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Pembroke Regatta 2009-10

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6th February 2010
Event: 
Pembroke Regatta

Pembroke Regatta took place on Saturday, 13th February. It is a side by side set of races along the long reach.

More details on the event are available here.
Men's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 1
First and Third M1
Lost - Easily

We approached our first race today, against the headship crew and one of the fastest boats on the river this term, with so much confidence that we didn't even know when we would be racing next if we did win. Unsurprisingly, we never needed to find out.

We marshalled in our usual relaxed manner, upset slightly when a member of the opposition crew decided to join us and try to learn our race plan. He will have been upset only to learn that the barman had no cheese, and that gorillas don't drink in expensive pubs. Determined to carry this relaxed mood into our racing, we were panicked off the start when we lost half a length within the first two strokes, and we struggled to find a decent rhythm. However, once FaT had taken a clear lead we did manage to relax, and finished strongly.

Overall, in a race we were never expecting to win, we were happy enough with our performance, and feel it shows considerable improvement from the beginning of the term, boding well for bumps.

george.watson


Men's 4th VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 1
Men's IV
St. Catharine's
Won- easily

Our morning couldn’t have begun any better. After a short warm-up, a solid marshalling towards the railway bridge and a couple of practice starts, we arrived to the starting line. The excitement could be felt all along the boat and across the river, all the way to the bank, where Charlie and George were cheering for the crew. This time Zsolt had to step out, so his place was taken by Vin and Malte stroked the boat. “Christ’s, St. Catharine’s, come forward!!”. We quickly switched on and waited for Tom to lower his arm. We heard “go!” and responded to Tom’s call and Malte’s stroke, pulling a very solid start. Two, three, four strokes and we could feel St. Cath’s crew on bow side being taken over. This gave us a lot confidence in our strokes, which became better and better as we came by our opponents. By the time we reached the railway bridge the story already had an ending. We kept pushing hard and a good technique until the finish line, and enjoyed the view of St. Cath’s in the distance.

The morning ended with a very technical row home, a smile in our faces and the confidence that the next race would be ours as well.

ricardo.guraieb


Men's 4th VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 2
Queens'
Won- 1 length

Although we knew we had what it took to overtake Queens’ in the second race, we also knew it was going to be a tougher one. Both Lizzy and Charlie were supporting us from the bank this time. Vin could not row with us, so Kasim jumped in the second position this time. We marshaled towards the starting line with a lot of focus. As we prepared to row we knew that we had to stay as a crew for the entire race: Queens’ looked pretty solid as well. We didn’t have time to think much of it, and the words “attention, go!” were like gunpowder for us. We started off with nice draws, but Queens’ had also done a good job. The first hundred meters were pretty much even. Queens’ was pushing strongly and started raising the rate, but our consistency was a much better strategy. As we passed the railway bridge they tried to overtake us, but we were very respondent and Tom did a great job on stirring the boat. “Push from the legs!” “Sharp catches!” were the calls from the coaches and Tom. Four more strokes and we were already ahead of them by a couple of seats. We kept on rowing with an excellent technique and strong pushes. Queens’ put up with the fight, but we proved too good an opponent and won the race by a length.

It was time for Queens’ to row home, and for us to move on to the semifinals.

ricardo.guraieb


Men's 4th VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 3
Emmanuel
Lost- 1/4 length

After a short break we came back to the starting line as one of the four best crews in the division. The moment of truth had come for us. M1 and the coaches were there, supporting us. Everybody was expecting this to be an exciting race. Excitement, suspense, thrill, a mix of emotions could be sensed in the river before the race began. We were all ready to start. Draw one, two, three, winds, lengths, rhythms, the starting calls ended and both crews were still side-by-side. We pushed harder whilst keeping a good technique. Emma responded very well. We could feel them a couple of seats ahead, and rowed fiercely to overcome the distance. Both boats were flying across the Cam. The bank was as full of excitement. We rowed past the railway bridge and heard W1, who were waiting for their final race, cheering for us. We kept on rowing with courage, but Emma was a very competitive rival. We heard the final whistle with Emma slightly ahead of us.

We started our last race with confidence and strength, and were a little bit disappointed of our performance. Nevertheless, we rowed back home in confidence. As we passed the boat houses, we knew that the other crews were watching us, now as a crew that has earned respect and that should be feared during bumps. Well done, boys!

ricardo.guraieb


Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 1
Trinity Hall
Won - 2 lengths (?)

First off, apologies for the ever so slightly made up distances - I'm rubbish at judging them, especially when I'm trying to concentrate on racing...

After quite a lot of time spent marshalling, we rowed up to the start fairly confidently. We wound to 40 in the start, and settled to about 36. Whilst we managed to achieve a strong rhythm, we would probably be set up better for the whole course at about 34/35, something we strived for in the next round. We gradually moved away from Tit Hall, who pushed us quite hard in the start of the race. By halfway up the reach we had clear water, and we finished at about two lengths up, which was a nice margin. The feeling from among the crew was that this could have been a bigger margin, but without a close focus from behind we let the pressure drop off a bit. With the first race out of the way we were ready and excited for the next round, where we met Homerton…

fran.knight


Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 2
Homerton
Won - 3 lengths

Having had time for a quick trip back to the boathouse between races, everyone was warm and refuelled for this race. Our practice start on the way down was rushed and not great, something which was improved on in the actual start, although it could still have been better. We consistently pulled away however, and settled into a nicer rhythm than the previous round, proving to ourselves that we can maintain good rhythm and ratio at higher rates, something we'd been working on in training this week. All in all a very strong race, one of the better pieces we've done this term.

fran.knight


Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 3
Pembroka Alumni
Won - 3 lengths

After the Newnham crew that were supposed to be our opposition unfortunately had to scratch there was a slightly dodgy re-entering of the Pembroke Alumni crew who had just been beaten in the previous round. However, despite fancying a trip to the pub between marshalling times, we didn't say anything and made the most of the racing as a chance to get warm again! We were also helped by having been fed information from the Newnham crew, who reckoned that while the Pembroke crew were technically very strong (especially in their start), they were not very fit. This proved to be true, as the crew held us well on the start, but we quickly moved through them once we hit our rhythm.

fran.knight


Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 4
Caius
Won - 1 1/2 lengths

With Caius two places ahead of us in Bumps we knew this would be a closer race than we'd had so far during the day. That said, we approached the race with the same focus that we had to all the others, and it paid off. Caius were strong opposition, but we consistently moved up on them, taking it to clear water just before the railway bridge. Another great performance from the crew, on a day that saw us really consolidate our work at higher rates, and hopefully show the crews around us in Bumps our potential.

fran.knight


Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 5
FaT
Lost - 2 1/2 lengths

- Marshalled
- Raced
- Lost

(Well done to Fat - they simply rowed better than us, which is arguably as it should be for a crew 5 places ahead of us in Bumps. We had a dodgy 3 draw strokes, but the wind and stride felt great, with 100% commitment from the crew. Although held back slightly by a cox box without much battery, meaning that we couldn't have a concerted push, and that at least half the crew didn't realise when we were taking the rate up etc., we kept giving it our best until the last stroke, which is something to be proud of. All in all a good days racing, leaving us keen for the last week and a half training and, of course, Bumps!)

fran.knight


Women's 2nd VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 1
Fitzwilliam W2
Won - several lengths

The first race of the day against Fitz was an easy win and an encouraging start to the regatta. It wasn't, however, the most graceful sprint with a hurried start (winding to 37) caused by panicked rushing of the slide leading into a bit of a scrappy row with little ratio. The power in the water was good though as the fight was in the crew. By halfway down the reach we were starting to open up a good distance from Fitz and by the railway bridge they seemed to be lagging quite badly. By the finish they were several lengths behind us. We were pleased to have had such an easy victory, but were aware that it wasn't really a very good race, and that next time we needed to focus on not getting freaked out by having another boat alongside us.

sarah.gardner


Women's 2nd VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 2
FaT (Trinity)
Lost - length and a half

The start for this race was a few pips lower than in the previous race, but was still a little hurried. FaT proved to be a strong opposition, which seemed to cause stress in the crew leading to increasingly rushed and shortened strokes. Due to slightly outrating them we kept level for the first half of the race, but once they started pushes into the bridge their tidyness edged them forward slowly and by the end of the course they were a bit over a length ahead. While it was frustrating to meet the eventual finalists fairly early on in the regatta (several other boats going past would not have been an issue), it did highlight the great impact that being calm and tidy has, so for the time remaining before Bumps we're really going to focus on slowing the slide and taking long strokes.

sarah.gardner


Women's 3rd VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 1
FaT
Won- Infinity!

Not a single bad stroke was taken in this race! However at the same time no strokes were taken at all to be bad so that isn't really so incredible- Fat scratched on Friday evening and we all remained tucked up in bed asleep rather than marshaling at 7.40am at the Plough! The extra sleep was enjoyed by all :-) though we can only claim victory in the sense that we didn't scratch!

amanda.foan


Women's 3rd VIII Lents 2009-10 , Race 2
Newnham
Lost- not sure by how much as can't find the results in a useful format!

After a slight cox box problem as we set off we had a good row down to marshal at Chesterton. Here we remained beautiful parked on the non-tow path side with some brilliant coxing from Lizzie. This allowed us to remain in the marshals' good books and watch the ensuing carnage around us from a safe distance! The rest of the row down was good though there was some concern that the Newnham crew was much bigger than us.

The start was a little startling to say the least. The boat rocked about scarily off the three draw strokes and though things had settled a little by the end of the winds there was a feeling of panic through the boat that we had all forgotten how to row! By this point Newnham had got a good 3/4 to length on us and though we had some good pushes and steady rowing we were unable to recoup the ground (water?) lost at the start and the boat felt incredibly heavy.

The end of the race did give us the reason for the start being so bad. It wasn't just panic on our parts washing any remembrance of how to row clean from our heads! Rather that Agathe's rigger at 4 broke on the first stroke with the top nut coming off and then the gate pin bending over meaning she was basically unable to get her blade in at all let alone push!

Whilst I doubt we would have beaten Newnham who, full credit to them, had a good row, it would have been nice if we could have been able to give our real best as I think we could have provided at least some competition for them.

However we look forward to the Getting On Race this Friday and will enjoy the use of the Beagle for a few outings whilst our dear old Lady K receives some tlc from Jimmy!

amanda.foan