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12th Jun '11May Bumps Updatesby PC
Welcome to www.FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division   Wed-Fri  Sat
Men's 6    13:00    11:00
Men's 5    13:45    11:45
Women's 4  14:30    12:30
Men's 4    15:15    13:15
Women's 3  16:00    14:00
Men's 3    16:45    14:45
Women's 2  17:30    15:30
Men's 2    18:15    16:15
Women's 1  19:00    17:00
Men's 1    19:45    17:45

We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT. Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing!

Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (48 replies...)
26th Feb '11Lent Bumps Updateby PC
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's Lent Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our Lent Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Lents begin at 2pm on Tuesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division  Tue    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat
M1        -      16:40  16:40  16:40  16:40
W1        -      16:00  16:00  16:00  16:00
M2        16:40  -      15:20  15:20  15:20
W2        16:00  -      14:40  14:40  14:40
M3        15:20  15:20  -      14:00  14:00
W3        14:40  14:40  -      13:20  13:20
M4        14:00  14:00  14:00  -      12:40


We hope you enjoy our results service again. Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (42 replies...)
5th Jun '10May Bumps Updatesby PC
Welcome to www.FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division   Wed-Fri  Sat
Men's 6    13:00    11:00
Men's 5    13:45    11:45
Women's 4  14:30    12:30
Men's 4    15:15    13:15
Women's 3  16:00    14:00
Men's 3    16:45    14:45
Women's 2  17:30    15:30
Men's 2    18:15    16:15
Women's 1  19:00    17:00
Men's 1    19:45    17:45

We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT. Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing!

Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (33 replies...)
22nd Feb '10Lent Bumps Updatesby bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's Lent Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our Lent Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Lents begin at 2pm on Tuesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division  Tue    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat
M1        -      16:40  16:40  16:40  16:40
W1        -      16:00  16:00  16:00  16:00
M2        16:40  -      15:20  15:20  15:20
W2        16:00  -      14:40  14:40  14:40
M3        15:20  15:20  -      14:00  14:00
W3        14:40  14:40  -      13:20  13:20
M4        14:00  14:00  14:00  -      12:40
We hope you enjoy our results service again. Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (34 replies...)
7th Jun '09May Bumps updatesby bjg
Welcome to www.FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division   Wed-Fri  Sat
Men's 6    13:00    11:00
Women's 5  13:05    11:05
Men's 5    13:45    11:45
Women's 4  14:30    12:30
Men's 4    15:15    13:15
Women's 3  16:00    14:00
Men's 3    16:45    14:45
Women's 2  17:30    15:30
Men's 2    18:15    16:15
Women's 1  19:00    17:00
Men's 1    19:45    17:45
We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT. Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing!

Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (37 replies...)
25th Jul '09May term round-upby FG
In sports, right at the heart of every competition lie the nonnegotiable principles of victory and loss. Whilst victories are pleasant and therefore easy to take, it is the losses that test every athlete's sportsmanship. Emerging from defeats with an ever increasing hunger for improvement requires true determination and power of will.
Currently, First and Third are having a stretch of incredible success, but at the same time need to be prepared for tougher times ahead and not let complacency enter into their training.

After a lot of hard work and the odd blip, this term and indeed whole year became pleasant, enjoyable and successful. The first men's eight won all major university competitions: Fairbairn's eights and fours, Lent bumps, May bumps and two events in the Small Boats Regatta (Miles Galloway in the Bushe-Fox Freshman Sculls, Tom Coker in the Fairbairn Junior Sculls). First and Third have defended the Lents headship for the third year running, as well as the Mays headship for the second year in a row, the latter having been achieved by First and Third last in 1967 (by the same crew that went on to win the Ladies Plate, marking the last win of a Henley race by a First and Third crew).

Off the Cam, First and Third again proved their strength and won a number of head races in their category (formerly Senior 3), notably Kingston Head, Head of the Trent and the Head of the River Race (S3 academic, known as the Halladay Trophy). The latter race was finished at a remarkable position of 53rd overall, the highest an Oxbridge college crew has ranked in many years.

Importantly, the club can still carry on improving a long way, both in squad depth as well as in quality of top level rowers. The first men's eight for instance was comfortably beaten by the university men's lightweight crew in both 2k as well as 5k sparring by considerable margins.

In the light of the opening statement, we need to take the enthusiasm and joy of our current success and keep them up in training, such that changes in the squad are less damaging. The success First and Third have had this year built on what was started some years ago, and is a result of constant work. Looking ahead, therefore, to subsequent years, it is crucial that despite the current success and strength of the first eight, athletes are constantly being developed to a standard where they can fill in any holes left by those graduating, in either the first eights or the lower boats. It is also important that those athletes who novice in Cambridge are continually being trained up to first eight standard, and are not discouraged by those entering the club with prior rowing experience who might only initially be of a higher standard.

The women had a more difficult year ahead but developed well as the year progressed. Owing to the fact that most of their experienced rowers had left Cambridge at the end of last year, the first women's eight contained a large fraction of novice athletes. Despite this seeming a disadvantage, the women did very well by holding an excellent second place in the Lent bumps and losing only to Downing by 0.1s in the Novice category of the Women's Head of the River Race. They also won the Fairbairn's Fours competition and were runner up in the final of the coxed fours at the Uni Fours races, an excellent result as well. In subsequent years, I hope that the women will also work on novice development, as they already have impressively shown this year.

It is also great to see a number of First and Third members represent the university boat clubs, namely John Kiely (2 seat in the lightweight blue boat), James Strawson (bow seat in the Goldie crew), Rachel Croft (6 seat in the Blondie crew) and Sasha Kasas (CUBC spare man). Most of them returned to represent First and Third in the May bumps this year (apart from James Strawson whose training commitment with CUBC continued past the Boat Race) and provided input to the strength of their crews.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the rowers, coxes, coaches and members of the committee who have contributed to making First and Third so successful and enjoyable this year. Iain Law has yet again proven his ability to turn crews that look less experienced on paper (such as the Lents W1 with 5 novices) into great successes, and surprisingly manages to stay sane when we present him with countless boat and equipment breakages. Tom Rose and Jonathan Davies have done a fantastic job coaching the upper men's crews, in both motivating the squad and providing valuable coaching. Both personally and on behalf of the whole club, I would like to thank David Jones for his efforts in coaching First and Third crews not only this year, but over many years. He has inspired, motivated and improved generations of particularly second men's eight crews who, for a great number of years, could look forward to David's return the fortnight before Lent and May bumps and coaching in his very own unique style. Many athletes who have been coached by David have expressed their sadness that he shall not be returning to coach First and Third crews, but at the same time wish him all the best for his future retirement from coaching.
Peter Summers, Dan Holland, Phil Horler, Jenny Lee, Jon Glass, Neil Talbott, Simon Blackburn and Ming-Chee Chung have all provided excellent coaching for crews of all abilities, men and women, and the club owes great thanks to everyone for their continued support.

Great thanks are also owed to Martin Peck, who is doing a fantastic job keeping the website running and providing excellent quality bumps photos, Richard Bullock for his help in pushing off crews in bumps and also making it down for most bumps at least as far as I can remember. Thanks also to Nick Kingsbury and Peter Brandt, both excellent supporters of First and Third naturally, in helping out with their advice and supporting First and Third crews on the bank, and also to Richard Dewire and Dan Darley who are doing a fantastic job in running the First and Third Association. Thanks also to all the bufties who put up First and Third crews for races, in particular Simon Blackburn, Matt Byrne and Erica Thompson, as well as the O'Neill family.

Personally, I would also like to thank this year's committee who have done most of the hard work in making the club work.

This leaves me to wish next year's committee the best of luck - May luck and good spirits be on their side. To yet another successful year!

Ollie Ollie First and Third (which is the '67 style of cheering)!

Florian Gruessing
Captain 2008-09.
22nd Mar '09Lent term round-upby FG
Lent term has been a huge success. First and Third is the fastest College club amongst all Oxbridge Colleges.

The first men successfully defended their Head of the Lents position with four consecutive row-overs ahead of Lady Margaret (day one) and Downing, crossing the finish line with comfortable four to six lengths leads. At the Head of the River Race, the first men took 53rd place, the best result an Oxbridge College has achieved in a very long while. Victory in the S3 category and of the Halladay trophy were only narrowly missed, losing to the University of Bristol and Westminster School by 6 and 3 seconds, respectively. S3 was won at both the Nottingham Head of the Trent and the Kingston Head of the River. This clearly places First and Third at the top of any Oxbridge College by a long way and I am proud to be in a position to say that.

In the bumps, the first women very impressively bumped Jesus to take back second place on day three, after having gone down to Emma and Jesus on days one and two, respectively, and rowed over in second place behind Emma and well clear of Jesus on the final day. This achievement is particularly admirable as more than half their boat was made up of rowers who had noviced in Michaelmas term this year. The whole club is extremely proud of what they have done, and I would like to use this opportunity to once again congratulate them on a fantastic bumps week!

The second women went up a very good two places, to end up in the second women's division, where they have a good starting point to really attack it next year.

The second men, going down two overall to end up as sandwich boat for divisions one and two in a very strong field of college first boats, defended the second eights headship as did the third and fourth men, all competing against other colleges' higher counterparts. Unfortunately, the fifth men did not qualify in an unlucky Getting-on-Race.


Despite the success in this year's Lent bumps, defending the men's headship, we decided not to burn a boat. This is somewhat of a break with tradition and came about as a necessity owing to the fact that we are running out of wooden boats. This leaves very much the hope that we will be able to make up for the lack of celebration come Mays, fingers crossed (or rather keep on training)!


Not only did First and Third do very well in races on the Cam, but also at off-Cam races. Winning the S3 category at both Nottingham Head of the Trent and Kingston Head showed that for the first time in a while a College boat, genuinely made up of College rowers without shipping in a whole load of blues, is competitive outside the Cambridge rowing world. I am absolutely delighted that I can be part of such exciting times and in fact the crew, and it is a pleasure to be in a position to go to off-Cam races and be able to have a shot at winning a category. The success we had in Lent term gives hope for next term, where some university rowers will be returning to make up an even stronger boat!

With all this excitement about First and Third's success it is important to realise that there is a long way to go and lots of improvement can be made. The first men went out to Ely twice to sparr with the CULRC blue boat, and were beaten easily on both a 2k and 5k race. This gives us something to aim at, in particular given the leightweights do not have any advantage in physical build being of similar figure to us.

One of the goals of my captaincy is to establish First and Third at the top of college level rowing. In the short term, this goal so far was achieved. However, in the long run, there is a lot more work to do, in particular in recruiting new athletes which will make up the upper boats in a few years' time. On the women's side, this has been coped with well this term, illustrated by the impressive performance of the first women. On the men's side, integrating novices into the senior boats was considerably more difficult, with a strong squad of experienced upper boat rowers. However, it is important that room is made for new people to climb up the ladder well before the more experienced athletes leave. Should this not happen, we will see First and Third undergo the (perhaps usual) cycle of College rowing, where a few good years of success are followed by not so few bad years. I am and will continue doing everything I can to contribute my part in making sure this will not happen.

We also owe great thanks to all the coaches who have been involved and contributed to First and Third performing well this term. These are namely Iain Law and Jenny Lee on the women's side and Tom Rose, Jon Davies, Iain Law and David Jones on the men's side. Thanks too to all the guest coaches who have helped out wherever possible, we very much appreciate all your efforts and the time you spend supporting First and Third.

I look forward to a very exciting, sunny and warm Easter term with lots of opportunities for good rowing, races and barbecues.


Florian Gruessing,
Lent term 2009
21st Feb '09Lent Bumps Updatesby bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's Lent Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our Lent Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Lents begin at 2pm on Tuesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division  Tue    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat
M1        -      16:40  16:40  16:40  16:40
W1        -      16:00  16:00  16:00  16:00
M2        16:40  -      15:20  15:20  15:20
W2        16:00  -      14:40  14:40  14:40
M3        15:20  15:20  -      14:00  14:00
W3        14:40  14:40  -      13:20  13:20
M4        14:00  14:00  14:00  -      12:40
We hope you enjoy our results service again. Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (59 replies...)
4th Jan '09Mich term round-upby FG
With the great successes of the previous two years the aim for this term was to start laying down the long-term foundations that would enable us to sustainably establish ourselves at the top end of college rowing. Let me explain this briefly before reporting how this term went:
One of the main pitfalls of Cambridge college rowing is the high turn-over of people, thereby introducing great variability in any club's standard of rowing. Invariably, the loss of top rowers after graduation or due to other causes means a steep drop in the top boats' performance unless great efforts are put into nurturing sufficient numbers of athletes to top level whilst being successful rather than when the success is starting to fail to appear.

In concrete terms, this term's work was, to a large extent, focussed on accomplishing the following goals:
- Operating a novicing system which would bring novices up to senior squad standard come Lent or May term such that our competitive level of rowing can be maintained/improved.
- Integrating previous lower boats rowers and coxes into the senior upper boats.
Importantly, these goals are long-term ones and do not necessarily pay off after just a term.

For the senior men, the term's aims were fully accomplished. We started off with just 12 athletes most of who had not rowed in upper boats previously. With consistent work, great enthusiasm and some more athletes joining the squad later on we fielded two eights in this term's highlight, the Fairbairn Cup, and completely outperformed all other colleges. The 1st men won in both fours and eights and the 2nd four came a very impressive 6th in the fours competition just 15 seconds behind the 1st four. As expected at the start of the term, the men's squad has seen consistent improvements culminating in the Fairbairn's performance. Following intensive fours work to improve technical capability in the whole squad, the light four very impressively (even more so because somewhat unexpectedly) got through to the finals of the University Fours competition. This is particularly impressive as the majority of light four rowers were less experienced athletes who after a solid term's work then also went on to very impressively add strength to the 1st eight. Coxes improved their standard of coxing by gaining experience off Cam such as on the Tideway for the Fours Head.
Great thanks to Tom Rose and JPD who have done a fantastic job coaching all men's crews. We could not have achieved such fantastic results without their help.

This term's novicing programme was completely revised compared to previous years. On the men's side, crew selection was held off until later in term such that novices would learn to row well technically rather than getting into the habit of compensating for other crew members' bad technique as it might happen in fixed crews. The novice intake was good with over 100 novices being tubbed and later on having a total of two to three eights outings per day. In the Fairbairn's races, the second novice men very impressively beat the firsts to come 11th overall, as did the fourth novice men who beat the thirds. We owe great thanks to all coaches involved, in particular Tom Rose, Dan Holland, Tom Coker, Ming and JPD who did a magnificent job transferring their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to the novice crews.

The senior women experienced a somewhat less straightforward term. Starting off with a low number of returning experienced athletes, training attitude was mixed amongst the squad which resulted in squad discrepancies. The 1st four had a magnificent run up to the final in the University fours and went on to win the Fairbairn Cup fours races. Highly pleasingly, the 1st eight went on to come 5th in the Fairbairn's eights races, a result everyone involved can be extremely proud of and no one really had expected. This result shows that with determination, co-operation and solid work success inevitably comes on as well. The latest results this term are encouraging looking ahead to next term's goal of defending the Lents headship. Great thanks to all coaches, in particular Iain, Tom Rose and JPD who contributed greatly to coaching the senior women this term.

The novice women put in a solid performance at Queen's ergs. Bad luck after crabbing and subsequent rowing in sixes in the Clare Novices' races saw the firsts lose to Selwyn in the first round, but the ground work was there and results in the Fairbairn's races were pleasing. The first novice women went on to come 8th overall in the novice competition and fastest third eight in the senior competition. Hopes are high for next term as to integrating novices into the senior women's squad which should add to the strength of the senior women's squad. Great thanks in particular to Rich Fletcher and Phil Preiss who devoted a lot of time and effort to coaching the novice women crews.

Overall, the term went as planned. As expected, there were highs and lows, disappointments and successes, but on the whole this term's results are encouraging in the run up to the coming terms. I would like to repeat expressing my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this term's work. In particular, I am indebted to Tom Rose, JPD, Iain, Dan Holland, Rich Fletcher, Phil Preiss, Tom Coker and Ming for all their coaching efforts and the women's captain Liz Hill, all LBCs and the coxing captain Mark McKelvie for their support and work. Let's keep up the good work.

Ra Ra, First and Third!
30th Jul '08May term round-upby bjg
After the unbridled success of Lent term, May term saw more mixed results; fortunately the highs far outweighed the lows, including the club's first Mays headship since 1973 and the recovery of the Michell Cup after victory in 2006 and second place in 2007.

A little after the end of Lent term, five members of the club were in action in boat races against Oxford. Tobias Garnett improved on his Goldie colours from last year by earning his Blue as the only undergraduate in this year's Boat Race, but lost to a strong Oxford crew. Rachel Croft rowed for Blondie, but did not have the opportunity to show her ability as an early crab elsewhere in the boat led to defeat. The only Cambridge crew to beat Oxford this year featured three members from First and Third, as Fran Rawlins captained the lightweight women, with Abbi Fox coxing and Julia Summers rowing, to a victory over their Oxford counterparts.

The pressures of exam term always make it hard to find time for racing, so it was fortunate that there was plenty of action before it even started. The 1st men's VIII were invited to take part in the inaugural Ghent Student Regatta, organised by the University of Ghent, and beat opposition from Magdalen College, Oxford and Leiden, Netherlands before losing to the hosts in the final. In the week before term, First and Third had a bumper entry in the annual Small Boats Regatta, including an impressive six men's pairs, but our sole victory came from Richard Fletcher and Philipp Preiss in the men's Foster Fairbairn Pairs.

After that, everyone returned to rowing in eights. The 1st men's VIII was the first crew in action, at the Nottingham City Regatta. They qualified for the final but, on a windy day, races were postponed and they had to go home before it took place. The day after, a women's VIII entered the Radegund Mile Head Race and came fifth.

A week later and the top three men's VIIIs were all in action. The 2nd and 3rd men's VIIIs were both disappointed to come second in their categories at the Head of the Cam despite strong performances. A weakened 1st men's VIII travelled to Dorney for Wallingford Regatta and did not make it past their heat, but four of them raced again in the coxless four and qualified for the final. Another week later, three crews entered the Cambridge Head-2-Head, the highlight a category win for the 2nd men's VIII.

The last couple of races before bumps were well into term and the last bit of 'fun' before exams started for most people. The Champion of the Thames Eights Head results were unable to match last year's, with no one winning free alcohol of any sort. The 2nd men's VIII were the fastest 2nd VIII but unfortunate that the categories were based on bumps division. A composite 1st and 2nd men's VIII entered the Cambridge 99's Regatta and performed well below the difference of its parts.

The Lent Bumps successes looked hard to match, and so it proved as the club struggled in the May Bumps, beginning with the Fellows' VIIIs failure to get on in the May Bumps Getting-on Race. The women's crews and men's lower boats could not maintain their momentum from their Lent term exertions and all finished down for the week. The upper men's boats fared better: the 2nd and 3rd men's VIII retained their headships, the latter going up a solid two places. The 2nd men's VIII did well to maintain their 14th position by bumping Robinson but being bumped by Fitz, arguably one of the quickest three crews on the river. The 1st men's VIII took the Mays headship on Wednesday evening, bumping Caius as they came out of Ditton, and then rowed over comfortably for three days despite the loss of Tobias Garnett, who went to represent Great Britain in the World Cup Regatta in Poznan, Poland. This finally brought a 35-year drought to an end and finished Caius' 21-day stay at the top.

These results were enough to win the Michell Cup by the narrowest of margins. Over the last three years the club has come first, second and first in the Michell Cup, and currently holds nine headships at various levels, which is a fair reflection of First and Third's current dominance on the Cam. (Jesus hold four, Pembroke three and LMBC one.) Points-scoring is heavily affected by changes in bumps position, making it harder to do well the year after a good year, so to perform so consistently well is no mean feat.

The final rowing event of term was the Henley Royal Regatta. With two of the May VIII rowing with CUBC and one more unable to make it, it was decided to concentrate the club's talents in a four and to enter the Prince Albert. The only opportunity to put the crew through its paces before Henley was Marlow Regatta, where they made the semi-final despite limited time as a crew. They then qualified for Henley, but lost to semi-finalists Glasgow University. The two First and Third members representing CUBC at Henley were James Strawson, who gave eventual winners Newcastle University their closest race in the Prince Albert, and Tobias Garnett, who added the Stewards' Challenge Cup to his season's achievements by beating the Great Britain U23 and Greek national fours.

The term also saw two grudge matches between the boat club and its alumni. In mid-May, Black Prince inflicted on First and Third their heaviest defeat so far in the annual FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge. A month later First and Third had their revenge in the FaT vs BPBC Cricket Challenge. This brought the multisport season to a close, with the final result an honourable 2-2 draw (FaT: rowing, cricket; BPBC: football, golf). This is an appropriate time to thank the alumni for their support, be it financially, through coaching or down at the river for races. All help is greatly appreciated and is a fundamental part of the club's successes. The Mays headship was won in a brand-new boat with a brand-new set of oars, both generous gifts from former captains. The club would not be in the eviable position in which it is today if it were not for former club members' efforts on the river during their time at Trinity and their continued effort from the bank.

Finally, congratulations are due to women's captain Harriet Booker and men's and overall captain Ming-Chee Chung on an outstanding year. In particular, Ming captained the men's club to success in all ten major senior competitions this year:

University Fours: light IVs, coxed IVs, 2nd coxed IVs
Fairbairn Cup: VIIIs, 2nd VIIIs, IVs (retained)
Lent bumps: headship (retained), 2nd VIII headship
May bumps: headship, 2nd VIII headship (retained)

I should be very surprised if any club has achieved this clean sweep before and am almost certain that First and Third has never even won the 'Grand Slam' of Fairbairns, Lents and Mays; however, after my efforts with the Lent term round-up, I shall leave the verification to someone else.

The best of luck to next year's women's captain, Liz Hill, and men's and overall captain, Florian Gruessing, for a year in which we a hope to go from strength to strength.
8th Apr '08Lent term round-upby bjg
Following on from good progress in Michaelmas, there was a lot of hard work still to be done if we were to repeat the successes of last year's Lents. We had a double headship to defend and lower boats looking to improve on already strong positions. The Cambridge Head-2-Head provided the traditional start-of-term shock to the system. The 2nd women's VIII, including several ex-novices, put in a strong performance, the 1st women's VIII maintained their rate of improvement against the other colleges, losing by only a second, and the 1st men's VIII completed their unbeaten year against college crews.

Next up was a trip to Peterborough for the Head of the Nene. In their first race of term the 2nd men's VIII carried the mantle of First and Third, following the 1st men's VIII's aborted attempt due to injury, and showed straight away that they were competitive even for a 1st VIII. The 1st women's VIII came in second fastest college crew, beating Jesus for the first time - good news, as Jesus were starting second in bumps. Meanwhile, the Gents stayed at home to win the lower boats division of Newnham Short Course comfortably, not far behind the overall winners, with the 2nd and 3rd women's VIIIs recording solid and entertaining rows respectively.

At Robinson Head, the 1st men's and 2nd women's VIIIs retained their titles, with the 1st women's and 2nd and 3rd men's VIIIs just missing out. A couple of days later, the 2nd men's VIII were again racing as FaT's top crew at the Bedford Head where, in a strong field, they missed out on the college victory by just four seconds.

Pembroke Regatta was the last chance to practise before bumps itself (a chance that only the Gents turned down), and the club had plenty of reason for optimism. The 2nd men's VIII competed in the 1st VIIIs' division and lost a close battle in the quarter finals, yet again showing their speed to be comparable to that of the quickest 1st VIIIs. The 2nd women's VIII won two races but lost to a very strong Jesus crew at the same stage. The 5th men's VIII lost to LMBC IV in the first round and the 4th men's VIII had an impressive run but couldn't quite go all the way, losing to LMBC III in the final. The 3rd women's VIII won their category, as did the 1st men's VIII for the third year running. However, the result of the day came from the 1st women's VIII, who won their first title of the academic year at the perfect time, beating a field containing all of their rivals for the headship.

The bumps campaign started disappointingly, with the 5th men's and 3rd women's VIIIs narrowly failing to get on in the Lent Bumps Getting-on Race. They were certainly both crews who would have been sufficiently strong in previous years. Fortunately, this proved to be the last disappointment of the week, with the Lent Bumps themselves surpassing even the most optimistic of expectations. The 4th men's VIII went up 2, leaving them 16 places ahead of LMBC IV, the only other 4th VIII in the bumps, and with only three 3rd VIIIs ahead of them. The Gents VIII won their blades and a place in the second division. The 2nd women's VIII went up 3, having been left with nothing to chase on the third day, putting them within touching distance of the second division. For the second year running, the 2nd men's VIII proved to be much too quick for their position in the bumps charts, and five quick bumps earned them blades, the 2nd VIII headship and a place in the first division.

The two headship crews were aiming to slog it over the course for four consecutive days. The 1st men's VIII did this in unspectacular fashion, never putting in a devastating performance but never being threatened from behind. The 1st women's VIII left Jesus for dead on the first two days and held off Emma without too much difficulty on the third day. On the final day, Emma gave it their all but our women put in the effort of their lives to row over a canvas clear.

By any measure, this was a phenomenally successful set of bumps. This is only the third ever double headship and the first time that any club has retained one. It is the first time that a First and Third crew has ever retained a Lents headship (although 1st Trinity retained Lents headships in 1902 and earlier years) and the first time that a First and Third crew has retained a headship of any sort since 1967. The last time that any crew was higher than it is now was in 1987, and this was the first Lents since 1944 that no Trinity boat was bumped. The men's club now holds headships at all levels in the Lents (and indeed, with the exception of the 1st and 6th VIIIs, in the Mays). First and Third earned more Michell Cup points from the Lents than any other club, which is a remarkable feat for a large club in an already strong position.

There was still time for a few post-bumps afterthoughts of varying degrees of importance. The next sporting event after the Lents was of the non-rowing variety, with the second annual FaT v BPBC Football Challenge. Black Prince made up for last year's defeat in emphatic style, with captain Neil Talbott scoring the first hat trick in this fixture and leading his team to a comfortable 3-0 victory. Three days later were the 2nd Trinity Challenge Sculls, run by first-year Peter Ford. We met with limited success in the singles, but the combination of Tom Coker and Richard Fletcher was enough to win the doubles competition. Cardinal's Regatta saw four crews entered and the 'Fun IVs' division won by the Formal Dinner Brigade, and left Iain with some work to do on Titan over the holidays.

In the last event of Lent term, the top two men's VIIIs, each with only two subs since the Lents, went to London for the annual Head of the River Race. As new entrants, both crews were low in the starting order, but came in 88th and 263rd, the best results recorded on this website for the 1st and 2nd VIIIs. The 1st VIII beat all college opposition, while the 2nd VIII beat six college 1st VIIIs (as well as both the other 2nd VIIIs).

This was an appropriate end to an outstanding term's work by the whole club. Many thanks to all those who have contributed their time to coach and support the club; your efforts are appreciated by all involved. These results leave the club with plenty of momentum to take into May term. Let's hope that the next term is as successful as this one has been! (2 replies...)
7th Jun '08May Bumps Updatesby bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division   Wed-Fri  Sat
Men's 6    13:00    11:00
Women's 5  13:05    11:05
Men's 5    13:45    11:45
Women's 4  14:30    12:30
Men's 4    15:15    13:15
Women's 3  16:00    14:00
Men's 3    16:45    14:45
Women's 2  17:30    15:30
Men's 2    18:15    16:15
Women's 1  19:00    17:00
Men's 1    19:45    17:45
We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT. Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing!

Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (33 replies...)
21st Feb '08Lent Bumps Updatesby bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's Lent Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our Lent Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Lents begin at 2pm on Tuesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division  Tue    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat
M1        -      16:40  16:40  16:40  16:40
W1        -      16:00  16:00  16:00  16:00
M2        16:40  -      15:20  15:20  15:20
W2        16:00  -      14:40  14:40  14:40
M3        15:20  15:20  -      14:00  14:00
W3        14:40  14:40  -      13:20  13:20
M4        14:00  14:00  14:00  -      12:40
We hope you enjoy our results service again. Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (65 replies...)
4th Dec '07Mich Term round-upby bjg
Michaelmas term saw the men's and women's boat clubs facing different challenges. The men's squad was unusually experienced for this time of year but, with the main goals still many months away, had to maintain commitment and rate of progress despite the opposition being a bit slow out of the blocks. Also playing the long game, the women faced the task of rebuilding after the loss of several key squad members. Looking back on the term, both sides of the club have acquitted themselves impressively well, with the novices also showing touches of real class as they look forward to strengthening the senior squad next term.

The Autumn Head was the first chance to see how we measured up against the other clubs, and strong results across the board suggested that we were reasonably well set up for the rest of term. However, University IVs still surpassed expectations, with First and Third winning all three men's categories: the light IVs and 1st and 2nd men's coxed IVs. The 1st women's IV proved to be among the quickest crews in the competition, but were ultimately not quick enough to retain their title. The following day's Fours Head results were disappointing, perhaps affected by post-Uni IVs lethargy but definitely a result of the rowing being too slow.

Meanwhile, the novices had taken to the ergometers in the traditional mindless destruction of four weeks' painstaking technical tuition known as Queens' Ergs. The 1st novice men and women got off to a flying start, coming 5th and 2nd respectively, and everyone enjoyed the unique Queens' Ergs atmosphere. The week after came the Winter Head, the first chance for the novices to give it a go on the water and the last chance for pre-Fairbairns race practice for the seniors. It served both purposes adequately, highlighting that there was still plenty of work to be done all round. The day after, Emma Sprints was called off early on due to high winds, depriving the 2nd and 3rd novice women of their warm-up for Clare Novices.

Clare Novices was the first major race for the novice squad. The 1st novice men showed the progress they had made since the Winter Head, winning three rounds before losing in the semi final. The 1st novice women were out-sprinted in the quarter finals by a determined Lucy Cavendish/Hughes Hall composite. The 2nd novice men were unlucky to come across one of the stronger first boats in their first round, while the 2nd novice women and 3rd novice men had decent runs to the quarter final stages of the plate competition.

Novice Fairbairns was particularly eventful for the men's club. The 1st novice men was the only First and Third men's crew to make it down the course from start to finish in one attempt with more than six people rowing for at least half the race, and came a strong 4th place. The 4th novice men's (first) attempt was, fortunately for posterity, captured on camera. The women's novice crews all recorded solid results, coming 8th, 31st and 45th.

The final event of term, Fairbairns, saw the usual high turnout of alumni, with Black Prince Boat Club entering a total of five men's and women's crews and beating all college alumni opposition. The Black Prince women won the Fairbairn IVs invitational category for the second time, maintaining their 100% record in this event. The 1st women's VIII finished 5th, but looking at this over the course of the term they are making rapid progress on the colleges ahead of them, none of whom are out of touch. The 1st novice women finished as the 5th fastest 2nd VIII. The 1st women's IV were disappointed to lose their Fairbairn IVs title to a quick Emma crew, but the 2s margin of defeat over the 3.2km course is another reminder of the progress they have made when compared with the 7s defeat to the same crew over 1.3km in Uni IVs.

The men's boat club underlined its dominance of Cambridge college rowing past and present with all nine crews entered by First and Third and Black Prince the fastest in their class (including victories for the novices as the fastest 3rd and 4th VIIIs), picking up five trophies along the way. These included our first Fairbairn Cup victory since 1997 and the retention of the Fairbairn IVs title, with three rowers surviving from last year's crew, and was a fitting end to a term in which the senior men had suffered only one defeat in seventeen races on the Cam.

Congratulations to all involved this term, and a huge thanks to all who have coached us. This is a great time to be at the club, and things look good for the future. The biggest challenges are still to come, but the club is in a strong position to meet them head on. (1 reply...)
12th Nov '07University IVsby bjg
A little over a week ago, First and Third met with great success at the annual University IVs competition. For the first time recorded on this website, and for the first time that anyone readily available could remember, the men won all three men's categories.

There are five events in total: for the men, the coxless fours (known as 'light fours') over 2.8km and first and second coxed fours over 2km and, for the women, first and second coxed fours over 1.5km. The men's races are run in a chasing format with the two crews starting and finishing 100m apart, while the women's are raced side by side.

The 1st Women's IV put in a couple of strong rows but had an unlucky draw and, having beaten Queens' by 11s in the heats, went out in the quarter finals to Emmanuel, with times showing that they were probably the third fastest crew in the competition.

The Light IV were one of only three in a disappointingly unpopular light fours competition. They enjoyed a comfortable semi final victory over Clare and a victory over LMBC in the final that could have been comfortable had it not been for the steerer's inability to avoid moored boats and bridges. This was the second time in three years that First and Third have won the light fours.

The lack of entries in the light fours meant that our first and second coxed fours, which are effectively our second and third fours, were competing against most colleges' first and second fours. This makes their achievements even more noteworthy. The 1st Men's IV raced four rounds and was never really challenged, beating Downing by 10s in their semi final and LMBC easily in the final. The 2nd Men's IV raced three rounds and was pushed only by Downing II in their semi final, but still ran out relatively comfortable winners by 5s and went on to beat Churchill (I) by 17s in the final. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the three First and Third fours were three of the fastest four crews out there, which is a great accomplishment for the club and those who have coached for us so far this term.

As this is the first major competition of the academic year, it is pleasing that the club has started so strongly. It was also good to see supporters out on the river bank for the semi finals and finals, in particular the club president, Peter Brandt, who made the trip up from London specially for the occasion. Congratulations to all involved, and let's hope that we can keep this up for the rest of the year!
16th Jul '07May Term Round-upby ELT
After a dizzily successful Lent term the aim for the Mays was to keep the momentum gained by hard training through the winter, carrying that forward into a good summer season. We began the term with a training camp on the Cam, focused on small boats work and squad re-integration before selection of new crews took place. To a great extent this was successful although some crews would have benefited from greater shuffling of the Lent line-up.

At this point various squad members were also training in small boats for the CUCBC Small Boats Regatta held just before the start of term. This was very successful, with wins in the Delafield Trophy (Helen Ralston), Men's and Women's Foster-Fairbairn Pairs (Bryn Garrod/Dan Jane and Helen Ralston/Fran Rawlins), and the Women's Magdalene Silver Pairs (Erica Thompson/Lilie Weaver) picking up a good haul of Michell Cup points along with the trophies and medals.

Training camp included various social events including a very popular Easter-Egg Hunt. Several squad eights entered the Radegund Mile at the end of the week, a pub event notable more for free alcohol than for quality of racing. A good time was had by all.

As term set in and exams began to loom it became more difficult to enter races due to lack of personnel; however, M2 and M3 made time for Head of the Cam and the women went to Nottingham for the BUSA Regatta - a multilane 2k regatta. The boat, a composite W1/2 crew, exceeded all expectations by reaching the Final of the Women's Junior Eights, beating a number of university crews along the way (with the support of our friendly bus driver). First and Third was indirectly represented at BUSA by Lilie Weaver, Fran Rawlins and Helen Ralston, who collected a total of 4 gold medals and a silver between them with CUWBC's WJ8, WLt4- and WLt1x. The weekend also saw the 3rd annual FaT vs BPBC Golf Challenge -men's, women's and adaptive titles convincingly won by Black Prince.

The next weekend saw M2, W1 and W2 in action at the LMBC Erg Champs (winners in every category) and at the Cambridge Head2Head (winners of W1/2, 2nd in M2). Meanwhile, M1 had taken their turn off-Cam at the Poplar Regatta, winning the S4 category despite difficult conditions and some 'interesting' steering!

The last well-attended race before Bumps was, as usual, the Champs Eights Head. M1 and W2 posted excellent times to win their divisions and five other crews also took the last opportunity to scope out the opposition. The large quantities of alcohol won by M1 and W2 contributed to the Boat Club Elections being at least as lengthy as in previous years (the preceding week, we had had an AGM of truly incredible efficiency). However, a new Committee was eventually elected and are already setting out their plans for continued domination next year.

The first day of the Mays set the scene for another excellent set of Bumps, as the eight crews went up 7 places between them(!). This record was not quite maintained, but the club's aggregate of Up 17 is certainly an impressive achievement. M5 and M3 successfully defended their respective Headships; M4 bumped LMBC IV to gain theirs and M2 bumped Caius II to gain theirs. Bumping Queens', Catz, and LMBC in the first three days, M1 took centre stage on Saturday but were unable to take the Headship from Caius and finished 2nd on the River. A good result by all accounts and with eight of nine crew members returning next year they are well set for an assault on Caius in the Mays 2008. M2's impressive rise must also be pointed out; for a second eight at the bottom of the First Division they put in a great display of strength and commitment (we won't mention the technical skills) to bump Caius II, Magdalene and Christ's, finishing in M2's highest position since the 1950s. In the Women's divisions, W3 rowed six times, an overbump and bump taking them up four places in the first two days after which they held onto their position as Head of the Fourth Division until St Edmund's I proved the stronger crew. W2 finished the week with another set of blades to add to the Lents ones. W1 had a more exciting week, with carnage and crabs (by other crews) on days 1, 2 and 4 causing a re-row, a row-over followed by an overbump, and a very good view of some rather nasty crashes.

The last club event of term was the Boat Naming, held on a perfect summer's day in the Fellows' Garden. Several boats were overdue their naming ceremonies, so a total of 6 boats were named together by club 'celebrities'. Dan Darley (Capt. 1996-7) and Martin Peck (Capt. 1999-2000) named the two new single sculls Pike and Eel. Will Thorne (Headship 2000) named the Coastal IV Leviathan as representative of our sponsors JP Morgan. Mike Proctor (Vice-Master and ex-Senior Treasurer) was invited to name the Light IV Michael Proctor in recognition of all he has done for the club over many years. The new women's eight was named Valkyrie by Peter Brandt (Club President, Capt 1956-7) and the men's eight, another regal Black Prince, was named by Tony Pooley (Capt. 1966-67, Ladies' Plate winner). Tony expressed his pleasure at seeing the Club's fine performance in the 40th anniversary year of First and Third's last Henley victory. The namings were followed by a very convivial Garden Party in pleasant surroundings.

That would almost be it, but of course there is one last pair of events I must mention - the Henley Women's and Royal Regattas. Three members of First and Third were spotted at HWR racing for CUWBC Lightweights in Lt1x, Lt2-, and Lt4- categories, though they did not make it to the finals. At the Henley Royal Regatta, there was not only a crew entered for the Temple Cup but also an anniversary row-through on Saturday by the 1967 Ladies' Plate winners. The 1967 crew rowed over in splendid isolation on the course and unfortunately we must also say the same of the 2007 crew, who drew eventual winners University of California in the first round and were beaten by 'about 6 lengths'. Despite this, it was felt that racing at Henley was an excellent end to an excellent year for the Club and above all for the First Men who have raced so consistently and given the rest of the Club a very high standard to aim for.

The outgoing Committee would like to wish the new Committee the very best of luck for next year, especially Men's and Overall Captain Ming-Chee Chung, Women's Captain Harriet Booker and all of the new Lower Boats Captains.
12th Jun '07May Bumps 2007 updatesby bjg
Welcome to FirstandThird.org's May Bumps coverage. Messages sent from the towpath will be posted below, in addition to which you can find the latest charts on our May Bumps page. These are also available by WAP and SMS.

The Mays begin at 1pm on Wednesday - the full division times are as follows:

Division   Wed-Fri  Sat
Men's 6    13:00    11:00
Women's 5  13:00    11:00
Men's 5    13:45    11:45
Women's 4  14:30    12:30
Men's 4    15:15    13:15
Women's 3  16:00    14:00
Men's 3    16:45    14:45
Women's 2  17:30    15:30
Men's 2    18:15    16:15
Women's 1  19:00    17:00
Men's 1    19:45    17:45
We hope you enjoy our results service again - and of course BumpIT! Entries for the 4-day game close as the first results roll in, so get guessing!

Good luck to all First and Third crews in the bumps! (15 replies...)
30th Apr '07Small Boats Regatta Winsby bjg
This year's Small Boats Regatta saw a bumper crop of First and Third entries, with only the Bushe-Fox Freshmen's Sculls and the men's Lowe Double Sculls lacking a blue and gold presence. We also had some good wins to go with it.

In the men's Foster Fairbairn Pairs, Bryn Garrod and Dan Jane were successful in what is likely to be Dan's last competitive action for the club before he moves to Rio de Janeiro 'to do maths'.

In the women's Magdalene Silver Pairs, Erica Thompson and Lilie Weaver did well to combat exam pressures and a lack of outings to cover the course quicker than their opposition, just unfortunately not by enough to prevent it from being a dead-heat. This gave them another pair of university medals to add to those won in similar circumstances in the women's Foster Fairbairn Pairs two years ago.

However, the most successful First and Third competitor of the week was Helen Ralston, who, in her first appearances for club, won the Women's Championship Sculls and the women's Foster Fairbairn Pairs with fellow university lightweight Fran Rawlins. Hopefully the four 'easily' verdicts they notched up between them are a sign of good things to come for this term!

Away from the racing side, it was also good to see Peter Brandt in Cambridge to present his trophy for the men's Maiden Sculls. In his words, four First and Third victories 'made the trip up from London worthwhile'! Finally, if anyone would like to donate a pair to the club (preferably weighted at around 65kg), it would be a much-appreciated help with logistics next year. (3 replies...)
12th Apr '07Lent Term Round-upby elt
As Pedro said at the dinner, it would make this task a lot easier to simply sum up the events that First and Third did not win this term... but I suppose I'd better do it properly!

Term started with the usual Lent Training Camp held in Cambridge. Attendance was excellent, with an especially notable turn-out from ex-novices, making it a very productive week. We laid down a good solid week of training that set the tone well for the rest of term.

At the Cambridge Head-2-Head, the 2nd VIIIs outshone the 1sts, coming top of their respective categories while the 1st VIIIs each came 2nd. However, the 1st VIIIs then put in a stellar performance at the Peterborough Head of the Nene, taking the honours as top college crews. M1 also won the S3 category on a day notable for decidedly un-Peterborough-ish warmth and sunshine. M2 and W2 enjoyed the day out as the first off-Cam race for many.

At around this time, our new boats from Janousek arrived - two new VIIIs, to be christened Black Prince and Valkyrie, and two new sculls named Pike and Eel. We are very grateful to our sponsors JP Morgan for their support, which has helped us to purchase this new equipment.

The next major race of term was the Robinson Head, at which it became clear that First and Third were truly dominating college rowing this term. All crews entered won their categories - M1, M2, W1 and W2! A report followed in "The Cambridge Student" describing First and Third "in Red Hot Form".

In the lead-up to Bumps, there is always a lot to be gained from the Pembroke Regatta. First and Third entered three men's and three women's eights. On this day, the men's eights really pulled out the stops, winning all three men's categories. W2 and W3 both raced three rounds and W1 were beaten by a strong Jesus crew in the final, making this the third year in a row in second place.

The competition for places in the upper boats also led to some fantastic results by the lower boats this term. W3 and M5 both proved themselves credits to their Lower Boats' Captains hard work by rowing an excellent Getting-On Race and qualifying for their places in the Lents. This is the first time in Club history that a third women's eight has got on to the Lents.

I'll run through the Lents results in reverse order. W3 finished the week Foot of the River despite two gutsy row-overs ahead of arch-rivals Pembroke IV (a crew which also knocked them out of Pembroke Regatta). M5 ended Up 1, many of the crew achieving their first ever bump (some after a long time trying!). M4, the "Beer Boat" whom I have not yet mentioned, rowed-over on the first day and thereafter were bumped by three faster crews on their way up (including St Edmund's 1, coxed by our own Abbi Fox). M3 narrowly missed out on claiming their blades this term, bumping up three times although a fluffed start on Day 2 left them with no crews to chase ahead.

M2 and W2, however, converted their series of victories this term into another fantastic result for the club - eight smiley yellow faces and two sets of well-deserved blades. Both crews bumped extremely quickly on every day of Lents (before Grassy Corner), showing the real benefit of hard training - easy racing!

Overshadowing even these fine achievements were the rises of both Lent VIIIs to their respective Headships. M1 bumped Caius at Ditton on the first day, then rowed over strongly ahead of chasing crews. W1 bumped Emmanuel, Caius and Clare, rowing over ahead of an almost empty river on the final day as many crews bumped out behind. There were enormous crowds on the bank, including a very loud delegation of bufties at Ditton! Thanks to everyone for all your support; it really does make a difference.

As is traditional, the Headships were celebrated by burning a boat on the Backs. The Fair Maid of Kent met her demise under a total lunar eclipse, watched by a gathering crowd including many current and past members of the Club as well as the Master, Sir Martin Rees. We hope that this display of First and Third's dominance on the River is one that will encourage members to continue rowing at a high level and non-members perhaps to take up the sport. The results this term are the work of too many people to name here: coaches and crews alike have put in blood, sweat and tears to bring us to this point and there is no better testament to the effectiveness of hard training. Well rowed, First and Third!

As I am late in writing this, I have some more results to add! The 2007 Women's Head of the River Race was rowed in lovely weather by our first and second women's eights. Fresh from the success of Lents, both crews put in storming performances. W1 were top college crew overall, even beating Blondie. W2 were 6th college crew, less than minute behind W1, and beat several college first eights including Caius and Clare.

Finally, I must mention our triallists who have been working even harder this term with the University crews. Toby Garnett rowed with the winning Goldie crew against Isis on the Tideway. We also had three representatives - Lilie Weaver, Fran Rawlins, and Helen Ralston - in the women's lightweight boat at Henley, who lost in rough conditions on a shortened course. They will no doubt be out for revenge against Oxford at BUSA regatta next term.
7th Apr '07Boat Racesby bjg
Cambridge today won both the Boat Race and the Goldie/Isis race to add to victories for the Veterans yesterady and Spare Pair on Wednesday. Particular congratulations to Tobias Garnett, who rowed for Goldie, and Peter Summers, who rowed for the Cambridge veterans. (2 replies...)

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