Having been bumped by Caius the day previously, we all arrived at the boathouse keen to prove ourselves. Our first priority was to get a revenge bump on Caius, and failing that, to row over (with Fitz positioned behind us). With sunny weather and not too much of a headwind, the conditions were good and we were all in high spirits.
When the canon sounded, we leapt into our start sequence, which was much more together and controlled than the day before – the cannons seem less scary the second time round… Clare (our coach) reminded us to ignore at the boat behind as it’s much further away than it looks! Some whistles early on around Grassy meant that Fitz were close, and it wasn’t clear whether we would be able to hold them off. With the two boats both ahead of us and behind having bumped out, the only option was to row over and make sure Fitz didn’t catch us. We added some up 2s, then put more power down on the Reach and, by the finish line, had left Fitz with no chance of catching us.
This result was a huge morale boost, as we knew that we could do a powerful start and settle into a good rhythm for the whole course, and hopefully get a bump the following day.
Gina Edney, 4