The Club's Results
Fairbairn Cup 2025
A 4300m timed head race on the Cam for VIIIs
Fri 5th December
At the bottom of this page there is a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.
1st men's VIII, Senior VIIIs
Fastest boat
Time: 14:30
Time: 14:30
May have overcooked a little. Began losing vision as we approached the reach spinning zone but dug in HARD and kept it going over the rest of the course. Blew up completely about two strokes from the finish. Who needs to see while rowing anyway? (it's not like Caius were in line of sight)
I still can't believe we actually did it.
Turn! Turn! Take the corner!
~anon coach to anon cox
Strangely, today is much less stressful than being on th bnk yesterday. Maybe being in the boat makes you feel much more in control.
Prepaddle good, if a little congested - clearly the O*ford colleges are trying to actually stay on the wet bit this year. We get back to change to racing kit and fuel up one last time.
We push off, and spend some time getting to the ideal line - for us, straightish will not do...
And George's hand comes down - attention, GO!
A quick build yeilds rapid results - pushing a rate of 37 before we go under Emma Footbridge. Straight into a race rythym of 36 (Csongi wasn't satisfied with steam training along at the prescribed 34.5, and was doing a Flying Scotsman instead) and we hold the legs through concrete corner. The GPS coxbox splits come on line out of the corner, and we already know these aren't great - the morning paddle showed we should have been faster.
But no time for excess thought - simply commit to the legs, the technical calls, getting that full stroke, the early catch, we're past Cantabs, relax the arms, puppet arms, posture, Csongi - directly in front of me, shouting to George to "Attack Green Dragon" and we pull through the bridge.
And then the lactic starts to creep it's way to the legs. Warded off so far by the numbing effects of adrenaline, it starts to rear it's ugly head as the calls from our bank parties die away. This is where we make or break.
And make it we do - a call for big 5 is met with ferocity by the crew, pushing up half a pip of rate and several splits. We push through the P&E, and attack towards the railway bridge.
The welcome tailwind out of the bridges carries us on for speed, makes the boat a little lighter as the oars go in. From the railway bridge to the railings is familiar ground - we've done this countless times in the past 8 weeks, pushing the splits down and down in training. Somehow, the 2 minutes feels less than it normally does.
And we attack Ditton - fighting to keep on our exhausted cores, (that extra core session a week, though disgusting at the time, definitely has made a difference). We sweep past a plough strangely quiet for race day (though, admittedly, drinking before 10 on a weekday... actually, we all know Luke would do that).
On to first post reach, and Bomber calls us to push onwards now. Csongi attacks the water once more with ferocity, and we push down.
George isn't happy. He's been watching these splits, and he wants us to move now. The upwards push to the finish line gets called at the power lines, and we slam into the outlet mid build.
Speed increase = gone...
Let's move - the shout from the bank spurs us to action - and we push upwards on the rate, giving extra strokes to get the power from our screaming legs to leap the boat forward. Up to 38 - up the the fastest at any point over the course - my eyes start to struggle to stay open as tunnel vision closes in - and I hear, though barely, the welcome sound of the horn.
I'm so far gone that George drops stern pair out immediately - and Csongi sounds the most worried he has in a long time - not great to have that directed at you when you're fighting to regain some semblance of breath and ability to think...
And we spin and pull in, and wait for the results.
Turns out the river had slowed down, we hadn't lost our ability to row, and the waiting for results was more than worth it.
YEAH M1!
 |
||||
|
|
|
|
1. Cup reclaimed
|
|
|
|
||||
2nd men's VIII, Lower VIIIs
3rd in div 2
Time: 15:46
Time: 15:46
Results of the First Post Reach Regatta: FaT beat Clare by 1/2 length. The Clare cox did seem to be wearing FaT kit however...
BOWBAAAAAAAALL
We went into the race with our cox dubbing us “the hospital boat” due to various illness. Despite this, we still rowed a really good race, and put in a shift the dictator could be proud of. We got some early bumps practice in with an overtake on Clare and “BOWBALLLLL” in front of the marshalling boats is a rowing highlight of the term, and the rest of the race was solid. Having beaten many M1s including Sidney who we are chasing next term, we have set ourselves up really well for Lents and despite certain (cheating) M1.5s beating us, I will still proudly call us the fastest M2 on the cam!
3rd men's VIII, Lower VIIIs
1st women's VIII, Senior VIIIs
10th W1
Time: 17:43
Time: 17:43
It's true, our races aren't high-profile
And our reports fall short of the mile.
So, with some ambition,
I present to you this edition
Of Fairbairns 2025, W1 style.
It is time again for W1 to take part
and so we came, light of heart,
To the slimy bank
and, with a clank
We set out to the start.
The headwind did not fit the bill
but soon we surely sat still
And with a tap
Bow set the gap
And left us in the hands of Will.
"Wind 1, wind 2," Will urged us on,
the boat surging forth like some swan,
When all of a sudden,
We heard a great thuddin'
And duly we into Catz we'd gone.
Alas, alack, it's not too late!
The boat was in a dreadful state
But with lots of hope
And the ability to cope
We hiked ourselves back onto rate.
Through Concrete Corner we did fly,
Feeling, as we were, really quite spry.
Our blades were in,
Our minds within,
And into the rhythm did we buy.
The next few minutes, I will admit,
are hazy at best, much like the split.
And so we chugged,
And maybe tugged,
Our forearms likely starting to quit.
The Railings might have brought some relief
Though our legs were giving quite some grief.
We blizted through Ditton
and with that bit-done-
In our hearts spawned the slightest belief.
We rounded Grassy, once more unto the breach
With Will continually begging us each
So from our legs
We squeezed the dregs
And pushed onto the final reach.
Then, all of a sudden, under Newnham Bridge
We zoomed, towards the final ridge,
And at the sound of the horn
Our legs well-worn,
We submitted to the old adage:
"Wind down, wind down" said the cox,
And relief rippled through to our socks,
Our race was now over
And, moreover,
We could finally sink onto our hocks.
And so, we had reached the climax
With the help of various syntax.
So with Bomber appeased
And our legs all seized,
At long last, we began to relax.
And our reports fall short of the mile.
So, with some ambition,
I present to you this edition
Of Fairbairns 2025, W1 style.
It is time again for W1 to take part
and so we came, light of heart,
To the slimy bank
and, with a clank
We set out to the start.
The headwind did not fit the bill
but soon we surely sat still
And with a tap
Bow set the gap
And left us in the hands of Will.
"Wind 1, wind 2," Will urged us on,
the boat surging forth like some swan,
When all of a sudden,
We heard a great thuddin'
And duly we into Catz we'd gone.
Alas, alack, it's not too late!
The boat was in a dreadful state
But with lots of hope
And the ability to cope
We hiked ourselves back onto rate.
Through Concrete Corner we did fly,
Feeling, as we were, really quite spry.
Our blades were in,
Our minds within,
And into the rhythm did we buy.
The next few minutes, I will admit,
are hazy at best, much like the split.
And so we chugged,
And maybe tugged,
Our forearms likely starting to quit.
The Railings might have brought some relief
Though our legs were giving quite some grief.
We blizted through Ditton
and with that bit-done-
In our hearts spawned the slightest belief.
We rounded Grassy, once more unto the breach
With Will continually begging us each
So from our legs
We squeezed the dregs
And pushed onto the final reach.
Then, all of a sudden, under Newnham Bridge
We zoomed, towards the final ridge,
And at the sound of the horn
Our legs well-worn,
We submitted to the old adage:
"Wind down, wind down" said the cox,
And relief rippled through to our socks,
Our race was now over
And, moreover,
We could finally sink onto our hocks.
And so, we had reached the climax
With the help of various syntax.
So with Bomber appeased
And our legs all seized,
At long last, we began to relax.
1st men's novice VIII, Lower VIIIs
BPBC 1st women's VIII, Invitation VIIIs
11th in category
Time: 20:18
Time: 20:18
Wellll that was an experience!
Big shout-out to Sara, Hazel and Georgie for agreeing to row in this about a month ago, and an even bigger one to Marianna for subbing in last minute on the wrong side. Couldn't have gotten round the corners without you guys being so responsive.
My third time coxing this term and it was certainly eventful! Due to some INTERESTING decisions from Jesus regarding the start order, we started ahead of Hughes W1, Selwyn Alumnae and Kings M1.
I shall now rate the crews that overtook us.
Hughes overtook us at the P&E but did take an age to do it. 3/10, you were safe with how you did it, but could have done it a bit quicker.
Selwyn overtook us going round First Post. 7/10, good clean overtake but I did bump you when you dropped the pressure a bit early after coming past us. Power 10 next time please!
Kings M1 tried to overtake us round First Post and then did overtake us around Newnham Bridge. 0/10, what the fuck was that. It's a head race, not a bumps race. Hope you enjoyed your time in the bushes.
1st women's novice VIII, Mixture of NW1 and NW2, Lower VIIIs
Michell Cup points
There is no data on this race.
| Cambridge weather: | text or graph |
Links
Full Fairbairn Cup results archive
Compare these times with all Fairbairn Cup times in the archive
