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16th Jul '07	May Term Round-up	by 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 '07	May Bumps 2007 updates	by 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 '07	Small Boats Regatta Wins	by 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 '07	Lent Term Round-up	by 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 '07	Boat Races	by 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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