Lent Bumps 2013, M2 Day 3

Bumped Trinity Hall M2

As we arrived at the boathouse today, we were expecting a tough one. Chasing a fast Trinity Hall M2 who were themselves chasing a slow Clare M2, it looked to be a long race - a row over, or just maybe the Selwyn M2 overbump? Things didn't get off to the best of starts either with the news that our 4-man, Anthony was too ill to race (unconfirmed reports suggest the cause was overconsumption of pasta). Nonetheless Dan Stein willingly leapt to our rescue - many thanks to him.

Certain that the only way we could get what we wanted today was to give our everything physically and mentally, focus was the watchword on the row down and it must be said that the boat moved really well, giving us all confidence.

The start was tricky today. Being stationed directly under the motorway bridge we had to deal with a very loud cannon and very strong winds. Although we had another dropped bung, Maria did an excellent job getting us off the start and with the cannon still ringing in our ears we made good progress away from Magdalene behind us. We began to close on Trinity Hall, but of course they were also closing on Clare. Despite not being particularly fast, Clare have the ability to drive the crew in front of them a bit wild, and Selwyn inexplicably parked on the outside of First Post corner.

So, just like on day 2, we found ourselves chasing a crew with lots of space in front of them. As is becoming our speciality, we ground them down. By the Plough Reach we had a length between us, and on Ditton Corner we bumped them for the first time. Unfortunately Trinity Hall didn't see it that way, and kept going. Despite Dr Scales' best efforts to lightly cajole Trinity Hall's stroke man into giving up, he was having none of it. There was only one thing to do here - have another go. The dragon got its second bite of Trinity Hall's stern at the Railings, and this time there was no disputing it.

Today was another hard-won and well-deserved bump, proving that those ergs really have paid off. Bring on the final day and  don't mention the b word!

Lent Bumps 2013, M1 Day 3 (Friday)

Bumped Robinson after Railway Bridge

Start order: 16 King's, 15 Magdelene , 14 Catz, 13 Robinson, 12 Trinity Hall

Today was a classic bump, with us making full use of the course to keep our spectators' hearts in their mouths (and ensure we actually made it into some photos today).

Today we weren't worried about being bumped - the major concern being whether Tit Hall could hold off Robinson long enough for us to rush to their aid. In reality they had no need of us, and ultimately pushed off Robinson (who'd earlier had three whistles). With the whole course available to us, and the hungry maw of Kings hoovering up Magdalene behind, the first 6 minutes of the race were terrifyingly relaxed. An optimistic (and entirely untrue)  call from the bank party (cheerfully ignored by everyone from 6 backwards) placed us 2 lengths back (later photographically proved to be closer to three) but there was no deviation from the plan, even by the railings.

With the bank party screaming in abject terror as we passed into the shadow of the railway bridge, the crew finally took matters into their own hands, and began to hammer down the power. In the end, the bump came shockingly quickly, spinning through station, 1 length, canvas and overlap in perhaps 30, beautiful strokes. Let's hope this years bumps ends much as last years did - with us crashing into Trinity hall. 

(Guest writer Chris Eddy) 

Lent Bumps 2013, M1 Day 2 (Thursday)

Bumped Magdalene in the gut (completing the day 2 Catz-Magdelene men's triple M1/M2/M3)

Start order: 17 King's, 16 Emmanuel, 15 Catz, 14 Magdelene, 13 Robinson

After a confidence-boosting bump on Wednesday we arrived at the boathouse today asking the question 'when?' as opposed to 'if?'.

We had a good relaxed start, with Emma nowhere to be seen. We had taken half a length by the motorway bridge and continued to eat up the gap to give us overlap by First Post and the inevitable bump came after the first 5 strokes of our first power 10. A much more self-assured race than yesterday, indeed described live on CamFM by Will H (our confident 6 man) as 'easy'.

Tomorrow brings the much greater challenge of hitting a twice-rowed over Robinson before they hit a spooning Tit Hall (although only bumped at the Railway Bridge today by a Clare crew who aren't that slow). Bring it on.

Lent Bumps 2013, W2 Day 2

Bumped by Kings W2

Having been chased by Emma the day before, Catz had a good idea of their capabilities, and came to the race quite rightly expecting a strong performance. This was reinforced by a near perfect practise start, while watching a shambolic Emma effort disappear into the distance behind. The real start was almost as good, and a superb line from Harriet and a solid push from the crew saw the distance cut to just over a length within 30 strokes, the Robert Hardie radiating more intent than has been seen in memory, as the characteristic backswing made its presence known. 

Unfortunately this proved unsustainable, and as Emma hit their rhythm and managed to slow their backward plunge to a limp (although not entirely eliminating it...) the first crab came. With Kings steaming up behind, Catz produced an astonishing push to gain clear water from a good 2 feet of overlap, but Kings didn't want to play ball, and ended the game with their own push.

Overall, a really impressive performance from effectively a scratch crew - bring on the return bump on Kings on Friday.   

Lent Bumps 2013, M3 Day 2

Bumped Magdalene M3

Flying high on yesterday's success, Catz looked to have a good shout today. With most relevant parties expected to bump out early, we proposed the standard race plan - keep FaT pushed off at the start, wait for everyone to bump out, then grind down Magdalene and hit them somewhere around Plough Reach.

Naturally Magdalene were less keen on this, and successfully foiled our plans by the somewhat eclectic method of being bumped less than halfway there. Regardless of their casual contempt for my plan, Catz rowed an excellent race, looking neat and tidy off the start, then hammering the power home round the first corner, taken excellently by Jamie, and never letting up.  Same again tomorrow please. 

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