The Club's Results

Quite simply the best rowing we've ever done. The start and first half were unbelievable (by-standers were commenting on our performance), fell apart a little bit in the middle (the notorious "push through the pain" section) but then absolutely nailed it for the home straight. Completely emptied the tanks, loads of screaming, and total agony.

The whole team stuck with it together and we all tore ourselves to pieces. I'd do it again for all of you.

Ming and Miles, you guys are legends. Hope we did you proud :)

Alex - I think we all love you

I don't know what else to say, apart from....

YEEEAAAAHHH BUDDY!!!


V (Vlad)

This was an amazing race.
After a last minute panic due to broken headsets and me forgetting a lifejacket, we pulled out and rowed up to the start.
We settled into race rate (30) about five strokes after the start and held it there for the rest of the race. The first 300m to the roadbridge allowed us to find a strong rhythm, with focus on length in the water.
With Elizabeth Way corner safely out of the way (thank god!), the focus was on maintaining the rhythm all the way to Chesterton. This was a really solid section of the race and certainly not 'novice' in any way.
After Chesterton, we hit the 'push through the pain' section of the race and the rowing started to fall apart a little as we came towards the P and E. This was the only section where the rhythm/timing really went, which is a testament to how well the crew rowed the rest of the course.
After the railway bridge, the timing came together again and we had a massive push for the finish, crossing the line in style without any crabs or crashes (no mean feat!) I had an overwhelmingly urge to shout 'this is sparta' in the final five strokes, but managed to resist just in case anything went wrong!
This was an amazing race to cox. I had a fantastic time being in a boat where every single person was so committed.
4th place is a fantastic result and one we really deserved after the disappointment of Clare Novices.
Thanks for being such a great novice crew guys and thanks to Ming and Miles for all their coaching!

"...yeah buddy". (Alex)

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)

An awesome row girls, well done!
Definitely won the award for prettiest rowing :-).

Garrod (below), how inappropriate. (Gonzo)

Gonzalo, you flirt, may I ask what your full intentions are towards these young ladies? (BJ)

Absolutely fantastic girls!
A great result and one that's thoroughly deserved. :) (Alex)

In Gonzalo's defence I have to second his comments. A really impressive row and excellent result. Special mention to Meryl for racing despite having had a very nasty incident involving boiling water & lycra a couple of hours previously. (Neil T)

This was an excellent performance from NM3 rowing in an exciting (!) new crew combination after losing a couple of guys up to NM2, and gaining some fresh blood from NM4!

Our race plan focussed on what we do well - rowing consistently, without panic, and staying concentrated on the job in hand. I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to hold onto that concentration in a race situation, but I shouldn't have doubted the boys! A really storming start and first two minutes set us up very nicely and the rate was consistent at 28. Heads never went down and we maintained our timing with no hiccoughs all the way through the the railway bridge. We knew we had to dig deep for the last 500m of the course and with shouts of encouragement from the boat we would up to 30 just in time to die on the finish line.

This was a solid end to a good couple of week's rowing together. Looking forward to seeing you all in the Senior squad come Lents! (Emma)

YEAH BUDDY! Our decision to rate reasonably low (about 24) with the aim of maintaining length seems to have paid off. Top 4th VIII by quite a margin, and almost embarassing NM3. Brilliant work guys.

Gopal got us into a good rhythm off the start, and the first half of the race went reasonably to plan, with good long strokes still happening into our push out of Chesterton. There was a slightly scary moment outside the P&E where middle 4 seemed to simultaneously crab, perhaps having taken my advice to 'follow the man in front' a little too seriously, but we managed to recover impressively and continue rowing in time with outside 4. With an effective up 2 call from Derek into the final quarter, we stormed across the line.

I'm really proud of this boat, in a way I probably wouldn't quite have been had I not been rowing with you. The feel in that boat was utterly immense - there was a great sense of committment to really working together throughout. It still isn't perfect - there are technical issues, there are timing issues, but you all definitely rose to the occasion it was a real pleasure to be part of this crew for the race. Bring on Lent Bumps :).

Thanks massively to Derek for coxing at the last minute and to Allen, Preeyan and Alison for their support and assistance from the bank. I'll aim to repay the favour tomorrow to Allen and Preeyan if possible, and I hope lots of NM4 will feel the same and turn up to watch. (Tom L)

The best rowing from a 2nd novice women's boat that I can remember. Even more impressive was the juggling from Jess L in the stroke seat by Chesterton footbridge where she took her blade entirely out of the gate, twirled it a few times, then re-inserted it, fastened the gate and continued. If only the 1st & 3rd crew that went to Royal Canadian Henley in 2000 had been so adept... (Neil T)