Category: Training

In true English style, as we got to the boat house, we saw the sun was shining and the river was flooded. For a faff-prone crew, this added precious minutes to our pushing-off time. Luckily in the scheme of things, this didn’t particularly matter as the whole division was delayed due to earlier carnage. However this delay meant that both of our practice starts were cancelled. We vented out excess adrenaline into some really strong paddling, eventually we ended up pausing to avoid crashing into St Eds, a reassuring signal that there was nothing too threatening chasing us from behind. Newnham were keeping their distance as well, we had caught glimpses of a sneaky start they’d managed to fit in; they looked neat and powerful.We pulled into our station quite close the lock, a testament to last years W2 who only recently thrust the crew into division 3 glory. Our nerves were compounded by words from coach Watson, who told us that although we were probably the fastest boat in the division, Newnham III were probably the second fastest. The question was; could we catch Newnham before they caught Clare Hall? In the boat, we began to steel ourselves for the prospect of having to overbump.Conditions were perfect; the sun was out and there was virtually no wind. The expert hand of W1’s coach Mark pushed us out with 15 seconds to the start cannon. Poised and primed, we waited for the resounding boom of the cannon. BOOM. Our cox Georgie called ‘draw one’, and I saw strokes blade sweep out of the water. Knowing that our stroke was a perfectionist, she would not be happy with those draws, and she followed it with some of the best winds we have ever done. The whistles from our bank party started ringing – we had gained on Newnham! After a sustained push they held us off at two whistles. Coming under the motorway bridge we managed to crank it up and gain three whistles on them.

We could feel the boat rocking around in their dirty water; we were close and so thirsty for the bump. As Georgie called for a ‘Hammer time’, we stood on our footplates, the entire crew powering towards their stern. The sound of continuous whistles rang about us and we knew the bump was imminent. The Umpire and our bank party suddenly yelled for us to hold it up, we turned to see a shocked Newham clearing and a plucky Clare Hall rowing on, having only just escaped Newnham’s clutches. According to our coaches, Newnham were a quarter of a length or less on Clare Hall when we caught them. Unfortunately for Clare Hall, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Holly Smith, W2, 7

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Georgie Field, W2 cox

Regattas are always challenging for a cox; keeping an eye on the other crew as motivation for your own rowers, making sure you get the best line whilst avoiding leaving your station and clashing blades with your opposition… however, Nines was awesome!

Marshaling was surprisingly simple, except from the insistence of marshals to make us spin on the narrowest parts of the river. The racing was well organised so there wasn’t too much hanging around and spirits were high as we sat eating haribos in between races.

W2 attacked each race with gusto (yes I just said gusto) and it paid off. Our starts were very fast meaning that we could get ahead early on and psyche out the opposition. It also meant that I could move across the river to get the best line around corners, leaving the other crew to fight through our dirty water. The crew responded well to “two seat moves” and power 10s, including some motivational calls dedicating each stroke to each member of the crew. We finished off our final against Queens with ‘hammer time’ and took tankards home for the second time in two weeks.

So proud of w2, they worked really hard and made coxing Nines really enjoyable, go and have a rest- you have deserved it, and watch out Cambridge, bumps is approaching… xx

Race video:

Results:
 round 1 – beat Christs W2
 round 2 – beat Corpus W1
 round 3 – beat Queen's W2 (2.5 lengths)
 winner of women Div B

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Marina Steketee, W1, 5
 
After a very successful Head to Head race for W1 in which we came first in our division, we were determined to end the Champs Head race with even better results. The weather was windier than we would have liked but the presence of the sun was enough to get us fully into racing mode as we rowed down to the lock for marshalling. As we were sat waiting for the division to go off, the wind was getting steadily more powerful, prompting a lot of discussion from the crew as to how we should deal with this during the race. After a long period of waiting, we were finally pushing off and making our way to the start line.

The start was not as clean as we liked. It was definitely not helped by the man who called it; i.e. practically whispered “go” as we were sat at front stops. We quickly regained our focus, though, and fully geared up into our race pace as we approached Ditton Corner. Around the corner we were met with a barrage of wind, prompting Chloe to remind us to sit tall and drive with the legs. Our piece down the reach was messy due to the choppy water, and exhausting, but we kept it up and got ready for a “mental re-start” under the railway bridge. The boat speed visibly picked up at this point, and we kept powering all the way through to the finish line.

Despite being in the windiest division of the day, W1 came second in their division by 2 seconds. This was not the result we had been hoping for, but still proved that MECBC are able to perform in less than ideal conditions. Bring on Bumps!

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Results:

W1 – time – 6:03.5

-2^nd in Mays 2nd division behind King’s (6:01.5)

-7^th of college W1’s behind Downing (5:52.6), Queens’, Christ’s, Emma, Newnham and King’s

                -beat 12 other W1’s (Clare, Pembroke, Jesus, Caius, FaT, Churchill, Selwyn, Sidney, Hughes/Lucy, Robinson, Wolfson and Clare Hall)

-8 of the boats W1 beat today are ahead of them in May Bumps, 7 in the 1^st division, 4 are in the top 10, and Pembroke is second from the headship

                                –W1 beat a crew who is 21 places ahead of them in May Bumps

-beat 9 men’s crews

-beat last year’s W1 Champs Head time of 6:10.5

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Results: W2 – time – 6:20.8

-1^st in Mays 3rd division – CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

-1^st of college W2’s

                -beat 13 other W2’s (Downing, Newnham, Emma, Jesus, Christ’s, Queens’, Caius, Selwyn, FaT, Girton, King’s, Sidney and Hughes/Lucy)

-beat 7 W1’s (FaT, Churchill, Selwyn, Hughes/Lucy, Robinson, Wolfson and Clare Hall)

-17 of those boats are ahead of W2 in May Bumps, 6 in the 2^nd division, 3 in the 1^st division

                -FaT W1 is 12^th on the river in May Bumps, MECBC W2 is 50^th (16^th in 3^rd division), W2 beat a crew who is 38 places ahead of them in May Bumps

-beat 3 men’s crews

-beat last year’s W2 Champs Head time of 6:37.6

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The weather was beautiful and very warm as we marshalled all the way down to the lock. Spirits were high, and were kept high by the motivational speeches of coaches Pete and Rich. As we were marshalling, someone's oar did come out of their gate though, so we were extra wary of tightening them before the race. Only as we were marshalling did we realise we would have to do a standing start, but the practice start we did before the lock was good enough to get our confidence up.

 

We were off to a strong start, and cox Christina took a good line around Ditton corner as we powered through onto a windy reach. Our speed kept us going however, and we settled into a steady race rhythm, punctuated by extra hard pushes for ten, called by Christina.

 

This race was a particularly enjoyable one for me, having been in Robinson Head last term, when we had to marshal for more than an hour in the freezing cold weather. Today was not only sunny, but our crew really came together and produced some fine rowing.

 

Bring on May Bumps !

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Results: W3 – time – 6:36.7

-2^nd in Mays 4^th division behind Tit Hall W3

-2^nd of college W3’s behind Tit Hall W3

                -beat 3 other W3’s (Pembroke, LMBC and Queens’)

-beat 10 W2’s (Newnham, Emma, Jesus, Caius, Selwyn, FaT, Girton, King’s, Sidney, Hughes/Lucy)

-tied with 1 W1, beat 2 other W1’s (Robinson – tied, beat Wolfson and Clare Hall)

-WHEN W3 gets on into May Bumps, at least 11 of the boats they beat today will be ahead of them, 7 in the 3^rd division, 4 in the 2^nd division

                –W3 was only 5 seconds off the time of a Mays 1^st division boat (Selwyn W1)

–beat last year’s W2 Champs Head time of 6:37.6

                -last year we didn’t even have a W3 to enter in Champs Head

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Emma, W1 four

Four starts, three races, two row overs and one bump – a challenging and memorable final day for W1.

Setting out to marshal for our first race chasing Churchill at the top of the second division, the crew had rage – and lots of it, not for Churchill, but for Peterhouse who had narrowly evaded our bump for the past two days. Our revenge plan seemed simple enough – bump Churchill, race again at the bottom of the first division, and bump Peterhouse back down to sandwich boat. Easy. Or not, as it turned out.

As the cannon went for the start of the second division, we powered into our start, eager to catch Churchill as soon as possible. They weren't going to give it us easily though, and the whistles did not come as fast as we had hoped. When three whistles finally became continuous, we pushed into the last few strokes, determined not to let them pull away. They didn't, and we won our second bump of the week.

As we rowed back to the marshalling point for our next race at the bottom of the first division, we were delighted with our greenery, but thinking ahead to our coming 'revenge row' against Peterhouse. After a break of Haribo eating and watching the men's second division race past, it was time for us to row back up to the start – all the way to the lock, since we were now at the end of the division. As we waited for the cannons, there were mixed feelings of nerves, anger and excitement, and as Mark gave us our pre-race talk, we focused on the challenge ahead. The four minute cannon, the one minute cannon, pushing out, coming to front stops, and we were off. We fought hard to gain on them coming out of the start, and were down to a length when confusion set in as Georgie called for us to hold it up. Ahead of us, Selwyn and Peterhouse seemed to have stopped for no reason – what was going on? Nothing, it turned out – and with no warning, the two crews started racing again. We followed suit, but not before Peterhouse had pulled ahead by two and a half lengths. Extremely angry, we channelled our rage into an attempt at a new powerful start, but we had no chance of catching them now.

We stopped racing after they bumped Selwyn and pulled into the bank – feeling cheated at the unfairness of the situation. Mark shared our anger, and after he had had a long discussion with the marshals, it was decided that there should be a re-row.

So back we went, up to the start one more time – cold, wet, and tired, but determined to catch Peterhouse. As soon as the men's division were clear, we were back in the boat and lining up for the final cannon. Pushing out of the start we knew we had nothing to lose, and gave every stroke all that we had – but Peterhouse were stronger and fresher, and bumped Selwyn before we could get within one whistle of them.

So that was that – Peterhouse got away – but only just. We went out fighting to the bitter end, and at least now we won't be chasing them at the start of next year's lent bumps.

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