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The Club's Results

May Bumps 2023

2nd men's VIII

Coxed by: Connor Wood

Wednesday
Bumped by Jesus II
Day One. 

A lot of discussion had gone on the week prior about the importance this day would have for setting us up for the week. A bump up would mean a hopeful rise on following days and saving M2 from its precarious position at the bottom of Div 2, whereas a bump down would have us slip away into the far-from-coveted sandwich boat position. We were going to be rowing all out for 3 minutes, and what happens happens.

Fate intervened when Darwin M1, two boats ahead of us, decided to sabotage our well-laid plans. Downing M2, who we were chasing, managed the bump within the first minute of the race, and all of a sudden our three-boat-sandwich became just two. Almost simultaneously, Jesus M2 closed some distance and had a whistle on us when we switched gears and knowing we had to go for the row-over started to pull away, surely demoralising our opposition as the gap began to grow.

Our valiant push would not last though, when carnage in the river further up the division led to all boats coming to a standstill. After some confusion, a re-row was called with the four boats meant to be ahead of us all bumped out and nothing but a row-over, or double overbump suggested in jest (surely one would never happen...), as our options. 

As we got to our station, everyone in that boat knew it would not be easy. But we had pulled away once, and would have to do the same again. The start was much the same, with Jesus quick to reach a whistle on us and likely sure the bump would follow soon after. But, as Connor took us around every bend expertly and the crew dug in, we managed to hold them off for a while longer than they'd have expected. Thing took a turn when down in front of the Plough, Jesus made a move and began to put down some power with the intent to go in for the kill. We could hear the second whistle, and before long that boat was looking too close for comfort. They were a powerful crew, and despite some of our best rowing yet, the push away from them never came. And so, just after Ditton, the gap closed fully and they secured a well-fought bump.
(Andrey Karailiev)
Feelings before this race were mixed. Having been beaten by Jesus M2 at Spring Regatta, we weren't overly optimistic. Looking at their Strava GPS data from outings, we also had empirical data about their speed.

We set off strong. They claimed a whistle initially, however we pushed away and held them until halfway up First Post Reach. Then, suddenly we were told to hold it up by the umpires, as there was carnage in the gut.  Turns out, Darwin didn't clear when getting bumped. 

A re-row was instructed, though only for the few crews before Darwin. Unfortunately for us, it meant we weren't chasing anyone. Furthermore, we started from the cursed station that is just right by the cannon. This gave me 2023 Lents M1 flashbacks. The loud cannons right next to your rears and the smoke does not help the crew. 

We set off again, this time holding them for a very brief period. They started gaining and once they caught a strong sniff, pushed on. We took a tight line around Grassey which earned us some water. Unfortunately, up the Plough Reach, they seemed to be going for the bumps push. 

I could see them, gaining with every stroke as well over-rating us. Coming around Ditton was interesting. Connor took such a line, that it initially saved us from being bumped. Jesus tried to steer into us, but subsequently missed. 

We tried a push, unfortunately which didn't work. Jesus had such momentum around that corner that we couldn't bring up our boatspeed in time to match it. I looked at their boatspeed on Strava, and they were roughly 2-2.5km/h faster when bumping us.

When we got Bumped, Jesus were a tad slightly late to hold it up, meaning we were pushed into the bank at an angle. Our bow along with Igor disapeard into a bush. Thankfully he just sustained some light scratches.

A strong row for Jesus, well done. They also showed good sportsmanship. 


(Krisztian Hunter)
Thursday
Rowed over Head
Having been bumped the day before, morale was interesting. 

We went into this race with the determination and mentality that we can push away from Magdalene. We had limited knowledge that we were faster, as they lost to Clare II, who we beat at Spring Regatta.

The cannon went off, and we stayed on station until Magdalene claimed one whistle. That was the only whistle they claimed, we pushed away. 

Around 2 lengths gap between us and Magdalene down the plough. That is when Magdalene were bumped out by a rapid Catz M2. 

That meant a nice row-over. Unfortunately, it took quite a while to get the crew to relax. I tried several times but failed. Finally, by the railings, we took it down to a relaxed 28, then a relaxed 26. 

I kept winding down, as we passed Div 1 W marshalling. We crossed the line at a chunky 22¿. Though I can't remember. Queens M2 were still going for it, and gained a very slight amount of distance between Bottom Finish and Top Finish.

Morale was high. Now time for the second race as sandwich against Jesus.
(Krisztian Hunter)
Thursday
Rowed over as sandwich boat
The second race of the second day: the curse of the sarnie boat. No pressure this time, but we'd race it like any other. With no one behind, the row over was guaranteed. Still, we gave it a strong shot, hungry for retribution against Jesus. 

Our start gave Jesus a shock - we got one whistle straight after the canon - but sadly they dug in and held us off from there. It was a long race to First Post Corner, when Jesus bumped out. They gave us a fraternal cheer as we shot past, now hot on the heels of Downing. 

We had chased this crew on the first day; we had gained, received a whistle, and then they had sped off ahead to catch Darwin. Today was a similar story. We pushed valiantly for the overbump, but the pinky-purple boat had speed and the distance still yawned between us. They caught Clare just in front of Ditton - for us too, the race was now over. 

With no boats for kilometres in front, we wound down to a steady state and finished the coursed at a chunky paddle. We knew we needed to conserve our energy for tomorrow. Truth be told, I forgot we were still racing when we rowed through bottom finish. Our minds were all fixed on the next day, when we would have to give our all to fend off the unstoppable Catz. 
(Toby Collins)
Was getting flashbacks from last Mays. Similar occurred when a rapid Clare II boat caught us on the first day, and on the second day, we gave it a good shot which claimed a whistle and then blew up.

On the row down to this race, we experienced some of the nicest paddling we've ever done. It felt so smooth and the boat ran beautifully. 

We set off with a fly and die mentality (tbf most bumps races should be like this). 

We claimed one whistle I believe? But then they rapidly bumped Darwin. 

When coming around First Post Corner, we assessed the situation. Where were the crews ahead? Bomber then gave the all clear to wind down to a nice 18.

Rowed over. Time for Friday.
(Krisztian Hunter)
Friday
Bumped by St. Catharine's II
Going into this race, we knew Catz M2 were very fast. 

The mentality was: row as hard as you can, and row well. We did not want to embarrass ourselves, and we did not. 

We set off, they claimed a whistle and we held them for around a length for quite a while, until the mid Plough Reach. They took a poor Grassey which helped us a bit.

They were around half a length when going up the Plough Reach. This is when they had a similar style Jesus bumps push, which we just did not counter.

Their bow crossed our stern around Ditton, which was a result of them trying to steer into us but being unsuccessful. 

We got bumped just before the Spinning Zone. We didn't feel too sorry for ourselves. We gave a good fight against a seriously fast crew.

However,  the issue was that it was now looking almost certain that we end the week down -1, and in Div 3.


(Krisztian Hunter)
Saturday
Bumped Darwin
We knew we were faster than Darwin. Darwin were a spooning crew who Jesus caught extremely quickly, thus, we were optimistic for this race.

Connor was looking forward to his first-ever bump as a cox.

We set off, at 41. We quite quickly got a whistle on Darwin, however, they pushed away in the gut. Apparently Máté thought that the bump was not going to be as clear cut as he'd expected. 

However, past Grassey and the Plough Reach, we started gaining again. One whistle, two whistles. Coming around Ditton, we had them at half a length, and then very quickly canvass. I'd imagine it was like what Jesus did to us on Wednesday. 

We got the bump just past going around Ditton. Nice, morale was high and we could finally get some greenery. 

Onto our second race. 
(Krisztian Hunter)
Saturday
Double overbumped Sidney Sussex as sandwich boat

After an exciting row the day before that unfortunately cumulated in getting bumped, we were ready to tackle on oncoming day with the goal of breaking back into division two. There were thoughts of a potential double overbump on Sidney M1 who had been overbumped the day before. When Zara and Thomas Frith had independently thought of the prospect, I knew we were in with a chance. However, Darwin M1 were standing in our way first. When Fordy was told of our plan he gave it as much thought as he usually does when a crew declares they are going to double overbump.

We arrived at the boat house in plenty of time with me having just come from bank partying W2’s successful race where they once again bumped up. We readied ourselves and pushed out and rowed to the P+E and then on to the lock with some very nice starts and bursts.

The race against Darwin for a potential position in division two was on and they gave it a good fight, but we rowed well and rowed together and caught them as we entered the reach, unfortunately while clearing we crashed into the bank and took off our bow ball along with part of our bow. Alex Barrett nearly fell in the river attempting to retrieve the bow ball with Bomber and Máté holding down his legs. We quickly dispatched Zara to rush to control to acquire duct tape so Bomber could attach the spare bow ball he seems to always carry on himself.

Once cleared by the umpires and having let all traffic pass us, we pushed out and rowed to the railway bridge where we all got out and held the boat at waists to allow the repairs to take place. With a successful job we rowed back to the lock and got on station quite early. This is when we really started to believe that we could do this. We were going to do the unthinkable and go for a double overbump. Bomber gave us a chat about doing well and rowing hard however he himself had started to believe we might do this as he had revamped our whistle system, 3 whistles for 3 lengths, 2 for 2 and then back to normal. This was going to be a very tough race – we had to gain 11.5 lengths over the course.

When the final gun went, we were ready, we started off hard; rating in the high thirties at our signature 1:22 splits and then we quickly found our rhythm of 1:40 splits which we held for nearly the entire course except for the final build. We rowed onwards to the plough passing Cats and Jesus who had already caught their prey and we knew it was time for us to go. William Connolly didn’t believe we could do it and stopped filming here and CamFM said we were in a race all of our own. Along plough reach we got the call of 4 lengths to go which was a great motivator. We continued to take distance off of them with every stroke with 3, 2 and 1 to go all occurring along the reach. We pushed as hard as we could go as Sidney had now realised the incoming danger and were trying to fight back however, they were fading. We were within half a length as we passed under the railway bridge and approaching the women who were marshalling. Our W1 was screaming at us to go and get them which really spurred us on to the final push as we took the rate up and we kept gaining until finally we saw the umpire raise their hand to award us the bump which we later found out was when they were ten metres away from the finish.

Everyone was elated, Igor splashed everyone in the boat, Orson and Máté were going wild on the bank, Bomber actually smiled and double high fived Alex. It was an amazing feeling and one that we may struggle to replicate for some time. We rowed home with our heads held high and as we passed M1 and shouted what had happened the glee on Thomas’ face was immense that we had actually pulled it off. Imogen Grant later said it was the most insane thing she had ever seen.

(Andrew Farquharson)
This second race on Saturday is something that I still haven't exactly fully absorbed. 

On Friday night, the possibility of a double overbump was widely discussed within the crew. Initially, I was quite skeptical, as one would be. However, I gave it some deeper thought as the night went on.

I messaged several close acquaintances that night, almost in a joking way about our idea to double overbump and end the week on +4. However, there was one conversation I had, which was with Andrey where we discussed in a serious way, the likely chance of double overbumping of Sidney. 

Andrey worked out that over the entire course, we would have to gain 11.9 lengths. In terms of split, this is roughly a 10s difference. Again, that is assuming you bump at the end of the course. We also talked about how things could go wrong for Sidney. They got overbumped by Downing the other day, roughly at the Reach Spinning zone. They were obviously in a state of decline, and mentally, that breaks a crew. 

After the bump on Darwin whilst marshalling for Div 2, I told Bomber and Alex the plan. They both sort of laughingly dismissed it, tbf, rightly so as it is something quite extraordinary one could only wish for. 

However, when we got out of the boat by the lock, after rowing down, we told Bomber the plan again. Everyone was determined to make it happen. We even pointed out to Bomber where Sidney's boat was, whilst we were parked up. A white spec in the distance, with dark blades. 

Upon knowing this, Bomber gave it a thought, and talked with Alex. Bomber came back, and introduced us to his novel OverbumpWhistle system. Three for three lengths, two for two lengths, 1 for one length. Then we would switch back to the classic system. 

The mentality for this race, was regardless of the overbump, we were going to go off as hard as we can. 

We went off, as usual. We raced well. Due to the nature of the course, we hadn't actually any information until Grassey. When coming around Grassey, a critical piece of information was received. Sidney were spotted by the Plough. This put my legs into the 6th gear, and gave me the much needed boost.

Just as we pushed out of Grassey, Bomber shouted "SIX LENGTHS" (this was heard on the Willy C video). I had a quick glance at the splits, and we were hovering around 1:40. This had also meant we had taken down around 5 and a half lengths already. 

We stormed on. Upon coming around Ditton, Bomber said we were rapidly gaining. We were roughly four lengths at the reach spinning zone. Then, the three lengths whistles came. This absolutely destroyed Sidney, and they cracked. We were reeling them in. 

By the railway bridge, we were one length away. The cheers and cries of W1 were wonderful and gave us the much needed boost to build and drop the split to mid 1:30s, before we bumped.

Their cox conceded, around 10m before the finish line. The bump felt so fast, I genuinely couldn't tell we'd had gained such an insane amount so quickly.

We celebrated hard, and couldn't believe what we had just accomplished. To go up 5 (or 6?) in one day, was something we could never really realistically imagined. My shoulder dislocated when punching the air, which meant I couldn't row home. 

Later, I've come to realise there was a fatal flaw overlooked in the overbump plan, which could have sabotaged the plan. As a crew, we did not go over the possibility of Clare overbumping Sidney. However, later, we realised, it took Downing until the Long Reach to overbump, and Catz M2 were chasing Clare, thus they would likely not make it until the reach. 

Even now a couple days have passed, I am still thinking about how we did this week. Previously, I have never really done "well" in rowing. We've always had some mediocre/okay result, which we learned to cope with as it wasn't terrible, just nothing extraordinary. Like for example, this year, we were well prepared to be happy about being just down one. However, to finally do well, and go up four in a campaign, just feels unreal.
(Krisztian Hunter)
The night before, after the M1 (+Orson) crew pasta in NanaMex, we had discussed the possibility of a double overbump.

I then went to Mainsburys, saw Andrew, and told him that it was on, that they should go for it, and they had it in them. I didn’t mention the Clare M2 overbump possibility, as that is not something that you do in this situation. 

While we were at the boathouse waiting to head out, we listened to CamFM. It was absolutely glorious, and our excitement was immense. We told Catz M1, they didn’t understand at the time, nor did Homerton M1 (who were returning from Div 2 a bit earlier). Rowing down to marshalling and passing M2, we gave them the biggest Yeah FaT of their lives. 

Yeah M2!
(Thomas Frith)

1. M2 at the the bumps ...


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