W2 set off early on a cold windy morning for our first race of term. We had already won our first race as Robinson scratched, probably in fear of having to face us. We ended up being rather early for our division so Mark took it as the perfect opportunity to get a couple of pieces in and so we headed on to the lock. With a sub in the boat who had never done a standing start we thought we would be best practising some of those and get warmed up with some high rate work.
When the time came to race Pembroke we lined up on the start line. The countdown started but alas our Cox box did not. We began the race with only the sound of the oars in their gates and the Pembroke cox pushing the opposition on. The lack of sound made the start sequence somewhat of a challenge and as a crew we struggled to properly lengthen the stroke. We began the race rating 37 and maintained this excruciating pace for longer than any of us would have liked and becoming somewhat frantic at times. However we got it together and held off Pembroke for the first half the race pulling ahead at times before they stated to pull away from us for definite.
We may have lost but that will never take away how we worked together and never gave up. We fought until the very end that is the fighting spirit we need for a successful bumps campaign. Pembroke W2 may be 10 places ahead of us and in a different division this bumps but they should still watch out because you never know what the Well Hard ladies of MECBC are capable of.
Taine Ranaghan, Bow