It was bright and breezy on the Cam as a boatful of excited Medwards ladies rowed up to marshall in Owen for the first day of Lent Bumps 2014. Four of the crew and the cox had never been in a Bumps race before and this was the day we had been anticipating all term.
We had a good practice start just after the Plough and the boat felt powerful and balanced. As the cannons counted us down we got into our racing mindset, and by the time the final one blasted we were as prepared as we were ever going to be. We had a fast, smooth first few strokes, but unfortunately it did not last long. As we completed the winds in our three draws, five winds, power ten sequence, the bows realised they were headed into the bank and the rest of the boat soon followed. As we attempted to disentangle ourselves from the reeds, a sluggish Clare boat bumped us and our collective hearts sank.
The true test of a woman is how she holds herself post-defeat. We had indeed been defeated, but the ladies of MECBC were not ones to be ashamed. We cheered Clare’s good fortune with the loudest “hip hip hoorays” the Cam has ever heard and rowed home with straight backs and vengeance in our hearts. Tomorrow, we would row again. And when we did, we would row WELL HARD.
Olwen Wilson, 7