First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

May Term 2014

4th men's VIII

May Bumps

Wednesday
Rowed over
The start seemed to take them by surprise so was a bit scrappy but despite this they quickly began moving away from Jesus IV and gained a bit on Hughes. Unfortunately Hughes had gained rapidly on Tit Hall and caught them within 3 or 4 stations before forgetting to clear. Tom (correctly) elected to stop before any collisions ensued. Jesus and Magdalene also decided to stop resulting in a re-row of the bottom 3 boats. Unfortunately this left M4 with nothing to chase and after they'd rapidly pulled out to around 3 lengths on Jesus, Jesus were caught by Magdalene leaving M4 as the only racing boat in the division. Instead of winding down and paddling home Tom decided that some practise was in order so completed the course at race rate. From todays performance I'm confident that M4 are faster than most of the boats around them so it's upwards from Tomorrow! Well rowed guys!

(p.s. James Dixon: If the name tag on this race report shows up as Ronnie Coleman, you're in trouble...)

Edit: It would appear I am no longer Ronnie. Good.
(MC Row(e))
Thursday
Bumped Trinity Hall III
A really close one... After a frantic start, we gained to about half a length off Tit Hall M3, while at the same time Magdalene M3 also chased us down to half a length. While a stride was called, the amount of whistles, shouting, and turbulence in the water meant that we kept the rate very high and hectically tried to close down on Tit Hall through the wake.   Approaching the motorway bridge, both boats closed down to canvas, and then overlap. At some point during the sandwich, Barney screamed to hold it up, and after pulling in, told us we had bumped (mounted) on Tit Hall, barely missing Magdalene.   I now have a floppy branch in my room. Awesome.
(Tom)
After nearly being run down by what initially appeared to be a large Flump while cycling round Chesterton (later revealed to be a hideously painted car), I arrived at marshalling to find the division had been delayed by an errant horse. Luckily M4 proved able to improve my mood and, after a respectable start, rapidly began to close on Tit Hall. A few frantic strokes later M4 got the bump just after the motorway bridge with Magdalene just coming into overlap from behind. A great row guys, let's continue upwards tomorrow! (MC Row(e))
Friday
Overbumped by Sidney Sussex II
****.
(Tom)
Today was both Flump-free and horse-free. Unfortunately it was also bump free. Despite some good rowing and impressive cornering from Tom, Christs were able to hold M4 off and push away. Coming onto the reach it became apparent that Sidney were gaining and despite some evasive steering, were able to bump just before the railway bridge. (MC Row(e))
Saturday
Bumped by Jesus IV
A decent start off first post corner, but rapid gains meant a bump by Jesus was inevitable shortly after grassy. Even so, the crew gave it their all, well done guys, you deserved to have done much better.
(Tom)
I woke up (later than planned) to find an email informing me that a pyromaniac had reduced the toilets at baits bite to a heap of molten plastic and advising 'suitable preparations' be made. While wondering if they where suggesting investing in 6 crews worth of nappys I looked outside and found that it was rather overcast. This was especially disappointing as a term out in the sun wearing sunglasses had resulted in some strange tanlines that made me look like a reverse panda and any chance of correcting this issue appeared to have vanished.

Hungry for bamboo I set off towards marshaling and soon received a phonecall from Barney requesting I return to the boathouse to retreive a new cox box. Luckily I'd been lugging one around for the whole week as a spare so continued my journey, happy in the knowledge that my ridiculous over-preparation had finally come in useful (I've yet to find a use for 100m of gaffer tape, 20m of rope, 3 pairs of sunglasses, 4 spanners, 15 cable ties, a first aid kit, a sewing kit, an emergency blanket and 10m of velcro though).

When I finally arrived I found that the division was running late, possibly nappy changing was delaying the lower divisions as the horse appeared to has sated it's desire for adventure and remained at home. Eventually we set off and as we arrived at head station the 4 minute gun went leaving us no time to inspect the molten heap of plastic. 5 minutes later, (yes 5), the start gun fired and M4 began their last race of the year.

Unfortunately it would appear that Jesus have learnt how to row since day 1 and they began to close the gap coming into First Post Corner and managed the bump coming onto Plough Reach. Of course this could be a cunning ploy on the behalf of M4 to obtain as many different results as possible having already bumped, rowed over and been over-bumped. If not, at least being bumped prevented the guys having to row the course again, (as sandwich boat), and saved me from having to cycle it 4 times in one day, thanks guys.

Overall I'm extremely proud of the crew and their rowing this week, indeed this year. While Down 3 is not the result we'd hoped for and certainly not the deserved result for the amount of commitment shown thoughout the term, Bumps is, as a nice old guy from jesus told me on day 1, a good reminder that life isn't necessarily fair. Next time guys, Next time.
(MC Row(e))
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