The Club's Results
Pembroke Regatta, Lent Term 2018
1st men's VIII (1st division)
| 1st men's VIII | |||
| in Black Prince | |||
| bow | Matthew Crowe | 2 | Robert Shearme |
| 3 | Dohun Lee | 4 | Jonathan Williams |
| 5 | Josh Hampson | 6 | James Edgeley |
| 7 | Forbes Anderson | str | Peter Robinson |
Coxed by: Sophie Maclean
1st round
Beat Clare M1 (1/4 length)
Beat Clare M1 (1/4 length)
We entered this race with nothing to lose, and a race plan to just go out of the blocks like a rocket to blow the race right open. We executed exactly this and quickly moved away from Clare. Coming to about 100m before the railway bridge we we're 1 foot away from breaking out to clear water. We didn't quite have the legs to do this, and with the advantage of the inside of the bend under the bridge, Clare started to move back on us. We attempted a muted bow six lift and to be honest the next minute of so was a blur of pain. We successfully held onto our early advantage to take the race, much to the shock of almost everyone on the bank (FaT included).
Results for the last 3 terms would have put us as the underdogs, but we have the power, and the determination and took the race to Clare, finishing the job and stunning the Clare bank party. A great turn around from losses to Clare in all recent races, just in time for the build to bumps.
Quarter finals
Beat Emma M1 (1/2 Length)
Beat Emma M1 (1/2 Length)
After the victory over Clare, suddenly the crew had a renewed sense of belief. It was like something had finally clicked, but we set that aside (as requested by Jacqui) to put our focus on taking the race to Emma. Those returning from Mays remembered all too well how Emma bumped us into Grassy, and we were hungry to make a statement about what the Lents crew was shaping up to be.
Again we excuted an excellent start and quickly moved away from Emma. Again as we came up to the railway bridge they started to move back. I think this time however we had that bit more confidence about holding them off and saw the race off in relative comfort in the end. It felt great to leave a big mark of overturning the events of last time we raced Emma directly. We came away from this race knowing that it was that 3rd minute we will need to work on for bumps, but we really took confidence from the huge step on so far we achieved this weekend.
Semi finals
Lost to Magdalene M1 (1 1/4 lengths)
Lost to Magdalene M1 (1 1/4 lengths)
As we came into the semi-final, we got to see just how little other clubs expected of us. At each marshalling point we were asked why we were there and Emma weren't. We took great delight in telling anyone who asked this 'because we were faster'. This really felt like the forging of a fast crew in the heat of battle.
That aside, the race with Magdalene came on the back of a very close, and apparently contentious, upset where Magdalene knocked LMBC out. We took the race to Magdalene again, using our rapid start to take a seat or two out of them early. Sadly this time we didn't quite have the legs, and they started to slowly walk up to about half a length on us coming under the railway bridge. Again this was about the point where we let them move, and they took another half length or so up to the line. But this was still only just over a length overall, after two hard races for us. We can take heart from today's events. We shocked everyone with our raw speed, which put us all the way to the semi-finals. Even better, we gave a good race to crew who had just knocked out LMBC, showing that we are very much back in the league of the big boys and not to be underestimated. I can't wait to get to bumps with this crew and to see where this heart and guts takes us. We know what we need to do to get even faster, but things are heating up.
I also foolishly decided to catch up on my 55 minute low-rate pyramid erg after the race. I would not recommend this to anyone who values their legs. But the gain train has picked up momentum and who am I to stop us hammering our way to bumps.
Links
Full Lent Term 2018 Pembroke Regatta results
1st men's VIII Pembroke Regatta results archive
