The Club's Results

M3a set off in good spirits for round one against Queens M2. After a few shuffles this week and some difficulty getting full crew outings we were a little underprepared for the race, but had been making good progress and felt confident that the race would be a close one.

We had a really solid paddle down, better than paddling in previous outings in fact, and a good warm up with strong bursts and practice starts. The race start was strong and powerful, rating up to 40 and settling onto a steady 33 with good cover. By the gut the two crews were on station and things were looking good. However, grassy really knocked the rhythm and despite a scrappy restart and Queens' very dodgy steering we gave up a few lengths on Plough reach.

Rounding onto the reach we were met by a stiff head/crosswind. Again Queens took an abysmal line around Ditton but whilst we began to really tire and let the rate drop, they produced an extremely effective wind and closed rapidly overthe last 600 metres, finishing with overlap.

A disappointing result but nevertheless a useful first race - we had our best paddling, start, and 1000m of rowing so far... just a pity we weren't able to keep things together for the second half of the race! Hopefully we'll be back together for Fairbairns! (Emma)

We set off into this race with something to prove. The other IV may have been bigger than us, but littler guys with technique can still move a boat fast. Despite another crew getting in our way (despite valiant steering and screaming from Emma), I think we had a good, strong race. After a bit of a harried start (great marshalling, Cantabs!) we settled into a rate ~31 paddle. Admittedly a bit lower than we wanted, but chunky. After our forced restart at Ditton we set off with more power and a slightly higher rate than before - pushing past the offending crew in another 15 seconds and strong through the finish. First IV - watch out! (Allen)

Despite being a scratch crew (being bow four from the VIII may have helped a bit), this turned out to be a really solid row. It took us the first minute and a couple dips of the riggers to get find rhythm, but after that we held a really consistent, strong stroke through the race. We didn't have much of a wind at the finish, but that probably turned out to be a good thing because the finish was one post past where we expected it.

In sum - solid row, awesome to beat a lot of 1st IVs. (Allen)

Very good result & especially well done for beating both crews from the Red Filth. (Neil T)