Raced over a series of knockout races in a chasing format the Foster Fairbain Pairs are one of only two university organised
pairs events (the other being the Magdalene Silver Pairs). Fresh from CULRC reserve duty ANdy Twigg teamed up with myself in the
hope that our combined experience would give us a good chance of a win.
Monday
The first race went according to plan, dispatching a significantly slower Christ's pair by 53 seconds. We felt that the row was quite
smooth for the first part but got slightly worse coming round into the reach. However 53 seconds is a long way and we were not in too much
danger of losing. This was despite some inventive steering through the gut to avoid the barges involved in the towpath resurfacing work.
Tuesday
A further improvement on yesterdays performance meant that the second string Trinity pair was knocked out in a reasonably comfortable
fashion. However the head wind that kicked up during the race made the rowing much harder, especially in the reach, where again our
technique suffered. A positive was the steering, or was that the lack of barges.....
Wednesday
Having reached the semi-final we now faced a strong and well faniced Corpus pair. A good start and technical improvements made following
yesterdays row allowed us to stay in contention for the first half of the race, and the honours wer about even going into Ditton Corner.
Alas at this point disaster struck. A combination of a steering error and the high wind forced us right to the outside of the corner, losing
us valuable time (we later learnt that this had been the point when Corpus realised they might have a good chance of a win). After this
we never really recovered and lost by an official (and somewhat exaggerated in our opinion) 12 second margin.
Both the Men's and the Women's 1st VIII's were in action in the Cambridge City organised Head to Head race. This twice yearly race
is two head courses back to back, with only a brief break to turn around in the middle. The results were encouraging for King's with
W1 finishing 2nd in their divison and M1 winning their division and beating many 1st Division crew in the process.
M1's win is more remarkable due to the fact that they won their division in both of last years race as well. Sadly the pennants are
not that exciting, and identical!
The results can be found on the CCRC website. However they are rather unhelpfully
orgainsed by start order.
With various mambers of the crew unavailable a slightly scratch M1 crew was taken to Bedford, one of the biggest one day regattas in the
region. Entered into college eights the crew had a slightly dissapointing day, failing to win any races:
Race 1 - vs LMH Oxford: Starting on the outside King's found getting going was a little difficult and only really hit their stride
after about 300-400m. At this point about a length had been lost to LMH but on finding a rhythm King's pulled back slightly on the outside
of the corner. Sadly however the crew was unable to find a killer blow (and indeed made a bit of a mess of pushing for home) and lost by a
length.
Race 2 - row over: Churchill had scratched, meaning that a row over was all that was required. It did give a chance to practice starting
and the first minute of the race. This went much better than in the previous race and was only slightly spoiled by a crab while rowing out
the remaining distance.
Race 3 - vs Pembroke Cambridge: The start and the row in general was much more accomplished and tidier than the previous two races, but Pembroke
proved too strong pulling away down the whole length of the course to win by a length and a quarter.
The full results are on the
regatta website
A new event to the Cambridge race calendar for 2004 has been carried on this year with great success. Running from the Plough to the
Pike and Eel (I will never think of it as the Penny Ferry) it has the added bonus of prizes of beer and prizes for interesting starts.
Both M1 and M2 entered the event this year. M1 had what felt like a good row, but were dissapointed to finish 5th in the division. M2 had
a good first race, and 4th place in their division bodes well for bumps.
May Bumps 2005
15/06/05 - 18/06/05
King's have had a very successful May Bumps this year - with the Women's First VIII bumping four times to earn their blades, and secure a place in the First Division for the first time in KCBC history! The Men's First VIII was also very successful, moving up three places. Both the men's and women's second boats finished the Bumps level with their starting positions, while the men's third boat had an eventful week but unfortunately ended up two places lower than their starting position. Congratulations to all the crews who took part!
The marquee on First Post Corner was also a big success, with King's alumni and students alike enjoying the fizz and strawberries and the chance to mingle while watching the racing - and we very much hope to hold a similar event next year!
Getting-On Race
The Men's 3rd VIII, also known as the self-proclaimed "Beer Boat" and consisting of a mixture of rowers of various levels of experience, successfully rowed in the Getting-On Race to earn a place in division M6.
Day 1 Results, 15/06/05
M3: Bumped St. Edmund's II. A good start for a mixture of bumps novices and ex-M1 rowers saw a somewhat lacking Eddies III taken down by First Post. However CCAT II overbumped Eddies II to start ahead of M3 tomorrow. Should be an interesting one!
W2: Rowed over. A row which has been described as "the best by a King's 2nd Women's boat in a number of years" was sadly not rewarded with a bump, but with boats coming down one would hope it will only be a matter of time.
M2: Bumped (technical) by Selwyn III. Somewhat of a disaster, after gaining to within a canvas of First and Third IV ahead one of the bank party shouted to hold it up. The reasoning for this was not totally clear, but the subsequent mayhem meant that M2 had a technical bump given against them. Hopefully this can be rectified tomorrow.
W1: Bumped Emmanuel II. A great row, "the best I have seen" according to Roger. W1 caught Emma II with relatively little trouble, and are still on course for reaching the first division.
M1: Bumped Emmanuel II. Having gained all the way down first post reach (to nearly overlap) someone on the bank shouted "hold it up". So we did. Then we realised it wasn't anyone important so we started rowing again and bumped around grassy corner. Unlike M2 the boat behind got nowhere near us while we were stopping and therefore we were able to carry on.
Day 2 Results, 16/06/05
M3: Overbumped by Magdalene IV. In a do or die tactic M3 decided to go hard for something knowing that it was likely that the boat ahead was too fast to catch over a long distance (having overbuped yesterday). Sadly a lack of stamina showed through and M3 got overbumped down to the bottom of the river. This does leave them with a repeat of Day 1 tomorrow, and hence hopefully another easy bump.
W2: Bumped Emmanuel III. Another good row showed that the training has paid off as W2 bumped Emma III. They are now faced with a repeat of day 1 and therefore might stuggle tomorrow.
M2: Rowed over. A good controlled rowover has setup a rematch for day 1 tomorrow, hopefully history will almost repeat and M2 will finally get the bump they deserve.
W1: Rowed over. Sadly for W1 Darwin could not hold off Queens' long enough to give them the chance of a bump. With Darwing falling to Queens' there should be an easy bump for tomorrow, and then still the possibility of Division 1, with 2 bumps on Saturday.
M1: Rowed over. After a bad start and not a great first post reach we didn't gain much on Catz 2 who bumped Corpus pretty quickly. With little threat from behind we settled into a poor rowover which merely annoyed everyone. Tomorrow we are planning on rowing better, mind you we said that yesterday!
Day 3 Results, 17/06/05
M3: Bumped St. Edmund's III.
W2: Rowed over.
M2: Bumped 1st and 3rd IV.
W1: Bumped Darwin.
M1: Bumped Corpus.
Day 4 Results, 18/06/05
M3: Bumped by St. Edmund's III. Final result: Down 2.
W2: Bumped by Fitzwilliam II. Final result: No change in position.
M2: Rowed over. Final result: No change in position.
W1: Bumped Queens', then St. Catharine's, to earn a place in the First Division. Final result: Up 4, Blades awarded.
M1: Bumped St. Catharine's II. Final result: Up 3.