Results and reports by Event

M1 had a cracking start to Lent term with two gutsy rows in Head to Head, finishing as the third fastest boat! It was a beautiful, cold, sunny winter day - great conditions for racing. At marshalling, Gripper promised us all a pint for finishing faster than each of Magdalene and Maggie. We gave a big cheer for Seb in the City boat, left a nice large gap between us and Homerton (after our Fairbairns experience with Queens we didn’t want to take any risks), and then we were off. We had a solid race, keeping the rate high throughout and constantly attacking. Feeling satisfied with our first leg, we were hungry for more. We had a less convincing start the second time round and felt the knock of the outflow but within a minute we hit our race rhythm and we were flying. Coming onto the reach, we attacked the rate and held it right to the line. Even before we’d seen the results we were very proud of our efforts. Finishing second was the icing on the cake!! (Originally Cauis had a 30s second penalty for swearing which they’ve since managed to wiggle out of so we’re now back in third.) The real highlights were the Cuthbert we demolished after and, of course, the 9 pints that arrived at our table at Spoons that evening, courtesy of Gripper.

Uploaded Tuesday 7th February, 16:09

The sun was shining as we slowly drifted down towards the start line of the Head to Head race. We were excited to complete the first race of term, although we feared the pain that was upon us. With Stefan’s race plan we started off nicely with our «big 60» down the reach, settling into a strong and steady rhythm which Ani and Ella maintained very well. After that it started being quite painful but Jen’s cheering from the back helped distract from sore legs. Our race back somehow felt lighter - maybe because we knew the end was near. Overall, a nice but somewhat uneventful race; we rowed down, had a nice break in the sun and rowed back. Hoping to come back better and stronger for the next one!

Uploaded Tuesday 7th February, 12:31

Conlan Ellis reports:

M2 braved its first race of the term with a new crew, a mix of ex-novices and remainers from the Michaelmas boat, all rowing together for the first time. Building up to a strong start, we set off at a respectable 32 planning to settle down to 30 or 28 for the majority of the race. This was not to be, and instead of settling down, 32 was held the entirety of the first leg. While it might not have been the cleanest rowing, it definitely was passionate, and with screams down the stretch and one minor crab, M2 finished with 7:40 on the clock.

While re-marshalling, panic struck the boat. It was quickly discovered there would be no race cake. It seems Lent M2 was continuing the legacy of last term's crew, operating solely on the promise of food. Kit-Kats were passed around and Molly bravely offered up slices of her one orange, but half the boat seemed set on a general rowing strike being the only strategy to guarantee cake. Any thoughts of striking were put to the side as we took off during the second leg. Setting off at a reasonable 30, the entire crew could see the chasing boat growing ever closer. Exhausted from the first 2K, we held them off, finishing the second leg in 8:04.22 despite much cleaner rowing.

We finished a respectable 8th out of college second men’s boats. If M2 figures out how to not fly and die, the bumps campaign seems promising.

Uploaded Friday 17th February, 10:42

Our race started with a cheery wait at the P&E, sharing sweets and laughs. However, as soon as we took the rate up to 30 and the horn went signalling the start of our first 2k, someone’s footplates cracked out of place and sent the entire boat into an unsatisfactory kilometre. Totally not the rower’s fault, definitely the single footplate’s fault, for sure. Anyway, we paddled with all our effort down the reach, and after just a bazillion seconds of pure strength, half the boat felt like they couldn’t breathe and the other half was the reason why the first half couldn’t breathe. The first 2k ended with a loud Grip from the bank shouting at us to put the pressure down now, we didn’t realise we hadn’t been doing that, but somehow he did actually get us to lower our spit quite considerably and we finished the first 2k in just 8:35. After a few cries and lots of reassurance from a lovely M1 rower, we went into our second leg a lot less stressed and managed to actually sit the boat! The row home felt much faster and easier than the row down, and we finished a much happier crew than we had been 8 minutes prior.

Uploaded Tuesday 7th February, 12:47