mays
Selected Results
College men's VIIIs
Pos Pos in cat Club Crew Cat Time 1 / 63 1 / 13 DOWNING M1 M1 4:39.8 2 / 63 2 / 13 CAIUS M1 M1 4:48.3 3 / 63 3 / 13 QUEENS M1 M1 4:50.6 4 / 63 1 / 11 DARWIN M1 M2 4:51.5 5 / 63 4 / 13 MAGDALENE M1 M1 4:52.2 6 / 63 5 / 13 TRINITY HALL M1 M1 4:52.3 7 / 63 CLARE/HORNETS M1 T/O 4:54.7 8 / 63 2 / 11 PETERHOUSE M1 M2 4:57.0 9 / 63 6 / 13 EMMA M1 M1 5:00.2 10 / 63 7 / 13 CHRISTS M1 M1 5:00.5 11=/ 63 8=/ 13 CHURCHILL M1 M1 5:00.6 11=/ 63 8=/ 13 1ST & 3RD M2 M1 5:00.6 13 / 63 10 / 13 ST CATS M1 M1 5:01.7 14 / 63 11 / 13 ROBINSON M1 M1 5:05.5 15 / 63 1 / 8 MAGDALENE M2 M3 5:09.3 16=/ 63 3=/ 11 KINGS M1 M2 5:11.2 16=/ 63 3=/ 11 HOMERTON M1 M2 5:11.2 18 / 63 5 / 11 CAIUS M2 M2 5:12.9 19 / 63 2 / 8 LMBC M3 M3 5:14.1 20 / 63 6 / 11 SIDNEY SUSSEX M1 M2 5:14.9 21 / 63 3 / 8 CHRISTS M2 M3 5:16.4 22 / 63 7 / 11 DOWNING M2 M2 5:19.1 23 / 63 12 / 13 QUEENS M1 M1 5:21.0 24 / 63 8 / 11 JESUS M2 M2 5:22.3 25 / 63 1 / 11 KINGS M2 M4 5:27.0 26 / 63 4 / 8 1ST & 3RD M3 M3 5:27.2 27 / 63 2 / 11 CAIUS M3 M4 5:27.3 28 / 63 9 / 11 WOLFSON M1 M2 5:28.5 29 / 63 3 / 11 QUEENS M3 M4 5:28.7 30 / 63 1 / 12 ST EDMUNDS M2 M5 5:29.2 31 / 63 1 / 7 HUGHES HALL M2 M6 5:31.2 32 / 63 5 / 8 ROBINSON M2 M3 5:32.5 33 / 63 13 / 13 CHURCHILL M1 M1 5:32.8 34 / 63 10 / 11 KINGS M1 M2 5:34.1 35=/ 63 6 / 8 CHURCHILL M2 M3 5:34.4 35=/ 63 2 / 12 SIDNEY SUSSEX M2 M5 5:34.4 37 / 63 4 / 11 LMBC M4 M4 5:35.8 38 / 63 5 / 11 1ST & 3RD M4 M4 5:38.6 39 / 63 6 / 11 WOLFSON M2 M4 5:39.3 40 / 63 3 / 12 ANGLIA RUSKIN M2 M5 5:39.6 41 / 63 7 / 11 CLARE M3 M4 5:39.9 42 / 63 4 / 12 SIDNEY SUSSEX M3 M5 5:41.6 43 / 63 7 / 8 FITZWILLIAM M2 M3 5:44.4 44 / 63 5 / 12 1ST & 3RD M5 M5 5:45.9 45 / 63 6 / 12 HOMERTON M2 M5 5:46.4 46 / 63 7 / 12 MAGDALENE M3 M5 5:46.7 47 / 63 11 / 11 EMMA M2 M2 5:46.8 48 / 63 2 / 7 TRINITY HALL M3 M6 5:54.2 49 / 63 8 / 11 CHRISTS M3 M4 5:56.7 50=/ 63 8=/ 12 CHRISTS M4 M5 5:58.3 50=/ 63 8=/ 12 LMBC M5 M5 5:58.3 52 / 63 9 / 11 KINGS M2 M4 6:00.0 53 / 63 8 / 8 JESUS M3 M3 6:01.1 54 / 63 10 / 11 EMMA M3 M4 6:03.4 55 / 63 10 / 12 ROBINSON M3 M5 6:03.6 56 / 63 11 / 11 PEMBROKE M3 M4 6:08.3 57 / 63 3 / 7 CHRISTS M5 M6 6:08.6 58 / 63 4 / 7 SIDNEY SUSSEX M4 M6 6:20.4 59 / 63 5 / 7 MAGDALENE M4 M6 6:20.6 60 / 63 11 / 12 CUW COXES M5 6:53.1 61 / 63 6 / 7 1ST & 3RD M6 M6 6:56.7 62 / 63 7 / 7 HUGHES HALL M3 M6 7:14.7 63 / 63 12 / 12 KINGS M3 M5 7:16.1
College women's VIIIs
Pos Pos in cat Club Crew Cat Time 1 / 47 1 / 14 PEMBROKE W1 W1 5:34.5 2 / 47 2 / 14 CHRISTS W1 W1 5:41.3 3 / 47 3 / 14 JESUS W1 W1 5:47.5 4 / 47 4 / 14 EMMA W1 W1 5:49.7 5 / 47 5 / 14 LMBC W1 W1 5:59.2 6 / 47 6 / 14 QUEENS W1 W1 6:01.7 7 / 47 7 / 14 DOWNING W1 W1 6:04.1 8 / 47 8 / 14 GIRTON W1 W1 6:05.4 9 / 47 9 / 14 1ST & 3RD W1 W1 6:07.7 10 / 47 10 / 14 NEWNHAM W1 W1 6:07.9 11 / 47 11 / 14 CLARE W1 W1 6:12.5 12 / 47 1 / 12 SIDNEY SUSSEX W1 W2 6:16.3 13 / 47 2 / 12 PETERHOUSE W1 W2 6:17.2 14 / 47 3 / 12 ROBINSON W1 W2 6:18.5 15 / 47 12 / 14 KINGS W1 W1 6:19.9 16 / 47 4 / 12 LMBC W2 W2 6:24.4 17 / 47 1 / 8 MAGDALENE W2 W3 6:26.3 18 / 47 13 / 14 CHURCHILL W1 W1 6:30.3 19 / 47 2 / 8 ST EDMUNDS W1 W3 6:31.9 20 / 47 5 / 12 HOMERTON W1 W2 6:32.5 21 / 47 3 / 8 LUCY/HUGHES W1 W3 6:36.3 22 / 47 6 / 12 DARWIN W1 W2 6:37.6 23=/ 47 7=/ 12 PEMBROKE W2 W2 6:38.0 23=/ 47 7=/ 12 ANGLIA RUSKIN W1 W2 6:38.0 25 / 47 9 / 12 EMMA W2 W2 6:38.6 26 / 47 4 / 8 CLARE W2 W3 6:40.7 27 / 47 10 / 12 DOWNING W2 W2 6:40.9 28 / 47 14 / 14 JESUS W2 W1 6:43.5 29 / 47 1 / 7 SIDNEY SUSSEX W2 W4 6:44.7 30=/ 47 11 / 12 CORPUS CHRISTI W1 W2 6:49.8 30=/ 47 1 / 6 CLARE W3 W5 6:49.8 32 / 47 5 / 8 1ST & 3RD W2 W3 6:50.3 33 / 47 2 / 6 MAGDALENE W3 W5 6:53.0 34 / 47 6 / 8 EMMA W3 W3 6:53.2 35 / 47 2 / 7 CHRISTS W2 W4 6:53.8 36 / 47 7 / 8 ANGLIA RUSKIN W2 W3 6:58.5 37 / 47 3 / 7 NEWNHAM W3 W4 7:02.0 38 / 47 12 / 12 MURRAY EDWARDS W1 W2 7:02.1 39 / 47 3 / 6 SIDNEY SUSSEX W3 W5 7:03.0 40 / 47 4 / 7 CHURCHILL W2 W4 7:07.3 41 / 47 5 / 7 ST CATS W2 W4 7:07.9 42 / 47 6 / 7 CLARE HALL W1 W4 7:12.5 43 / 47 7 / 7 ROBINSON W2 W4 7:12.9 44 / 47 4 / 6 EMMA W4 W5 7:20.7 45 / 47 5 / 6 JESUS W4 W5 7:24.3 46 / 47 6 / 6 KINGS W2 W5 7:25.5 47 / 47 8 / 8 QUEENS W2 W3 7:33.8
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Links
Full Champion of the Thames Eights Head results archive
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