As this was out first race of term, and we had had very few training outings beforehand, we decided to rate cap our races at rate 24. The start of the first leg was a little scrappy, but we stuck at it and found a really nice rhythm to hold off King's (a full 6-8 strokes per minute higher) for the last 500m of the race. The return leg was more difficult, with the strong stream making it hard to pick up the water at the catch. However, our row was pleasing enough, again holding off the crews behind who were rating far higher. Given the rate cap we imposed nothing can be read into our relative positions or times.
Winter Head to Head 2009-10
23rd January 2010
Men's 2nd VIII Lents 2009-10
Men's 4th VIII Lents 2009-10
Women's 1st VIII Lents 2009-10
Women's 2nd VIII Lents 2009-10
Event:
Winter Head to Head The Winter Head to Head happened on Saturday 23rd January. Christ's had five student crews entered in addition to our Fellows' crew (M3) rowing as Champion of the Thames.
The full results can be found on the organiser's page.
M2
2
15:20
This was our first race of term, but we'd managed to get a few outings under our belt and were confident of a solid row, planning to cap the rate at 24. With the excitement of race day, we struggled to keep it down, but there was still a good sense of speed in the boat. The first leg was good, but we tired towards the end of the second, with Magdalene 2 (eventual winners of out division) noticeably gaining on us behind. However, we managed a very solid push towards the finish, and ended up 2nd in the M2 division: a solid result which we hope to build on as term goes on.
Men's Lower
5
16:20
M4 had many adjustments, movements and repositioning at the start of Lent term. By the second week of term we had a complete, strong and very eager crew: Vin, our stroke man, who had previously rowed for M1; David, Paul, Rob, Zsolt and myself, who noviced on NM1 on Michaelmas; Ben, who noviced on NM2; John, a future Christ’s fellow who bravely joined the crew; Tom, a Sidney Sussex member we were fortunate to get on CCBC as a cox; and Rose, the crew’s cheerleader, an inflatable (innocent) doll that mysteriously appeared one day in the men’s dressing room and that was cheerfully adopted as the crew’s mascot.
The (very) diverse crew had had only the chance to train one week before the Winter Head-2-Head race, and it was agreed that racing it would have three purposes: train, practice some hard pushing with good technique, and have fun. Our aim was to get a nice technique and a fast-moving boat on a rate of 24.
The day of the race we took Rose with us on the boat. We marshaled all the way to our spot with her tied at the boat’s bow, most crews staring with amusement at our dazzling crew member. After detaching and deflating her, we were all set to race. We had some strong paddling before the race line, getting ready to hear the horn. As soon as we heard it, we switched on: the technique and the pushes were there. It seemed as if we had been rowing as a crew for an entire term. Charlie and Alasdair, from the bank, gave the crew some feedback that we tried to respond to immediately. We were rowing at a rate of 24 but the boat was moving swiftly across the water. Although there is still room for technique improvement, the race gave us the opportunity to test ourselves on a higher pace, while having the most focused training so far.
The second leg was not much different. After the row upstream we approached the finish line proudly, knowing that we had accomplished our goals. More than that, we finished the race on the fifth position of the division, beating our own expectations and getting ready for some more great rowing on Lent.
Women's Mays 1st
3
15:55
After two weeks of fairly promising training leading into this race, we were keen to see how other crews were developing at this early stage of term. We didn't have the strongest start on the first leg, and a push for 10 down the reach unfortunately had the opposite effect to that intended - we lost a bit of rhythm and stability. However, a push for 5 into Ditton lifted the boat, setting us up nicely for the next section of the course. We were chasing down a Maggie crew, which gave us something to focus on as more pushes for 5 followed for each corner, and a call to take it up for the end was well responded to. In all, the first leg was a slightly scrappy row, but filled with guts, where we moved up hugely on Maggie and gained the fastest time for the downstream leg of our division (7:09), a huge result!
For the second leg, Inka reminded us that the stream would inevitably make the boat feel heavier, something we could use to get the feel of a longer stroke, to improve on the slightly hectic and rushed row down. We were also bumped up the start order by the marshal after having gained on Maggie so much in the last race, which gave us a boost of confidence! We had a much better start than the first, settling into a strong rhythm, and feeling much more solid and stable. However, it was here that our race plan of 'race the first as if we aren't racing a second' started to be problematic! Tiredness set in, but we held the rhythm well, and when asked to take it up for the end the crew responded fantastically and, apart from a little wobble, we finished in style, having moved up on the Jesus crew in front of us.
The results are pleasing (if slightly too reminiscent of Fairbairns!), as we beat the crews closest to us in Fairbairns, and fading in the second leg after an extremely strong first leg now seems to be a Christ's W1 tradition - our results are remarkably similar to those achieved last year. All in all, a promising start, leaving us excited for next weeks shorter race, a distance over which we appear to be faster...
Postion: 1st
Time: 17.38
The 1st leg of this race showed W2 have a lot of potential for this term and have a lot of power to put down. Problems from the first few weeks such as rushing the slide and balance were much better and a lot of pressure was put into the water, giving us a very pleasing time of 7.38, much better than anyone else in our category. The return leg was a little disappointing in comparison as the rate and the power faded away after the first third as people became tired. This can be fixed with improved fitness during the rest of term. It was still good enough to beat the return times of the other crews though, and we were very excited to have won our first race of term.
