The Club's Results
May Bumps 2024
3rd men's VIII
Crew list for 3 races:
| 3rd men's VIII | |||
| in Black Prince | |||
| bow | Brian Chen | 2 | Tudor Lazar |
| 3 | Zach Foster | 4 | Toby Ng |
| 5 | Ralph McDougall | 6 | Bálint Tóth |
| 7 | Daniel Edwards-Medic | str | Ruward Mulder |
Coxed by: Kim Ngan Luu Hoang (Catz)
Crew list for 1 race:
| 3rd men's VIII | |||
| in Black Prince | |||
| bow | Brian Chen | 2 | Tudor Lazar |
| 3 | Zach Foster | 4 | Toby Ng |
| 5 | Ralph McDougall | 6 | Bálint Tóth |
| 7 | Daniel Edwards-Medic | str | Ruward Mulder |
Coxed by: Kim Ngan Luu Hoang (Catz)
Wednesday
Bumped by Wolfson II
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
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.
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
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)
Saturday
Bumped by Pembroke III
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.
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!
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1. M3 after racing
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Links
Full May Term 2024 3rd men's VIII results
May Bumps 3rd men's VIII results archive
Compare this crew with all May Bumps crews in the archive
