St Catharine's College Boat Club

Bumps races come in many forms. There are the all-too-quick bumps between crews who start at different speeds, there are the rows-over in glorious isolation, and there are the hard-fought, ground-out bumps which are perhaps the most nail-biting to watch. W2's race today was none of these. It was, quite simply, a ridiculously close row-over of epic proportions which will, I'm sure, never be forgotten by those who were there.

Catz had a strong, clean start, quickly pushing Clare Hall W1 away from them. After negotiating some carnage, they found themselves being hunted down by a resurgent Clare Hall, who had so far rowed over every day this week. The gap kept closing, and W2 kept pushing off them, and still the gap closed. We were the last crew to go to top finish, and were pushed every stroke to the line, the margin at the finish being a matter of feet. Huge credit is due to the crew for keeping their heads under such pressure in their first set of bumps. Tomorrow Clare Hall will be back to do battle once more, but the Catz spirit has been set ablaze. I know who I'm backing.

The M2 campaign campaign got off to a storming start on day one. Starting at 4th station and chasing Churchill 2, we got the first whistle after ten strokes, rapidly followed by two whistle, three wistles, and the bump on first post corner. We went in to day two on a high, but with the knowledge that it would be much tougher chasing Eddie's 1. The race got off to a tense start, with all the crews around us staying roughly on station. At grassy Eddie's finally caught up to Emma 2 and bumped out, shortly followed by Hughes Hall catching Churchill behind us, leaving us nothing to do but row over, steadily pushing Clare Hall (started 3 stations behind) into the distance down the reach. Day 3 looks set to be exciting with us starting again on station 3, rowing between Emma and Hughes.

For over half the crew this was their first bumps; cannons, whistles and carnage – not what you find in a normal rowing regatta. With Churchill being fairly inclusive this term, it was hard to gauge the competition that was chasing us on day one. Added to that, the start of the division was paused due to some drama from the LMBC W1, only increasing nerves. After the finally cannon went off there was no hiding the sheer power from the Churchill crew, who gained their first whistle right after the start; not good. With some determination, we began to pull away, and for a moment I believed it would be a re-enactment of Queen’s-vs-Catz-Lent-bumps-2014-row-over. Alas, for Churchill, this pulling away only made them hungrier, and just before first post we were bumped; before the adrenaline had even a chance to fade. Not the best start – but well deserved for Churchill… Revenge bump? TBC

For day two, my spies on the bank actually remembered to turn on the video camera they were carrying, so I can report on W2's race with my own eyes. We had a strong start, but were a little late to settle into their rhythm. Soon after, Jesus began to make steady progress towards our stern, and in our enthusiasm to push away from them, we began to shorten up. After that, the result was rather inevitable, but we managed to row further than day one - a sign of the improvements this crew is still making every outing. Tomorrow we will try and keep our length under pressure, and see what happens!