The Club's Results

Well done guys. Hope your HoRR result doesn't suffer from overtraining for a sprint ;-P

Also, TWO overbumps in M1?! It would never have happened in my day.... (RTT)

A reasonable row, finished 23 seconds clear. (Rich)

Excellent Gentlemen. You were at least 2 lengths clear around Grassy. (Mark)

Saw you from Ditton, looked strong, good to see you finished so clear! (Swords)

Only 23 seconds clear? What happened? :) (Neil T)

YAY! Well done guys :- ) (Charlotte)

Hmm - I honestly thought it would be a lot closer than that. Good work. Be careful though, it could be a trap... (JPD)

Nice and comfortable - a lot calmer than yesterday, with the quality of the rowing improving as a result. (Gonzalo 'Blade' Garcia)

Handled awful conditions very well, and so did Downing. Well done boys! One more to go (Natasha)

Allow headwinds. (Nanny)

A good row in unpleasant conditions, finishing around 2.5 lengths clear. (Rich)

Pretty exciting stuff. With the race starting in the middle of a furious hailstorm that reminded some of Helm's Deep, we quickly moved up on Downing (as per normal, despite their race reports). However things soon changed shape as Downing started to come at us from first post corner, and came fairly fast. From the amount of noise being made by the supporters down plough reach, it was getting pretty intense, and just before Ditton they were less than 6 feet from our stern.

We'd discussed the possibility of all of this; however, it came as a nasty surprise that, although around Ditton we pulled it out to quarter of a length, they then stayed there all down the reach. A pretty hellish couple of minutes for some of us!

Coming through the railway bridge we had a surge and after that started to pull away slightly more steadily, crossing the line above station. And after that it was a couple of minutes of pure lactic burn, nice...

Huge kudos to Downing - they proved they were capable of some very serious speed, and gave us an awesome race. But in the end, we got over the finish line: well done boys for such a calm and committed row, it was intense. (Leachy)

Congrats boys :) (Tsunami)

A very hard fought race from both sides, congratulations to Downing on throwing everything at us; we were expecting them to close to a few feet at Ditton and then blow, instead they closed to inside a quarter of a length and then stayed there or thereabouts until the railway bridge (so I'm told; from the bow seat I had no idea whether we were safe or they had overlap all the way down the reach, which was fairly terrifying).

Sparring with the women was spactastic, but did involve hitting 50 at (nearly) full slide.

More to come when I don't have a dinner to go to. (Peter)

All credit to Downing for a cracking last-day row. Coming past The Plough the margin was around a quarter of a length and a good line around Ditton put them to around eight feet, perhaps slightly less, but the boys showed incredible composure and steel to keep their heads and push away down the Reach. On the bank I (everyone?) expected that once Downing had missed they would blow, but they stayed within a third of a length or so until near the Railway Bridge before finally losing touch. Awesome race; huge congratulations to the crew, and to JPD for another stellar contribution. (Neil T)

This academic year saw a large turnover within the men's side. We embarked upon our Lent campaign with only two rowers from last year's Mays boat and hence a less certain outlook compared with previous years. Races early in the term suggested that certainly Queen's and probably Downing were faster than us. We were improving extremely fast with time together, but the question was whether we could generate the required speed in time for bumps.

We approached the first day of bumps with mixed feelings - huge progress had been made since last racing Downing and we had comfortably won Pembroke Regatta, although both of our main rivals were absent. However, our relative speeds at this stage were unknown.

In fact the first race was rather uneventful, seeing us steadily take distance though a very aggressive first half of the race and finishing with a large margin although Downing claim to have wound down for the last km or so. It was clear that LMBC did not pose any threat to either crew so it looked to be a two horse race for the rest of the week.

One of the perils of rowing over head is that you have to be prepared to deal with any race plan from the chasing crew and still be capable of racing the distance. We had no idea of how Downing were approaching each day so tried to approach each day with the same aggression and commitment, and be prepared for either a long race or a 500m sprint. Both the second and third days saw us move out to 2.5 or 3 lengths in the first half and sit there, generally rating 33-34 and feeling fairly comfortable. However, memories of 4th day shock tactics by Downing in 2009 were fresh in our minds so we rowed up on saturday expecting a repeat. Only two of us had rowing the last Lents and we were sure to impress on the new guys the likelihood of such a race.

Downing did not disappoint. They sat on station until the gut, when they began to move on us, and by the approach to Ditton had closed to what looked from the 7 seat to be around 3 feet of clear water but I am told it was more like a canvas. A glance at the bladework and postures of the Downing crew showed that they were sprinting flat out and we knew that they would blow as had happened last year if only we could hold them long enough. We stayed calm and the crew performed admirably, responding cohesively to Natasha's calls. As one member of the crew put it 'I got my head down, rowed as hard as I could and believed they would blow'. We took some distance with a strong push out of Ditton, and Downing sat at 1/4 length for the first third of the reach or so, falling back to 1/2 length approaching the railway bridge. At this point we could see that they were dying off, and we steadily began to move away finishing with around 2.5 lengths clear water. A fantastic end to the bumps, and one that I will remember for a long time. Thanks to Downing for such a great race, and for being such good sports about the result.

Unfortunately we have been unable to compare ourselves to Queen's as a the time of writing an injury has prevented them from competing to race at HBR. We have progressed hugely as a crew and have become fast sprinters which bodes well for regatta season. This is largely down to the efforts of JPD who coached us for the two weeks leading up to bumps - without his support and coaching prowess we would not have finished head and we can't thank him enough. Thanks also to Peter Summers and Emma for their contributions earlier in the term.

I'd like to extend my thanks to the rest of the crew - the team spirit and determination has been terrific this term. We now look forward to HoRR and May term having secured the Lent Headship for another year.

Rah Rah First and Third! (Rich)

Trivial. And you lost me a pint :(. Oh well, well done :). (Swords)

I've just got all emotional watching that. Very, very pleased for all you guys. Well done girls, absolutely fantastic :D (Lyns)

CONGRATULATIONS!!! BWWB :-) (and no, caps lock isn't on, I'm just excited and proud) (Jane)

Well done girls, most of you've seen my footage already but here it is edited and with an apropriate soundtrack, part of a work in progress montage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF10l686sJM

just watched that back, its a bit cack, the version I have on my computer is much better, will find a way of getting the good one on youtube (Aaron)

Good work. I think a competition with M1 for largest finishing margin is in order. (RTT)

Amazing, well done! Wish I'd been there to see it. (JPD)

Massive congratulations girls - fantastic to see. (Rich)

FAB :- D congratulations girls, see you tomorrow! (Charlotte)

FaT W1 - Back Where We Belong :oD Well done!! (Erica)

I may be a rather impatient person....but this was one hell of a bump worth waiting for! (Rachel Overington)

Get in!! (Neil T)

Delicious.

I was watching in the Gut and at Grassy. I thought you'd have had them just comingout of Grassy but they put in a do-or-die push to hold you to Ditton. The same place they got us last year. Good luck for the next 3 races!

P.S. Just found a video of the bump http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78OLDaQNfOg

P.P.S. I was told this year's W1 got Emma earlier than Emma got us last year, contrary to what I wrote earlier. I apologise to Julijana for this mistake. (Mark)

Well done girls! (Mark)

Rowed well until the bump behind was inevitable, about the exit of grassy, then rowed fairly poorly over the rest of the course, saving a little for tomorrow.

Hopefully a little pressure tomorrow will bring out the best of FaT W1. (Thomas)

Unstoppable!! (Alex)

Well Downing gave it some welly but you seemed to take it all comfortably. Downing got some dubious "bullsh*t" whistles on the Reach but never could improve further on a small gain from a massive push. (Mark)

What a finale to my college Bumps career! After lots of issues with nerves meant that we started into the week signifacantly below our usual performance, we gradually found back to our rowing and improved from day to day. On the last day, we finally showed spectators and opposition why 'Head of the River' is really the only position we can be in this term!

The first stroke was still a bit nervous but already during the 'build'-strokes it became obvious that there was nothing to worry about at all. Downing had announced that they would treat this as a 'race to the Plough', giving it all off the start and sprinting for us, but they never got anywhere near us. We found our rhythm, pushed through the corners and down the gut, and flew down Plough reach, carried by the cheers of the crowd. Coming out of Ditton, we did our usual push onto the reach and started walking away. The sight of Downing fading into the distance between Ditton and the kink will stay in my mind as one of the sweetest rowing memories ever!

From then on, it was really only about how much margin we could put between us and them. Our bankparty called 3 1/2 lengths coming under the railway bridge, and we gradually extended that to 4 lengths on the finish line.

All that is left is to say a heartfelt thank you to my crew and the coaches. I have never enjoyed rowing as much as in the last two terms. I've never before been part of a crew with such an amazing crew spirit, where the feeling of belonging together and trusting each other extends far beyond the boathouse! Thanks to all of you! Rowing with you guys is a pure pleasure!

And thanks to Sonya for being our 'brain', our motivation and simply the most amazing cox we could possibly have!

Massive thanks to Tom for uncounted hours at the river, for carrying huge amounts of kit while cycling like crazy, for offering your place for crew pasta again and again, and for organising all and everything around us so smoothly that we never had to worry about anything and could totally focus on our rowing. This would not have been possible without your commitment to captaincy!

Finally, our deepest thanks go to the coaches that forged us into the fastest women's college crew currently on the Cam. JPD, who came down from London so often that we gained the impression he'd moved to Cambridge, and who even came out to Ely to see us sparring with CUW. And Iain. Having you back, believing in us, giving us confidence and sharing your experience with us meant more than I can describe with words. Your smile at the finish line was the sweetest reward after every race, better than any pot or medal in the world could be! Thanks for every early morning this term, for every Saturday you came to see us race, for coming all the way to Peterborough and Ely with us! This is your headship as much as ours. (Ulrike)

Held Downing on station to Ditton, with a push out of Ditton beginning the move away, and increasing the distance until the finish line was crossed. 19 seconds was the final margin. (Thomas)

HUGE congratulations!! And very well deserved. (Jane)

Fuck yeah. I called this before we got Emma on day 1, and a few times on day 4 walking away from Downing. It really sums it up. Total Domination! (Watching Bring it on was indeed great pre-race preparation :))

Since Fairbairns everyone knew FaT W1 are coming to get the headship and we were determined to not only stay head but do so with a great margin. On day 4 I have to say we executed this race plan to perfection.

Repeating what was said at the dinner, I want to thank Tom for being a great Captain, JPD and Neil for putting so much hope and effort into us and Iain for always making rowing seem so simple.

A thanks to all who carried the boat with me and Natasha on it. I know we are heavy but it was an amazing experience!!

And finally, thanks to all my girls. I love you all! (Sonya)

Reaching the top is hard and staying there is harder, but getting there again after slipping back is probably the hardest of all - just ask the England rugby team. This Headship was the culmination not just of two terms' rowing but of 18 months' effort since the women's boat club suffered its second huge turnover of personnel in two summers, and as well as those that others have mentioned enormous thanks and congratulations are due to last year's 1st Lent VIII for having bumped back to second on the river, and in particular to Liz for having steered the club brilliantly through a challenging year, making this year's domination possible. Much better conditions than on Friday allowed the girls to show their true standard: Downing barely took any distance off the start and were annihilated on the Reach, with the margin at least three lengths coming into the Railway Bridge and around four by the finish. Canada might 'own the podium' but First and Third, complete with all-star Canadian imports (if not Tom Coker's lycra this time round), own the river. Well done girls - legends one and all. (Neil T)

Massive :D. Major congrats! (Tsunami)

Good luck for today guys: get 'em back! (Anything to do with being short)

We came round Ditton rowing a chunky, settled head race. They came round Ditton screaming for their lives. This caused them to bump us. (P. Parmar)

Again, mortal terror was working its magic, and we had two whistles on Selwyn at the Plough. However, today Robinson decided against taking the scenic route round Ditton, and therefore were able to bump us before we could finish the job.

Later that evening it transpired that there had been a fair amount of drama at the stern. Allegedly, the Robinson bowman had hardly begun to viciously assault our darling Emma with his spoon, when the noble Simon valiantly avenged the damsel in distress by promptly ripping off their splashguard with his own long, strong stick. (P. Parmar)

Apparently got within half a length of Selwyn when we got bumped. Gutted. (Tsunami)

Blimey! That was over quickly. I would like to say that we had two whistles on Robinson and were gaining fast at the moment when we were bumped by this fast Catz crew. Unfortunately I cannot, since I'm not at Downing.

The abnormally long top tube of my bike clearly had been angering Emma L, and at Chesterton she took it out on me by slighting my bumps beard. I consoled myself, reasoning that first-class coaches must be cruel to be kind, and that besides, excess facial hair was obviously the sole factor in our mediocre performance so far. That night I duly shaved it off.

The air at crew pasta was thick with fear and tension. No, not because bow four were cooking, but because the prospect of being chased by LMBC II the next day was looming. Spooning might not be completely disastrous, but losing the M2 headship to LMBC certainly would be. It was solemnly decided that the race plan would consist of carefully not being bumped. (P. Parmar)

Well we weren't too optimistic about this one, given that Catz fielded a GB rower, 4 lightweight triallists and a Belfast Uni rower. As ever our start was pimp, holding them off for a while whilst gaining on Robinson, but then their superior cruising speed took its toll. Once one whistle came the rest came quickly. Catz are really fast.
On the plus side, we didn't have to face the reach in a massive headwind. So we're fresh for tomorrow... (Alex)

Much like completing a 2000m ergometer test in 8:16.4, not spooning could be considered a somewhat dubious accomplishment, especially when everyone around is doing so well. Nevertheless, we are still the highest ranked 2nd VIII, and we were bumped only by first boats. By far the most amusing way to win a competition is to avoid all other competitors.

It is lamentable that we are not as fast as we would like to be. However, Pembroke Regatta was won not by speed but by sheer grit and determination. Crew spirit has been fabulous, despite half the crew changing every week, and I have really enjoyed this term. Thank you to anyone who has rowed for M2 at any point - there are at least 14! - especially to Charles and Andy for giving up their time to come back to a crew that hasn't always been fully rewarding.

Thanks also to Emma S, for excellent coxing that was sometimes scary, often crucial and always good-humoured, and to Rich, for never neglecting us and always being encouraging and helpful when we needed it.

Unimaginably huge thanks to Emma L, for taking us under her wing these last couple of weeks, coaching and organising us, and helping out in countless ways. Without her I'm not sure how we would have coped. (Preeyan)

A solid row. We knew Maggie would come at us hard so we went fairly hard off the start too. We seemed to open up off the start sequence and appeared to continue to open up on then until they got caught by Sidney just before the gut. The rest was academic. We wound it down to 32 coming onto the reach and paddled it home.

It's been a pleasure rowing with you guys. A really tough term with injuries and dropouts but I think we pulled together into something respectable in the end. We proved today and at Pembroke Regatta that we're still the quickest 2nd VIII.

Many thanks to Emma L for providing the continuity in coaching for the last two weeks and bankpartying us for every race. Thanks also to Rich for writing our training plans. We couldn't have pulled through without your endless support. (Tsunami)

A first bumps race for most of the crew, and a first for me as a cox, and it wasn't exactly ideal from a weather perspective. Snow and a large stream led to some "issues" at the start. We got pushed off, and due to an excess of hats, I was struggling to hear the countdown and to keep us straight. As a result I forgot to tell people to square up and the gun went off with us pointing quite left, and not everybody square. Anyway, we set off, had a bit of a voyage to strokeside, picked it up well and rebuilt from there. I extended the wind to recover speed, and when we lengthened it was looking pretty good. The surge felt powerful and we were set up for a really nice race. Then we hit Darwin. Not much to say really about a race which finishes before the motorway bridge. All I can say is bring on Lucy Cavendish on Thursday :) (Swords)

We knew Lucy Cavendish were going to be pretty quick, the question was whether we were faster. The answer was no. Oh well. Clare II bumped Darwin pretty easily behind us, then we were probably only just outside station (hard to see from the coxes seat) on Ditton, then they rowed away from us. They'll hit Caius II tomorrow easily, so we'll be rowing away from Clare II. (Swords)

This was an exciting race, the first captured on TandemCam. Unfortunately my camera skills went out of the window when the race got dramatic leaving a video consisting mainly of the bank and my screams.

A good start and a good row towards the Ditch. A tight corner by Swords on First Post was followed by a not-so-tight corner on Grassy (but not as bad as mine last year on day one). This meant Clare closed and, as the video shows, got within inches coming down Plough Reach.

Coming into Ditton first meant getting hit by the wind first, causing overlap, forcing Swords to go left. Pushes and pushes came down the first part of the Reach, one of the earlier one practically bringing the bow ball of Clare almost in line with Swords. The girls show great nerve to return every Clare push which meant after Clare had given their legs 10, FaT opened up the gap. They continued to open the gap all the way to be several lengths clear by the bridge. (Mark)

No blades for the week, unfortunately, but rowing over under immense pressure is something that requires far far more cool than simply crashing into slower boats. Row well tomorrow, there is a caius crew out there that deserves spoons.

P.S. From the Clare race report 'It must also be said the FaT II were absolutely nails.' (Thomas)

This was quite a race. We knew that Lucy Cavendish were quick, and would hit Caius quickly. We also knew that Clare II had a fast start and were likely to fade.

Anyway, we set off, straight-ish, and settled a bit high, so we re-surged to a better rate. Predictably Caius got hit near the Motorway bridge, however they then cleared in front of me, leading to a massive swerve across the river, possibly costing us a bit of speed and rhythm. Clare II were getting whistles behind us, however I was unconcerned, as we reckoned they were going for a sprint plan. Coming int first post the Whistles started to get more insistent, however I stil thought they were about to die. Then we hit a bit of wind onto Plough Reach, leading to a massive voyage of discovery, and I look out to my left in order to get a better view of my new line, only to see the Clare II bow girl. Oops.

Anyway, at this point I heard Iain shout "May be a good time to call a push", and I can't say that I disagreed, so I did. Much quoting of 300 ensued (Give them nothing... Go), and we pushed out to a bit of clear water. They then returned to overlap, with their bowball possibly within touching distance for me, and we did the same again. A wide line (deliberate this time) put me in the middle of the reach, giving us a bit of lateral space, to buy some time. Another massive lift pushed them back a touch, and a combination of the headwind and us moving away a bit seemed to finish them off. That was extraordinarily close. (Swords)

Insanely glad we bumped up, super confused at Swords' and Tom's (outwardly) calm reactions, apologies galore for causing so much distress to my crew - but whew, +2 for the week ;) ra ra FaT! (Y. Yao)

A brief row to the motorway bridge resulting in a quick bump. Up 2 for the week is a touch disappointing, however a failure to blade has far more to do with the way results fell in front of us in my opinion. Oh well, that's just the way with bumps.

However despite performing a bit worse than we had hoped, I feel that the experience gained this week will be hugely useful later on. In years to come, some of these girls are going to be rowing in 1st crews, and may well have to defend our shiny new headship from those nasty people at Downing, or whoever ends up chasing them. The row over in front of Clare II will hopefully have given the girls some belief that they can really push through the pain barrier, and that it's not over until contact is made. (Swords)

After stressful marshalling, with Ye only arriving as the division rowed to the start, the crew rowed to the start knowing it was theirs to win or lose.

After the brilliant effort holding Clare II off yesterday, they quickly closed on Caius, who were bumped just after the motorway bridge. (Thomas)

Today was the first bumps race for everyone in the boat, and for me as a cox. In that respect, there were likely to be some first-day nerves.

The start was a little scrappy, after we were thrown slightly by the start gun coming a couple of seconds too early. We had a big start, rating about 45 and Emma didn't take any length off us. It took a long time to bring the rate down on the settle call, and we stayed at 39 for about about 40secs before finally settling to race rate. This is something to work on for the next race.

Emma's cruising rhythm was simply faster than ours and they moved up on us under the motorway bridge. After some committed pushes, they eventually caught us just before 1st post.
First day nerves now out of the way. Bring on Thursday. (Alex)

A good start had the lads close fractionally on Queens' before Queens slowly opened the gap. M3 pushed hard and kept it quite neat as Emma II slowly ate up the inches behind them to bump around the Ditch.
It didn't seem panicked and I believe the coming races will be the moments when we fight restore our position by holding out for the boats that Emmma and Queens' bring down for us. (Mark)

Richard has given most of the facts. I'll just reiterate the sentiment that bankpartying you guys for this race was amazing. A couple of unbelievable pushes out of the jaws of defeat to put half a length or so in it again, and staying within station of Emma for basically the whole thing.

If I'd been whistling, there probably would have been one around First Post corner, but it was difficult to judge and Richard is probably more accurate. This is a brilliant crew, with a great spirit, who rowed a gutsy and impressive race. I'm gutted that it didn't translate into a victory today, but I'm sure their day will come, be it in the next couple of days, or in Mays. (Tom L)

This was a really good effort. Christ's were all over the back of them by the middle of 1st Post Reach, but they dug deep to survive onto the bottom of the Long Reach. We might have got away as well, until a crab in Plough Reach gave away some of the clear water we had opened back up.

Ahead, Emma never opened up until the crab. The boys had closed, and I nearly gave a whistle, but we were on a corner at the time, and by the time we had come out of the corner, having avoided parked crews on either side, the gap had opened slightly. (Richard)

Today was a really good race and our best rowing yet, but sadly the result doesn't reflect this, proving how hard it is for an M3 boat in the M2 division. We managed to fulfil our main aim from last time (to settle to 34 quickly and hold it there) and we had a determined row through the corners and down Plough Reach.

We kept on station with Emma M2, and I could've sworn we got to within a length of them, but Richard was very conservative on the whistles! A couple of crabs by the plough allowed Christ's to finally get us, but I have no doubt that we could have held them off if we'd made it to the Reach. Hungry for a bump back tomorrow! It's certainly possible. (Alex)

They has bigger guns than us. We had better team spirit. (J.A.M. Smith)

What can I say? We started well with the usual combination of power and smoothness, settled quickly to our race rate and kept going for as long as we could.

Unfortunately, this was somewhere in the region of 80m. After I saw them gain substantially on us, I told Alex we needed a push. It came quickly and well with a big increase in boat speed and many screams accompanying it. But in the end there's not much you can do against a surging M1 crew.

After we had conceded and pulled in however, we gave them the cheer they deserved (typical of First and Third's sportmanship and good grace).

I feel bad for the boys. They deserve better than this. They have all put in an incredible amount of effort and sacrifice, and the results don't do them justice.

Well done lads, I'd rather be in a boat with you than anyone else... (Vlad)

Again, they had bigger guns.
Not much to it really. We can row better, but they were massive. End result: bumped.
Still, we followed our new race plan to "go mental" and held them all the way to the Plough, giving Eddies something to think about too.
Despite the bump, today was a good day and we managed to spice up the paddle back with a 'how low can you go' on the rate (end result 11.5spm) and a Spartan roar for the marshalling W2 boats, which they seemed to appreciate.

Looking back at this set of Bumps, I think everyone who's ever seen us row would agree that we don't deserve spoons. The commitment (and banter) in the boat has been unfailing, and we are undoubtedly the top M3 crew on the river.
We can be proud of what we've done. Bring on the Mays! (Alex)

This was always going to be a tough one, sandwiched between two fast second boats.
Despite this M4 gritted their teeth to put in a committed fight as Fitz got 3 whistles coming under the bridge and the bump swiftly followed around the outflow. (Mark)

Well, we put in a solid effort and did one of our best races yet. We managed to hold off Caius III for a much longer distance than we had the other boats we were bumped by, but sadly not for long enough not to get spoons. Our strategy to row over was a good one, but Caius really emptied their tanks early in the race and were able to catch us up for the bump a way after the motorway bridge. Had we held them off a little longer, they probably would have blown up and fallen behind...but such is life.

Well raced boys and looking forwad to an MIV comeback in the Mays! (G.S.D. Gordon)