Both NW1 and NW2 took to the water yesterday for their first race on the River Cam. After only being in the set crews for 2 weeks, the girls had worked hard to master race starts, timing and balance – now was the time to put it altogether at high rate.

Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely horrific – with icy cold winds and torrential rain, the crews had their work cut out during the racing and the waiting in between. One of the most important things though for the race is deciding on the costumes. NW2 had gone for characters from Winnie the Pooh, complete with the cox as a jar of honey. NW1 had opted for Noah’s Ark, with frog, elephant and zebra all making an appearance. There were, however, the compulsory additions of waterproofs, which were sopping after only an hour in the rain.

 

NW2 were up first starting of against Emmanuel NW2. Despite clashing blades early on, the crew managed to disentangle themselves from the mess and were powering down the course. It was a nail biting race but our bow ball just made it across the line first, meaning the girls were up to row again in the quarter-finals. Next up was Kings NW2 and after a strong start, Hughes/Lucy were gaining a comfortable lead to cross the finish line with 4 lengths to spare. Then it was on to the semi-finals, and after being out in the rain and the cold for nearly 3 hours,, the conditions were taking their toll – teeth were chattering, arms were shaking and hands were reddening. With only two more races left, the crew took up position for the 3rd time that day against Jesus NW1. Although NW2 gave it everything they had, Jesus powered away. For third place, it was us against Murray Edwards NW1. Again it was a tight race, but a combination of the terrible weather, and losing a footplate, meant that Murray Edwards won by a length. They came fourth out of 16 other boats in the division which was a great result!

NW1 division were next to race. They had a tough first opponent – Darwin NW1 had won the Women’s final at Queens’ Ergs last week. After a strong start the two crews were neck and neck, and it was only till Darwin caught a crab (where the blade goes behind the rower and is left dragging in the water) that Lucy/Hughes were able to finally pull ahead. Darwin tried to catch up with Power 10 after Power 10 but our boat just made it across the finish line and were awarded the win. After a little bit of a wait for the next round, NW1 were up against Emmanuel NW1. Unfortunately the River Gods had a sense of humour and there was another crab, this time in our boat, as well as another foot-plate issue. But the crew still kept close by Emma and only lost by a few metres.

Both crews won at least one race and were only knocked out by a crew that went onto the final – Jesus NW1 won the W2 division, whilst Emmanuel went onto the final of the W1 division. The girls rowed really well and with Clare Novices and Fairbairns left, there’s plenty of time for more racing glory!

 

So Tuesday 11th saw our novices taking to the ergs for their first competition. Hughes Sprints, our own miniature version of Queens Ergs, had helped us in the selected 2 crews of 8 women to compete.

NW1 were up first with their division at 18:00. After a delay of 15mins, and a spot of drizzling rain, we were going into the Hall to the Drum and Bass of the speaker system and making our way to erg 9. With our first rower ready at front-stops we waited for the ‘Attention…GO!’ The girls did really well, coming 5th in their division with an average time of 1.55. 4 which was only a second behind the crews in 3rd and 4th place. We had to wait for the last NW1 division to be won before we knew if they had made it through to the final…and they did!

Whilst NW1 recovered with chocolate and pasta, it was time for the NW2 to show their mettle. They too put in a good performance coming 8th out of 14 boats in their division with an average time of 2.05. One of our rowers got a time of 1.56.4 which was only 3 seconds off the fastest girl in the division.

After a long wait it was time for NW1 to line up once again; this time for the final. Even though they’d raced nearly 4 hours before, the adrenalin was still pumping, and they finished in 10th position with a time of 1.55.8 Between all of the bottom 6 crews, there was only 0.9 of a second in it, so it really was very tight! There were 30 women’s crews that competed in the NW1 division, so to beat 20 of those crews is a job well done indeed!

Bring on Emma Sprints!

After the success of Lent Bumps, the pressure was now on – with a few changes in line-ups for both W1 and W2, particularly the return of Stella Lempidaki, who had trailed for the Women’s Blue Boat, along with Izzy Vvyvyan who competed at the Boat Race, training was back to full steam, and the 5.30am alarms were set for the beautiful morning outings. We were also lucky enough to have Jonas Schwenck, a rower at St Edmunds College, agree to coach our W2 boat, and he really put them through their paces! Both crews entered the Champs Eights (1.4km) race and both won their division by quite some margin –prize tankards all around! W2 easily completed the Getting-On Race, securing themselves a place in the fourth division. With both crews ready to go out and grab some greenery, Bumps was shaping up to be an exciting week! W2 just missed Blades as they were given a technical rowover on the second day. Despite rowing over on the first day, W1 continued their winning streak with four bumps, making us eligible for College Blades, as well as securing a strong place in Division Two. It was fantastic to have such great support from the College and Alumni on the final day as we rode past with the Lucy and Hughes flags flying high once again. We were also winners of the Pegasus Cup for the most successful Club in May Bumps.

It has really been a fantastic term and year for the whole Club. Congratulations to everyone who competed, and a big thank to all those who came to cheer us on. We are sorry to have to lose so many wonderful rowers, particularly Kate Stevens, previous President, and Erin Townsend, previous Captain. We wish all those leaving the best in whatever walks of life they know decide to go into, and we hope to see you at the next Boat Club Dinner.

Unfortunately, there was little race practice to be had over the term, as with heavy rain and strong winds, two races were cancelled. With work going onto the Green Dragon Bridge, training was also impinged by the ‘one college boat’ rule which meant that only one boat from each college was allowed on the river in the morning between lighting down and the start of lectures.

W2 competed in the Getting-On race, but after having so few outings, were unable to qualify. W1 started off at position 11 in Division Two.

Day One: The sun came out just before we left the Boathouse, with a rainbow for a spot more good luck. Stella and Hannah (our awesome Bank party-ers) were there with words of encouragement, talking us through the start and what to do in whatever situation we may find ourselves, whether that be bumping or getting bumped…but whatever happened we were to keep calm and composed. The cannons all gave us a bit of a jolt; time to get our heads in the game, focus on that spot in the person in front of us, and be IN the boat. Slowly we were pushed out and Michelle was taking taps with bow and 2 right down to the 4…3…2… AND WE WERE OFF! Our flying start made us close down on Jesus W2 and before we’d even finished the sequence, we started hearing whistles from the bank…were they for us, were they for Jesus, were they for Newnham who were chasing? Michelle called for a Power 10 and we got contact within the first 500m of the race!

Day Two: The stream was really strong and we did not have the greatest start…but luckily it was stronger than Jesus II, who ended up crashing into the bank. With no one chasing us, we could just concentrate on pushing on for the bump. We were gaining straight off the start, but so were Sidney on Emma. Michelle called for a power 10 and we were giving it everything we could…whistles were going off everywhere but who were they for? Then we were coming around First Post Corner, and their cox took a poor line…in Michelle’s words ‘We were going to catch them in the corner’ which we duly did! Sidney Sussex I had fallen – now it was on for Emmanuel II

Day Three: This was out toughest day so far – Emmanuel were a strong crew and they would be out to get the bump on Lady Margaret as soon as they could and all due credit to them the almost did. We had a nice clean start and were powering up on Emmanuel before too long but so were they on Lady Margaret. Whistles and shouts from our Bank party told us that we were all so close to getting that bump in. Michelle took an amazingly tight corner…it was make or break time…with yet another Power 10 our efforts were rewarded with a sudden halt! We had just managed to bump Emmanuel whilst they had an overlap on Lady Margaret. It was a very close run thing!

Day Four: Despite the original grey skies, it was a glorious day and the spectators were a huge boost to our confidence. The calls for ‘GO LUCY-HUGHES’ gave encouragement but did not distract us from the task in hand – Blades were at hand but the flag could not be flown until the whistles were blown. Lining up, this time in position 8, we did our final check throughs, our little fist bumps and had our final team chat from Hannah. The nervous excitement of what we could potentially achieve, that had been there every single day, still came and then it was the final countdown…5,4,3…GUN! Emma gained quite quickly in the first length but with Lauren’s expert steering we were dead centre and going for LMBC II. We desperately listened out for whistles, hoping against hope that each stroke we took brought us closer to that final bump…one whistle…two…then continous…but no instruction to ‘Hold it up”; then there it was!
It was fantastic to hear ‘Well done Lucy/Hughes’ reminding us all that, although we may be two of the smaller, lesser well-known colleges, on the river, we can hold our own with the likes of Lady Margaret, Emmanuel, Sidney Sussex and Jesus.

Not only were we awarded Blades, but we were the only women’s crew, apart from First and Third as Head of the River, to achieve them. We also reached the top of the Marconi Table, with a score of 48 (http://bumps.camfm.co.uk/?summary. However, we were not eligible to be awarded the Cup as we didn’t have two boats in the Bumps. It was a fantastic achievement, particularly as half our boat  consisted of novices who had begun rowing only a few months previously. Congratulations to the whole crew:

Coach: Hannah Spry
Cox: Michelle Low (and Lauren Magilton for the final day)

Stroke: Sarah Roe
7:  Elinor George (President)
6: Catherine Quinn (Captain)
5: Sally Mole
4: Ces O’Hanlon
3: Prue Hay
2: Christina Woolner
Bow: Jessie Ingle

 

On Saturday, we entered Newnham Short Course which is a 2km race from the Motorway Bridge to the Railway Bridge (the same as the Bumps course). After our success last week, we knew that we could perform well, and that doing two 2k, let alone 1 was something that we could blast through. Unfortunately, the wind too was a little blasty, with speeds up to 20km/h and with the weekly rainfall, the stream was very strong. The row down was lovely,and we were sailing through the bends…of course, when we would actually be racing we would be rowing against it all! Marshalling was even more interesting than it normally is, with boats here, there and everywhere, with the odd near decapitation and bow pair rowing just to keep us stationary!

Although this was only a time trial, there were still boats in front and behind – Jesus W1 were behind us and Caius W1 in front (so some tough competition). But we were equal to the task! Michelle, our cox, coped amazingly well in the difficult conditions, as the stream made steering very difficult. Against wind and stream we powered through, knowing that on the Reach, with no cover, the wind would be even worse…to such an extent in fact that there were definite waves! We knew what was coming, and with Jesus gaining on us at Ditton corner, the race was on to push ourselves away (all good Bumps practice)! The whole way up the Reach they kept gaining and gaining but we weren’t ready to give up so with more calls for ‘Power on the legs’ from Michelle and encouraging ‘You’ve got this’ from Hannah on the bank, we managed to put in a last surge and hold off Jesus, as well as making up 3 lengths on Caius.

Out of all the W1 boats we came 8th out of 20, beating Caius, Catz, Wolfson and Girton, with a time of 10.32. The winners were First and Third with a time of 9.53, and the subsequent boats were all with 15 secs of our time so another really good result to take us into Robinson Head on Friday. 

After the slight chaos of marshalling, we set off for a first 2k. Luckily we had the wind and stream in our favour but that didn’t stop our coach, Hannah Spry, from reiterating the importance of the lock-on and not letting ourselves be fooled by how fast the boat felt like it was moving. With our cox, Michelle Low, calling for ‘Strong Legs’ and ‘Power On’, we finished after making up several lengths on LMBC – now Hannah wanted us to catch them!

After a quick spin around and some much need Haribo Super-Mix, we were ready for the race homewards – this one would be much harder against the stream and the wind but Hannah reminded us all of the importance of early squaring and sharp catches to send us home. Having warmed up from our first race, and with LMBC in our sights, we headed off and in no time at all we’d past First Post Corner, got through the Gut and were powering on to The (never-ending) Reach. It was at this point that we had to forget the pain that was in our legs and imagine a new pair that would take us across that finish line. All along The Reach, we were gaining, with Hannah and Michelle telling us how close we were…by the end we were only 3 feet from LMBC (definitely good practice for Bumps)!

The waiting for published times seemed to take forever but by 10.30pm we knew that not only had we won our division with an overall time of 16.55 but had also beaten St. Catz, Newnham, Jesus and Kings W1, as well as beating the winner of Mays Div 2 category by 10 secs!

It was really wonderful to celebrate Speedwell’s first victory with Dame Veronica, who donated her last year, today. I look forward to bringing you more good news over the next few weeks – with Newnham Head, Robinson Head and Pembroke Regatta on the horizon before Bumps, it’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks…STAY TUNED!

So it’s been an eventful week for our novice crews! Not only Emma Sprints on Sunday but the first round of Clare Novices today as well.

Sunday saw our 80s W1 sprint to victory in their first two races but were pipped to the post in their third race to come 4th in their division. W2 had just as much fun in the drama that was their race which resulted in a broken rigger, a blade coming out of a gate and their bank party having a collision with a cyclist coming in the opposite way! But the fun did not end there, as Newnham kindly accepted the offer of racing 6s.

An eventful weekend was then backed up with a nail biting race today. Despite having all rowed only once before (i.e. this morning) our girls overcame the poor steering of the Magdalene cox (not once but twice), a restart and two crabs to finish several boat lengths ahead of their opposition!

Looking good girls and can’t wait to cheer you on on Saturday! If you’d like to come down and join us, our first race against Kings is happening at 11.20am. Till then…