The Club's Results

The sunglasses were put on, and we headed for the start. A solid rhythm and level platform made the wind up easy, getting to race pace in good time. Downing M1, however, decided to start only 3 lengths behind. This made for an interesting time down Plough Reach - where their cox decided to follow my rather erratic steering off the line, as opposed to taking the line they were (apparently) screaming at me to concede. 10 lengths off Ditton Downing had overlap, forcing us to the outside. The boys did a brilliant job here, making Downing work hard for the overtake. With our mega-sharp catches scaring the rowers, and the interlocking blades scaring the cox we managed to only lose 2 seats round Ditton. Onto the Reach Downing pulled away, leaving us in peace (and some wash). A strong row up the Reach was followed by a fabulous wind from the railway bridge. A reasonable time given circumstance, and looking forward to kicking some Queens' ass in Fairbairns. (A. Manion)

We had a fairly solid start despite the fact that Downing M1 decided to start about 3 lengths behind us, making this rather more like a bumps race than winter head(!), and we managed to hold them until the first corner, at which point they closed in on us. However, following a terrible line by their cox around grassy, we held them at around a length for most of plough reach. They eventually began to overtake us around Ditton, which perhaps took longer than it should have. Once they had pulled away on the reach, we had a slight wobble in their wash, before having an effective technical re-focus and getting back on with the race. Coming under the railway bridge, we entered our final phase and began our wind to the finish. We ended up at only rate 34, but it was a pretty decent 34 with awesome cover. The p and e definitely seemed to have been moved further upstream than normal for the race!

I reckon we lost a fair bit of time here because of Downing messing around, but regardless, I think M2 should have high hopes as we begin our final preparation for Fairbairns! (R.J.C. Stroud)