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The Club's Results

Clare Novice Regatta, Mich Term 2009

A side-by-side knock out regatta for Cambridge College novice (beginner) VIIIs
Thu 26th - Sat 28th November

At the bottom of this page there is a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.


1st men's novice VIII, Cup

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1st women's novice VIII, 1st division

1st round
Lost to Jesus by 2 1/2 lengths
A very well-rowed race with a disappointing result. Despite very tough conditions, the crew held it together nicely. Jesus had a faster start, possibly thanks to having an actual boat rather than the bathtub known as Peter Brandt, but the girls kept the focus in the boat and took back some length. After an impressive number of massive crabs from Jesus, we brought it back and took the lead. In the end, their size gave them the advantage and they pulled away, despite some rather unfortunate technique.

Update: Jesus went on to win the whole thing - hopefully this is some consolation!
Edit: Jesus went on to win the whole thing - hopefully this is some consolation!
Overall, you should all be very proud of the way you rowed - you kept the concentration in the boat and held it together, really showing what you were made of. Let's keep the focus for the next week and look ahead to Fairbairns! (Katie)
A disappointing result but the crew did not let themselves down and should be proud of the way they rowed today. They kept it together down the whole course and the row looked committed and very pretty especially compared to the opposition!
Jesus were the eventual winners of the regatta, so I guess we didn't have the luck of the draw. (Hannah)
You can row like dickheads and win Clare novices. You can't row like dickheads and win Fairbairn's.

It's 2:39, and that is about as deep as my analysis goes. I look forwards to seeing your result in Fairbairn's. Good luck :) (Swords)
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2nd men's novice VIII, Cup

1st round
Beat Magdalene A by a foot
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)
2nd round
lost to Girton A by two lengths
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)

1. Marshalling by the P...
2. Marshalling by the P...

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2nd women's novice VIII, Plate

2nd round
Lost to Jesus II by 2 lengths
The crew had a really strong first start and took a good half length off Jesus. The rhythm seemed to settle nicely and all was going our way until there was a blade clash (combination of a very strong crosswind and some poor jesus steering). After some terrible carnage, the race was restarted for a second and then a third time, at various points down the reach.
It is to the crew's credit that they managed to hold it together so well in such bad conditions. We even started to overtake Jesus coming up to the railway bridge, until a massive crab caused the boat to veer sharply and crash under the bridge, at which point Jesus left us behind.

Sadly the result here doesn't really reflect the standard of the two crews...
We were undoubtedly the better crew, but as often happens in novice races, anything can happen on the day, and today just wasn't our day! (Alex)

1. ATBH before the race
2. Getting ready to pus...

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3rd men's novice VIII, 3rd Mens Novice VIII

2nd round
Beat Christ's B by 1 foot
A major lesson in never giving up. Christ's were about 1/2 a length up under the railway bridge, then a boat stopping crab drew us level, and a minor crab left us able to squeak ahead a make it to the line. By God it was close though.

Epic race boys. (Swords)
Well done lads! More of the same tomorrow! (Mark)
3rd round
Lost to Caius B, easily
After some gutsy rowing yesterday, I know you were all excited about today's race. A pretty decent start was dashed by some bad luck - tough break with seat malfunctions and huge crabs. But, you pulled yourself together for the second half of the race, brought the focus back into the boat, and finished strong and dedicated. I couldn't have asked for anything more - now get ready for Fairbairns! (Allen)
A solid effort right throughout by everyone, despite a bit of bad luck in the first half. A very brave cox - racing on her third ever outing! (G.S.D. Gordon)
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4th men's novice VIII, Plate

2nd round
Lost to Caius NM2 (easily)
A rather unfortunate draw, coming up against the second novice boat of one of the better college clubs.

Given the disruption to our training from weather conditions and illness, it was a promising first race performance. The start was a bit ropey, and Caius went off pretty hard and took a large chunk of lead in the first 300m or so. However, then having recovered from a couple of minor crabs, the rhythm started to get established and the final two thirds of the course looked very committed and strong, and we did start to make up quite a bit of ground on Caius.

In the end it was too little too late, but some effective rhythm calls from Alex coupled with some formidable committment from the boat certainly looked impressive from the bank towards the end of the race. If we had managed to do the entire race like that, who knows what the result could have been, and it's definitely encouraging as we head towards Fairbairns.

Thanks to Alex for subbing in as coxwain at the last minute and doing a great job, and to Alison and Swords for joining our bankparty. (Tom L)
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Cambridge weather: Thursday text or graph
Friday text or graph
Saturday text or graph

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