Despite a slightly panicked start that led to initially being behind, the crew's cohesion and rhythm allowed them to take that back and go on to win convincingly - an excellent start to the competition and a great first ever race.
Men's Novice 2nd VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
,
Clare Novice Regatta
,
Race 2
FaT C
Lost - canvas
A slight change to the planned start led to a much smoother beginning to the race, with Christ's pulling away as the faster crew. However, a minor bank collision and some crabs meant that ground was lost, leading to an eventual loss, showing how down to luck novice racing can be.
However, every time they fell behind, strong pushes and superior rowing allowed them to take the lead again, and at the pace the gap was closing coming up to the finish, another 50m could easily have turned the result.
Overall, I'm massively pleased with the guys' achievements and believe this bodes well for a successful Fairbairns.
Men's Novice 2nd VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
,
Fairbairn Cup
Men's Second Novice VIIIs
4
10:35.26
We had a few small problems off the start, with a crab being caught and a seat falling off, and these took a while to fix, but once the crew was back rowing together, the boat really started to run, and the pushes Tom called really got an impressive amount of send. There was another seat problem around the railway bridge, but once that was resolved the boat was back up to speed, and the finish was crossed in a very solid time following an excellent row, coming in at 4th out of the second boats and 21st overall.
Overall, I'm really pleased with how the crew have come on this term. Crew shuffles and re-recruitment halfway through term meant some of the crew were coming into this with only half a term's experience in an VIII, so it's a testament to the work they've put in that such a good result was achieved: up there at the top of the second crews and, at 21st overall, beating a good few first crews.
