Xpress head

Surprisingly there was a somewhat luke-warm interest in participating in the Xpress Head on June 4th 2022. The clash with The Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the long weekend no doubt contributed, leaving only four of us with nothing better to do than race on the Saturday. We were myself (Anne Roberts) and Lorraine as the two old timers, Shonu who signs up for everything, and Marija who is the proud owner of her own erg which she also uses. Fortunately for us, Meg had just returned bronzed and relaxed from her holiday in Greece and agreed to cox.

So after no practice outings we headed off in Spare Rib to the race start. Lorraine in her usual seat as stroke followed by Shonu, Marija and me – a scratch line up from W1, W2 and W3. As I was coxing my Cantabs Masters G boat of retirees in the next division we had asked to be sent off in good time and not at the back of the pack which is frequently the case for a coxed IV. Somewhat to our surprised we were drawn as boat 1 with the dizzying prospect of being chased by Clare M1. We wondered how much head start Claire would give us. The rumour was 4 minutes. Lorraine muttered, ‘Hope we get around Ditton before they catch us up.’ It was a real treat to arrive at the start of a race and go off first and not have the usual wait. We did a rolling start and were off. Meg steered an excellent line around all the corners and especially snug on Grassy and the we kept up a rating of about 30 which felt long and solid. To our delight we were halfway up The Reach before Clare came around Ditton. We had a brief moment of thinking we might get to the finish line before them. However, Clare put on a tremendous push and overtook as at the railway bridge. Their push had lifted us on to finish in good style and a very respectable time of 11.05 over a course of about 2.1 km. With our masters adjustment we came in with 10.26 and somewhat unexpectedly came top of our category of Open Miscellaneous 4+ and a first Chesterton win for Shonu and Marija. Big smiles all round.

To complete a very enjoyable day I then won my first coxing medal with my Cantabs Masters G Harlequins crew in the next division.

Ely training day

Saturday the 21st saw a return of our Ely Training Day at the CUBC boathouse, with the men’s and women’s side sending an eight; and additionally a double and quad. Having an uninterrupted straight river was great, as was coaches in launches. And we’ll quietly forget the men’s self-sabotage of somehow losing half and then all the wiring loom.

Thanks to the organisers for… organising; Harry for trailering; the women for organising lunch. Most pix courtesy Ralph Percival (from fb) and a few from me.

Head of the Cam, 2022

Another successfull HoC is now past. The “entry” page is archived here; the results spreadsheet is here; the Rowclock is here. We had a total of 738 “seats” entered, which was good (2018: 610; 2021: 587) most of whch came in the last week (I say this for future reference for anyone else doing entries who would worry about thin entries two weeks before). Div 1 as usual was full-for-eights and “negotiations” were held.

Numbers and prize-giving were in-person at Queens’ coaching room; our thanks to them for allowing us use.

Image credits: Ralph Percival.

Div 4 pix of crews: https://www.flickr.com/photos/belette/albums/72177720298321436

Note: post written well in arrears, but dated to the event itself.

Vets Head

Unlike the lazy men the women - led by Anne - got themselves together and entered Vets Head. And selected me (William, your author) as their cox. We managed two outings a week with long pieces tackled with enthusiasm, and Anne’s untiring efforts even found a trailer, with Champs. And so, the big day. We were boating from Furnival, which is a good spot and the clubhouse has been tarted up. If you’re thinking of boating from there I’d recommend watching the video of us boating, because the “turn” onto the pontoon at Furnival is tight. Notice the luxury of not having to push off as soon as we’re in and settle down once on the water: Vets is more relaxed than HoRR. Nor was there a formal boating order. The water, once we were on it, wasn’t bad: a decent day, fairly flat, once the wash from the safety boats had subsided.

As to the race, see the video, part 1 and part 2. Notice me poncing around at the start giving #122 a nice gap, and then #124 rather rudely comes up our chuff. Kids these days. Anyway, we settled down and raced our race. Sadly we didn’t win our category but then again we weren’t last either and that will do. My lines were not at all impeccable for which I offer my apologies.

Pix are ripped from fb. Thanks to Lorraine for support; Jo for subbing in; and commiserations to Mel for her Covid-forced absence.

City winter Head to Head

Another week, another race. This time the City winter Head to Head: 2k downstream, bridge to bridge, followed by a brief respite and then 2k in the more normal upstream direction. A lovely sunny day, with a light headwind coming back. The draw is here and the results (read ‘em and weep) are here. For us, see below. Times are: out; back; total (raw) and total (with masters adjustment).

Div 1 131 Chesterton RC Novice Women's 8 CRA Novice Women's 8+ (0:10:09.00:09:55.60:20:04.60:20:04.6)

Div 1 136 Chesterton RC Senior Women's Four CRA Club Women's 4- (DNS)

Div 1 140 Chesterton RC Harry Bulstrode Masters B Men's 1x (0:08:47.00:09:11.80:17:58.80:17:49.8) (vid)

Div 2 214 Chesterton RC Men's Mas D 4x Masters D Men's 4x- (0:08:16.40:08:39.60:16:56.00:15:56.0)

Div 2 215 Chesterton RC Mas D Women's Quad Masters D Women's 4x- (0:08:48.30:09:10.90:17:59.20:16:58.2) (vid)

Div 3 313 Chesterton RC Roberts Masters E Mixed 4x- (0:09:04.80:09:29.50:18:34.30:17:02.3) (vid)

Div 3 314 Chesterton RC Burgess CRA Club Men's 1x (0:08:23.10:08:42.80:17:05.90:17:05.9)

Conor is still winning the Burgess-Bulstrode deathmatch, despite Harry’s most feared opponent - the bank opposite First Post - proving no obstacle this time. We (men’s master’s) won “fastest Quad of the day” for which alas there is no prize; entries look to have been somewhat on the thin side, to me.

City were fastest overall, beating Caius by a mighty 0.5 of a second in 0:12:56.4. Which - for a 2 x 2km course - is a 1:37 split. Argh: City revised their timings, I think only for div 4 - see at end.

Caius were fastest overall in 12:55. Which - for a 2 x 2km course - is a 1:37 split.

The Pesky Quad: Anne, Paul, Katherine and Simon

By roving reporter Anne.

I always love a head to head race as it feels likes two races for the price of one. And almost without fail, we always comment that the second leg went better than the first leg as we were actually warmed up properly. Not being in a crew for this event, I tentatively asked around for a doubles partner and was delighted when Katherine said yes. Fortunately, presumably over quiet cups of tea somewhere, Katherine and Simon came up with the better plan of rowing in a quad with Paul making up the fourth. And after one pleasingly smooth and well-balanced outing snatched in the twilight hours of last Tuesday, we headed to the start of the race. Division 3 due to Tishka being used already in Divisions 1 and 2. We weren’t quite as smooth in the race as our outing, due no doubt to race adrenaline and excitement, and the fact that we were rowing in dirty water from the crews ahead. Simon was steering Tishka which he thought responded more quickly to the rudder than the men’s new yellow boat he was more used to. We rated about 28 to 30, but probably rowed our

best at 28. Katherine gave us encouraging coaching from the 2 seat, and I tried to keep the rating at 28 when we started to get a bit excited and messy. Conor had called us the Pesky Quad on Facebook, as we drawn ahead of him at 313 to his 314. However once he had mentioned he was going to row over at a split of sub 2 [Ed.: Conor is good but not that good, he got 2:06 :-)] we decided it might be best if he started ahead of us. Fortunately we didn’t have to overtake anyone and we also didn’t let anyone past us. A City single stayed safely behind us, but did close the gap. Although our raw times were rather average our masters adjustment raised us up the finishing order and gave us all a smile. The day finished as it should with a cake and coffee in Tishka’s.

Note (which I’ll add here since people are appalling at doing this in general, not from secretiveness, just from not thinking clearly…): City got some grief for the Div 4 timings which were hard to understand (“City have changed the times for division four of Winter head2head so much from yesterday. Not just switched the two legs around so that the with/against the stream times make sense with with the other divisions. They've also changed the actual times of each leg quite a lot for all crews compared to the original times they put up. They definitely, massively, botched the timings for division four, more so than just getting the legs mixed up“). They were revised, but the only official announcement of that (AFAIK) is Seb in answer to #Rowbridge9211: “Timing for the event is done digitally using RowClock. However, we also run a backup system using stopwatches (this is more manual but more reliable). After reviewing the times we felt there were issues with the digital timing for Div4 and so replaced the times with the backup system. At the end of the day we want the times to be as accurate as possible. Three people queried times for specific crews and these have all been checked and resolved. I can also confirm that the updated results didn’t impact the winners in each category.”.

Tabs Winter Head

We entered five boats; results are on Rowclock. Our Elite Quad again did well, retaining their fastest quad on the Cam title, in 9:31 (vid); but note this was a slightly short course, around 2500m, with a best time of 8:18 from City. The distinctly-non-elite Master’s Quad managed 11:13.0 (raw) or 0:10:40 (with masters adjustment). The ladies Club A VIII was 11:02, the Mas E VIII 11:53 (raw) or 11:06 (adjusted); and the ladies Mas D quad 11:52 (raw; vid) 0:11:18 (adjusted).

Robs Autumn Head

Following the success of the SBH, it was time for the Autmn Head; and a fine autumnal day it was too, cool and cloudy to start but sunny later. Before going on about Chesterton I’m going to say what a pleasure it was to see City M1 today looking so sharp and strong, a joy to watch, and the only crew under 9 minutes. Results are here.

Leading the way for Chesterton, and with a storming time of 10:07 for overall 12th was our Club B 4x- featuring Steve O, Conor, Harry and Dave R. Vid. Another (Lorraine’s on fb).

Next was the W Club B VIII in 12:25 (fb Vid from Paul S); and then the W MasDE quad in 12:26 (raw) (vidz on fb that it won’t let me link to).

Robs Small Boats Head

Twas the Robs Small-boats-but-large-fee Head, and various of our folk entered. Results here. From the top:

• SteveO, Jon, Conor, Dave R: M IM3 4x: 10:23 - third overall (vid; fb vid)

• Conor: IM3 1x winner of category: 11:34. (vid)

• Harry: MasB 1x: 12:09 - slight contact with the far side of First Post (vid)

• Rachel, Meg, Dawn, Lorraine: W.MasD.4x: 12:31 (vid; another vid)

• Richard: MasG 1x: 12:37

• Anne and Angela: MasF 2x: 15:17 - first race (vid).

Bumps 2021

It’s that time again.

The usual forerunner: CRA Time Race. Results at http://www.rowclock.com/Results/Time?raceId=120&scrolling=False. W1 and M1 won the masters categories.

Summary for the week: M1 down 2; M2 up 3; M3 down 2 up 1. W1 down 3; W2 down 3; W3 down 2 up 1. Overall -8 on the week. And, since positions aren’t kept this time, we get to do it all again next year!

Thanks for Jo Crisall for the videos, and Ralph Percival for many of the pix.

Monday

This year is the “staggered” pattern, with M1 and W1 not rowing. So it was nice to see M2 rowing just for once. And… they went up! A solid row against a decent crew, but they were faster. Vidz: Jo, William. Alas, M3, W3 and W2 were less happy and went… down. Vidz: W2 William, Jo. Weather: calm and sunny. Pix: courtesy of various, esp Ralph P.

Tuesday

M3: up. Well done them, catching the Tabs 10 crew that caught them yesterday. W1 and M1: row overs.

M1: somewhat nervously listened to the (distant) thunder whilst marshalling at Stourbridge but all went off OK. A decent start, perhaps a little wobbly halfway down FP, ominously City two behind bumped Nines behind before FP and then we didn’t get those naughty Hills Road Returners ahead of us. Vid.

W1: sat in anticipation watching the lightning in the distance beyond Green Dragon Bridge (maybe the weather was setting the tone for the race). With St. Neots (an unknown entity) chasing us and Cantabs ahead we knew it was going to be a tough race. After a solid start, moving up on Cantabs, we settled into a steady rhythm and held station but with Champs pushing St. Neots up the “excitement” started to rattle us. Still on station around FP with Matthew steering round bumped out crews we pushed on. Round Grassy we could see that City was pushing up on to Champs and tried to remain cool. Champs bumped St. Neots leaving us to go the distance of the course in a solid row over.

W3: After a torrid first night on Monday, W3 rowed down to our station on Tuesday, determined to do business. This time we started strong and a quick glance after we settled showed that Nines 6 did not pose much of a risk. The whistles and cheers behind us that followed shortly after, told their own story. With all immediate danger gone, we settled down for a good strong rowover. The way the Divisions fell this year, meant that the second half of our “sandwich” was not till Wednesday, but Dave kept us rowing as though we had something to prove. We took the corners in style and finished with a lovely, strong, well-set row up an empty reach, powering past the White House with a great deal of satisfaction. A rowover was the best we could hope for at the top of the Division, and it was a great confidence boost that we had rowed over well. Many thanks to Dave and to our subs, Anne and Sam (rowing her second race in her first bumps) and, of course to Masha, who has stepped into the boat for the whole week.

Wednesday

M1: doooown to City 2 before Frist Post. But, we rowed faster than Tuesday. Vid. W1: dooooown to Champs 1. M2: up! Again. The little scoundrels. They had to chase all the way to the reach for it though. Vid. W2: doooown to Tabs 6.

Thursday

The usual blogging tailing off towards the end of the week… What happened on Thursday then? M1 rowed over: nothing head of us because City; behind us Tabs caught Nines before First Post and after that we were cruising. Vid. M2 were up, another short one. Vid; M3 lost a crabbing competition to Tabs 10. Vid. W1 went down, so the Prosecco competition with M1 looks promising. Vid. Ws 2 and 3 also down, boo.

Friday

M1 down, a death foretold: the Tabs crew that caught Nines last night got us tonight, though a little later. Vid. M2: row-over behind the Evil Aquaphobes. Tough luck boys no entry into M1 for you this year. Vid. M3: row over. Vid.

W1 down. Vid. W2: row over. Vid. W3: up.

Afterwards: drinks at the Spring until Really Quite Late, then for those whose bodies or wills had not failed then, the Hell that is City.

For the record, this years crews…

M1

Cox Maddy Scragg

8 Will MillerHarry Bulstrode

7 Harry Bulstrode

6 Conor BurgessSteve O'Rourke

5 Steve O'Rourke

4 Chris Wood

3 Ralph HancockDave Richards

2 Dave Richards

1 William Connolley

M2

Cox Felicity Parker

8 Simon Emmings

7 Jon Hatchett

6 Steven Andrews(injury)/Thur, Mark Varley/Fri, Chris Smith

5 Steve Penson/ Thur and Fri, Lachlan Jardine

4 Ondrej Cervinka

3 Christian Turvill

2 Richard Woodham

1 Dave Byrne

M3

Cox Felicity Parker

8 Alex Coplan

7 Adam Berry

6 Matt Clark

5 Simon Clarke

4 Mike Prior-Jones

3 Sam Wilstead

2 Matt Yates

1 Paul Szyszko

Rad Mile 2021

And so the flow of regattas returns, with the Radegund Mile, which turned into a Rad Bridge-to-Bridge (confusingly called 2.2 km on some early adverts) which we did, and a Rad short-course, for college novices mostly. There’s a copy of the results, reformatted, here; or for the old-skool types the original results here.

Of the men: we came 5th overall in raw time, and only narrowly missed coming fourth, in 7:30, defeating our evil enemy the Aquaphobes, and our even more evil enemy Tabs W1 by a full 6 seconds, and destroyed our not-so-evil “enemy” Queens’ W1 - a somewhat eccentric draw saw us placed behind them, so we gave them an enoooormous gap, aided by a strange failure of Conor’s footplate on the start line.

Of the women: “Bubble bath” was second CRA VIII (including masters adjustment) behind… Tabs W1, with 8:48 raw. And Dawn bravely sculled the course in her first racing-as-sculler ever.