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| 17th Feb '10 | Mich summary | by RJF |
| Men's side As the incoming captain one is never sure how things will look come the start of Mich term as senior members leave and a new intake arrives. It quickly became apparent that the majority of last year's M1 weren't around any more, so we looked forward with some uncertainty as to how the term would play out. The new intake saw a large number of people who had rowed before join the upper boats squad. We gained three schoolboys, two rowers from other universities and one from another college. When mixed in with old FaT hands ranging from M1 to M4 standard it became clear that the focus of the term needed to be getting people rowing in the same way and developing less experienced rowers if we were to perform not only during Mich term but also over the year. It was therefore decided to run the term as a squad system. Scratch fours were the order of the day, and crews seldom had more than one outing together before races. In the short term this did probably hinder performance and may have contributed to disappointing Uni 4s results, but looking back I believe it was the right call in the longer term. It is an important skill to be able to quickly adapt to new crews and individuals have come on a long way in that respect. We set crews two weeks before Fairbairn's, and both M1 and M2 felt progress quicken. With more consistency between outings boat speed began to come, spurred on by a 17 second defeat by an impressive Queen's boat at the Winter Head which also placed us 5 seconds behind Downing. Fairbairn's saw M1 finishing second, just ahead of Downing and only 8 seconds behind Queen's. It was obviously disappointing not to win but we had halved the deficit from Winter Head over twice the distance so great progress had clearly been made. All credit to Queen's for a very impressive term. The result of the day on the men's side came from M2, who finished 13 seconds clear of the next second boat and beat eleven college first boats. A great result, setting the crew up well on their campaign to break into the first division come Lents. A strong note to end on. Morale is high, and we look forward keenly to next term. Aint't nothin' to it but to do it. Richard Fletcher Men's Captain Women's Side I don't know what to say really, Term began with a mix of experience in the women's squad, from frequent W1 rowers to those that had never dreamed of rowing W1 before. We made the eight the focus of term from the very beginning with the intention of having a good crew as a base for Lent term's attempt to regain the headship. Things you want get taken from you, but you only learn that when you start losing stuff. Results at University IVs were mixed, with disappointment for the top four losing to rivals, and eventual winners, Downing in the first round, while the second four demonstrated they were competitive in W1 division by beating Caius, before going out to the eventual winners in the semi-finals. However it was becoming apparent we had a squad of competitive rowers, which might be capable of matching other colleges in an VIII. The W2 four entered into the second division was unfortunate to draw the winners in their first round. Shortly afterwards the novices were doing the Queens Ergo Competition and NW1 came a creditable 8th, while NW2 were 6th in their division. You find out that life is just a game of inches, and the margin for error is so small. By Winter Head it was clear that our novices were progressing well and that W1 were beginning to gain the confidence and belief that they could win, and the drive to ensure this, losing by just 2 seconds to Christ's At the Clare Novice's NW1 went out early to the eventual winners, while W2 lost to the same college, Jesus' W2 beating them in the second round. Fairbairn's a week later NW1 did excellently to come 4th overall, while W2 came in a very creditable 35th beating several other colleges NW1s. When we add up all those inches that's going to make the difference between winning and losing. The next day NW1 rowed the full Fairbairn's course, beating NM1 in the process. However the day really belonged to W1, who buoyed on by coaching from Neil Talbott and Peter Summers, were convinced they could win the event. They did so in an emphatic style, a first for the Women's boat club, losing to only the top two CUWBC crews. The first IV followed this by defeating all opposition in the IVs category to avenge the Uni IVs defeat and retain the title. I was very pleased with the successful term for the club, but we still have targets yet to be achieved. Thomas O'Neill Women's Captain | ||
