On Saturday 4th May, Christ’s were represented by W1, M1 and M2 in Spring Head to Head, a bridge-to-bridge race over 2 x 2km.

On yet another windy weekend, W1 raced their second race of term We raced as a composite IV with two W2 and two W1 women. As it was the first time the W2 women were rowing in a IV, we spent the row down focusing on moving together and getting the balance right. We decided to treat this race as an exercise in technique given that we were the only IV in our category. As such, we maintained a low race rate in order to give the crew time to sharpen each part of the stroke. As we rowed over the final stretch of the first leg, Queens’ M2 went for a tight overtake, causing us to veer into the bank. As we regained composure, the skies opened and hail started battering down on us. We took a few strokes to get moving again and finished the race with a good rhythm. We had a faster time on the return leg, with some nice smooth, balanced sections. Overall, the crew needs to focus a lot on timing, staying composed and maintaining strong finishes. With coaching from Kate Hurst, the women should see great progress this term.

M1 made great technical progress in the week since Head of the Cam and were excited to test these gains under race pressure. We struggled to find a clear rhythm on the first leg heading downstream and faced pressure from behind from a strong Corpus crew. We focussed on working together with stern pair on the return leg, and the boat moved more effectively as a result. The first leg cost us greatly, but we finished a respectable 7th out of college M1s.

After having had a few more training sessions, M2 felt good about our chances of another good performance after winning our division in Head of the Cam. On the first leg, going downstream, our start was uncharacteristically shaky, but we soon gathered ourselves and the boat seemed to move quickly and efficiently all the way to the motorway bridge, overtaking Caius M3 on the way. Having now done a good first leg, we knew a good second leg would give us a shot at winning our division and so we set off back down the course with renewed energy. 500m from the finish, we all put in a monumental effort to sprint for the finish in one of the most impressive rows M2 have had. Unfortunately, we missed out on winning our division by a few seconds to Queens M2, but nonetheless, M2 put in an impressive performance.