Category: W1

After the somewhat accidental success of the first day of bumps, the Medwards W1 crew was eager to show off our skills properly. While fending off death-stares from the angry Girton crew during marshalling, and some heat from a none-too-happy Churchill crew behind them, W1 pondered their race tactic. We were chasing Pembroke; they were catchable, but could we do it without first getting caught by Girton bent on revenge? The answer was clear: trust ourselves! Propelled by the success the previous day, our paddle home had been one of the strongest of the term. We had found a rhythm and a confidence that had been at times elusive to the crew, but that everyone could feel now. So the tactic for the race was simple: ignore Girton, focus on chasing Pembroke. The gun went, we were off, and soon found a steady rhythm for the race. Girton, fuelled by anger, went hard off the start and appeared to be gaining on us. We followed our tactic and ignored them. Instead, every single stroke we focused on grinding it down in pursuit of Pembroke. At the first whistle Christina called for a power ten and the crew responded amazingly; we could really do this! After no more than 20 strokes we had gained another half a length, and Girton was nowhere to be seen. We caught up with them at grassy corner – it was a proper and well deserved bump! We were very excited, for some of us it was our first proper bump. Maybe a bit too excited in fact, as we for a few seconds forgot that we had to swiftly clear the river… Some carnage was caused, mistakes were made and we went away happy that no one got hurt but with a hefty fine, and maybe even fewer friends in the boats behind us than we had before… But all the while pleased with a job well done.

Amanda Sjödahl, 5

The third day of Lent Bumps started on a high after MECBC W1 bumped Girton W1 and Pembroke W1 on the two prior days. The crew were mentally prepared for the possibility that it was going to be a longer race than the last couple of days, and were up for the challenge that was going to be bumping First and Third W1. After maintaining distance all the way until grassy, MECBC W1 started closing in on FaT W1 till the two boats were about a length apart, and constantly moving in and out of this distance, as we approached the corner to the long reach. But the race had been going exactly as planned since the crew knew that if we were to bump FaT W1, we would have to stay strong and stay consistent with our pace and determination, especially as we came up along the Long Reach. However, just as we took the last corner, FaT W1 closed in on Emmanuel W1’s boat ahead of them, a little faster than we had anticipated, and bumped them, thus leaving us with a long row over. However, the crew were able to sustain the same rate and continue rowing strong in spite of a head wind and no one chasing us, and this truly showed the progress we had made as a crew over the entire term.

Neeraja Bhamidipati, bow

Wednesday was the first day of Lent Bumps for W1. It also was their first Bumps race for three of our crew members, making the day even more exciting. We arrived at the boathouse full of positive energy and determination. We knew it would be a tough day, but we were ready to fight! After a confident warm-up, a few decent practice starts and encouragement from President Barbara, we were finally ready for the race. After the canon went off, we had a solid start that propelled us at a good race pace, keeping Churchill W1 away. However, Churchill constantly reminded us every stroke counts by slowly gaining on us, getting one whistle on us after the first post corner. In the meantime, the distance between Girton W1 in front of us and our boat didn’t seem to shorten. We had a good rhythm and lengthened our strokes to try to reduce the gap. Suddenly, as we approached grassy corner, Christina said in the cox box she was about to overtake Girton! Everything went very quickly from there. As there have been no whistle for us, we were very confused to see Girton’s cox surrender. We then realised they made an unforgiving bad line on grassy corner and crashed their boat. Christina’s perfect steering finished them off: it is a bump!

Emma Roth, 7

Having had a few more weeks of training since the Head to Head race that started the term off, W1 arrived to the boathouse in good spirits, ready for a solid race against Churchill in the Pembroke Regatta. The paddle down was promising, and the crew remained positive and cheerful as we marshalled at the P&E, then by the railway bridge. There was some excitement as other boats raced past us, but as we paddled up to the railway bridge the focus was back in the boat, and we had an encouraging practice start.

The nerves started to kick in as we lined up next to Churchill at the beginning of the reach – as a relatively inexperienced crew this was the first time a few of us had raced alongside a crew, but we were determined not to let that faze us.

After what seemed like a very quick line up, we were off. Our wind strokes were not as quick as they might have been, but we settled into a solid rhythm, which with lots of encouragement to sit up and “put some spring in our step” from the banks we managed to maintain all the way. However, try as we might, it was not quite enough, as Churchill inched away from us up the Reach to finish just over a length ahead of us.

Although ultimately a disappointing result, the whole crew came away from the race with plenty of individual points to work on, safe in the knowledge that we can do better – and that we will do better- when it comes to Bumps.

Lily Stratford, stroke

With under a weeks worth of training, the new MECBC W1 VIII faced the Head to Head race. A good start soon fell apart as the lack of experience in the newly formed crew began to show. However, the team pushed through, despite the challenges created by a passing St Catherine’s boat. After turning at the lock, W1 set off to tackle the second 2km of the course. Prepared to oppose the strong winds, they got into a solid rhythm. Half way through the stretch, a few crabs shook the team. However, after these set backs W1 composed themselves and fought on, pulling it back with a strong rhythm and hard leg drive. New found determination knew no bounds as the crew caught up with a men’s town boat towards the end of the course. W1 delivered and overtook the other boat, bringing a trying race to a very positive end.

Leanne Hagger, 5

The last two days had been tough on our W1 crew and we were especially ready for a revenge bump after the technical bump awarded to Trinity Hall yesterday. This time in our row up, there was a definite focus and will for that bump to come our way today. The weather was beautiful again and we had a nice solid practice start outside the Plough before taking our station between Homerton and Trinity Hall.

Before we knew it, the 4 and 1 minute cannons had gone and we were poised ready for the gun. Bang! Off we went, pushing hard through the draws and winds. Behind us it was clear that Homerton W1 had pushed off to a quick start. After a few strokes, Homerton were still pushing up on us steadily and we, as a crew, began to try and work together to push them away even harder. As we approached First Post corner, Homerton had 2 whistles on us but we were not going to let this go easily. Rowing around the bend, saw them gain a foot, then two, and before we knew it, the bump came just before Grassy.

The row had been short and we had all put everything we had into it, but today Homerton were just faster and more efficient. It was another hard day for us, our third time being bumped but we are Murray Edwards W1 and will not go down easily. Tomorrow is a new day and now we have even more passion and drive to push through for a bump or a row over. We will not let the past days hold us back or give in to our disappointment. No, we are going to go hard or die trying tomorrow and remind everyone who we are and what we can do. Well Hard!!!

Nadia Blackshaw, bow

Despite not having the start to May Bumps we were hoping for yesterday, we all arrived at the boathouse ready for a new day and a new race. We knew a bump was bound to happen in front of us, but we didn’t know if we would end up chasing the bump or overbump. Either way we knew we were in for a long fight today.

After a slightly scrappy, but strong start we struggled to find our rhythm and Tit Hall slowly began to gain on us as we came around First Post corner. As we came through Plough reach we really began to hit our stride, however, at this point Tit Hall had moved up on us and had overlap. Even though Tit Hall were pulling up beside us, we refused to lay down and die. If they wanted this bump they were going to have to fight for it.

Coming around Ditton, we had a big push and not only began to pull away from Tit Hall, but also managed to get a whistle on Fitz in front of us. Unfortunately, Fitz were closer to Selwyn than we were to them, meaning we had to hold it up to avoid any broken boats. Tit Hall, still going for the bump, hit poor Octopussy and our cox quite hard.

But the drama was not over yet! As we were clearing, Emily, our boat club captain and bank party, dived to grab a blade, missed the edge of the bank and ended up in the river! As much as we enjoyed watching our captain taking a quick swim in the Cam during a Bumps race, we quickly refocused on figuring out what our result actually was – there was talk of technical results or rerows. Despite our hope of a rerow, CUCBC decided to give Tit Hall a technical bump due to the separation when we had to stop.

As we rowed home with a substitute, soaking wet cox sat on the canvas of our boat we vowed that tomorrow we would avenge our broken stern and injured cox.

Maria Rust, stroke

After a week full of bumps and celebrations, we had to do a full mental reset to face a whole different challenge, the Women Eights Head of the River Race. For this 6.8 km adventure, we headed down to London, some of us the night before, some of us bright and early that very same morning. The crew had slight changes from the W1 we were used to – including two rowers and the boat itself – and the atmosphere had a mixture of excitement and fear in equal doses.

The tideway is nothing like the Cam, it’s tidal (go figure!), busy and quite impressive. As a cox new to those waters, I attended a couple of very helpful seminars about it and prepared better than I have for any race ever. Easier said than done! Despite our plans and all the advice we got from our Captain for Boats and alumnae familiar with boating in the area, we all managed to get completely soaked while getting into the boat. Immediately after, our boat started drifting into another one while I was still trying to connect to cox box so the crew could hear the instructions. I finally got it connect and started shouting instructions, an activity that continued nonstop for the next 3 hours.

Being 319 out of 320 was far from a pleasant experience. During those 2.5 hours of marshalling we experienced first hand the four British seasons, from sun to hail. We marshalled to our position carrying out our regular warm up, rowing all 8 square blades, so the crew could feel they had enough control, even in the tideway. We slowly gained confidence and got ready for the race. However, the race start was still 2 hours away. The tideway gives you only a few seconds of break at a time before someone has to paddle back into position. At the risk of exhausting bow and two, we tried to alternate and share the burden, while eating away all the sugary food we brought.

Still freezing from being soaked and stationary, the rowers grudgingly de-kitted and we got ready to race. Despite the long distance, the next 22 minutes and 58 seconds passed by very fast. It was soon clear we would have to pass the crew in front of us, the moment came right at Barnes Bridge. I communicated our approach to the rowers and told them we would do it right after the bridge. It went pretty smooth, taking the racing line after the crew nicely moved to the side. But that was not going to be our last overtake of the day.

We encounter rough waters but the crew remained calm and strong, gaining a lot of distance of the next crews ahead. As we approached Hammersmith Bridge I was trying to find my reference point, that famous second lamppost I had heard so much about in the seminars, when I realized we had three crews just in front of us, all trying to pass each other. We quickly came to a boat length distance with very little space in between them for us to come by. With no desire of crashing oars in the Thames, I told the rowers we needed a very stable boat and pressure and they responded immediately.

After that, we headed to the last part of the race with a big push off of the bridge, while the rowers looked up at the, by now disappearing, crowd. Getting tired but at good rhythm, we made it through the finish line. Our landing was graceful as our pushing off but everyone worked efficiently to end a day full of excitement, cold and good rowing.

Joaquina Delas Vives, cox

With an injury this term, I have had a new perspective on Bumps, seeing races from the bank, and boy, was it exciting! Beyond expectations (see video of today’s race…).

Today was the last day of Lent Bumps 2016, and the first day I was able to bank party W1. Spirits were high at the boathouse. As, W2 was just finishing their campaign, thrilled to be going up two and to be eating crêpes, W1 arrived, ready to give this last race their all. They had opted for a classic: the “fly or die” strategy, where the race would be short either way, and they were planning on going for a revenge bump on Churchill before the green machine Girton got to them.

Peterhouse M2 coming back to the boathouse with only 6 rowers and 7 riggers should have tipped us off: an especially eventful day of racing awaited us!

The ladies set off early, and had a nice chunky paddle to Chesterton. Being one of the first boats to get to the marshalling area, they had plenty of time to relax, and enjoy a ray of sunshine. Some were eating Haribo, others gossiping about ejector crabs in earlier divisions, or even napping in the boat. Everyone was essentially chilling, when the situation took a turn for the worse when we realised our cox had forgotten her life jacket, just when the umpires were starting to get crews back in their boats. Far from ideal.

After asking a few boats for a spare one with no luck, I decided to rush back to the boathouse to get one. This cycle definitely makes the Top 5 Most Stressful Moments from my captaincy. I had no idea what the time was, whether it was still worth cycling like a crazy woman, whether I could take the time to stop and breathe, but the last thing I wanted was for W1 not to be able to race for a damn life jacket, so I kept pedalling, coxing myself through it – “Heels down, Heels down”. Zig-zagging at full speed on the towpath on the Saturday of Bumps is never a good idea, but from the bottom of the reach, I could see a boat waiting for their practice start on Ditton corner, and I knew I still had a chance. I finally got to station 11, literally seconds before the 4 minutes cannon went off, exhausted and barely able to catch my breath, only to find out the crew had found a life jacket. Oh well! & What a relief! We were good to go! The President was taking care of the countdown, while Mark pushed the crew out, and I got my camera ready, determined to get the first stroke in this time.

The start cannon fired and the ladies flew off. They had another very strong start of theirs, and were inside station going under the Motorway Bridge. They were inching in, pushing hard on the legs, when all of a sudden they started gaining a lot faster. Very startled, I realised Churchill in front had caught a crab, and were struggling to recover. The ladies, blissfully unaware of the situation, were very focused on getting their legs down, and were still storming down the river. Unhelpfully, our coach had forgotten his whistle and was unable to signal the progress to the crew. Within a few strokes, they closed in on Churchill, bumped, and didn’t quite realise until properly hitting Churchill’s boat (RIP Octopussy’s bow). Extremely confused, they cleared the river as fast as they could, to allow Girton & co to plough through. I was absolutely ecstatic, not really registering, and still very emotional from that horrible cycle; our President gave me a hug, while we waited for the crew to cross the river and come park on towpath side so we could get them all greenery-ed. It was the first bump of the week for them, and the first bump ever for a few of them as well, and the girls were grinning. So was I.

The crew pushed off to row home, in the setting sun, cheered on by the joyous crowds, and in the generally happy, festive atmosphere, characteristic of Bumps Saturdays, with flags and victory laps.

Once again, this shows the magical “randomness” of Bumps, that unpredictability that makes this week oh so exciting. I cannot wait to get back into a boat, and for May Bumps to come around. Thank you for the entertainment this week rowing friends, it’s been real!

Lulu, Captain of Boats

The weather at today’s race was sadly not as wonderfully sunny as the earlier days, with grey skies but happily still no winds. We had a steady row down. There was plenty of excitement with the prospects of rowing out ahead of Churchill and giving Pembroke a good scare while we were at it.

Spirits were high before the cannon went, and we prepared ourselves for a long, tough race. We took off with a fantastic start, just like the previous two days, quickly gaining ground on Pembroke! The start was confident and purposeful, with a good rhythm. As we took out the stroke length and settled into the racing pace we kept gaining and leaving Churchill behind with some distance, to the point where we managed to get one whistle on Pembroke! Unfortunately after this the past two days of rowing with no rest day started to take their toll, so we didn’t quite manage to keep the good form we’d been maintaining so far. After some unsteadiness and some massive effort from Churchill they managed to close the distance between us, but we made them work for every stroke and fought them hard all the way to the Plough, where they managed to bump us.

Notable in today’s race is our continuing great performance early on in the race, which has been consistent throughout bumps this year. There’s a notable difference compared to just a couple of weeks ago, when our starts were substantially less stable and confident. After spending a few outings focusing on sorting out the starts we’ve improved so much, showing that we have it in us to do anything we set our minds to!

Next race will be tomorrow, the last day of the 2016 lent bumps! We will be chased by a very strong Girton team going for blades, with Churchill in front of us. This will be the time to pour out all of our remaining energy into the race, and really make Girton struggle! And of course, the dream is: revenge-bump on Churchill! Keeping up our strong starts we can gain on them fast enough to make them nervous, and if we really give it our all it’s possible! And with Girton coming up behind, it looks like it might be a short race, whether it’s bump or getting bumped tomorrow. Anything is possible!

Amanda Sjödahl, 5