On Saturday 14th February both W1 and W3 competed in Pembroke Regatta. This was the first race W3 have competed in since becoming seniors at the beginning of the term and as it’s the only regatta race for seniors on the Cam, W1 wanted to race too!

It was an early start for W3, having to marshall at 7:50am but unlike previous  snowy, windy weeks, the weather was calm providing good racing conditions. The girls had been put up against Clare W3 in the first round, a tough opponent, but they knew that if the team kept their timing together and their power switched on they had the ability to do well. They lined up on the start line and waited for the start… “Attention, GO”. We had a strong start and began to gradually pull away from Clare. But they didn’t let us get away from them  and hung on close behind us. After a call from the cox, Elinor for a power 10 off the railway bridge the girls powered across the line half a boat length ahead of Clare.

After spinning and heading back up the reach to the start, we had to take on Jesus W4. Both teams were quick off the start but Jesus started to pull away slightly. Then disaster struck for Jesus; they caught a crab slowing them down. Then there was a brief clash of blades but Lucy/Hughes pulled away from Jesus and continued to power past the bridge and through the last 300m of the course ahead. They were through to the final to face Jesus W3. We knew it was going to be a incredibly tough race but the girls gave it everything they had all the way to the finish. But Jesus were a strong team and got ahead of us early on and maintained their power. Our girls put in a really good performance and didn’t give up, fighting until they crossed the line. Congratulations to all the girls for coming 2nd in the division, it was such a fantastic result and the team put in three great performances.

 

That afternoon, it was time for W1 to race. We got put up against Murray Edwards W1 in the draw; we knew it was going to be a difficult race as Murray Edwards are in the division above us in both Bumps competitions but we remained optimistic. “Attention…Go!” and we were off. We were neck and neck during the start sequence but then quickly they gained half a length on us. Our cox, Gemma Schofield, called for a power 10 and we began gaining on them gradually a little bit each stroke we took. With Gemma’s encouragement we continued gaining on them and we could see that we were next to them for the rest of the race, unable to tell who was ahead. Unfortunately Murray Edwards beat us by just a canvas but we were glad to have been able to give them such a tough race especially with a different crew line up to usual. Well done to everyone who raced in Pembroke Regatta, it was a fantastic performance from the Lucy/Hughes team.

This Friday Lucy/Hughes will begin their Lent Bumps campaign with W2 competing for a place in Bumps in the Getting on Race. Good luck girls!

By Jessica Phillips