It all started on a very cold March evening when we got on the train for London, and met up with everyone at Pizza Express in Putney. Luckily the room we were in was very warm, and spirits were high as we were all excited to be in this foreign land. Dinner was lovely and went by in a flash, as rowers, coxes, coaches and alumnae discussed all things boatie-related over hot food.
As our party split into groups for the night, we headed over to Emma’s house, where her family greeted us warmly, despite nine of us showing up wet and tired on their doorstep. Although we started to watch Little Miss Sunshine, many of us were too tired to make it to the end of the film, and we slowly filtered off to bed.
On Saturday morning we were treated to a breakfast fit for a King, then, kitted and wellied up, we walked to the Thames Rowing Club boat house, our HQ for the day. After putting Octopussy and Owen back together again, we headed towards a shopping mall for lunch and Clinton’s (it was Mothers’ Day on Sunday…).
Then it was time to get our heads together, and after a very entertaining warm up session led by Emma, we took Octopussy down to the water, for her first encounter with a river that was not the Cam. Pushing off swiftly as there were dozens of other boats queuing up, we quickly got accustomed to the Thames, which luckily wasn’t too rough, as there was barely any wind. As we marshalled, we watched the first crews rowing off, and gradually paddled up to the start. We spun and within a few minutes we were off. As we went under the bridge, we distantly heard the umpire shout “Murray Edwards, go !” and then Georgie confirmed : “And we’re racing !”, getting all our attention and focus in the boat. Already we were set to overtake the boat in front of us, and after settling into a nice rhythm, we did just that. Most of the race was a bit of a blur to be honest, as there was so much going on and so many boats. The main focus about halfway into the race however was Newnham W1 who had done some overtaking of their own, and were hot on our heels. We could even hear their cox giving calls to push into us and overtake, but we never let them get past us, and right until the finish, we pushed as hard as we could off them. I think this mental motivation definitely improved our overall performance, as we went up 10 spaces and rowed the course in 20:55. A good end to a great term !
Laura Desert, W1, 6