Category: W1

I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous for a race in my life.  I tried to calm myself down by performing what has now become something of a bumps day ritual for me – finding and rewriting a famous movie speech/scene to make it bumps-centric and posting it on our facebook page as inspiration for my troops.  It didn’t help much.  After our bump on Peterhouse on Friday, we knew they’d be fiercely intent on bumping us back.  They had nothing to lose by going after us in an all-out assault.  We, on the other hand, had plenty to lose – only one more bump was standing between us and blades.  The pressure to catch Tit Hall, our target for the day, before Peterhouse could gain on us was acute.  Before I had to face that contest, however, I had the great pleasure of bank partying our W3 for their last race, and though they were bumped, it was a heroic fight.  I also got to see W2’s victory row home, flying the MECBC flag signalling their blades.

Buoyed by the spirit and success of our lower boats, we had a solid row down to the marshaling stations.  The mood in the boat was intense and determined.  They were so focused that the usual “Can we get a boathouse puppy?”, “No.” conversation didn’t even come up.  As we waited by the P&E, the sun came out and the afternoon turned sparkling and almost warm.

Once we were up to the starting stations, I was full on nervous again, and I don’t think I was the only one.  The flutter you feel in the region of your stomach when the four minute gun goes off, then the one minute gun, which starts the countdown from your bank party is a special kind of delicious terror.  Just hearing someone count down from 20 is enough to send me into a panic.  I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.  Mark gave us another pep talk, advising us to forget about Peterhouse behind and focus everything on Tit Hall.

When the final gun fired, we went hard into our start, and though it wasn’t the cleanest row we’ve had this week, we had a whistle very quickly.  The second whistle followed not too long after, and we took the pressure up.  We seemed to get stuck at three whistles for quite a while, and I wondered if Tit Hall had found some new power and were beginning to hold us off.  Three whistles did eventually become continuous, and we seemed to get a bit stuck there, as well, but we found out later that the Tit Hall cox wasn’t conceding and the umpire had to award the bump.  We finally got the call to hold it up, and after our haphazard attempt at clearing the day before, we were all tuned into Georgie as she directed us into the far bank.  Once the remaining boats had raced past, it started to sink in – we’d bumped.  We’d bladed.  We pulled back over to the towpath to collect our greenery.  I was grinning like an idiot, and, again, I wasn’t the only one.  We were approached almost immediately by a race commentator from Cam FM who asked me how happy we were.  My memory of my answer is a bit hazy, lost in the euphoria, but I think I said that it was overwhelming and that I was so proud of the crew and the club.  Which could not be more true.  The victory row home with our flag and our foliage in the last of the afternoon sunshine was a beautiful cap to the week.

BRING ON MAYS!

Reana, 5, W1

It’s been quite a weird day overall, with the least happy bump I’ve ever been in. Firstly, at the boathouse, we weren’t chattering as care-free as normally, distinctly aware that we were chasing Peterhouse, our boathousemates, and that we had chased them 3 times last Lents without catching them. I was anxious at the boathouse, and 15 minutes in when I hadn’t seen Laura, phoned her – only to discover she had been stood outside chatting to Pauline for ten minutes! There was excitement for and from W2 and 3, who had both had excellent rows today – and W2’s 25-stroke bump is the shortest I’ve ever heard of!

We thought we’d better have a chat, but trying to avoid Peterhouse whilst having a chat was apparently impossible for us, and we eventually gave up and had it whilst marshalling instead. Rowing up directly in front of Peterhouse was nerve-racking but worked, and once we’d marshalled and pushed off again, we did make some space. Dauntingly, they were our first opponents that Mark deemed good enough to require him to watch their start to report back. However, we responded with a great practise start on Plough Reach, in front of Gina. All that was left was the real thing.

We were worked up by Mark after the four minute cannon, ready to go off and get them – we do have it in us! Except that the one minutes cannon didn’t come – a Pembroke equipment failure – and so the preparedness was wasted, and we bantered for a bit longer. Then the one minute cannon and we focussed as much as a boat of talkative girls can. We pushed off at 20 – it felt late! – nearly ripping Georgie’s arm off (sorry!) and then were off!

As expected, the whistles didn’t come as quickly as they have before.  But come one did. The first I heard, though, was Peterhouse on Tit Hall – nooo, not possible. We needed to push harder – if only because I was determined that we were not going to row over: it would be a bump, or a technical row over because we were to close to get out of the way. Not that I had admitted that determination to Reana or the rest of the crew.

We did get one whistle, then, probably, lost it – there weren’t any for a while, but I couldn’t hear the distances shouted so I couldn’t tell. It all meant push harder though! So we did. And we got back to one whistle. Then we were on two.

And then we got three – I don’t even know whether we got continuous before we were holding it up. We’d bumped – but that was far too quick to be normal. Trying to clear to let Churchill and Magdalene through, I turned to see a Peterhouse crab, and Georgie confirmed 3 of them had suddenly crabbed – and effectively stopped the boat dead.

After some panicky clearing, ending up with the bows between a sign and the bank (we should all listen to Georgie better, me included) we heard what had happened, and 3-cheered Peterhouse. It was a bump, but the ME-Peterhouse chase should not have ended like that. The most depressing bump up I’ve experienced.

We got ourselves off the bank, pulled in properly, and debriefed quickly, before heading back to the boathouse. Correcting people who thought we had been bumped – we didn’t have greenery – we smiled somewhat on the row back but to me it just felt long, and my legs were like jelly for most of it. Back at the boathouse, the Peterhouse girls were thankfully welcoming. The post-race chat in the boat bays made Peterhouse think we were avoiding them, but brownies made up for it. The chocolate was much appreciated to improve my dejected mood.

But now, the focus is on tomorrow, and Tit Hall – we can catch them girls, so lets go for it!

Sally-Anne Bennett, 7, W1

The weather had cleared to an almost-but-not-quite sunny afternoon and the crew members were all in good spirits. We had rowed over and were now at the back of 1st division, determined to make it firmly into said division. Providing enough marshalls had proven to be a bit of a problem, though, and so we were a rower short when pushing off from the boathouse – 2 did an admirable job of trying to respond whenever the cox forgot herself and yelled “three take a stroke!” but we must have looked more than a little funny rowing in an odd, rolling constellation of fours – a bit like a crippled spider with several of the blades pointing in weird directions, and indeed we were laughingly cheered on by onlookers at other boathouses. 

Once spun and ready for the canon, which sounded timid and far away from our far position at the Lock, the mood was one of eager anticipation. It was quite windy on the river but we put down a lot of power at the sound of the third canon and soon heard the first whistle, followed shortly by another, then two. The power-technique trade-off was firmly on the power side but it paid off and by the motorway bridge we had overlap; by another power ten we bumped Selwyn W1.

Our first bump of the season has us chasing Magdalene W1 tomorrow, and, feeling empowered by our swift success and Reana’s race baking, we think we just might bump them too.

Anna Frosig, bow, W1

On our third day of bumps, W1 was really excited. Having the best outcome possible the two previous day, a row over at the top of division two followed by a really quick bump of Selwyn W1 on day two, we were all very optimistic about the forthcoming race.
After being photographed a ridiculous number of the times by Ola, the final canon went off. We pushed hard and it paid off. Very quickly we heard our first whistle. Obviously from this we were encouraged to push even harder, so not long after that we got 2 whistles, meaning only half a length away now.

Pushing through the pain, we did some push for tens, clearly paying off as then we got 3 whistles in a row. Now we knew it was just a matter of time before we would have bumped Magdalene. With Mark counting down the feet to Magdalene and extensive noise from our bank party, we bumped Magdalene very quickly overall. It was great fun, and definitely worth all the hard work! (A video of this awesomeness is available somewhere….)

Now let’s hope our success continues on for the last two days of bumps.
GO MECBC !!!!!!!!!!!

Jess Manning, 2, W1

W1 set off from the boathouse knowing that there was absolutely no possibility of a bump…
because we were at head station and the w1 division had the day off… we’re not that pessimistic!
The row down was strong and we got in some practice starts off the bridge and by the plough. Once
we reached station we had to spin and as usual we were in the most narrow part of the river, so
after spinning at glacial pace in order to preserve the bows, we pulled in and went through our last
minute checks of gates and footplates. Soon enough the 1 minute cannon went off and we were
being pushed out- it takes a lot for a cox to sit quietly whilst Mark chooses your line using bow and
2, luckily he chose a good one, and we were off! My favourite bit of any race, “DRAAAAAAAAAW 1!”
Our start was strong and we kept the pressure up consistently throughout the course. There were
some particularly good lifts onto the reach and out of Grassy corner; along with some very optimistic
whistles from Churchill behind us.

Overall, Churchill only really held station on us and we managed to get away by around 3 lengths by
the finish… one epic row over down… hopefully the only one of these bumps

Bring on the bottom of the top division, WELL HARD!!!! xxx

Georgie Field, cox

We pushed off from the boathouse in bright sunshine and high spirits, but turned our focus to the boat as we rowed up to marshall for our first race against LMBC. We anticipated tough competition and used the warm up to concentrate on technique and prepare ourselves for the race. At our marshalling station, we made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed watching the races come down from the previous division. All too soon, we were told to get back in the boat and prepare ourselves for the final row down to the start.

Nerves ran high as we came to front-stops and lined up side by side with LMBC at the starting line, but as the umpire shouted GO and Georgie began to call the draws, they were quickly forgotten in the heat of the race. We were not as quick off the start as we would have liked, and began to fall slightly behind from an early stage. We were determined not to be beaten that easily though, and gave a huge push into and out of the railway bridge, making the most of our corner, and suddenly finding ourselves no longer three-quarters of a length behind, but drawing level, and, eventually, pulling away from the other boat. Gaining new found energy from the prospect of actually winning, despite having initially fallen so far behind, we pushed hard into the finish, and ended up winning the race by a length. Needless to say, we were all extremely happy, and more than a little surprised that we had managed to pull it back. There was little time to celebrate however, as we were quickly told to spin, and row back up the course to marshall for our second race against Fitz.

Back at our marshalling station, we re-fuelled on Haribo, and tried to forget the fact that, while we had just had a tough race, Fitz would be rowing fresh… About 40 minutes later, after a motivating pre-race talk by Alex, we found ourselves back on the starting line. This time we planned to do a faster start, but as Georgie called the draws, and then the winds, we could already feel ourselves slipping behind, and by the time we were lengthening, Fitz were starting to pull away. Keeping focused and determined, we pushed on through the course, but this time, our push through the railway bridge was not enough, and while we did manage to reduce their lead, we could not pull back the distance we had already lost and over take them.

As it later turned out, however, Fitz went on to come second to Downing in the final, so we went out losing to an excellent boat, and a picnic of Reana’s amazing race baking at the boat house soon dispelled any feelings of disappointment.

Emma Jones (Stroke)

Newnham Shortcourse Race report

First race of Lent term for MECBC’s W1! A deceptively sunny sky left some of us rather chilly –
mistakenly thinking t-shirts would be enough. Though never fear – the row towards marshalling
provided an excellent talent-spotting opportunity and our minds were soon suitably distracted
from the cool breeze. Once marshalled by the P&E however, it became clear that a MECBC puppy
was much higher on our agenda than the men’s crews rowing past. Whist Mollie did lengths of
the boat, passing Haribo from bow to stern, we persuaded Reana to concede that if we beat every
other women’s crew we could get a puppy! With “puppy power” vetoed, the talk then turned to
alternative motivational calls: “legs for a Labrador”; “drive for a Dalmatian”; and “spring back for a
Spaniel”, amongst others.

Remembering what we were actually there for, we began the race under the bridge with 3 draws, 7
winds and quickly lengthened out into a good rhythm. After some ups and downs at the beginning
of term – mostly down on stroke side – we set off to a promising start. Gathering speed and
maintaining a good rating we pushed around the first corner, then rookie 4 caught a crab (sorry!),
but luckily the crew was unfazed and the next 10 strokes were a determined drive to make up for
any lost time. As we reached the reach everyone pushed that little bit more, hoping to make up as
much ground before the expected wall of wind hit us… It never did. The psychological effect clearly
worked though. With that – alongside a powerful “push for Mollie” as we approached the finish –
we came 3rd and beat some men’s crews too! Well hard already, eh? Things are looking good for
Bumps with Selwyn finishing over half a minute slower than us.

Back at the boat house, Jess and I quickly found the nearest radiator as we attempted to warm our
freezing feet. Race baking was particularly exciting with a tin of Banoffee Whoopee Pies and Amy
worried Mark as she started peeling off lycra during the race breakdown.

So, sadly not a puppy this race – maybe we’ll have the same deal next time, Reana? And I’ve
probably missed lots of important actual rowing details – it was all quite exciting and a bit of a blur –
but a great first race with W1!

Evie Hampson, ‘rookie 4’ W1

As always, I got excited and nervous about the race whilst waiting to head to the boathouse, and was in a jittery mood for the fifty minutes we were waiting at the boathouse – particularly whilst waiting for other boats to return and push off so that we could get the boat out. We had the nicest pre-race marshalling I’ve ever had – we were simply waiting on the hard, and didn’t push off until 2 minutes before the race. We had a couple of strokes to take us to the start, then faffed to decide whether we would do a rolling or front stops start – Jess helpfully asking “is this the race now?”.

We went off, into a rolling start and immediately settled into a comfortable rhythm. I thought it was too comfortable, and wondered why Georgie wasn’t asking us to take the rate up. The reason was that, for possibly the first time in term, we had a lovely rhythm and ratio which kept our rating up without being more exhausting than necessary.

I consciously noticed various landmarks, and we seemed to be getting past them fairly quickly, with Georgie’s pushes off bridges and out of corners. It was a rare race with very little coaching from the bank (Mark was feeling incredibly ill and Marina’s voice isn’t very loud) but I think I heard the occasional ‘sharpen the catches’. We had a really nice push through the corners and we were suddenly on the final straight, giving our final push, going under the motorway bridge, nearly at the end, when Georgie shouted “where’s the finish?” which was slightly worrying, but we pushed through until we heard the “wind it down” call.

The marshalling at the end was not as nice as that at the beginning (particularly when we realised that Mark was looking worse after the race than we were), and boats were three deep on the bank before we saw W2 racing along the final straight. We were amazed and excited to discover that they had overtaken 2 boats during the race! Then it was back to tedious marshalling before rowing back to the boathouses, with some of the nicest paddling we’ve had all term.

Back at the boathouse, we enjoyed lots of Reana’s baking – lemon meringue cupcakes! – and debriefed about the race, which mainly consisted of “let’s wait and see the results”. Results were up a few hours later and we’d come 5^th, but importantly had beaten FaT and Caius, and had closed the gap on Downing. Bring on Lent term, and bumping up into the first division!

Sally-Anne Bennett, W1

After having to queue for what seemed like hours, the whole crew were excited to start the race, especially after what seemed to have been the best row down of all term. Our moods were heightened again, after being asked across the river to join Worcester college Oxford later in the Mahal, as they were just starting their race. When we finally got to start our race, Emma set a really good rhythm for us to have a great time. The boat really started to fly as soon as Georgie called for us to take a stroke for different people in the boat. Overall with a time of 10.23, and coming 3rd out of a total of 14, W1 had a really great race. Well done ladies!

Jess Manning, W1

Emma Jones, Stroke

Pushing off from the boat house for the first race of the year, and our first as a crew together, none of us were sure of what sort of result we could expect. We didn’t know what competition we were facing, nor did we even know what it would feel like to do a racing piece the length of the course (2.6km) in our new crew. With last year’s success to live up to however, we all wanted a victory, and we had a focused row up to the start as we prepared to do our best for the race. Being the second boat to arrive at the marshalling station, we had plenty of time to think about the race ahead while enjoying the sunshine. After Mark’s final pre-race chat, and Georgie’s attempts to get our focus in the boat, we began the paddle up to the starting line. On the call from Georgie, we began our wind strokes to bring our rate up to race pace as we passed under the motorway bridge where the course began, and we were off. We settled into a fairly solid rhythm and managed to keep the power up for the length of the race, doing a particularly effective rhythm change and push for ten coming onto the reach. Eleven minutes, twenty two seconds later we crossed the finish line, exhausted, but very happy with our row. When the results were published later in the afternoon, we were delighted to see that our efforts had paid off and that we had won the college W1 category! TANKARDS!! A great start to the new year for MECBC.