Author: Maria Rust

The weather was good – not too sunny so that you could see whilst rowing! It also wasn’t raining which was nice, but it was quite cold. The row down was good – the boat felt sat more of the time than usual and it was calming to row ‘normally’ pre race – to get rid of any nerves.

We managed not to crash on grassy, when we nearly had in a practice so that was good. The start was a rolling start, which was nice, as it felt less stressful. The rate was good, as it was sustainable.

We got on!!!

 In the next race I would like to bump.

Georgina Benson, 2

As our first race as a crew it’s fair to say we were slightly apprehensive rowing down for Pembroke Regatta. Since the marshals were on time we had a quick turn around at the end of the reach and it wasn’t long before we were lined up ready to race against Lucy Cavendish/ Hughes Hall W1. The start was called so quietly that the majority of the boat failed to hear it, which led to a few shaky beginning strokes whilst the other boat pulled away strongly. Despite the excessive splashing and unevenness we then managed to pull ahead. For the majority of the race we were able to maintain our position, even pulling slightly further ahead by half a length in the middle of the race. Then, Lucy Cavendish demanded a fight for the finish, gaining on us ever so slightly coming in to the end of the reach. Our ever-enthusiastic cox managed to pull us through to the finish with a win.

The marshals then informed us of an hour-long wait until our second race and so back to the boathouse it was. We were cold and wet and tired but we didn’t let our spirits dampen. This was a great time for crew bonding and plenty of eating, and that we certainly did!

Our second race was against the elusive Downing W1. All lined up, we were ready for the start this time. We both pulled away powerfully but it wasn’t long before Downing were ahead of us. Of course, we gave our all and fought through to the end, but unfortunately still lost.

Overall the day gave us the experience we needed to be confident for the next day of racing at Bedford.

We were ready.

Abbie Vernon, 2

At 6:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, a bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived W1 crew huddled for warmth in the Murray Edwards car park, eager to get on the road to Bedford for their third and fourth races of the weekend. Still physically and emotionally drained by the previous day’s regatta, we were relatively subdued on the journey, most of us sleeping while Laurane broke various speeding laws…

Once we had collected our race numbers and woken up sufficiently to go in search of our trailer, we began to get excited for what was for most of the crew their first off-Cam race! Seeing crews and boats of all shapes, ages, and sizes made for an interesting day of people-watching, and facing the challenge of a very unstable pontoon made for some pre-race entertainment that set the tone for the rest of a pretty great day.

Rowing on a new course was exciting and, despite the fact that two kilometres is a tough distance, the calm conditions and our focus meant that we managed to maintain poise and composure throughout the race, making it seem like a breeze compared to our struggles in the regatta of the previous day. Even the second time around, when people were starting to feel cold and a bit tired, we made sure to push hard and finish strong as an incredibly intimidating and impressive men’s four ended up overtaking us at the end of the course. Overall, we were proud of our progress over the term as a relatively inexperienced crew, and everyone was in good spirits as we headed over to Nando’s for lunch.

The day was full of new in-jokes and bonding, which have slowly begun to translate to how we work as a crew, and we are all very excited for Bumps and whatever comes after that!

Emily Busvine, Stroke

This was W2’s first race of term, and for two of its rowers, their first race ever! We were keen to see how much we had learnt so far this term and to get some much needed race practice before Fairbairns. It had been a difficult week leading up to the race, with one rower injured, a change in crew and Christina stepping in to cox for us. However, thanks to Reana we had 8 rowers and were ready to race.

By the time our division was marshalling, it became clear that the event was running quite behind leading to a very congested river. However, this gave us lots of time to check out the crews that had come from around the country to race on the Cam, especially some rather good looking men from the University of London! After the men had set off, we had just enough time to get our focus together and pull out towards the start line. The racing conditions were ideal, with very little wind and no rain. We got off to a good start, settling into a steady rhythm. Christina’s calls for power seemed to be working as she told us we were keeping pace with Robinson’s W1 boat in front of us. However, by the time we reached The Plough, it became clear that we were struggling to find the power required to keep up the same pace and we started to lose our togetherness. As we were overtaken by the University of London’s women on The Reach we pushed harder trying to make it difficult for them, but we didn’t have the stamina to keep going. We crossed the finish line a respectable 6th in our event out of 14 boats, showing that we have potential but still have lots to work on both technically in the boat and in fitness training before Fairbairns.

Katharine, 6