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Message board > Members' Opinion Polls > Members' poll: Where's Ditton?

Where's Ditton?

Some people refer to the Ditton end of the reach as the

Top of the reach		32%

Bottom of the reach		68%

Total: 37 members' votes

by Geographically confused - Sun 13th Feb 2005, 6:34pm

Maybe the 'bottom' is just whichever end is furthest away...

by Geographically ambiguous - Sun 13th Feb 2005, 7:58pm

I think it's safest to refer to both top and bottom as the 'end' of the reach. And all other places like this: "Do a piece to.. Ditton.. er.. grassy, no, first post.. well *one* of the corners, anyway. You know, that big curvy one". You should all be very grateful that I'm not a cox.

by Geographically inept - Sun 13th Feb 2005, 8:00pm

Speaking of which - is there any chance of adding a map to the website with all these mysterious names of places on? Or is just a well kept secret that actually *no-one* knows where any of them are...?

by Alex - Sun 13th Feb 2005, 8:15pm

http://www.firstandthird.org/frames/rowing/cammap.shtml

by dw229 - Sun 13th Feb 2005, 11:39pm

It's quite clear that the 'bottom' of a stretch of river is the end furthest downstream.

Ditton refers to a place - Fen Ditton - which is clearly at the bottom of the Reach (look here).

Can we have a new poll please cos this one sucks.

by Geographically something - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 2:19am

Well, geographically ambiguous, if you want to kick start your coxing career, I have an early in about 4hours you're welcome to :-)

by jmg - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 8:15am

Actually, Ditton is about three miles from my house.

by Amelia - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 8:55am

dw229 said: It's quite clear that the 'bottom' of a stretch of river is the end furthest downstream.

Surely if it were that clear cut, then 18 out of 18 voters so far (Monday, 9am) would have voted as such? ;-)

by Simon - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 8:57am

dw229 said: It's quite clear that the 'bottom' of a stretch of river is the end furthest downstream.

Dan, I agree - but I put the poll up after an argument about this last week... some people seem to think Ditton should be the top because it's furthest from the City...

by Amelia - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 9:11am

I don't think it's the top because it's the furthest from the city, but because we almost always race that way.

by mjb - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 10:01am

It should be the bottom of the reach because everyone knows that water flows downhill ...

by Private Eye - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 10:35am

Simon said: Some people refer to the Ditton end of the reach as the
Top of the reach: 32%
Bottom of the reach: 68%

So far only women have voted for the Top of the reach, which leads me to conclude that... (cont. p94)

In other news, Downing say they're going head in the bumps, and the French claim that they won the Battle of Waterloo.

by pedant - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 10:58am

Simon said: Some people refer to the Ditton end of the reach as the

The way this is worded, isn't the only sensible answer to tick both categories? That is, unless you choose to deny the existence of anyone who refers to it as (e.g.) the bottom end.

If the poll just said "The Ditton end of the reach is the" and then you had the two options, then it would be worth arguing over...

by Martin - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 11:17am

pedant said: The way this is worded, isn't the only sensible answer to tick both categories?

Yes. That is my fault. There is a bug which truncated Simon's intro. Fortunately most people seem happy to overlook the odd wording.

I liked the boat naming poll suggestion. But I didn't know - is there a new novice VIII?

by up or down - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 11:48am

Looks like Tom Middleton would be in the 'top of the reach' camp - south westerly winds apparently blow 'up' it. Reads very oddly to my mind.

by mjb - Mon 14th Feb 2005, 5:38pm

Presumably the relative locations of the various top and bottom finishes on the Bumps courses should provide a good guiding example as to which ends of the reach should be assigned the labels "top" and "bottom".

by Martin - Tue 15th Feb 2005, 11:32am

dw229 said: Can we have a new poll please cos this one sucks.

Not sure I agree entirely - the male/female split seems significant and interesting.

Is it indicative of natural differences in perception between the sexes? Perhaps men tend to use factual/physical descriptions whilst women place greater emphasis on how people interact with & relate to things...?!

Or, more likely in my opinion, is it a self perpetuating difference between the men's and women's squads specifically at first and third, with the root cause lost in the mist of time?

by RTT - Tue 15th Feb 2005, 11:56am

Martin said: Or, more likely in my opinion, is it a self perpetuating difference between the men's and women's squads specifically at first and third, with the root cause lost in the mist of time?

I didn't realise that misnaming the ends of the Reach made you go slowly...

by Geographically fast. - Wed 16th Feb 2005, 8:48am

Ah don't be too harsh on the men, they're not that bad.

by Dubya - Wed 16th Feb 2005, 4:33pm

Geographically fast. said: Ah don't be too harsh on the men, they're not that bad.

That's right, only about 15% of them misname the ends of the reach...

by Brad - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 2:19pm

Amelia said: I don't think it's the top because it's the furthest from the city, but because we almost always race that way.

I'm confused. Isn't Fairbairns about the only race where you race away from the city? Do the women not enter any other races? (and they even don't always enter Fairbairns...)

by RTT - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 2:34pm

Brad said: Isn't Fairbairns about the only race where you race away from the city?

No, RTT regatta rerows are away from the city.

by Dubya - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 2:46pm

RTT said: No, RTT regatta rerows are away from the city.

So is one half of the backing-down race!

by Mike - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 4:05pm

Dubya said: So is one half of the backing-down race!

And half the head-to-head. If you only did half of the head-to-head, you might get confused.

by Anything to do with being short - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 4:09pm

Mike said: If you only did half of the head-to-head, you might get confused.

Not to mention having a boat at Baitsbite without a means to get it back........ (Gramma and spiling miss-steaks just 4 RTT)

by Geographically consistent - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 5:15pm

So the argument becomes whether you race from the top to the bottom, or the bottom to the top? And whether going 'down' or 'up' the reach actually corresponds to this - I'd do a piece [from Ditton] 'down' the reach, so at least I'm consistent. And I reckon most people row 'up' to the lock, "proving" the point that the Ditton end is the top. Or is that another thing the boys say wrong? :P

by mjb - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 5:32pm

I've always considered it as rowing down to the lock, down to the (Ditton) end of the reach, down to Bottisham, ... etc.
Although when you're near Baitsbite, you often go up to the lock to spin, so there must be a slight rise when you get close to it.

by Tom C - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 5:44pm

Geographically consistent said: So the argument becomes whether you race from the top to the bottom, or the bottom to the top?

I usually race from the "start" to the "finish". If the river wasn't pretty much flat I might consider it differently.

by Geographically inconsistent - Thu 17th Feb 2005, 11:43pm

Hmm, ain't it 'down to ditton', then 'down to the lock', spin, then 'down to the P&E'. In which case, rowing becomes a perpetually downward thing. I'm not really an 'up' person.

by Dubya - Fri 18th Feb 2005, 10:20am

What goes up, must come down, as they say

by Geographically further away - Fri 18th Feb 2005, 4:22pm

Geographically confused said: Maybe the 'bottom' is just whichever end is furthest away...

I'm surprised RTT the pedant hasn't picked up on this one by now!

by mjb - Fri 18th Feb 2005, 5:24pm

Geographically further away said: I'm surprised RTT the pedant hasn't picked up on this one by now!

What's wrong with that sentence ?

by Geographically clarified - Fri 18th Feb 2005, 6:24pm

Maybe the 'bottom' is just whichever end is furthest away at the commencement of whatever piece or exercise you are about to start.

by Dubya - Fri 18th Feb 2005, 7:12pm

Geographically clarified said: Maybe the 'bottom' is just whichever end is furthest away at the commencement of whatever piece or exercise you are about to start.

Now that's a mouthful!

by Geographically stealthy - Sun 20th Feb 2005, 11:43am

mjb said: What's wrong with that sentence ?

There are only two ends, therefore one end can only be further away than the other, not furthest.