First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

May Bumps 2011

4th men's VIII

Coxed by: Rachel Croft

Wednesday
Bumped by St. Catharine's III
After we were prevented by exam timings from having any outings for the past week-and-a-half, today was always going to be interesting.

The start felt a bit panicked, and the stride seemed weak and indistinct. A fair amount of rush remained throughout and balance was not really there. Catz 3 kept moving up on us, and bumped before First Post Corner.

This is a disappointing result, but it is important to remember that we have a lot of potential for improvement. The very first outing after so much time off is unlikely to be ideal, and for most of the term we have been rowing much more cleanly with better rhythm and balance, so we should be able to get back into it if we approach things more calmly.

We need to approach tomorrow with a positive mindset to be ready to take advantage of any Lolcatz incident that may happen ahead, and also for the possibility of chasing Selwyn 3 for an overbump in the case of a bump ahead of us. (Chris E.)
Thursday
Bumped by Clare III
We have improved a lot since yesterday, but still have some changes to make.

The start felt much better. The stride was still a bit indistinct, but we managed to find a fairly solid rhythm, and initially held Clare 3 at a roughly constant distance.

Unfortunately, when Clare began to get a bit closer, it seems that we responded predominantly by rowing shorter, leading to a loss of boat speed and thus a bump before long.

Despite the result, we need to realise that we are improving rapidly. Tomorrow we just need to keep our improvements from today and focus on retaining our composure, avoiding rush on the slide and getting out to full length every stroke, even when under pressure, as this is the only effective way to keep the boat moving. (Chris E.)
Friday
Bumped by Trinity Hall III
Again an improvement, although the result did not show it.

As we were pushing off, there was a slight problem with the cox box leading to a high-pitched electronic sound. This was fixed before the starting gun, though it might have left some of us feeling a bit startled.

Nevertheless, the start seemed reasonable, and it felt like we were getting more length right until the end. This was unfortunately not long after the motorway bridge.

We still have improvements to make: we were not always quite in time, balance was variable, and the stride could have been stronger. Let us keep up the improvement and finish off with a last day of Bumps that we can be really proud of. (Chris E.)
Saturday
Bumped by St. Edmund's II
Once again a massive improvement.

We went off powerfully from the start, moving up on Trinity Hall 3 and holding station with St. Edmund's 2.

The stride felt stronger than on previous days and we kept going hard, apparently closing to between 1/2 to 3/4 lengths off Trinity Hall 3. This represents a huge improvement considering that yesterday they gained on us and bumped.

Unfortunately, not far after the motorway bridge, I (at 7) scraped my blade against the bank. This took some boat speed off in itself and also disrupted the rhythm, which took a couple of strokes to fully recover, leading to a further loss of speed. By this point we were also beginning to tire after the previous push, and thus seemed unable to accelerate the boat back up to speed. The bump from St. Edmunds 2 came before First Post Corner.

Overall, a disappointing set of Bumps results, which I think above all shows the importance of keeping the training up. If we had rowed on the first day like we did today, Catz would probably not have got the bump. More outings, especially just before Bumps, would have helped us to do this. More ergs throughout the term would probably also have helped to improve power and fitness.

I urge everyone not to be disheartened by these results, and to keep training over summer, looking to get into M2 or better next term. (Chris E.)

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