The sun was out again and perfect rowing weather greeted us today. After yesterday’s strong row-over where we held Trinity Hall at comfortable distance behind us over the whole course we felt confident that this day was OUR day. To finally get our first bump, chasing Christ’s W2, just as our W3 bumped their W3 today.
Our division was delayed due to some carnage and re-row before and we entertained ourselves with some team weight-lifting exercises at our marshalling station (everyone can lift their cox, but we can lift our coach!). Our row-up felt strong, we were winding it up beautifully on the Reach and had a powerful, controlled practise start at the Plough. We felt confident to get that bump on Christ’s, and wanted to get it quickly. We felt the excitement, and the energy from all the Haribos we munched on when waiting for our row-up longer than usual.
To regain the lost time the 4-minute canon went off earlier than we expected, when we were not yet tucked in to our station. Slight panic could be felt in the boat after the 4-minute gun, and nervous excitement in anticipation of bumping today. After the start canon went off, we had a beautiful start with controlled powerful draws and winds. In contrast to Thursday, we didn’t quite manage to find a composed, sustainable rhythm straight away. We gained on Christ’s continuously, but not as quickly as we would have hoped. We had one whistle at first post corner, realised that we had to work harder to bump and finally managed to settle into a more powerful rhythm. We continuously gained on Christ’s from that point on. Encouraged by continuous whistles and the cheering crowd at Grassy Corner we managed to bump up on Christ’s W2 just out of the corner. Clearing away quickly and hugely pleased with our success we watched the division go past and then finally crossed over to get our first greenery and celebrate!
On the row home we proudly showed our greenery, sat up and looked strong, enjoyed the sun and the cheers from the bank. Tomorrow is the last day of Bumps and we are back to where we started from on day 1, station 4 chasing LMBC. We gained on them the first day, so we are confident to catch them today. It will be an exciting last race and we will give it our all.
Anna, now you know how it feels to bump! Let’s do it again!
Manuela Gross, stroke