The sun was up. The wind was high. Visors were brought and lycra was worn. We were all ready to get those fancy tan lines and that mythical bump. We were being chased by a crew coached by ex-Goldie cox Will McDermott and chasing a crew coached by the victorious lightweights coach Dan Janes. Yet we felt confident in our Caius-Medwards-Lady Margaret sandwich. We were going to go out there and row our best today. And most importantly of all, not let ourselves be bumped.
During our practice start, we settled at rate 34. We were nervous and pumping adrenalin a little too high. This reflected in our real start. 4 minute cannon. Our Haribos were taken away. 1 minute gun. Push your oars out. 30 seconds. 10. GUN! Our start was strong but scrappy, our motivation strong. We gained half a length on LMBC W2 by first post corner, but by then they had bumped Christ’s W2. On we had to plough. We made it to Grassy, took a slightly wide corner, my one responsibility, and then Caius started gaining. We did a re-start, they wound it up. Right in front of the pub on Plough reach, they bumped us. We had a strong but slightly too frantic row, and Caius W2 bumped us fair and square. The air kiss from their coach did nothing to make up for our disappointment.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day. And tomorrow, we shall row better. Revenge is the sweetest kind of victory. We bumped you last year, we can bump you again. This is not over yet, Caius.
Simona Sulikova, bow