Here are results from the May term of racing, including full race reports from the term.
We arrived at the boathouse today expecting either to bump Peterhouse early on or to have to row over with no one chasing us if they caught Selwyn. In fact, as so often happens in Bumps, the scenario that developed was the only one we had not planned for. Our start was good and apparently we managed to take a little off Peterhouse in the first minute. However, as Peterhouse were gaining on Selwyn we had to add unexpected pushes in an attempt to gain rapidly on Peterhouse. Unfortunately the pushes were frantic and served to unsettle us rather than make us go any faster. Our rowing after the start was generally inefficient and as a result we barely gained on Peterhouse during the early part of the race.
Our lack of composure and panicked rowing was further aggravated about two minutes into the race when we were instructed to go wide round Grassy Corner because a crew was stationed on the inside after bumping out. This was an impossible situation for our cox, who had lined us up to cut the corner, and suddenly we found ourselves clashing blades with a boat stopped on the outside of the bend. We came within a few inches of getting properly stuck on the bank, but fortunately disaster was averted. As we passed the boats that had bumped out on Grassy we were surprised to see that they were not Peterhouse and Selwyn, which meant that we were still racing to catch Peterhouse.
Although after the Grassy incident Peterhouse had managed to open up a comfortable lead on us, we were gradually starting to build a solid rhythm as we realised that we faced a long race. Despite having gone off very hard at the start, we still had enough energy to put in a good push coming onto the Reach. Urged on by our small but vocal band of supporters on the towpath, we were finally starting to row well. The first 'toot' from the bank, signalling that we were within a length of Peterhouse, came before the Railway Bridge. We responded well by further picking up the boat speed, taking the rating to thirty-nine and sustaining it even though we had already been racing hard for almost eight minutes! Although our neatness wavered a little in the latter stages of the race, we came within half a length of Peterhouse with a couple of hundred metres to go. By this point Peterhouse had given up all hope of bumping Selwyn, who crossed the line about two lengths ahead of them, and were concentrating on holding us off. Unluckily for us, we had left ourselves too much distance to make up after the chaotic first quarter of our race and so we failed to catch them in time.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, we are confident that Peterhouse are slower than us and that we should have the whole course to catch them. They seem to have a fast start although they fade as the race goes on. Nevertheless, we will have to be careful of a vengeful LMBC II, who will once again be starting behind us after having dispensed with Downing II in even less time than we managed to do so.
Started position 17th in Division 4, result: Bumped Sidney Sussex II
Weather conditions were quite different to the first day of racing, and we found ourselves with the prospect of a tailwind as we tried to notch our second bump of the week. A smooth row to our station set us up well for what would hopefully be a quick and comprehensive bump. After a short delay, the gun went and we were straight into our start. The balance was wayward at times and some scrappy bladework didn't give us the best start, but the 'M2 power' kept us well in the hunt. We pulled quickly away from Christ's IV behind us and entered the wash of Sidney. We were less than a length behind by the first corner, and had achieved overlap after a second set of power 10 strokes. The Sidney cox conceded and we promptly held it up and pulled in to the bank feeling happy with the performance. We would have preferred a cleaner row but a bump is the ultimate aim and we easily achieved this before reaching the motorway bridge.
After another simple bump, we are looking to push on in the remaining two races in the week and climb the division.
Since our demoralising defeat to LMBC II two and a half weeks' ago, M1 has improved steadily during outings. Although perhaps we left it til rather late to start rowing properly as a crew, which meant that we needed five outings over the five days before the start of Bumps, we were all aware that we could catch Downing II on the first day and, if we rowed well, we could do so before LMBC II caught us. The paddle down to the start was quite poor, possibly as a result of everyone feeling extremely nervous, yet we still managed to put in a couple of fairly decent practice starts. The actual start was good and we settled at rating thirty-nine which, despite being higher than planned, felt less rushed than when we had lost to LMBC II rowing at thirty-one. There was plenty of aggression in the boat, though we only managed to translate part of this into effective boat speed with the rest becoming lost in some untidy bladework.
Coming into First Post Corner we heard the call that we were within one length of Downing II; at the same time the LMBC II bank party over-optimistically started telling their crew that they were within a length of us. Our cox took a very good line round First Post Corner which further closed the gap between us and Downing II. We did not take anything off Downing II on Grassy Corner although LMBC II's wide line effectively ended any hope they may have had of catching us. It came as a pleasant surprise to find that our push coming onto Plough Reach actually managed to lift the boat speed for the first time this term and we consequently drew to within half a length of Downing II. By this point our rowing was slightly tidier and the crew ahead were doubtlessly beginning to feel the pressure, forcing them to go a little wide round Ditton Corner. Helen meanwhile steered us round brilliantly and we got the 'bump' within a few strokes of coming onto the Reach.
Tomorrow we face Peterhouse, who we narrowly beat in a side-by-side race earlier this term. However, we will have to go off very hard as they are chasing a slow Selwyn boat, leaving us potentially as little as three minutes to catch them. If we keep our determination from today and replace our nervousness with a little composure we should stand a good chance of bumping them.
Started head of division 5, result: Rowed over
Started sandwich boat bottom of division 4, result: Bumped First and Third V
On a beautiful day, the crew of M2 arrived at the boathouse knowing that the first day of the May Bumps could be the most crucial. We had to row at the head of division 5, and should we manage to row over, we had to capitalise and bump into the bottom of division 4 - for fear of having two races a day on Thursday and beyond.
The row to the start of the first race was a little nervy, yet our second practice start was extremely efficient, and we found ourselves in a confident mood when spinning at the 1st station on the course. The last checks were made and within a few minutes the one minute gun had sounded. James pushed us out superbly, the start gun sounded, and after a powerful start we were already round first post corner. We were being chased by a reasonably strong Christ's III boat, yet they failed to make any ground through the gut. We opened up a healthy lead into the plough reach, where we could watch the racing behind us. Christ's IV were catching their own Christ's III boat, and by the time we were half way up the Long Reach, they had bumped each other out. At the time we were 9 lengths clear, and continued to the finish with no other boats in sight.
After spinning and waiting for the call for the next division, we rowed down to Baitsbite lock for the start of the 4th division. Another immaculate push out from James and we were quickly into our stride. We had an equally powerful start, yet it felt scrappy due to the wash produced by the boats up ahead. We were chasing First and Third (Trinity) V, who appeared strong, with an even slower Sidney Sussex II in front. We had to bump quickly in order to consolidate our earlier row over. By the end of our 24 stroke start, we were only a length behind. Stuart our cox took us perilously close to the first corner, and in doing so he had gained another half length on FaT V. After consecutive power 10s we got overlap just before motorway bridge, and the bump was made shortly afterwards when Stuart directed our bowball straight into the back of the FaT cox! A good solid row and King's II was back in the fourth division.
Sunday was a miserable day – it was cold, drizzled rain non stop, and slightly windy to add to the chill factor. We arrived way too early (2pm, for 3pm marshalling) at the boathouse by accident, so we saluted the sun (yoga) a few times. We then marshalled at 3, only to find the races were running half an hour late anyway. At that point we did the only logical thing – we sheltered under a tree to play the mafia game. Joey and Chris proceeded to act very guiltily, and got executed early as they deserved. Dave on the other hand was harder to catch. We also did some synchronised jumps, and discovered that wearing plastic bags on our heads does keep the rain off, and the heat in well (even if we do look like a crew of hobos!)
Extraordinarily, the man on the bank who had supposedly been umpiring our race showed no interest in the clash of blades and proclaimed that Peterhouse had won by half a length. After speaking to the umpire on the finish line, who was informed by the start marshal that Peterhouse had indeed entered our water, we were told that the outcome of the race would be reversed. We paddled back to the start expecting to race LMBCII in the semi-final. Peterhouse, meanwhile, had apparently not been informed about the umpire's decision and nor had the marshal on the bank, who sent them down to the start line to race LMBCII instead of us. Farcical scenes ensued as the race organisers attempted to unravel the mess and we ended up having to race Peterhouse for a second time. We did not row much better this time and consequently found ourselves struggling to get ahead of them, though we opened up a lead of half a length in the last two hundred metres. Peterhouse were understandably unhappy at losing the re-row!
About an hour after we had originally expected to meet LMBCII, we finally met them in our third race of the afternoon. Our start was scrappy and it did not help that our line was rather indirect, though in retrospect that was probably the least bad part of the race. We were surprised to find ourselves a length down after only a minute to a crew that we had beaten by over half a minute a in the Head-to-Head a fortnight ago. Given our abysmal timing, it was hard to judge how hard everyone was trying. Our technique was sloppy, the rhythm virtually non-existent, the determination feeble, the pushes insipid, and so we deservedly lost by an embarrassing two lengths. It's undoubtedly very worrying to have lost by such a large margin to the crew that will be chasing us in the Bumps. However, depending on how we respond to this defeat during our outings over the next two weeks, we will hopefully be able to look back on the outcome of this race as a timely wake-up call rather than as an alarm bell that we chose to ignore.
For the fourth time this week, we pushed off from our boathouse in the rain hoping that the sun would emerge for our race. Given that we had done some of our best rowing so far this term during a downpour a few days earlier, the gloomy weather was perhaps not such a bad omen after all. The early start time, however, did seem to pose more of a problem as we started the first leg of the Head to Head rather sleepily. After a mediocre standing start the rating settled around thirty-two, dropping to thirty-one at one point and rising slightly in response to our cox's calls. We were helped along by a very gentle tailwind and crossed the line at the end of the first leg not feeling as tired as we should. For the return leg, we resolved to keep the rating higher by trying to row more neatly. To a certain extent, we improved a little on the way back; we enjoyed a fairly decent piece of rowing as we came under the railway bridge, before the rhythm fell apart again for the last twenty strokes. It was disappointing that our pushes were generally ineffectual, serving only to lift the boat speed marginally for the duration of the burst. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the effort and willingness to push ourselves hard is present and if we manage to tidy up the technical eccentricities that plague each of our strokes in a variety of ways we are bound to go very fast indeed.
It would be untruthful to pretend that we rowed well today, yet it is reassuring that we still managed to beat LMBCII, who are starting ahead of us in the Mays. In fact, we were the fastest crew overall with a total time of eighteen minutes and thirty-six seconds, and were rewarded with some attractive glass tankards. We beat a town crew into second place by nine seconds and were a comfortable thirty-three seconds faster than LMBCII. The improvement in our rowing during the second leg was reflected in the larger margin by which we beat the opposition on the way back, though in the Bumps we will not have the luxury of a second leg to redeem ourselves if we fail to row well at the first attempt.
Full results are available under the "results" section at http://www.srcf.ucam.org/ncbc/.
Having lost our talismanic American strokeman and made two other changes to the crew, the Head of the Cam provided us with a good opportunity to test the potential of our new-look M1 and discover roughly where we stand in relation to the crews around us in the Mays. Going into the race we had managed a couple of pieces where the rate was around thirty-three and the boat was moving well, although our timing and balance was not yet at the standard that we had become accustomed to at the end of last term. We aimed to race at 34, which seemed quite ambitious though not an entirely unrealistic target.
Off the start we wound over our customary seven and settled at a comfortable thirty-six. For the first couple of minutes of the race we were catching together, the boat felt relatively light and we had a fair amount of cover. Our first burst coming into First Post Corner was noticeable though perhaps not as effective as we would have liked. Helen, our cox, had evidently lost none of her sharpness over the holidays as she steered us brilliantly through the Gut, taking us within a few inches of the inside of Grassy Corner. Her vocabulary of calls is also expanding healthily, although on this occasion by the halfway mark our increasingly sloppy rowing was prompting her to make so many technical calls that she forgot to call the burst we had planned!
Throughout the second part of the race the rating fluctuated; Chris, our new strokeman, would manage to lift it for a few strokes, reaching thirty-five at one point, only for it to gradually slip. Nevertheless, we finished in a good time of nine minutes and twelve seconds, which placed us seventh out of all the college crews. In the coming weeks we will need to improve our technique, especially our timing at the catch, as well as our fitness so that by the time of Bumps we are able to race sustainably at thirty-six. Results can be found here.