The Club's Results

Thursday
Bumped Fitzwilliam

Tell me muse, of that boat of (not) many strokes,

Who bumped Fitz in just shy of 120,

After bumping Clare the day before.

Many the crews whose boats we saw,

Whose speeds we learned and matched.

Much pain was suffered in the middle section,

When Fitz held distance and we tried to pull them close.

Yet despite their attempts we caught them up,

because they flied and died,

foolishly hoping they could catch Queens'

But we denied them the revenge bump.

Tell us these things as you will,

tell us how we bumped on First Post Corner,

Goddess, daughter of Zeus.

Friday
Bumped Queens'

Beginning here, oh reader, I will recount the chase of Queen's W1.

Who bumped W1 last year, and now have fallen beneath.

We heard that Fitz gained on them, the oracle (Bomber) told us.

A good sign, but they did not give up easily.

Sustaining overlap for most of plough reach.

But not a long time after, Alex steered into them and we picked up our third bump.

Saturday
Bumped Downing

Blades and of W1 I sing, who first bumped Christs,

Putting crucial distance between us and Clare.

To Fitz we went, and bumped them too,

then in choppy conditions down Plough Reach,

by the will of the crew we caught Queen's.

To satisfy Bomber and the will of the crew,

Day 4 was the most important yet.

We thought we would suffer much,

to catch Downing and at last raise the flag.

We did not have the 2000+m of suffering I anticipated. They geared up their blades and went kaboom 4.5 minutes in. We didn't have a whistle until about First Post, and I did not even hear three whistles before it went continuous. Alex's line around Ditton was incredible, and on the youtube video you can see us accelerate when he called a blades push. Never underestimate the power of pushing together and doing it for each other.

2nd in division 2
Down 4 - Bumped by Robinson, Hughes Hall, Fitzwilliam and Caius II

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1st men's VIII

Wednesday
Bumped by Robinson

This was not plan A.

We got bumped coming onto the reach. It was incredibly depressing. We had a row over in the legs if we wanted it enough, but Binson clearly wanted it more. We’d got them overbumped last year, when they geared short, went out to catch us, failed and then we’re caugh by Catz I. They came for revenge, and we were unprepared. Apologies all.

With Hughes behind us, and 6,5,3 of the Blue Boat in their stern 3, it’s a tough task.

Time for plan B, a “cunning plan.”

Thursday
Bumped by Hughes Hall

“I have a cunning plan:”

We shot off for Robinson and did not achieve our desired result. We came close. “A canvas, a canvas/My kingdom for a canvas!”

“I have a plan:”

Friday
Bumped by Fitzwilliam

“I have a plan:”

They were fast. Not even around first post. They’d been faster than us all term, and we went out to hold them.

But for tomorrow:

“No worries, I have a cunning plan:”

Saturday
Bumped by Caius II

“Baldrick[Daniel], I have a cunning plan:”

Aw shucks. The new cunning plan included a row over here and a double overbump on Maggie II.

I have no plan now, only leg pain and sorrow.

That was a pretty awful row. There was no rhythm, and the shortest bumps race I’ve done (even shorter than the 6 returner Catz M1 bump on us last year), and a pretty bad campaign.

In these 4 races, we’ve had 13 people race in M1. Most of these subs hadn’t rowed all term. Injury and illness (and annoying Scottish commitments) abounded, and we paid the price. I regret day 1, but today, with two subs, was always going to be difficult.

I’m proud of the attitude these past few days, but bitterly, bitterly regret the results. I’ve had 7 terms in M1, with last term out due to injury, and my novice term. This crew didn’t deserve the result that it was handed down, and it certainly didn’t deserve to lose Angus, Isaac, and Bella on various days. It was enjoyable to row with everyone, we just didn’t have the grit for Day 1.

Four 1st years in the boat (Isaac being a PhD 1st year doesn’t really count), three of whom learned to row here. They’ve had an accelerated start to rowing at FaT, and hopefully have an excellent time ahead of them.

I hope to rectify this campaign next year.

13th in division 2
Stayed level - Bumped Downing II, bumped by Jesus II

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2nd men's VIII

Wednesday
Bumped by Jesus II

We really came together this term to be the best boat I have rowed in by a country mile. We had one of our fastest starts but Pembroke had an amazing start getting 2.5 lengths ahead of us as we pursued them past Newnham bridge. Jesus gaining all the time, us countering push with push. We got one whistle on Pem, then two - they had died. But after a valient effort by the crew Jesus II was our downfall for the 5th time since I have joined M2. We were inside half a length on Pembroke just after first post corner. We raced the best we could and rowed home with our heads held high as we were bested by a much faster crew.
(Andrew Farquharson)

Go chase the martlet

Push off the black/red cockerel

Oh, the cockerel crows

Thursday
Rowed over

Wheels for land not sea.

Gave not a whiff, not a sniff.

Kept close by Jesus.

Friday
Rowed over

O'erhead crab for stroke.

Quick! recover! Push back Catz!

We'll bump tomorrow?

Despite our strokeman crabbing off the start and Catz immediately getting two whistles on us we recovered well and started pulling away again. Little did we know they were also rowing for their lives as Sidney I ploughed into their backs down first post reach. We rowed over after this, it was not great rowing but not bad considering we had our rhythem thrown off at the start.
(Andrew Farquharson)

Saturday
Bumped Downing II

Excellent row, excellent week, Le bosh (Krisztian Hunter)

Another day, another mishap. Today we decided to make friends with first post corner. This was relatively quickly recovered and allowed us to get overlap on Downing II by Grassy. We were not so good at executing the bump doing a tier 3 bumps push down the whole of Plough reach until they finally conceded at ditton with our two seat level with their cox.
(Andrew Farquharson)

Sidney: foe of old.

Clipped the bank but kept it strong.

Claimed our bump at last.

7th in division 4
Up 4 - Bumped King's II, Fitzwilliam II, Emmanuel IV and Darwin II

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2nd women's VIII

Wednesday
Bumped King's II

My first bumps race at stroke, and it turns out that being able to see the boat behind makes a huge difference.

There were a group of cygnets sleeping in the marshalling area.

On the plus side, they were adorable. On the down side, this meant that we had 3 boats worth of space to marshal 5 boats. This went predictably chaotically, with Fitz embedding their bow under my rigger. While extracting themselves, they also borrowed some paint off my blade, leaving a blue smear all over their bow.

Our push-out didn't go perfectly - we hit the end of the chain with 6 seconds to go and were moving backwards by the time the gun went.

That, combined with the fact that we weren't sat meant that (I think) all of bowside caught minicrabs and couldn't extract on the opening stroke and Catz took half a length out of us before we even moved.

My heart was in my mouth as I got the catch in for stroke 2, but I felt the boat accelerate under me as the power went down cleanly and I knew in that moment that we were away and safe.

Having said before the race in no uncertain terms that we were going to keep the start to max 37 to avoid the risk of an adrenaline fuelled crab, I then threw that out the window and took it up to 40+ off the start, before rhythming down to a more sedate 37.

We pushed Catz back out of whistle range and set off in hot pursuit of Kings, rapidly gaining a whistle of our own.

We bumped them shortly after the A14 bridge, in a total of 1 minute 23.5 seconds, and 48 strokes. Of those, 47 were excellent.

We actually got the bump on Kings somewhere just shy of a minute, but they didn't concede and so having made contact with their stern twice the bump was awarded by the umpire and we cleared safely to the towpath.

All in all, an excellent first day of bumps, and we proved that we can pull together and work as a crew even when things go wrong.

Onwards and upwards!

(Rosie)

Thursday
Bumped Fitzwilliam II

A somewhat smoother start to the day than yesterday, we managed to avoid Fitz at the marshalling area this time.

Our row down and our practice starts were a tad scrappy. They weren't terrible, just nowhere near the standard we hold ourselves to.

The start also went much more smoothly, we came powerfully out of the blocks with Kings behind us nowhere in sight.

Within a few strokes I heard a whistle and had a brief burst of optimism, before realising that I couldn't hear any of our bank party shouting anything whistle related.

I then realised that the whistle wasn't for us on Fitz, but for Fitz on Emma which was altogether more of an issue.

We finally got a whistle on Fitz after 30 seconds or so, but by that point they had 2 and then 3 whistles on Emma.

As we came to the end of First Post Reach, my Darwin crew that I coach were screaming full volume at us, with Leah R somehow managing to be heard clearly above all of the total chaos.

At the point we passed Darwin, we were a length off from Fitz, and Fitz were within a canvas of Emma.

They quickly closed that to overlap, with us still a length behind.

At this point, Bomber yelled "Move" in a voice which left very little room for interpretation, nuance or disagreement; providing a clear indication that unless we had a burning desire to chase LMBC all the way to top finish for an overbump attempt we should hurry up and gain some ground on Fitz.

The boat took off for an all-or-nothing sprint, and Fitz saw that and did the same thing.

In their haste to bump before we got there, they lunged for Emma's stern around First Post corner and missed.

Having overcommitted, they then ran wide and we reeled them in and bumped them on the exit of the corner.

I believe Fitz and Emma were between a canvas and overlap for a full minute, thus making this one of the most spectacular and nailbiting races I've ever been a part of.

I didn't actually know how close it was at the time - I was busy just trying to set a rhythm that the crew could follow while dealing with the fact that every piece of technique I'd ever learned had decided to go out the window, leaving me rowing with all the power and poise of a week 2 novice.

From a personal standpoint, probably the worst race I've ever rowed (it's a close call with the M3 Talbott Cup I subbed into 3 hours post bike-crash), and yet somehow we pulled a rabbit out of the hat and got the bump by the skin of our teeth.

3 minutes 14.7 seconds (so close to Pi!!) and 112 strokes. On my side at least, at least 110 of them were crap.

It was a lot of luck, along with a lot of hard work training that got us there. Hopefully it's not that close a call tomorrow and I can row more than 2 good strokes!

(Rosie)

Friday
Bumped Emmanuel IV

A much smoother day today.

There was a massive rainstorm during the row up from marshalling to our station, so we did our practice start in driving rain before rowing the actual race in dry conditions.

Stroke coach decided to die on me just as we started, so no stats for today, but it was somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes total, from just before the bridge to just before first post.

3 days done, 1 to go.

The only problem is that we're chasing the Darwin crew I coach tomorrow. It's going to be an emotional day no matter what happens

(Rosie)

Saturday
Bumped Darwin II

BLADES!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately at the expense of my Darwin Crew.

Super proud of everyone in both boats <3 <3

(Rosie)

8th in division 4
Down 3 - Bumped by Wolfson II, Girton II and Pembroke III

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3rd men's VIII

Wednesday
Bumped by Wolfson II

First day of bumps, and first bumps race for most of the rowers in the crew (me included). The start was very panicky and very rushed, and we maintained our stroke rate at 39 after the Rhythm call (when we were supposed to drop it to 34-36), leading to Kim (our cox) calling a second Rhythm, which fixed the issue.

We put up a decent fight against Wolfson II, but once they were within half a length the crew started panicking, and we got bumped a few seconds afterwards. A harsh but realistic start of their first bumps for the crew who thought they could over-bump into sandwich boat, for sure.

Thursday
Rowed over

A very exciting race (I shouldn't have given my bank party slot to Alex W), Pem thought they had caught us and held it up allowing Girton to do a clean overtake and remove our competition. This led to quite a nice row over once the rowers had calmed down and remembered what rowing was.
(Andrew Farquharson)

Very nice row-over. The start was a lot better than Day 1, but we still panicked a bit after seeing Pembroke III closing in. Gladly and very luckily they stopped thinking they've bumped us, and after Girton II overtook them we knew we were sort of in the clear.

As the row-over plan is underway, I became even more focused, to the point where I wasn't able to hear Kim (our cox)'s voice. The only thing I remember hearing was Alex (our coach) periodically shouting "Legs, legs!" from the bank, upon which I would start to fix my posture and power with my legs & back, then I would hear "That's better" from Alex, before hearing "Legs, legs" again a few moments later.

After we passed the top finish, the crew is happier than I've ever seen. We cheered each other as Kim called each pair to drop out to relax and drink water (cue my "No water but bow pair is ready!") and we happily rowed home without stopping.

Friday
Bumped by Girton II

Third race day, everyone is becoming familiar with bumps and we did one of our best starts, quickly catching Hughs Hall II to 1/3 length before First Post Corner. We then maintained the distance until Girton II somehow accelerated very quickly out of the Corner and quickly bumped us afterwards. It was a very nice race and we simply lost to a stronger opponent, but we were indeed quite close to bumping Hughs Hall II.

After we and Girton II stopped, Pembroke III "bumped" into Girton II, who didn't hold it up and crashed into us, taking off our rudder in the process. We rowed home in middle four with bow pair making adjustments to the direction. Even though rain poured down harshly on our way home, gladly everyone was in high alert and no further damage was caused.

I was back on the bank today to witness the most interesting (scary?) row home of M3's rowing career. Girton caught up to us just after Grassy but failed to hold it up upon hitting us. This put a hole in our stern and destroyed our rudder. We had to row home inner four rowing and outer four taking the run at various points to steer. Alex B was invaluable to keep an eye on our now erratic steering and get us home without further incident. (I reported the incident and managed to get Girton fined £125)
(Andrew Farquharson)

Saturday
Bumped by Pembroke III

Pembroke were angry. Very, very angry. As they should be really, managing to fail to bump us on Thursday, getting bumped as a result and having to wait until Saturday to get another shot.

M3 rowed the best I've seen them, it was strong, gutsy and they were inside station on Girton. Unfortunately Pembroke wanted revenge.

Today was a very valient effort from M3. They have really come together as a crew over the term and I am so proud of their performance in their Mays campaign; despite me wanting to kill some of them on occasion they really were a joy to manage this term.
(Andrew Farquharson)

A rainy race day, but an excellent start. Everything was a bit rushed compared with Day 3, but we still put up a very decent fight against Pembroke III. Unfortunately they were simply stronger (and potentially very angry for their down-1 on Thursday...) so they caught us very quickly around First Post Corner.

Last day of bumps. We rowed home, down 3 in four days but happier than ever. The rain stopped, the sun came out, and Kim started playing music on the cox box. We laughed together at the amazing experiences as a team, and rowed to the beats to Jesus Lock & back. This was the best fun I've had in a long time, and so far one of my most cherished memories in Cambridge. Bumps are inherently competitive, and we were indeed an almost-spooned crew. But we put up a good fight every day of the week, and I am proud of what we've achieved as a team (especially compared with what I started with).

Yeah FaT, and Yeah M3!