St Catharine's College Boat Club

W1 came into the final day of bumps knowing that this was our last chance to bump Queens this year. After a rollercoaster of a week full of drama, re-rows, and soul destroying near bumps, we were going to give it everything we had.

We had the added pressure of a strong Kings crew behind us who we knew from sparring were of similar speed to us, and had bumped LMBC just before the railway bridge the day before. To complicate matters further, in front of was Queens was Clare who were on for spoons, but who promised us that they would do everthing in their power to hold off Queens long enough for us to get our bump.

Off the start it took us longer to get our first whistle on Queens than on previous days, but around grassy we soon made it two whistles. Around ditton Kings were getting perilously close to us, and even had overlap for a few strokes. We did not let this worry us and we made our move and pushed away from Kings. We got our three whistles on Queens at the top of the reach which spurred us on to gain overlap on the reach.

We FINALLY convincingly bumped Queens down the long reach not only with contact between our 2's blade and Queen's stern, but Helly actually grabbed the stern of their boat so the Queens cox was forced to reluctantly concede. We had worked so hard for this bump over three days and four races that it felt as if we had won blades! This bump moved W1 into the top 10 of Division 1 for the first time since 2010.

Credit to the Queens girls for some extremely close racing this week. They are a mentally strong crew who could easily have given up and conceded the bump on multiple occassions. Massive well done (and thanks!) also to Clare for holding off Queens long enough for us to get our bump, and avoiding spoons in the process.

I would like to say a massive thank you and well done to W1 for being such an amazing crew to train and race with. Thanks also to our fantastic subs some of whom stepped in at the very last minute, we definitely could not have done it without you. Finally, thanks to our coach, Georgie, whose ability to pick us up in the face of all the unexpected circumstances we had to deal with was crucial in spurring us on to get that bump.

Rowed over.

Carnage is the best word to describe the M4 division on Thursday. Catz went into the race justifiably nervous, given that the Emmanual M4 crew 2 boats ahead were well known to be, shall we say, dodgy... In a stroke of good fortune for Catz, Emma incredibly managed to bump soon after the motorway bridge, with Clare breathing hard down their necks. Unfortunately, Emma's bump was far from conventional, aided as they were by an ejector crab from the Churchill crew ahead. Emma braked hard to avoid a bedraggled pink blob meandering to the bank, Clare held it to avoid Emma and the entire back end of the division came to a juddering halt.

Awarded the rerow, Catz thanked the bumps gods for the opportunity to have a full course shot at Clare, only to discover that with wake-free wash ahead, Clare were left to pull merrily away. Catz rowed a superb race, and held station all the way to Ditton, before fading slightly in the final straight. Saturday brings much the same situation - Clare ahead, with slower crews in front of them. Fingers crossed Catz can reel in Clare before any more chaos causes problems ahead.   

(Guest writer: Chris Eddy)

The drama continued for W1 on day 3!

We set off for our re-row with Queens feeling pretty confident that we could get them and planned on doing it quickly. We set off strongly, but at no point did we really make a move on Queens. We got one whistle, but for some reason, maybe the lack of normal bumps adrenaline, we just did not take up the rate or the pressure. By the end of the reach Queens were a couple of lengths ahead and we rowed over yet again. This was gutting after being so close to getting them the day before. 

We went back to the boathouse, ate, talked, and tried to get warm, and set off for our normal race in divison 1. This time we were NOT going to let them get away from us again! We pushed off strongly from the start and lengthened the distance between us and LMBC significantly. We got our first whistle on Queens, and this time we really made a move! We were seeing red and the whole crew were putting it down together for the first time this week. At two whistles we took the rate up again, and at three whistles we took it up again even when none of us thought we could take it up any more. 

Around Ditton LMBC really came on to us strongly, and even had a bit of overlap. However, we then got continuous whistles on Queens and we steamed away from LMBC to put clear water between us again. We began to overlap with Queens to the point where both boats were basically side by side. Credit to them, the Queens girls are extremely mentally strong, and they yet again pushed away from us. Short of slamming into them there was little more we could have done. We rowed over for the second time in one day, and the fourth time in three days!

Tomorrow the grudge match with Queens continues. W1 should be extremely proud of how they rowed today. We raced 4k in total and learned from the morning's disappointment to make this afternoon an epic row.

Bring on tomorrow!

Day 2 for W1 was full of unexpected drama. 

We were chasing a Queens crew we knew were slower than us, and being chased by LMBC. We quickly pushed on to Queens off the start and got our first whistle shortly after the motorway bridge. From looking at the video we had overlap three times in 5 mins! Coming around Grassy we were basically on top of Queens and about to finish off the bump. However, Newnham were impeded by Caius and caught a boat stopping crab. Queens, who had been lengths off Newnham, then rowed past them and assumed that they had bumped. 

We really had no idea what had happened and so raced onto the reach, but our rhythm had been disrupted, and Emma's leg injuy was causing her a lot of pain. The result was that we were bumped by LMBC on the reach. 

This was obviously unfair! Newnham were awarded a technical row over, LMBC kindly conceded the bump and also took a technicial row over. We agreed to a re-row with Queens before the W3 divison on Friday.

Bumps is never boring!

Bumped by Queens W2

If we're being entirely honest, there's very little point in discussing the actual rowing for this race, since due to circumstances entirely beyond our control, the bump came almost indecently quickly. With that in mind I've gained extra words to moan about the shambolic start procedure, which I shall now do:

With the cannon delayed ("The cannon's got a flat tyre?!") the start took on a mildly farcical nature, as 18 banksmen with synchronsed watches began to chant loudly, before shouting bang in (not in any way perfect) unison. Ignoring the obvious problems with crews jumping the gun (by which I mean of course jumping the word 'bang') this also led to the entirely unforseen problem that Steve's calls to bow pair went unheard in the clamour of chanting bank parties. With bow pair not squared in, the boat wonky, a gallant effort from Catz was always doomed to failure.

Despite a slick recovery of the racing line by Harriet, and a gorgeous final push by the crew, two quick crabs decided the matter, and a neat looking Queens tidied up. Being chased by a downwards moving Murray Edwards now offers Catz's best chance of the week of salvaging some pride, and we look forward to seeing them do it.