The second day of racing saw decisive wins for all three crews!
1st VIII – won against Murray Edwards W1
It was a sunny day to have another go at racing. We had a chunky row up to early marshalling (because it’s so much less stressful to be there early). We’ve been practising our beautiful tap turn and we used it today to intimidate our opposition. Our start was much improved on yesterday (it’s amazing what you can do with an intact boat). We were determined to pull away from Medwards down the reach, watching their bow ball move down the seats in our boat. We made a solid move about halfway down the reach and by the bridge we had a strong lead. We built on that under the bridge to win by 4 lengths. We had a very cheery row home (the post 2k coughs were much reduced) with technical exercises and we are ready to race again tomorrow!
– Lucy Walker and Rhiannon Smith (3 & 4)
2nd VIII – won against Fitzwilliam W2
Although we were missing Cat and her intricate poems, we had Caitlin back and we were ready to take on Fitz today. We also geared up with shampoo to wash our hair with splashy catches, making sure we made the most from our time on the water (and not just spend our time with early finishes). Our start sequence propelled us, giving us an early lead, and Fitz was never able to recover. Being able to see our opponents fall behind us ensured that we finished strong. We can’t wait to repeat this victory tomorrow.
– Ava Murphy and Fania Christodoulides (3 & 4)
We came, we saw, we conquered.
Though I had been filled with cautious confidence in our chances since the night before, a notably unsat row up diminished some of my conviction. This was not helped by the fact that many of the crew had unpatriotically chosen to forgo face paint, including our very own esteemed crew captain.
Nevertheless, the race soon restored my calm. By the end of the first ten strokes, I was level with their bow, a lead we managed to push out to clear water as the race progressed, even though they had the advantage of the meadow side. Although a minor flagging in the middle saw us slip back slightly, a warning not to get complacent helped us refocus, and the opponent was soon comfortably in our rearview mirror (as it were). Tomorrow, we look forward to reprising our victory, this time aided by several new cox calls designed to engage our fighting spirits.
– Namera Tanjeem (Cox)
1st Novice VIII – won against Clare NW1
The spirits were high after wining our first race against Wolfson and we were ready to give it our all in this race. As we paddled up to the start line we were determined to beat Claire with their uni suits, fancy blades and matching bucket hats! Our start went well and we were level with Clare until we started to pull ahead. Then Clare bow seat crabbed and we managed to take the lead by several lengths. We maintained the lead and finished strong 4 lengths ahead of Clare! The row back was full of dodging the new crews arriving to race and trying to keep our technique sharp even though we were exhausted.
– Rose Cottrell (3)