The Club's Results

So good they won it twice. (Apparently steering your crew straight into the bank off the start is deserving of a restart - in this case, with a 'Go' announced to the Catz crew several lengths behind, but not to us. Luckily Zara was on the ball...) (Neil T)

Watching Catz row down with 4 women in the boat and hit pretty much every bit of the bank along the way was nice. (Zara Bek)

Even more women than Catz. They had beaten Selwyn NM2 (whom we had leant Bastian to0) and to be fair- they rowed well.  (Zara Bek)

Kudos to Robinson's NW2 for making it to the second round of an NM2 race. Their trump card seemed to be the ability to row in a straight line, enough to beat most of the NM2 crews we faced. Unfortunately, we could do that too. (Nick Nelson)

"The amazing semi-final", frequently described by members of the crew as "dogshit". (Lily Kearney)

This is where things got interesting. Queen's were big. Queen's had a good start. We panicked a bit. R37.5 off the start coming down to r36 half way down the course was one panicked and rushed way to do this. Off the bridge we managed to get it to a more sensible r33 and they made a huge push. At this point we were a length down, and by the corner we were maybe one seat down and gaining rapidly. Then Queen's steered into us, I held my line, they kept coming in and clashed blades. When they steered away they hit the bank and we crossed the line a canvass before they did. (Zara Bek)

I was convinced we had lost that race until the umpire told us we'd won. After starting off at an absurdly high rate of something like 37, we utterly failed to stay in time and saw the Queens' boat steadily pull ahead. By the railway bridge, which in my mind was almost the end of the course, we were a length behind and more tired than in any of the other races. Zara's optimistic cries of "you're gaining on them" and "row long, row loose" were all that kept us going, along with the desperate commitment to at least have done our best. But she wasn't lying. My unprofessional glances to the right confirmed that we were indeed getting closer. Too little, too late, I thought. Surely the finish line would be any second now. But when I heard our blades clashing, I thought we might have a chance. Supremely confident in Zara's coxing ability, I was certain that Queens' must have left their racing line. But wasn't the race already over? Apparently not. What seemed like a couple seconds after the blade knocks, we heard Zara's call to wind it down, and I heard her ask the marshal what on earth was going on, and his reply "No, you won." Disbelief and ecstasy mingled. Apparently, not only were the other boat disqualified for impeding us, they also then overcorrected and hit the bank without crossing the line. (Nick Nelson)

From the beginning, I could tell that this race would be our hardest test yet because we were not able to pull any gap despite our best efforts and an uncharacteristically high stroke rate (courtesy of our stroke Vlad who had previously, when asked by coaches in training, said that he was unable to go at rate 36 - it turns out that this was a lie). Furthermore, looking at the crews lining up before the race, they looked big and strong and we looked like our coaches refused to feed us unless we win Clare Novices. (Robert Crossen)

An absolute thriller of a series of races - this crew wanted that plate and they got that plate! Still utterly skunnered that the only race I didn't get a spot bankpartying for them was the amazing semi-final, coming back from a length down at the railway bridge to beat Queens (and yes, we did cross the line first somehow!) (Daniel Edwards-Medic)

This was the best rowing they've done. R34.5 off the start rhythming to a strong 32 which they held over the course. Clean, technical and strong. We walked over Trinity Hall.  (Zara Bek)

After the nerve-wracking semi-final, where we narrowly defeated Queen’s in a dramatic finish, I was filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety before the final. The semi-final had felt like a win handed to us by circumstance - a technicality more than anything. It was hard to shake the feeling that we hadn’t fully earned our spot in the final.

However, Luke, Neel, and Zara reminded us that the semi-final had been so close because we panicked. Our rushed strokes had drained us and nearly cost us the race. Their message was clear: we had to stay calm and focused. If we did, there would be no need for another dramatic finish.

In the final, we did just that. With a steady, clean start, we settled into a strong, powerful rhythm. The difference was astonishing - we pulled ahead of Trinity Hall early and steadily extended our lead throughout the race.

In the end, we won by a commanding margin, a stark contrast to the chaotic semi-final. It felt like a true victory this time. This wasn’t just some of the best rowing we had done all term; it was a performance we could truly be proud of.

(Fabian Brenner)