Having been bumped on day 1, despite being faced with rain and wind speeds of 40mph, our determination was high. We were preparing to try and row over and the extreme headwind was going to force us to row long and strong. After a cold wait at marshalling, we rowed up to the Reach through literal waves and as we wound it up to race pace it was tidy and together. Our practice start at the Plough also left us feeling ready to take on the race ahead. We lined up on our station right by the cannons and as they started firing, the adrenaline started pumping and we were off.
We had a fairly good start but Christs had managed to gain water on us. With pressure on them from Pembroke behind it was clear they were going to give it everything to try and catch us. With the three boats in quick succession we didn’t give up and pushed through, settling into a nice rhythm. We managed to hold Christs off long enough for Pembroke to eventually bump them, giving us a nice bit of clear water behind us. We kept pushing, kept focusing and kept our finishes strong and patient, something Mark had really concentrated on throughout the term. Despite all our efforts, as we came round Ditton and onto the Reach the wind hit us, and we didn’t respond as strongly as Maggie behind us. We held them off for as long as we possibly could but they eventually caught us… we’d been over-bumped.
Even though this wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, the majority of the race was some of the best rowing we’d done this term and personally having always being bumped out by First Post corner both last Lent bumps and on day 1, to row 1.5km of the course was a real feat. Returning to the boat house soggy and a little disappointed we could all still be proud of how we’d rowed as a crew. With true team spirit we met up a couple of hours later and ate a shedload of pasta, ready to come back with a vengeance tomorrow.
Helena Ascough, 7