The Club's Results

This was a reasonably solid row, aiming to consolidate on a number of changes the crew had made over the last couple of weeks in a long, high-ish rate piece. We held 34 down the course, and had the added interest of coming up sharply on a Cantab's VIII in the later stages of the race. The race plan was to focus on the back and front ends in successive 2 minute focuses down the course, and I think this was reasonably effective. We struggled a little in the penultimate kilometre as we hit some wash, and some slightly disturbing noises from the 2 seat in the second half suggested that Alex *may* have been having some forearm/wrist issues.

Kudos to M2 for being so close - I think the difference in crew average 2k suggests this was a massive result for them! Conversation in the car afterwards with Neil indicates that M2 are getting their legs down, which I think is the next big change to come for us. More speed to come.

Overall, committed really well to a race plan, executed it to the best of our ability, didn't pull it off. Looking forward to tomorrow's racing!

Queens' held us at this distance more or less until the end of Plough Reach and possibly into the entrance to Ditton. We lost the send we had slightly through the corners and never really managed to recover it, with Pembroke, Maggie, Queens' and us all churning up the river significantly past the Plough. Out of Ditton we blew as expected, and then rowed over without crews behind.

In other news, a BNY Mellon fleece is warm, but when wearing Ali's I feel like a very small child.

They moved to outside station on us coming out of Ditton, and down the Reach we didn't quite get the same rhythm back. Queens' then bumped Maggie somewhere near the kink leaving us to deal with Peterhouse whom we'd held comfortably so far. In the last 200m of the Reach they began to lift closing to a (somewhat suspect) whistle's distance away which spurred them on further to an equally dubious two whistle's distance.  

Although they were making up ground past the railway bridge we got our long, confident strokes back at this point and sat in our sustainable rhythm until the finish. Credit to Peterhouse as they clearly threw the kitchen sink at us until the end. Overall a good row, and we're now looking forward  to chasing Maggie tomorrow!

I was pretty fired up for this, and judging by the row down, so was everyone else. It felt pretty special to be in the boat today.

The second whistle was gotten not only through the better rhythm of our crew, but also the incredibly tight line taken by Tom next to the Queens' and Pembroke crews that had bumped out. His lines have been fantastic this week - we have the GoPro footage to prove it. This got us about half a length in 200m.

At two whistles we moved to an unsustainable power, and started to make some real inroads. At about the railway bridge we decided that it was getting a little close to the finish for comfort, and we went again. What followed was possibly the most satisfying push I've ever been involved in. There was an awesome lift in power, and we munched the last quarter of a length up.

Having caught Maggie, Alex crabbed, Bence collapsed, and Neil T threw his phone in the river. Despite Neil's best attempts to drown himself, only two of these were rectified before the row home.

Finishing what might be my last Lent Bumps race with such a good race was special. We may have failed in Operation Tripod, but we can be proud with our efforts this week. Let's make sure we start May Term with ALL THE WATTS.

The race itself was all a bit of a blur. With conditions being poor on the start line we began our start fairly well and moved on Maggie slightly. Peterhouse behind us really attacked us off the start, getting an early whistle but only closing to a length at most before dropping back. Meanwhile, our chase began in earnest.

We settled on to our rate well, taking the corners as they came until conditions again deteriorated coming round Ditton. It was here we strode into our headwind rhythm and again made inroads  into Maggie getting our first whistle I think. With Queens' bumping Pembroke ahead of us Maggie took a wider line whilst Tom brought us close (despite our bank party's calls) in a perfectly judged line. Thanks to this we gained about half a length in 200m, moving to within quarter of a length.  

On hearing two whistles the crew lifted again, and again on three. We stayed at three for what felt like a long time; Maggie here pushed and held off the charge coming through the railway bridge. Then we went again. Tom's call of "They're going to fail" led the surge and we went through them eventually holding it up 10 strokes before the line, although we later learned the bump had been awarded earlier. The reaction from the crew and bankparty was terrific - certainly this was the most exciting and rewarding race I've ever been a part of. It has been a pleasure to row with these guys, and I cannot wait for what May Term holds.

After a quick early morning outing with the full crew for the first time since Tuesday (trying to get Sam and Rob up to speed with our technical changes and adjusting the crew order yet again) and then having to pull in to replace our cox box midway through the paddle to marshalling we finally made it to the start line. We set off at a solid 34, finding our rhythm and moving through Eton Excelsior ahead of us. We managed to maintain this through the first 4 or 5 km as the chasing boat of Fitz began to fall away.  

Another overtake happened slightly later and we began to creep slowly up on Emma without ever moving to within a few lengths. Unfortunately, the good rhythm that we had set-up in the first 5k fell apart coming through Hammersmith Bridge and round the mile post we were not moving anywhere near as effectively. It was a disappointing last stretch of the race, but no doubt something that the crew can learn from. As Matt is so fond of saying, there's plenty more speed to find!