First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The Club's Results

Lent Term 2015

3rd men's VIII

Cambridge Head-2-Head (3rd Mays), Invictus

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Newnham Short Course (Lower VIIIs), Invictus

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Robinson Head (Men's 3rd), Invictus

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Pembroke Regatta (3rd division), Invictus

1st round
Beat Fitzwilliam M3
Despite having woken up at 6AM, and having arrived at the boathouse a good 20' before M5, we still managed to turn up to marshalling 5' late. Banned from doing a practice start, our first 3 strokes of the race were, perhaps unsurprisingly, the 3 most ineffective strokes I've ever been involved in - we still took several feet per stroke out of the other crew though. We continued to move until we had clear water, at which point we stopped trying, calmed down, and sped up. Some number of strokes later we crossed the line. (mt)
Easily the worst rowing we did this term. We took airstrokes and rowed in antiphase during the start, but somehow still moved up on Fitz. We vaguely settled into an extremely messy mid-30s rhythm with water flying in directions I didn't think possible, and I was very pleased I had kept my hood up on the raincoat I was rowing in. We took a length off Fitz very quickly now that we were actually moving somewhat, so we wound it down a bit after 30 strokes or so, and spakked and quiched our way under the railway bridge. Fitz were vanishing by then, so we took it down again, and spakked and quiched even more all the way to the finish line.
(Alex)
2nd round
Beat Queens' M3
Most of the crew spent the majority of this race looking at a large horse penis. Also, Patrick dropped his jacket in his own piss. (mt)
Queens didn't turn up so we messed around on the bank. Rob Shearme led a trip to look at a horse's genitalia, I ate some biscuits, and Patrick flirted with Stroud.
(Alex)
Quarter finals
Beat Christ's M3
Much of the same. However, I can guarantee you we won by more than 1 and 1/2 lengths given that we were in the middle of arguing with an umpire, having parked at the P&E, as the opposition finally floated past. (mt)
Our start, and our rowing, was a big improvement on the previous race, but still well below our usual standards. It was pretty fun; my mac kept me warm and dry, and we demolished Christ's before we got to the railway bridge and were able to quiche pretty hard again.
(Alex)
Semi finals
Beat Clare M3
Rob had convinced us that Clare would be no easy victory. A seamless execution of stroll-past-the-crew-with-my-CUL-all-in-one-rolled-up prompted worried enquiries as to who Clare were racing. I struggle to remember the details of the race other than that once again we moved ahead, got bored, and just sat there. (mt)
Probably our prettiest rowing of the day. Our start wasn't bad considering it was well above rate 40, and we strided fairly well this time, down to the low 30s I believe. Still significantly below our usual standard, but certainly not a travesty. Again we had clear water after not too many strokes, and were able to slow things down past the railway bridge (though I actually chose to push hard all the way this time). Good job guys.
(Alex)
Final
Beat LMBC M3
Now for the real test. A firm believer in Rule #3, I distributed my dry CUL kit and we went for a quick "keep-warm jog". LMBC were, as expected, more of a challenge than any other race that day; they lasted a good 20 strokes more than any other crew before they disappeared into our wash. All in all a good day, although I'm never doing a regatta on 4 hours sleep ever, ever again! Not even Peterborough. Also the barman in Spoons tried to steal my pot. (mt)
This time round Rob had psyched us up by convincing us Maggie weren't terrible, so we were a bit jittery and our start was slightly worse than in the previous rate, with the result that we only took a couple of seats in the first 10 strokes. Nerves meant that there was no stride, and so we rowed at rate 38 the whole way. We decided to compensate for our lack of finesse during this race by beasting it, so we all pulled our hardest for the first time this day. The result was a messy, but fast, row, and Maggie, although holding on admirably compared to the other crews we faced, were down by a length and a half by the railway bridge. We continued to beast it all the way to the finish line, with Maggie gradually fading away. Thornton and I occasionally screamed for people to finish off their strokes and not to shorten up, and I occasionally just screamed inarticulately. Much fun.

Also Tom and I took the bold decision to row just in our all-in-ones, so I was without my trusty mac for the first time this day. On the plus side we looked good; on the downside, "tsunami" Shahid wetted us more thoroughly than I have ever been wetted in my entire rowing career. I couldn't have been much wetter if I had swum the course. Ever one step ahead, I had brought a towel, which probably staved off hypothermia on the row home.

If we can take our finesse from Robinson Head, and combine it with pushing hard like we did in this race, we will demolish everything in our path in bumps.
(Alex)
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Lent Bumps Getting-on Race, Invictus

Got on
An excellent race to watch, especially after having already had a tremendously successful term of rowing. The importance of the occasion was clear but so too was their sense of humour (no trips to admire horses this time though) although I was mildly surpirsed by the absence of the M3 mankini at marshalling.

Off the start the crew built well into a solid rhythm, with patches of very good rowing tempered by moments where adrenaline caused us to be a bit more rushed than normal. Up to about head station we made good ground up on Emma in front of us overall.Sitting up tall into the corners paid dividends as we were able to consolidate by gradually advancing, although through the straights we were held. The tanks were thoroughly emptied down the Reach and I think rows like this will hopefully bring some good days of racing come Bumps next week!
(A. Strange)
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Lent Bumps, Invictus

Wednesday
Rowed over
M2 might have had an uninteresting row-over, but ours could hardly have been less eventful for a first bumps race. We were planning to bump Churchill M2 somewhere along the second half of the course, but a series of interesting plot twists meant that we spent about 80 % of the race at less than a canvas from being bumped by Clare Hall M1, whom we had beaten by about 10s in Robinson Head and did not see as much of a challenge.

I for one was distinctly apprehensive and excited about this race, which would be the first bumps race for six ex-novices in the boat. We did not really know what to expect, although we knew that our technique would significantly deteriorate in the wash around Grassy, and that, starting at station 7 under the motorway bridge, we would probably not be able to hear much of what happened in the first few hundred metres of the race. This, together with the adrenaline and trepidation from the start, would likely take up the rate and make everything altogether messier and less effective. Most of these predictions turned out to be correct to some degree, but the only way to really feel how bumps are is to do bumps, plain and simple.

After a crew erg and core session (best abs on the cam boys!) we pushed off and had quite a nice paddle down to the marshalling area, if a little unsat and not entirely in time at the catch (we really need to focus on this for tomorrow in the bows). Our practise start was measured and got us up to a decent rhythm and boat speed. We span and de-kitted with five minutes to go, with the four minute gun taking me completely by surprise as I quickly got out of the boat. Those last few minutes seemed to go by so quickly. In no time at all, it was time for the one minute cannon, and then we were pushing off, and then...

...An explosion of noise (admittedly not as bad as I had perhaps anticipated given what people had to say about our station) as the cannon went off. We wound it up to a ridiculously high rate, as we usually do under race pressure, and gained about half a length on Churchill after our fast start. We took our usual power strokes, but they seemed very ineffective, which I attribute to a combination of the wash and the rate, and we were probably back on station by the time we strode. In no time at all, we were at the end of first post reach, and we started to hear a whistle. Assumed that it might have something to do with us, but I did not really know what that may be at this stage. First post corner... ...2 whistles... ...wait, what? I looked up and saw (although from the bows I'm pretty useless at judging distances) that Clare Hall, which we had so far ignored behind us, were moving up and were closing on us at a noticeable rate. I admit to have been quite surprised and afraid at that point that my first bumps campaign would start (and presumably end) in total failure. Three whistles at Grassy lead to five seconds during which I wondered what would happen if we were bumped. Would we spoon? And then came resolve. Why should we let ourselves be bumped? After (as Shahid pointed out after the race) 360 squat jumps every time we had circuits sessions, compounded with the 630 other elements in our routine? After all of those times when we were on the river in pain instead of lazing around drinking and eating crisps? NO, we were First and Third M3, we would not let this happen. All of this happened more or less around Grassy (can't remember exactly where, but it can't have lasted more than 5 seconds).

It was only then that I realised that Clare Hall were being pushed hard by Magdelene right behind them. Great, our first ever sandwich, and we were on the receiving end of the trouble. Clare Hall took a strange line around Grassy, going really fast into the corner and then turning quite sharply close to the towpath side, which presumably was in an attempt to avoid the bump, and that somehow worked out fine for them. This led to them probably coming to a few centimetres of overlap, but about 3 metres to the left of us. In hindsight, this manoeuvre probably gave us the race, or at least took the chances of a bump down significantly, but I think that that was due both to the slight distance lost and the fact that we (or at least I) strengthened our resolve at this point. Magdelene blew quite spectacularly down plough reach after coming within very little of Clare Hall's stern. The sandwich probably ended at around the Plough, and that left us once again in a two-boat race. We pulled ahead a little, then were bunched up again around Ditton (2 and 4, massive strokes!!). The race so far had been hard psychologically, now it was starting to get really hard physically (not that we hadn't been working hard - I think that the adrenaline had made us not be conscious of it).

As we began racing down the reach, the boat started to move better and our confidence grew. Perhaps the strangest moment was when Rob gave the thumbs up to Catarina, which she understood as an indication of a good racing line, and returned, which at least two of us in the boat thought looked suspiciously as if she was conceding... (we had moved away, Catarina, what were you playing at?). That little glitch aside, our rowing improved dramatically after Ditton. We have consistently had excellent reach pieces in our races, and although this was a little scrappier because of the wash (together with a few missed strokes and air-strokes from essentially everyone in the boat), it was still vastly better than in the initial parts of the race. Clare Hall stuck with us for another 500 metres or so, presumably doing almost continuous bumps pushes because of the fairly constant 1/2 length whistles that were being communicated from the bank (thankfully we did not come to within a metre or two at any point on the reach). And then, the pain starting to really show, our better fitness finally came into play. We somehow (I don't remember how...) pushed away from them just before the motorway bridge, and then we just opened up the gap until the end.We must have finished slightly inside station on them and outside station on Churchill, so not quite the race that we had planned, but by all means an exciting first time in bumps.

I remember trying to yell as we reached the P&E but instead just grunting and collapsing into my seat (a great reason to be at bow by the way... ...unless you have developed a strong physically intimate relationship with one of your crew mates in which case you would probably not want to be there). I was completely spent, I couldn't take another stroke. We then had quite a poor row home, which tells me that everyone pushed hard, which is a good sign... Hopefully tomorrow we will hold them at station rather than at a canvas. This means having a much better first post reach and then taking advantage of our superior fitness across the rest of the race. If we come within half a length of Churchill, then we bump, otherwise we try to emulate M2 and have a slightly less exciting, although hopefully not uninteresting race tomorrow, and wait for the bump on Friday.


(Neil I.)
For most of the crew, this was their first bumps race. To make matters worse, we're on station 7, literally metres away from the cannon. Understandably, today's racing start was not the best the crew has ever executed. Once the boat got moving, there were some neater strokes, or at least until we hit 6 crews worth of wash- another first for many!

It took most of the first km for the crew to settle into a proper rhythm, by which point they'd already had to fend off Clare Hall M1's first push. Our tight lines contrasted with their wide ones, and we escaped on both Grassy and Ditton. On the Long Reach, Clare Hall sat a canvas off our stern for the entire length. The boys must be commended for their control at this point: no shit-we're-going-to-be-bumped panic crept into the boat, and we held them calmly until the Railway Bridge, at which point Clare Hall started to break.

From there, encouraged by the screams of our  W2 under the bridge, the boys dug deep and pulled away, crossing the finish line pretty much back on station.

A very gutsy row today, but a challenging day tomorrow with the same crews in front and behind. Hopefully, with a cleaner first km we can try and hold them off a little further away from our stern...

#bestabsontheriver
(Rob)
Thursday
Bumped by Clare Hall
After yesterday's very long race report (which I felt was required given the nature of the race that we had), I told the rest of the crew that I would only write a longer one if we bumped at some point during the week. As such, I will try to make these a little shorter (I was hoping that someone would step up to the challenge of writing them, but it needs to be done, and the morning after Lents Dinner seems to be a good time to do so).
The report of yesterday's heroic race may appear to fall flat on its face after the rest of the week's results, and the crew name 'Invictus' may seem to reflect the irony of a crew that thought that they were better than all of the other crews that they had to face. I do not think that this is true in any way. We realised on the first day that we were in danger, and consistently focused on improving technique and control in the face of fierce opposition.
I will not bore you with the paddle up any more than to say that it was shaky on Thursday and steadily improved to acceptable by Saturday, which is a sign that even when faced with adversity, this crew was able to hold its own.
We once again started under the motorway bridge, but a long discussion on start strategies at crew pasta (remember, this was what had caught us out yesterday) meant that the start was much cleaner than the day before, and so Clare Hall only gained marginally before First Post Corner. A boat-stopping crab from the spooning Peterhouse M2 (which we were hoping to catch on Friday) meant that Churchill M2 ploughed right into them at the entrance of the gut, and we were forced to hold it up to avoid complete carnage.
I think that on everyone's mind was the hope of a technical row-over to spare us a race as painful as yesterday's (probably amongst the top five most painful five minutes of my life to be quite honest). After hanging around for five minutes, however, we were told to spin and return to our stations (why couldn't we go to head station and avoid the cannon?).
By this point, we had warmed down physically, and I seem to recall that we were a little more jittery and as a consequence of this our start was not quite as good as the first start. Clare Hall closed a little more off the start, but a much better first kilometre from us meant that we were at about 3/4 of a length until the exit of Ditton. Once again, we saw Magdelene M2 blow down Plough reach, but this time, due to some much better cornering from Clare Hall, they never came within a canvas of our pursuers.
I believe that the beginning of the Reach is where we made our mistake. Guys, tell me if you do not think that this is the case, or write your own race report detailing what you think happened at this stage. We were a good distance from their bows and I think that the utter determination that we had had on the previous day was not present for most of the (admittedly very painful) race down the Reach, because I expect that part of us thought that we were safe. We did not kill ourselves yet, because we thought that we needed the energy at the end of the race. Yesterday, on the other hand, we were just as composed but determinately pushing them away for most of the race.
How very wrong we were to think that the danger had passed. We took a few bad strokes after the kink, due to the washy and nervous nature of bumps, and realising that they had gained a little (two whistles as I seem to recall), they started pushing much harder. We were resilient and could row well and hard in the face of constant pressure. This saved us on the first day, and might have saved us had today's race unfurled differently. They were bigger and could sprint faster than we could. This gave them the advantage on the second day. By the railway bridge their effective push brought them to a canvas, and then overlap. We held them off for an agonising half a minute, but a shudder in the boat told me that the bump had occurred. Catarina's hand went up, conceding the bump. We rowed on as we knew we must after a bump to clear the river, which was more of an ordeal than expected as they were slow to hold it up.
I for one was crushed at the result, repeatedly swearing in frustration at having been caught so close to the finish line after yesterday's pain. I vented much of my frustration by taking power strokes back to the boathouse, which led to some steering issues (sorry Catarina...).
The consensus at crew pasta was that we had raced well but could have gone a little more unsustainable at the end, which might just have enabled us to row-over. Just about. Maybe.
(Neil I.)
Friday
Bumped by LMBC III
This race was so similar to yesterday's that I really will not elaborate very much. We were the faster crew (by a lot) at Pembroke regatta, they had since had a crew change and some practise and had gained a lot of boat speed (~5% is my guess). They were on their way on for blades. We were determined to stop them. They had bumped Magdelene after their second failed attempt at bumping Clare Hall. They were once again a slightly bigger crew than we were.
The lack of a restart today meant that we raced even better than yesterday, and this was starting to be an excellent race. Maggie ominously came to within 1/2 length after the kink, and I started to get a sense of deja-vu (@ webmaster - you should enable accents in your race reports as they are necessary in words such as this). Unlike on the previous day, however, we were pushing as hard as we could, and continued pushes from both crews must have led to interesting yo-yo effects down the second half of the reach. At the railway bridge, however, they had moved to within a canvas and then quickly had a little overlap. The first of our unsustainable pushes was called, and we had clear water again. The pain was atrocious. Maggie were coming back, and with desperate resolve we took another unsustainable push. Once again, there was clear water. We were now further than yesterday. Could we do it?
This time, it transpired that the tank had been properly emptied and they got their bump, fair and square. They were the faster crew. Credit to them for a good race. At the time, though, a huge frustration at bumps racing and the fact that I had been so emotionally involved in this that I had not been able to work properly all week ensued, and I believe that there is somewhere a video of me splashing water on Patrick. All very funny in retrospect of course...
We had lost the M3 headship. As people pointed out later, no-one cares (except for the crew itself), but I see this as a springboard on which we, as a crew, will build future successes. I for one will follow Felix's example and erg every day over the holidays. And when we come back in Mays, dear Maggie friends, we shall bump you, fair and square, before you even have time to bump Selwyn M2. This is not the last that you will hear from us!
(Neil I.)
Saturday
Bumped by Magdalene II
We knew that they had an exceptionally fast start (before they blew that is), so we were determined to match theirs. We had our best start yet, gaining somewhat on Maggie, and kept our distance from them until the end of First Post Reach, where they really gained on us quickly. A much less excruciatingly painful bumps push for both parties considered ensued, and we were quickly bumped in the Gut. Unfortunate, but they were by far the better crew before the 1k mark.
A ray of sunshine came in the form of M1 bumping Maggie even closer to the finish line than we had been bumped on days 2 and 3 (if such a thing were possible...).
(Neil I.)
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