1st VIII – won against Trinity Hall W1
After beating Murray Edwards yesterday, we were raring to go when we found out that our opponent would be Tit Hall today. We rowed up with all the chonk Cat could ever ask for, and our intimidation tactics certainly worked with a flawless tap turn, a perfectly set easy there and a drop that made even our own crew members jump!
There was a revelation on the start line that ‘Tit Hall’ rhymes with ‘Sit Tall’ and we used that to our advantage. With the least chaotic start sequence of the week, we were off to a great start and soon enough, Rhiannon was screaming “BOW BALLLL!!” We were very grateful for the shouts of ‘Newnham!’ ‘Catches!’ ‘Back end!’ from Louise. Despite the Tit Hall coach being adamant that they could wind it up under the bridge and start to gain, the stubbornness of our stroke Beth meant we also took the rate up a bit, leaving Tit Hall with no chance. Soon enough, we’d crossed the finish line and we won!
Shout out to William Connolley for getting this satisfying footage of our win! https://youtu.be/o3Sw-BjIZgw
– Amy Rowe and Millie Hopkins (5 & 6)
2nd VIII – lost to First and Third W1
Following the amazing news of Helen’s academic achievements, we were in high spirits for our race. The row up was strong and included some new cox calls from Namira to intimidate our opponents, and a chant from Helena (that was too long for any of us to remember). Our tapping and roll ups were far superior to FaT W1 during marshalling and then we pulled up to the start with some interesting rap music coming from the bank.
We had a strong start and we initially pulled ahead of FaT until halfway up the reach. Then we caught feelings… and crabbed. Though we recovered quickly, we couldn’t pull the distance back; but we gave them a good run for their money right up until the end, finishing about a boat length away from them
Having given it our all on the Reach, the row back featured some bad slap catches, thumbs down from the bank and Caitlin nearly decapitating a swan. We are determined to beat our opponents (and our Strava time) tomorrow – BRING IT ON!
(No swans were harmed in the writing of this race report)
– Flo Bradshaw and Caitlin McMahon (5 & 6)
There was a crab
And it sent a stab
Of fear into my heart;
For then I knew
That we would rue
Though we had the better start
– Namera Tanjeem (Cox)
1st Novice VIII – lost to Jesus NW1
For our third race we were up against Jesus NW1 again with matching unisuits and a boathouse. We were feeling confident after our two previous wins but still a bit nervous about taking on Jesus. Fuelled by jelly babies and after a quick sing along to ‘Don’t stop me now’ and ‘We will rock you’ we were ready to race. The start was good with both us and Jesus level for about the first third. Unfortunately, Jesus then started to pull away slightly eventually winning only by a length. Although we lost we gained a personal best time and were very pleased with our performance in the race. Yeeaaaaahhhhh Newnham!
– Paula Keller and Thea Ramsay (5 & 6)