St Catharine's College Boat Club

Winter Head to Head is always a good way to kick off a term, with 2km of racing downstream followed by another 2km back upstream. Catz had a strong showing on Saturday, with W1, W2, M1 and M2 all racing.

Even better, the results were pretty good too! Both of the second boats came first in their respective divisions (although unfortunately for W2 not enough crews entered to earn them pots), whilst W1 came 11th and M1 came 8th (beating head of the river Caius along the way).

All in all a strong start to the term. Crews will now be looking to build on these results as they prepare for Lent Bumps in a month's time.

M2 on their way to winning their division

This Michaelmas was highly unusual for Catz as we managed to field not only two, but three senior men's eights.  This immediately put us in unfamiliar waters with no idea what position we should be aiming for.  Winter Head had been a disappointing result and the weeks leading up to Fairbairn's were much more focused and driven.  M2 showed real thirst as our rowing improved consistently week after week, looking more powerful and professional.  A few injuries and a lack of outings the week before left us a little nervous, but when the day came M2 fought off the cold quickly and settled into a strong rhythm.  The M1 boat behind us were incredibly selfish and gave us nothing to push off, leaving us to make ground on Emma ahead by ourselves.  We crossed the finish line feeling as strong as we started and knowing it was a good row, which the results later confirmed.  We placed 4th out of the college 2nd boats, beating several 1st boats in the process.  A fantastic end to the term.

 "It's not supposed to be comfortable, it's supposed to hurt" said Priya, 20 minutes before push-off. Maybe not most encouraging of team talks, but we all agreed that was how it was meant to be. The start though, was strangely confident - we could all feel the effects of the cold after a long wait for marshalling (that's Fairbairns for you) but something clicked as we passed the flagpole, and felt the first icy touches of Chris Q's racing back-splash. The race plan, in all its glorious detail, was executed to perfection, the 6 focusses demolished one after the other, with an unremitting efficiency that belied the weary bodies producing it. All in all, this was by far our best row of the term, and the final surge for the line added a touch of class to a relentless performance. (And yes, it did hurt...).

While we weren't quite good enough to beat the lightweights, we did find to our pleasant surprise that we'd beaten Caius M1, Queens M1 and FaT M1, to come in an excellent 7th place. It was particularly nice to note that the cluster of colleges which finished seconds ahead of us at Winter Head were now several seconds behind (the inches we need...). M1 can be incredibly proud of themselves this term - a huge investment of effort definitely paid off, and I look forward to seeing more of the same next term. 

I'll quickly start with some perspective... Catz has only fielded two or three M2s in Michaelmas since 2000, and whilst we haven't managed to locate earlier archives, it's fair to say it has been a long time since we've had 3 Senior Men's boats in Michaelmas term. This is a great testament to the current strength and immense keeness of the boat club.

Now onto Fairbairns. After some confusion before the start, we had to wind up quickly, and were soon underway. We held a good rate throughout, and whilst the power that saw us match M2 at Winter Head earlier in term was slightly diminished, we held strong and had a consistent race. We finished in a very respectable 16 minutes, 58 seconds. Whilst we certainly weren't the top boat on the Cam, it was easily quick enough to beat the three other M3s as well as a number of M1s, and to be (temporarily) recorded as fastest Women's VIII due to a minor admin oversight!

Overall we had a really fun term, and I'm sure I can speak for the crew in saying - bring on Lent!

Both the first and the last race before Fairbairns, Winter Head was a solid performance from the W1 IV. Rowing the course at an unflagging rate 32 they finished in a time of 11:57, placed more or less exactly in the middle of the field. (20th out of 36 IVs.) Particular credit should be given to the stroke, Alex, for maintaining her usual metronome-like rythmn despite a shoulder injury.

This puts us in an exciting position for Fairbairns. We'll be hoping to use our Winter Head race as a solid platform to build from.