The Club's Results
May Term 2019
1st men's VIII
Champion of the Thames Eights Head (Men's 1st Div. Mays)
May Bumps
Wednesday
Rowed over
Rowed over
We went into this race not really knowing how fast we, or any of the crews around us, are. We thought we could catch Emma if we are lucky, but knew that Peterhouse two behind us with their three blues might push Jesus onto us.
We moved inside station on Emma after a strong start and pulled comfortably away from Jesus down first post reach, but Emma caught a sniff of Downing early and pulled away from us down the gut. I've been told we moved back to around station about Ditton where they pulled away again - by the railway bridge Bomber got us to wind us down. (Amusingly, we moved back on them while paddling resulting in several angry noises from their bank party and boat)
Thursday
Bumped by Peterhouse
Bumped by Peterhouse
With Peterhouse with their two Olympians chasing us, we didn't have much choice but to go for the classic "fly and die" - and we died hard.
We sprinted all of first post reach over rate 40, pulling away from Peterhouse and moving to 3/4 of a length on Emma. Peterhouse were still a length away coming into Grassy, but a combination of wash, Grassy corner and people blowing resulted in an appalling 10 strokes (including many mini crabs) around Grassy, and Peterhouse were a 1/4 length away and moving quickly coming out - we got caught just before the plough.
Friday
Rowed over
Rowed over
We had a King's crew who's been fast all year, and on for blades, behind us - they had expressed their confidence to catch us on instagram the day before, and we were determined to prove them wrong.
They turned out to be quite the match for us (and very well-mannered, despite their instagram posts), resulting in two very memorable races to rap up my captaincy. On Friday, we held about station to the railings, where they had a push to which we did not respond, and started moving fast. They got the first whistle before the white house and were 3/4 quarters of a length under the railway bridge, where we had an excellent push to keep them away. King's kept creeping up on us and finally got their second whistle around bottom finish, but we had just spent the entire term doing pieces from bottom finish to top finish - we held them rather close but comfortably away until the finish line.
Saturday
Rowed over
Rowed over
A spooning Clare crew 3 in front had prevented Peterhouse's blades on the previous day, so we again faced the situation of having to row over in front of King's with nothing to bump in sight.
Maybe to live up to their confidence on instagram, or perhaps spurred by a fast Robinson crew behind them, King's stepped up their game on the final day, getting their first whistle on plough reach, their second on the long reach, and moved to inside 1/4 of a length just before bottom finish. However, this is where Charlie called for a move and the crew responded admirably - King's blew after bottom finish and we crossed the finish line with a somewhat comfortable lead, our success never really in doubt to those of us rowing. (although I am not sure if our bank party agree - I've never heard Bomber sound so panicked)
Some people might just look at the result and remember this crew as a crew as another unsuccessful FaT M1 which went down. However, I cannot disagree more. This crew (with 3 ex-novices) was hit with hardships all term, losing two of our triallists to injury, when we were surrounded by boats with blues. But the crew didn't just roll over - we did all the training as was set down by Bomber, and still pushed hard every session. By the end we had a crew who truly believed in our boat speed, and we performed to the best of our ability every day, holding Peterhouse for far longer than both Jesus and Clare, and producing two gutsy row overs in front of Kings. Most of this crew will be returning next year and I cannot wait to see what we can do.
Links
Full 1st men's VIII results archive