The Club's Results

Thursday
Rowed over

Bumped on first post the day before,

Newnham sure must have been sore.

We gained to a whistle,

Hoping for a comprehensive dismissal,

Then alas first post came.

Downing were back several lengths,

Our rowing was playing to our strengths.

But one, two, three clips of the oar,

Opened that door

And Downing moved to settle the score.

We pushed off to recover the race,

By then Downing were well inside base.

The might of FaT W1 triumphed above all,

and we responded to the call,

But crossing the finish was quite the haul.

You may wonder where Newnham had gone,

and whether we gained as we carried on,

due to the scare that had been put upon.

Sadly they gapped us, left us for dead,

leaving us bouncy water in their tread.

Friday
Bumped Newnham

Day two round two, take two, attempt two.

Whatever you want to call it.

Today we fought to right the wrongs of yesterday,

To go off hard and get right into the fray.

That we did, hitting a record 44,

Working hard to settle the score.

Under the bridge we gained the first pip,

So fast we were worried it might be a blip.

Then the whistles kept coming,

Newnham were succumbing!

Out of Grassy corner we got the second sign,

A sense that they were starting to decline.

Stroke by stroke, seat by seat, inch by inch,

We knew that we had gotten them into a pinch.

BUMPS PUSH NOW

Down through the speaker,

Newnham's fate only looked bleaker.

Round Ditton Corner came the third,

At this point my memory gets blurred.

From three came continuous came a crunch,

We had certainly dealt a punch.

Saturday
Rowed over

A situation we did not expect,

Chasing Catz to get closer to head (I'm not delusional I know we're nowhere close).

It shows that bumps prediction is a dangerous game,

Nothing is for certain, despite what people claim.

I personally thought Catz would go up,

Bump Churchill, but they were bang out of luck.

On day two bumped by Pem,

The old enemy again

Even if not predicted back then.

Again off the start we were quick,

But Catz were just that bit more slick

and Newnham were trying to give us some stick.

We defended Newnham admirably well,

and refused to get caught under their spell.

Down the reach they dropped back,

Coming under attack

And suddenly that was that.

No pressure from behind could bother us again,

Bomber called for a big ten.

The power wasn't there,

Catz could just stare

At our blades in the air

Not catching a scare

Or needing a prayer.

So ends the campaign of FaT W1,

+1 is good when all is said and done.

I have no regrets because I know that we tried our best.

^ top

1st men's VIII

Head of division 2
Up 1 - Bumped Caius II

Wednesday
Bumped Caius II

We were feeling confident going into this race, we beat Caius II by 20 seconds in express head but all the same it wasn't going to be an easy race.

We got to nearly 3/4 a length off the start and then slowly reeled them in until we finally bumped just coming into Ditton corner. Inigo (their stokeman) conceded before any contact occurred. (This may have had a knock on effect on Wolfson and Churchill who were regatting down Plough Reach.)

Csongi's first bump and we were all elated. Next it was time to do it all again.

(Andrew Farquharson)

Wednesday
Rowed over as sandwich boat

I think we can all agree this wasn't our best race. We got a whistle nearly off the start however fell back to station shortly thereafter.

We stayed like this until nearly the end of the Reach when Bomber's shouts of "Csongi Up" led to a sprint finish where we crossed the line with three whistle on Binson.

We were devastated, it really put a dampener on the bump earlier in the day. Although we had gone up we still hadn't succeeded.

(Andrew Farquharson)

Thursday
Rowed over Head

Thursday
Rowed over as sandwich boat

Friday
Rowed over Head

Heroes. (Exit, pursued by a swan)

Friday
Rowed over as sandwich boat

Saturday
Rowed over Head

That was dominant. There was almost nothing in Cam FM and W1 were waiting with bated breath to hear something as we sat at the P&E. Given the tight nature of the day before we were worried, M1 had rowed a lot further than Churchill this week and all Churchill had to gain was a few feet.

Seeing the first blade come around Ditton was a relief. Seeing the entire boat appear with absolutely no sign of Churchill was brilliant. When they did appear it was obvious that they were at least a length back. As they got closer it became apparent that Churchill were overrating FaT and getting absolutely nowhere.

Cue loud screaming as FaT passed us with Churchill over two lengths from their stern. They just looked so calm, controlled and patient, like they weren't really working that hard to sustain their rhythm. Whereas Churchill were utterly dead, scrappy and messy. A fantastic showing and these guys will be ready to take on division 1 next year, and take it by storm.

Saturday
Rowed over as sandwich boat


			1. M1 post race

^ top

2nd men's VIII

10th in division 2
Up 3 - Bumped Jesus II, Homerton and Corpus

Wednesday
Rowed over

Ahh! Ship ahoy!

Our coxswain called,

We're closing on their stern, my boys,

But then Pembroke bumped Jesus II's.

A new target in our sight,

We sprang for glory, looked not left or right,

And hearing cries of cheer, we pushed

But then Emma bumped Homerton.

And so with no-one left to bump we had to row over - admittedly pretty calmly without too much strain.

On to tomorrow - hopefully to get Jesus M2 before first post corner. Bit of a threat from Sidney, but we'll hopefully never give them time to get anywhere near us.

(Daniel Edwards-Medic)

Thursday
Bumped Jesus II

We did indeed get Jesus - first bump for me!

Lost our bowball to them as they held it up for some reason upon being bumped.

(Daniel Edwards-Medic)

Friday
Bumped Homerton

Day 3, bump 2.

A much more interesting race. Behind us, Jesus II had geared up to try and outrun Sidney long enough for Eddies to clear up behind them, and so had quite a blistering start after us, closing to a length around the railway bridge. We steadily pushed them off down first post reach though.

Not a bad start, but didn't really start to move on Homerton till we were out of the outflow. Once out of the turbulence into the wash (and yes I do have no idea why we went faster there) we just pulled them in stroke by stroke. Bumped them on the exit of grassy, but they didn't concede till nearly half way past the plough. Really impressed with the crew keeping pushing with everything to force them to concede.

(Daniel Edwards-Medic)

Saturday
Bumped Corpus

A very solid final race. We'd been told that Homerton would try to catch us off the start, and sure enough they advanced to 1 whistle fairly rapidly. It was immensely satisfying, then, when they started disappearing into the distance after we held them there for 30 seconds.

With Homerton out of the way, Corpus were now the only thing in our sights. 1 whistle by First Post, 2 coming up to Grassy, nearly at overlap as we started the corner. Then due to a quirk of steering (thanks Will!) we drifted out wide enough to clip the blades of a crew on the outside of the corner. Even this, however, didn't stop us ploughing forwards and we quickly made up the lost distance before finally bumping on Ditton.

A triumphant final day of bumps, and something which Thomas might finally call acceptable...

(Patrick Fleming)

^ top

2nd women's VIII

3rd in division 4
Up 4 - Bumped LMBC III, Christ's II, Magdalene II and Pembroke III

Wednesday
Bumped LMBC III

W2 had large shoes to fill on this, the first day of Mays - after 2 years of particularly strong Mays bumps calibre, and an infamously successful Lents campaign this year, the crew were out for blood. And what better victim for that first bite, than the red filth themselves? Skin was not the only thing burning today - from the second the cannon echoed through us all (the crew being stationed mere metres from it), the passion and drive to claim victory over our longstanding rivals burned through us all. In their defence, Maggie were very friendly, even after being swiftly and precisely bumped by a crew that appears not to know how to stick to a race plan (rate 42, anyone?) Solid start to the campaign - time to back it up tomorrow. Go well, W2! Yeah FaT! (Hazel Herzog)

Thursday
Bumped Christ's II

What a race for W2! The longest they’ve rowed in bumps all year, a harrowing 2 mins!

The row down revealed a couple of things: 1. Christ’s weren’t ready for a 500m flat out sprint, 2. FaT WERE ready and raring to put their legs down and steamroller the unprepared

Starting on station 6 meant facing the bang 💥 of the cannon, the after effects of smoke, and the outflow. You’d think this would give Christ’s a chance. Nope. FaT gain half a length immediately, pulling away from Maggie with some ease and continuing to put the pressure on Christ’s.

Coming up to first post, some of the crew started questioning if it’s possible that the course actually goes beyond the corner; if it does, we've never seen it before. Uncharted territory awaits. Never fear, whistles kept on coming - we held them at 3/4 of a length for what felt like forever, but that changed soon enough, and by the time we got the yell of “canvas!” it was over, we were holding it up and bow seat was having a lovely time admiring their stern.

News travelled down to us on the row back that some strange stuff had occurred up front … Clare had over-bumped Magdalene, which means that Friday’s race will be all the more fun!

FaT W2: the only FaT crew to bump up twice, later joined by M2 for a day two bump.

Here come the girls!!

(Zara Bowen)

Friday
Bumped Magdalene II

After the shenanigans at the head of the division (Clare's over-bump) W2 faced Magdalene in a very rapid sprint.

With gains made in the first ten strokes, FaT held them at 3/4 of a length for a lengthy amount of time until all of a sudden the corner was in sight. With enthusiastic shouts from the bank, most of which did not come from Harry, whose voice is hanging on by a thread, the crew pushed their legs down and 3/4 of a length very quickly became a canvas, which almost instantly became a bump. Up three!

Having to pull over to the opposite side of the bank was an interesting choice. Never fear, we were directed to cross over and claim our well-earnt foliage, ready to row back home.

Maybe one of these days W2 will see some racing beyond first post, but until that day our 500m sprints seem to be doing the job and we look forward to Saturday's final race, ready to turn Pembroke into Pembroken. (credit to Hazel for the pun)

(Zara Bowen)

Saturday
Bumped Pembroke III

We knew the game plan - go out, go fast, go hard. Pembroke knew the plan too (and, we are reliably informed, were terrified by it. Pem-broken indeed). We rowed our race, and they had no choice but to row it too. Despite a performance that was not our season's finest, FaT W2 continue our streak - 4 straight bumps, 2 straight blades, 8 straight bumps races still left wondering what this mysterious 'first post' is. Victory tastes sweet, although with just a hint of crab...

Lents Blades. Mays Blades.

What, like its hard?

(Hazel Herzog)

You're all brilliant and both of your campaigns have brought me so much joy this year. Good luck to all of you and keep being fantastic. (Exit, pursued by a swan)

We're First and Third W2,

And bumping is all we can do.

So if you want blades -

Be them Lents or from Mays -

Come join us: we have quite a few!

(Lily Kearney)

^ top

3rd men's VIII

8th in division 4
Stayed level - Bumped Hughes Hall II, bumped by Sidney Sussex II

Wednesday
Rowed over

Thursday
Bumped by Sidney Sussex II

Friday
Rowed over

Saturday
Bumped Hughes Hall II

This one was fun to watch. They hit Hughes on the apex of first post hard enough to do some bow damage. Good work boys. You got a commendation down the radio for your clearing as well. (Exit, pursued by a swan)

^ top

4th men's VIII

7th in division 5
Down 1 - Bumped Sidney Sussex III, bumped by St. Edmund's II and Clare Hall II

Wednesday
Bumped Sidney Sussex III

Thursday
Rowed over

Friday
Bumped by St. Edmund's II

Saturday
Bumped by Clare Hall II