We started well, settling into a good rhythm and quite quickly taking over a length from Queens'. However, our lack of training, especially at high rates, began to show as we got tired and lost our timing, leading to a drop in the rate and a generally heavier-feeling boat for the second half of the race. This wasn't helped by a headwind along the reach, and resulted in a generally scrappy finish, allowing Queens' to take the win.
University IVs 2009-10
26th October 2009
Women's 1st IV+ University IVs 2009-10
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Day 1
Women's 1st IV+ University IVs 2009-10
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Day 2
Women's 1st IV+ University IVs 2009-10
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Day 3
Women's 2nd IV+ University IVs 2008-09
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Race 1
Women's 2nd IV+ University IVs 2009-10
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Race 3
Women's 3rd IV+ Fairbairns 2009-10
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Day 1
Women's 3rd IV+ Fairbairns 2009-10
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Day 2
Event:
University IVs University IV's took place from Monday 2nd to Friday 6th November. Christ's have three Women's crews and one Men's crew entered. The second womens IV won their division in a very exicting fashion. Click "read more" to read all the race reports from this week.
Peterhouse W1
Win
The win today was not due in any part to skill on the river, but unfortunately a result of the fact the Peterhouse were forced to scratch on Monday. We await our next (first) race with great anticipation!
Pembroke
Win
Another day, another scratch. Unfortunately the Pembroke crew that we were due to race has had to withdraw as a result of their captain suffering a back injury. So we are straight on to the semi-finals, where we meet Emma. Nevertheless, there is one positive outcome of the scratch, which has been the organisation of a sparring partner for later in the year!
Emma W1
Lost - Margin of 6.5 seconds
Having finally managed to get on the water, we approached this race with the attitude that we would just have to take all the advantages of not having raced the previous two days. Our practice start on the way down was rushed, and needed a bit more calmness. Nevertheless, we managed an OK actual start, with some very solid wind strokes, and pulled away after a few hundred metres to half length up. We held this lead fairly consistently until, about 2/3's of the way up the reach, Emma put in a push for ten. We responded well to this push, but they still took a bit of our lead out of us. Then, coming into the bend of the railway bridge, they had the advantage of the corner, and put in another fantastic push to bring us back to level. Unfortunately, we did not respond to this as well as we should have, and our lack of experience in the four was evident. From then on, Emma just slowly but steadily pushed through us, and our fight back wasn't aided by a blade clash by the P and E. All in all, some great rowing by Emma, and its a shame that we didn't get the earlier rounds to gain more experience of racing in the four. Nevertheless, we shall be taking the lessons we've learnt from the four, and applying them to the VIII, ready for Winter Head in a few weeks.
FaT 3rd IV
Won
After our three draw strokes, we were nearly a length ahead. FaT tried to steer into us, but we sped past to gain a lead of a length, two lengths, three lengths, four lengths... after a minute we were so far ahead that we were able to take the rate right down to 20/22 and just concentrate on rowing well. Even at low rate, we finished miles in front of FaT.
Against Downing tomorrow, which we expect to be a bit harder.
Emma W2
Won by 2 lengths
We started our race confident in our rowing and especially a strong start so everyone was a little surprised to see Emmanuel gaining on us. As a crew we remained calm and kept a good rhythm despite going down by almost a length. Half the way up the reach we mounted a charge on Emmanuel starting with the strongest push for 10 any of us has ever managed, this brought us back in line with Emmanuel. With commitment and rhythm we pushed off Emmanuel through the Railway Bridge and steadily gained clear water approaching one length clear. On reaching the P&E our stroke, Lucy B, caught a crab; she recovered it on her second attempt allowing us to fight off Emmanuel once again who had gained on us in this period. We pulled together as a crew and fought through to the end of the race, re-establishing our length from Emmanuel. Fantastic team composure by everyone one and an all round well deserved win (despite agonising mid-race trauma). Thanks to Emmanuel who gave us a great race!
Trinity Hall W2
Won Easily
We began with a fairly scrappy start that led to us being skewed across the river and Tit Hall began to pull away, but we managed to take control of the situation and moved past the start and into a steady rate 28. As soon as we settled into this rhythm, we began to move back up on Tit Hall and we quickly caught them up and passed them easily. By the railway bridge, we were about a length ahead and still increasing the distance between us with a push for 10 away from the bridge. The strong winds made it difficult to keep the rate up, but we focused on keeping our strokes long and finished several lengths ahead of the Trinity Hall boat. We were very pleased with our performance and we are determined to improve our start for tomorrow!
Emma W2 Pink
Lost by 22 seconds
We knew today would be a more difficult race than yesterday as Emma had put in a strong performance the day before. Just before our race took place, we saw Christ’s W2 beating Downing W2 and so knew that if we won today’s race, the next day would be a Christ’s-on-Christ’s Final! With this as our motivation, our start was a lot more successful than the day before and we held Emma for a short distance, but they soon began to pull away. We tried to close the distance with several pushes for 10 down the reach and managed to pull back half a length just under the railway bridge, but Emma proved to be a very strong crew and we weren’t able to make up the distance between us. We were proud of how we did though – taking over 30 seconds off our time of the day before – and hope W2 can get revenge for us in the final tomorrow!
