After a confusing row up involving marshalling in the wrong place, swapping boats with W2 and having to jog past all the mens’ boats, W3 finally arrived at the lock ready to push ourselves as hard as we could in our first race of term and use the techniques learnt in the weeks of erging when the river was red- or yellow-flagged.
With Coach Thea’s 5 important rules for the race firmly in our minds, we spun and prepared to pick up the pace over a few strokes and start racing. The wind had picked up over the course of the day and, after a strong start, the wind hit us at the top of the reach and it felt like we were rowing into a brick wall. We weren’t going to let that stop us though! Cox Laura called for a “push for ten” to get us moving again, which helped us power through the wind and find a sustainable rate, allowing us to concentrate on looking up and driving through the legs.
I think all our outings, during which we practised being intimidating, keeping in time and focusing on improving technique, paid off as the race felt like it went well. It wasn’t until later in the evening that we realised quite how well it had gone though, we had qualified for Lent Bumps! As the only W3 in the university to do so we are excited for this opportunity and keen to keep up the intimidation/timing/technique focus and chase down the crews in front of us.
Let’s get bumping!
Laura King (W3)