The Club's Results

My steering was akin to that of a certain cox of the same surname in Fairbairns 07, and hence we didn't do so well ;). (Tsunami)

I disagree with Jeff. Jeff was a fine cox for the race, and I hope he continues for the rest of the term. It was a mixture of not having rowed together as a crew, no working cox box and the rudder of Titan.

This was the first time the official NM2 boat rowed together and indeed "all eight" (although we did have subs who we thank for subbing in!) and the first time I feathered in an VIII, the second time ever in a boat.

The start was uneventful and we paddled away down First Post Reach without too much of a problem; the line round First Post corner was tight.

A push in the Gut gave us our best 10 strokes out of the race and then we parked on the outside of Grassy. We pushed off quickly and parked again a couple or so lengths down.

The rate started to go up nervously down Plough Reach and coming on to the Long Reach timing was lost and blades started to get stuck. Then we parked just after the Railway bridge.

From here to the finish ratio was about 1:1 (or at least that's how it felt in the bows) and we soared through the line.

We have something now to build on, we'll be back for Clare Novices! (Mark)

I don't think I've even coxed a race this close. For a first round race this was incredibly exciting and charged, especially since (once again with NM2) we had subs in for us for who we are most grateful. The practice starts seemed reasonably OK for the crew and the row down was also OK.

The start was fine with no major issues, and Katie kept us in line for that critical start period. The 2 man of Magdalene failed to drive his blade successfully in their start and they subsequently swung towards our stern. This gave us 1 length or so on them as they recorrected their course.

Magdalene actually proved to be the faster crew as up the entire length of the Reach every stroke gave them an inch or so more than us and by the railway bridge they had drawn level. Some excellent coxing by Katie brought us a really tight line around the bridge giving us a crucial canvas length ahead of Magdalene and an all-out push for the finish with a screaming bankparty meant we held them with about a foot to spare. It was so close there was only one finish horn.

Note: Do not wear Fairbairns lycra nor the Mays cap for Clare novices which can confuse the marshalls.

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7-ih8Lu_3k

Lovering's inappropriate/appropriate cry at 0:58! (Mark)

Yeah buddy! (Tom L)

No way, Macca and Lovestick in a boat?? Definitely there's a trend of converting coxes into rowers now... (Jij)

A good race from NM2. We were beaten by a bunch of rate-hounds, who took a large amount out of us at the start, then blew up, but we didn't have the pace to catch them. Take the start out of the equation, and increase the distance (i.e Fairbairn's) and we'll destroy them.

A good days racing, hope the boys (+ Katie!) had fun. (Swords)

Unfortunately we were in the process of getting straight whilst the cox still had her hand up when the Go was called - it hadn't even been long since we were pushed off either. It was windy though so understandable.

The angle which we set off was described as "potentially boat-wrecking" but an immediate switch to a quiching strokeside and bowside squeezing their guts out in the draw strokes meant we got away with the 7 man getting stuck for just a few strokes.

Girton in the mean time had a powerful start and opened a reasonable gap within the first 20 seconds. We only learned in the crew chat afterwards that Girton went on to suffer a bad crab at 2 whilst halfway down the Reach at which point we started to make ground. I would've wound it up if I had known but instead started to under-rate as a headwind picked up towards the bridge.

We wound it up quite nicely with a push off the bridge which makes me feel I under-rated throughout most of the race, but it's something for me to build on as we aim for Fairbairns.

Well done to Girton who went on to the final - it's nice to know you went out to one of the fastest of the competition, and many thanks also to our bankparty! (Mark)

A good, hard row. Great rhythm in the first section with good ratio and length.

An excellent line round Chesterton set us up well for the middle section only for us to lose the the timing and balance as we tired just outside the P&E which led to me catching a crab followed by a near-ejector crab between the P&E and railway bridge and a couple of mini crabs further up the boat.

A great wind-up for the finish off the railway bridge gave us what I feel was our fastest piece of rowing throughout the race. And not a bad result at all. (Mark)

First section was good, the plan was to really start moving from the combined boathouses, and back the stream to ensure that we didn't blow up. Boat speed was good, rhythm was well maintained, and it looked committed until the P&E. There my perhaps over optimistic plan came unstuck, and we caught some crabs, and boat speed took until the railway bridge to really recover. However, the last section of the race felt fast and powerful, so all in all a good row. The guys can be proud of a high performance as a second VII, particularly considering how unfortunate we've been with getting outings out/yellow flags etc. (Swords)