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May Term 2023

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3rd men's VIII

Radegund Mile Head Race (College VIIIs)

M3 were unlucky with their 7-seat being called up/convinced up to M2 the day before Radegund, leaving them without a full crew. They were even more unlucky that their cox was ill on the morning of the race, fortunately Naman came to the rescue and M3 were able to race (at the expense of the M4/W2 mixed crew, but that's not M3's fault).

A good crew pasta the night before kept spirits high, and M3 were determined to put into practice all they had learned under the watchful eye of Luke. I can't testify to how they usually row but I suspect handle-heights will be on the agenda for the coming week after the paddle down.

Marshalling was chaos, but also not our fault, leading to the race starting slightly late and with us being unable to pull in. Jun built a nice rhythm as we got started, although when the call to wind it up came, there was a blatant flouting of Luke's aim for the crew of rate 32. We went off at rate 35/6 and settled at 35 for the vast majority of the course. In hindsight, that was probably a little bit too ambitious. But the crew stayed together and the timing was good, even if the power dropped off a bit in the middle.

As we came down the reach, the boat behind us was starting to gain serious length on us (and they did beat us by about a minute). With the advancing crew on our stern, we lifted the pressure and held them off as we passed under the railway bridge and finished the race. That sort of mentality will benefit M3 well in bumps; they do not give up and they have a real sense of togetherness (outside of the boat).

Sometimes the rowing could have been described as stern pair and bow six, but fortunately this was saved for the paddle up rather than the race. I'm confident M3 will be quicker with another week of training and their rightful 7-seat back.

(Zara Bek)

After losing our beloved 7-seat to the vicious crew of M2, we were fortunate enough to convince Zara, a member of the glorious W2, to sub in. We did not expect though to loose another valued member of our crew: our cox, Bella. The crew pasta and the celebration of the coronation lifted the crew's spirit, so we were ready to race.

The paddling to marshaling was a bit mediocre, but we got at least 3 good strokes (even if not consecutively). The marshaling itself was horrible, but that did not make us less focused.

We started off the race quite well, listening to Luke's advice to keep it technical and not to blow off, even if 3-4 strokes/min higher than previously discussed. Even though our rate was high, we could keep the rhythm, and actually put some power down on the Reach. As we finished the race everyone seemed quite happy with the performance, however, during crew brunch we saw our time, which was a tiny bit (45s) over our expectations.

Overall it was a pretty fun race.

Huge thanks for Zara and Naman for subbing in!

(Bálint Tóth)

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Champion of the Thames Eights Head (Men's 4th div. Mays)

5th in Category
Time: 5:46.5

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May Bumps

5th in division 4
Down 3 - Bumped by King's II, Corpus II and Lucy Cavendish

Wednesday
Rowed over

First Bumps race for the whole crew went as smoothly as one could expect. We started with one of the rowers having woken up 30 minutes before push off. Padling to marshalling was actually quite good, we were almost sitting the boat level. Marshalling was fun even if a bit longer because of div 5 having to re-row their race.

As the canons went off we had a great start gaining a bit on Queens’. Pembroke had a great start as well, so much so, that they gained half a length on us after the first 10 strokes. By First-post they were practically alongside us, which continued till Grassy, where they decided to take a rather fascinating line. With the crew moral back in the boat, we actually put down some serious power. Unfortunately though we had some „length issues”, so Pembroke pretty much cought up just before Ditton. However our line once again was a bit better, so we got saved from getting bumped again.

Coming out of Ditton we gave 110%, so we can survive through the Reach. This wasn’t helped by the fact that an anonymous 6 seat cought a moderate crab. We went through the Reach with Bella having a sight of Pembroke’s bowball the whole time, only her coxing masterclass keeping us alive. Under the railway bridge, however, we could not keep them back anymore and made contact with them. The crew started winding it down, just as we got the information of Pembroke being bumped 1-2 seconds before they could’ve bumped us. So we rowed over the first day in a dramatic, exciting manner.

(Bálint Tóth)

I was umpiring on First Post.

I saw the third of a length gap at First Post.

I heard about overlap at Grassy through the walkie-talkies, before Pembroke went wide.

I heard about overlap at Ditton, before Pembroke took the scenic route.

I heard about the formation of a sandwich, with Kings M2 closing rapidly.

I heard the Umpire state "pretty simultaneous bumps, but Kings clearly bumping first". I may have done a little dance, rather than being impartial as I should be.

Absolutely fantastic, and wonderful drive from a crew comprised completely of novices, none of whom have done bumps before. As much as it does not bode well for tomorrow, you should be so proud of yourselves.

(Thomas Frith)

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Thursday
Bumped by King's II

Apparently Kings M2 were comprised of rowers who all have 2Ks below 7 minutes. (Thomas Frith)

Today, we were unfortunately side characters in King's M2's redemption arc. We had a good start sequence, unfortunately we didn't settle after our cox Bella's power call. King's were closing in on us at Grassy, so Bella pulled out our kill-or-be-killed call: "Defcon-1", although our 5-seat Gianpaolo preferred "Morbin' Time". We pulled away from King's M2 at first, but couldn't hold them off and were caught past Ditton.

Thinking the worst was over, we pulled to the side in a timely fashion and with great efficiency. However, Pembroke M3, hungry for revenge came barreling down towards us. They got the bump, by hitting our stationary boat and our cox's head with their bow's blades. Unfortunately, this was not to their advantage and led to a fine. We entered the next day with renewed determination to bump King's M2 and hold off Corpus M2.

(Rakesh Arul)

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Friday
Bumped by Corpus II

What can I say about this race? We were caught by a better crew. Our coach said we rowed well, however the Corpus M2 behind us had higher wattage and we had "length issues".

(Rakesh Arul)

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Saturday
Bumped by Lucy Cavendish

The final day of bumps, we were excited to deny Lucy Cav M1 their super-blades. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be. They powered ahead and caught us around Grassy. All in all, a very fun first bumps campaign for all of us recent novices in the boat, and we will all enter the new year with renewed determination to do better!!

(Rakesh Arul)

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