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Fairbairn Cup 2009-10

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2nd December 2009
Event: 
Fairbairn Cup

The Fairbairn Cup Races took place on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th December. Christ's had four novice VIIIs, three senior VIIIs, a senior IV, one Alumni VIII and the Fellows VIII (rowing under the Champion of the Thames banner) all competing. All crews performed well with the Novice 2nd Women winning their category and the Alumni reaching their goal of completing the course in less than 18 minutes!
Men's Crustaceans VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
17:59

Crustaceans VIII row in this year's Fairbairn Cup was an outstanding success in every way. The results speak for themselves but do not tell the whole story.

Year Time
2007 19:55
2008 18:39
2009 17:59

1. Jerry Worth maintained his bow position with great competence
2. Mike Steen stepped up from reserve as Rudy Markham had been unable to shake off a heavy cold,
3. Robin Kerr thrived at three,
4. David Walden once again, at the very last minute, was moved to stroke side at 4 and looked very assured, despite flying over from the USA on the previous day
5. Stefan Dixon settled well at 5, benefitting from tubbing with Kat earlier in December
6. Peter Nelson moved to the powerhouse at 6 as a precaution (remind me, Peter, how does that go again?) against the combined affects of a 19 hour flight from Maputo on the previous day and a digestive system seriously compromised by mining camp food.
7. Gavin Suggett backed up Stroke like you need it!
8. Tom Swallow stroked for the first time since 1968 and enjoyed the huge support that flowed down the boat when "Pars of 10" were called by coach Charlie Heron
Cox John Eade survived the cramped seating accommodation of Nick English, mastered the newfangled tannoy speaker and rate-counter system and turned in yet another superlative coxing performance; the bank at Ditton Corner stayed just one foot away all the way round.

After warm-ups in the boathouse, and absolutely no chance of training on the water, the crew settled early, maintained a rhythm of 28/31 spm and shaved 40 seconds off last year's time beating First and Third Trinity III. Kat was later reported as suggesting that we were probably a little too relaxed, but then she would, and should! If we push up 2 pips firm past the gasworks (its an age thing; if you concentrate you can still see them) then we should make more improvement next year. Training should have already started (yes, you!)

The weather was cold, still and sunny. Very audible support came from the bank party (Kat Astley, Mary Swallow, Viv Nelson, Jane Steen and Mark Lawrence, amongst others)

The loudest support came from coach Charlie Heron who pedalled valiantly despite an ilio-tibial injury that is curtailing his Michaelmas term's rowing.
With our grateful thanks for all his support, Charlie received a decorated spoon, inscribed with the crew's names.

Mark Lawrence took time out from his intensive training programme as one of the last 20 blue-boat triallists and gave great support. We wish him well in his CUBC campaign.
In fond farewell, Kat Astley received a decorated mug designed by David Walden, containing pictures from her three year campaign of inspired support for Alumni rowing at Christ's

The day was rounded off by an excellent dinner at Galleria restaurant on Magdalene Bridge.

The whole story was of fun and friendship messing about on the river, and a will to row a little faster than before.
Thank you to everyone for being part of it.

Tom Swallow

tom.swallow


Men's 1st VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
Men's Senior VIIIs
20
14:52

After some great performances from Christ's crews in the preceding Fairbairn's races, M1 looked to continue this form in their own attempt. We started well and found a strong rhythm once out of the choppy water created by the concrete walls around the start area. We continued working hard within the relaxed rhythm up to around the P & E pub. However, here tiredness allowed the technical faults that have bedevilled us all term to creep in, and we started losing length at the front end.

A great push off the railway bridge set us up well for the second half, but again, tire legs could only sustain the rhythm for so long. We were a little sloppy through the corners, but managed to regain our compose on the final straight to finish strongly, moving away from the Emmanuel crew behind, who had previously been gaining on us.

Our result of 19th overall, and 12th college, was respectable if unspectacular. We are, however, happy with our training this term and hope that it will stand us in good stead for better results come Lents and Mays.

A big thank you to our coaches through the term, and to our enormous bank party on the day - not quite a record size, but a constant inspiration none the less!

george.watson


Men's Novice 1st VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
Men's Novice VIIIs
20
10:32

After an unlucky break during our first race at Clare Novices last weekend, the crew was really looking forward to Fairbairns as a chance for redemption, and we all felt that the race set up much better for our strengths. We spent our outings after Clare consolidating our start timing and rhythm and came into the race really paddling nicely as a crew, with some solid shorter pieces under our belt as well. The real key would be to string this out for a 2.7 km race, something that the madness of the Cam in Michaelmas Term had left us unable to truly do in training.

Our start was very smooth, and the crew came off it rowing at a rating of 33, settling into a nice, strong rhythm. The crew moved very nicely through the first km of the race, thanks especially to capable coxing from Ardi around the Elizabethway and Chesterton corners. Moving into Chesterton, however, some of the power from our strokes visibly slacked off, and our rhythm, in turn, lost much of its sharpness. Then, while seeking to consolidate on a new rhythm outside the P&E, Ricardo, at stroke, lost his seat. Our other seven carried on, stroked by Paul, while Ricardo tried for the next several hundred meters to get his seat back on, but to no avail. We were left rowing the last several hundred meters of the course down the reach with seven guys moving us along while Ricardo did his best to pitch in with arms and back.

We finished with a time of 10:32, putting us in 20th place for the men’s novice division. While we had our sights aimed a bit higher, we’re pleased with the respectable result considering we rowed the last third with seven guys. With Fairbairns and the burn of a full head race, as well as a solid novice term, under their belts, the guys are now primed and ready to join the club as senior rowers come Lent Term.

leland.burns


Men's Novice 2nd VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
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.

seth.bresnett


Women's 1st VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
Women's Senior VIII's
6
16:23.63 (3rd College)

W1 had high hopes leading up to our final race, having had an incredibly strong term so far, with great results, our hearts were always going to be set on the top end of the table. Our last outing before the Friday had left us confident, with the boat having a really strong sense of ratio and pick up, and with the balance that had been letting us down through term starting to come more consistently. That said, we were well aware of the strength of our competitors, and FaT were always on our mind as the crew to beat.

We started strongly with some great drawstrokes, but we rapidly lost composure, and the wind was scrappy and splashy. A great call from Kat and Scott under the road bridge for a reset through the sugar change helped us to finally settle into a strong rhythm, and we sat on 32 fairly consistently from then on. We had a strong push under Chesterton, and started to move up on Queen's, who we were chasing. However, as the course wound on, it was clear that FaT were steadily making up ground on us, which was disheartening. For whatever reason we never really managed to transfer this threat into the extra push to move us away from them and onto Queen's, and as we crossed the finish line we knew that we'd definitely been beaten by them, and it remained to be seen by who else. Many congratulations to FaT for what was a fantastic row from them, and to Downing too.

However, third is still a great achievement, and I am very proud of W1 this term - a great way to start my captaincy, may successes continue next term!

fran.knight


Women's 3rd IV+ Fairbairns 2009-10
Women's Senior VIII's
19:55.05

We knew we were going to have a tough time in this race as crew commitments in the afternoon meant that we were racing the full senior eights' course instead of the considerably shorter fours' course! Our goal was to beat at least one eight and as we waited to go off there was a definite presence of excitement and nerves amongst the crew.

Our plan was to go off at about rate 27, knowing that we had a very long way to go. We were prepared for this to feel very slow but were still taken by surprise at our cox's calls to drop the rate still further as we came out of our start. We went off strongly and maintained the rhythm as we came past the boat houses.

After our experiences with head races this term, we knew the section between the P&E and the railway bridge always feels much longer during a race and we were prepared for this. Calls for a new race as we came under the railway bridge helped us to focus and go strongly down the Reach as relief that we were now more than halfway filtered through.

We really began to feel the length of the course as we came round Grassy, but as we came round First Post corner there was a massive lift in the boat as the cox called for a final push and we charged down the last stretch with Kat and Charlotte cheering us on from the bank. We agreed later that this final section was some of the best rowing we've done all term and despite the pain we were feeling it felt fantastic at the time!

Our final time is one we're very proud of and most importantly we beat Sidney Sussex's third senior eight! We're delighted with what we have achieved this term and we're looking forward to getting back in an eight for Bumps next term!

sarah.de.lacy


Women's Novice 1st VIII Fairbairns 2009-10
Women's 1st Division
2
10.49.7

NW1 started the race with some scores to settle from Clare novices and really attacked the first part of the race after a fantastic start. Their rhythm was solid and Katie, cox, took great lines around all the corners whilst providing all the motivational calls that the 16 person bank party couldn't muster!
A massive sprint to the line off the railway bridge set up the end of a fantastic race. Great rowing all round- shame about Jesus who beat us to the finish by 7s! Thank you so much to Anna who subbed from NW2.

lucy.griffin