Bumps, day 4 and it is do or die for Murray Edwards W2. Having started the week with a pleasantly surprising bump on Newhnam III, followed by 2 pretty swift collisions upon Clare Hall and Emma III, day 4 represented the opportunity to cement our position as the best W2 on the river.
Yet, as what always happens in these situations, things don’t always go according to plan.
A prolonged marshalling caused by some animal rights protestors jamming the river in a boat worthy of the Cardboard Boat Race allowed us to contemplate the situation at hand. With nothing to worry about chasing us, the main question remained not can we catch First and Third II, but when can we catch them. Knowing they were chasing the ‘spooner barge’ Magdalene II, it was a case of charging through the wind and slamming FAT hard before they could perform a similar feat on Magdalene. Alas, this was not to be.
3 booms later, and we make good headway off the start, earning 2 whistles by the motorway bridge. Unfortunately, as our number 2 later informed me, FAT had the same whistles before we did. We fought valiantly and painfully up first post reach with spatterings of 3 whistles heard from the bank. Then: HOLD IT UP! I look to Mark on the bank, and ask the question of which I sadly already know the answer: ‘Did we bump…?’
No we had not bumped, but in the most infuriating of scenarios, we had instead become wedged between the bumping victors and incompetently parked FAT. The feeling of being unable to even go for an over-bump can only be described as like sticking an open wound in a ditch of seawater. As The Cambridge Tab eloquently put it, the final result of a technical rowover was little consolation.
However, as this is my last term rowing with Murray Edwards II, I would like to say that I am absolutely thrilled and delighted with the progress we have made together as a crew this term. Though our name is not on a blade, our final result of moving up 3 positions, on top of 2 wins this term, is nothing short of impressive. I am so proud to have rowed with you this term and with MECBC these last two years.
Magdalene II should be quivering in their lycra because Murray Edwards II are coming to get them. MECBCWellHard, over and out.
Eleanor Dickinson, W2, 6