May Bumps 2015 – Reports
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| M1 | Wednesday. Bumped Jesus. M1 got off to a nervy start with the chain getting caught on the bank which pulled our bows out of line. Good coxing from Ed straightened us up and we had one whistle going into first post corner. After that we never looked back and began to grind Jesus down. Rowing in wash is never easy but the power was there and we finished it off for the spectators in front of the plough with FaT over 2 lengths behind. Good solid row by all but with things to improve on for tomorrow. Next up: Downing, who were bumped by Maggie.
Thursday. Bumped Downing. The successful campaign continues. Full credit has to go to Downing who really took it to Maggie today. Coming down plough reach we were only on station and Downing had 3 whistles on Maggie at one point. Thankfully for us they couldn’t sustain the pace and began to drop off coming round Ditton. We were then able to make the ground up quite quickly and bumped half way down the Reach. Solid row by all and onto Maggie tomorrow. Friday. Bumped Lady Margaret. We had a clean start and coming out of it we found a very good rhythm resulting in one whistle going into first post corner, having only started at station 3. After that it was all over very quickly and we bumped just before Grassy. We found some speed today which we hadn’t had in the first two days so we’ll be taking that to Caius tomorrow. Saturday. Rowed over. What a day. We got off to another flying start, although not quite as sweet as the day before. We gained quickly on Caius and got the first whistle in the gut. Sustaining our rhythm we had 3 whistles along plough reach and were rapidly closing in on the bump and the headship. Suddenly out of nowhere someone caught a boat-stopping crab and we were reduced to a standstill. Thankfully we had put a few lengths between ourselves and Maggie and they were still a long way off by the time we got back up to speed. We expended a lot of energy getting back on station with Caius and ran out of steam down the reach. In the end we let Maggie get a little too close for comfort and they crossed the finish line about as far behind us as we had been behind Caius at the plough. To come so close to the headship and to fall short like that through a stroke of bad luck was pretty heart breaking for the whole crew and it was hard to see through that and realise what a fantastic week we’ve had. Going up 3 in the top of division 1 is no mean feat and we should be proud of our achievement. Motivation for next year is incredibly high and we will look to finally put ourselves on the top spot where we deserve to be. Unfortunately for Caius we’ll have four days rather than one to finish the job off. |
| M2 | Wednesday. Bumped St. Catharine’s 2. Chasing Catz 2 for the headship of Div 3, M2 were comfortable in the knowledge that our prey had no one to escape-bump in front of them. Despite the clear-water disadvantage, we gained a whistle off the start – quickly landsliding in to multiple whistles coming round First Post corner followed by the bell and bump less than 60 seconds later in the Gut. As sandwich boat, we had to wait for our chance to get in to Div 2 for good. Chasing a sneakily fast Corpus 1 and in a heavier tail-wind, no real gains were made in the first few minutes of the race as neither crew let up. Corpus gained whistles on Sidney in front, spurring them on to bump just as we crept inside station. Slightly disappointing result, but exuberant over bump #1. On to tomorrow, a day of rowing over and securing our position in Div 2. |
