First and Third Trinity Boat Club
Log In

Message Board

Club News & Notices

Message board > Club News & Notices > FaT end year solidly! 
  

21st Jun '06FaT end year solidly!by pks
After a very promising Mich and Lent term, First and Third braved the waters of the Cam despite all vicious constraints inherent in Cambridge exam terms. This led to thoroughly sound performances all around and a lot of fun for all those involved behind the scenes, in the organisation of the "FaT Bumps" and, of course, the crews.

Competition in the Getting-On-Race was fierce for the Men this year, as only three places were up for grabs. As a result, our very promising 6th men and worthy and distinguished Fellow's VIII did not get to participate in the Bumps. Well done to them for putting in the preparation throughout the term, though!

Racing througout all divisions was a lot more exciting than in most terms, but seemed to mysteriously follow Jenny Lee's BumpIt predictions most of the time... The bottom divisions were, as always the most adventurous and our 5th men made good use of this, rowing a grand total of 6 gutsy races and bumping up into the 4th division!! The 3rd VIII followed in the footsteps of a series of very experienced 3rd VIIIs and a string of up 3's or 4s. A challenging position to defend! The girls fought hard against their overpowering competition and had fun with the Bumps experience.

The 4th Men (Grads) seemed to be reaching for the stars at the beginning of the week. Bumping easily on the first day, they were not contented with a mere up one on the second day, but double-overbumped in great style. Unfortunately, they lost out against a strong Selwyn II in a "sandwich" situation on the second day, where half of the division seemed to be within a couple of feet of each other. They subsequently fell to a very strong Corpus crew, that ended the week up 9 (!). Sad though it was they could not go up 8, one should not play down the significance of going up 4! Well, done, ye Grads!

The 3rd men were a serious pair and lazy gents composite, but gelled in true FaT style as the week went on and the Thunderbird harmonies came together. Amongst their accomplishments, bumping the red enemy on Day 2 should probably be rated highest.

The 2nd women were unfortunately placed on the first day in that they had a bit of flotsam two crews ahead of them. This denied them the blades they really would have deserved... That said I was never prouder of the crew than during this row-over, which really showed that the women's squad has finally started to develop some real depth beyond the 1st VIII.

The 2nd men had people in tears this week. Tears of happiness when they bumped Selwyn M1 heroically, tears of laughter when re-reading interesting message board predictions about how they might fare, and tears of frustration, when Caius M2 did find their form on the last day. Considering their positioning in the first division, staying level is an absolutely awesome result, well done, boys (and Jenny!)!

The 1st women's first Bumps race resembled a Triathlon of rowing, flying and swimming. An interesting overhead crab by Christs had Dowining's stern swinging into Grassy wildly and while Churchill and Selwyn got away with a blade clash, Jo reduced the boat speed from full to cruising when her blade became wedged on the Downing cox' back. She then performed a 360° turn and ended with her feet back in her shoes while Erica ejected into the Cam and swallowed a worrying 2 mouthfulls of Cam goo. Needless to say, there was a re-row. Unfortunately, Jo was rather unwell after above incident and so a rather out-of-the-zone Pia subbed in for the two races on Day 2. Christs caused yet more damage when they got themselves caught before W1 could catch Churchill, thus denying the girls blades. Up 3 was still a great result, and we all know what they say about good crews...

The 1st men seemed to have their usual interludes with Queens M1, who bumped out in front of them on Day one and managed to get away again on Day 4. In between, however, the guys bumped Downing and Tit Hall and positioned themselves nicely for a shot at a double Headship in 2007.

All in all, this was a fantastic set of Bumps, and according to Richard Bullock it has, with our sweeps of events like the Uni IVs, and our great Lents performance, earned the Club the Michell Cup (subject to CUCBC confirmation). I would like to thank the rowers for putting in so much effort throughout the year, all voluntary and remunerated coaches, all supporters and a lively and hard-working Committee. It's been amazing and I hope to see the Club continue its way to the top at all levels of committment.

Thanks for a great three years and good luck,

Rah rah First and Third,

xxxx Pia
by Bryn - Fri 14th Jul 2006, 9:54am
pks said: ...All in all, this was a fantastic set of Bumps, and according to Richard Bullock it has, with our sweeps of events like the Uni IVs, and our great Lents performance, earned the Club the Michell Cup (subject to CUCBC confirmation)...
Looks like it's been confirmed now.
by Simon - Fri 14th Jul 2006, 3:04pm
Bryn said: Looks like it's been confirmed now.
Can we get something on the front page for the next 11 months to celebrate this? A little tag line at the bottom with a picture of Michell (or maybe Michelle from Pop Idol) with "winners 2006" next to it? Kind of like how the Chicago White Sox currently have a little thing on the top left saying World Series Champions...
by Martin P - Fri 14th Jul 2006, 9:58pm
Simon said: Can we get something on the front page for the next 11 months to celebrate this?
Sounds like a good idea. It is a great achievement. I've thought the Mitchell cup is biased too strongly in favour of bumps - i.e. it can be won much more easily by a club that has done really badly for a few years and is turning things round (with the benefit of low placed crews) than by a club that is performing consistently well. But after several years of solid performances, First and Third is significantly higher now than when the club last won it in '96 - '97 (I believe this is right - was it won in '97 - '98, I don't think so?). The best example is the men's 4th VIII in the Lents who were racing in division 5 back then but started this year in division 3. The women, too, are much higher now. To have won the Mitchell Cup with well placed crews is really great.

Facebook Instagram Youtube LinkedIn
If you have any comments or suggestions please email the webmaster. Click here to switch between designs. If you log in as a First and Third member, you can set a preference for a color scheme on your profile.