Arriving at the boat house, I had already heard that W3 had bumped, earning their blades, but was pleased to find them still around, and about to throw Christina in the Cam. She went in, along with the rest of W3, and all of W1 were watching: we knew that our division was going to be delayed by around 45 minutes and so had time to relax, if that’s possible before bumps.
Eventually we decided it was time to get the boat out, but having pushed off, Downing told us that the men were still marshalling, so we decided to pull in at the combined boat houses. These happen to be where Kings and Churchill boat from, and with us chasing Kings, and Kings chasing Churchill, who were at the top of the division, it was an interesting place to pull in to say the least. Soon after we headed off to marshal properly.
Pulling in, we wanted our bank party to take the NHBC flag to W2, but we were surprised and disappointed (neither of those words are strong enough) to discover they had been awarded a technical rowover (Magdalene are just too slow). It didn’t make marshalling very happy, but did give us a determination that we would blade for W2.
Rowing down to the start, we had an acceptable practice start, but Mark warned us we would need more to get Kings before they got Churchill. In the race, we got an excellent start, and our first whistle came almost immediately – far quicker than any other day this week. In the middle of a push for ten, I heard 2 whistles, but sadly they were not for us: they were for Kings. We kept pushing, but our whistles stayed single.
Turning into the gut, we hit both a wall of wind and a wall of sound. We pushed through it, but Churchill obviously didn’t: they were caught by Kings and for a stroke we stopped rowing as they cleared. We immediately restarted, and were still far from Pembroke II (chasing us) as we rowed for what we now knew had to be a rowover.
I have no idea whether it was a strong rowover, or if we just rowed acceptably. Pembroke didn’t get close to us, and were bumped out on the extremely windy reach, whilst we put all our frustration into fighting the wind. Crossing the finish line, we wound down and easied immediately, disappointed, but watching a tight race between Fitz and Homerton, who were chasing the overbump. Happily (for Gina and for our hopes for the Pegasus cup), despite having overlap across the finish line, Homerton did not bump.
Rowing back to the boathouse was difficult after the lengthy race and with the wind, but we got back to an amazing array of cookies etc. including an excellent chocolate cake from Siena.
Ying’s plan for a race report tells me I have to ‘tell you one thing that I hope will happen in the next outing/race’. That doesn’t quite fit, since it’s the last time we’ll be rowing together, but I can either claim that Peterhouse May Ball, or Bumps Breakfast is the next ‘outing’. Either way, it’s going to be an incredible and memorable next outing for the boat club.
Sally-Anne Bennett, W1, bow
Murray Edwards College Boat Club
Rowing and sculling club for Murray Edwards College (founded as New Hall)