Nottingham City Regatta

Christ’s sent two crews to race at Nottingham on Saturday 11^th May. Nottingham City Regatta is a British Rowing six-lane 2000 m race. The women finished fourth in their category with a time of 08:21.5 and the men finished fourth with a time of 06:49.5.

W1

Excited for our first off-Cam race of the year after the unfortunate cancellation of WEHoRR in March, W1 braved a not-so-early morning (I set my alarm for a luxurious 06:20) and made for Nottingham. We were going to race as a IV in the bow-loader, Mary Munroe. We arrived at the Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in glorious sunshine and calm air, a contrast to the usual challenging winds at Nottingham. After rigging our boat, we convened with our guest cox, alumnus Stephen Hubner to talk about our battle plan and get top tips from our coach Kate Hurst, who is an old hand at British Rowing races.

It is at events like these that you discover that the Rowing World is very different outside of the Cambridge bubble. We learned that it is only on the River Cam that coaches cycle along and coach their crew during a race – it is understandably seen as cheating by British Rowing; that there exists a traffic light system for the start of British Rowing races (except when a flag is used); that you can warm up in a race lane on the way to the start as long as you get out of the way of a racing boats in good time (we received a bit of a shock to see racing boats advancing on us at speed, although perhaps we should not have let them get so close to us!).

Hyped by seeing rowers from clubs from all over the UK from Cardiff to Edinburgh, we carried our boat down to the water, dodging trailers, vehicles and boats on the way. Our warm-up began slightly shakily as we adjusted to the crew and the boat – it was the first time we were rowing as this particular crew and the second time most of had rowed in the IV, Mary Munroe! Over the 2 km row towards the start, we settled into our rhythm. As we neared the start line, we backed it down towards the stakeboat to be held there until the start signal. Our competitors were Fitzwilliam W1, LMBC W1 and Becket – we hadn’t quite escaped the clutches of Cambridge rowing!

As the light turned green, we set off, winding hard to get the boat moving. We could see the other boats level with us and it stayed that way for the first 1000 m. It was not our best rowing yet we sustained a good pace for the first half of the race. However, the other crews began pulling away during the second half and in spite of a good push as our cox called the final 500 m, we never closed the gap. We finished fourth with a time of 08:21.5, perhaps not very satisfied with how we rowed but nevertheless delighted at the opportunity to race in this kind of event.

M1/2

Following on from spirited performances over the last couple of weeks at the Head of the Cam and the Spring Head to Head, on the 11th May a Christ’s M1-M2 contingent continued their newfound routine of getting up early on Saturdays to compete in the Nottingham City Regatta. An exciting and novel chance at off-Cam racing for much of the crew, the representatives of the Men’s side of the club put in an enthusiastic performance with a solid time – especially given the limited opportunity to row with the allotted mixed-boat crew beforehand. Entered into the Band 2 Men’s Eight Final, we were up against Gloucester, Royal Chester, Fitzwilliam College M1 and Derby. After some friendly from assistance from the drivers of City, mercifully the unhappy death by overheating of Kate’s truck towing John Milton and the Women’s four proved no obstacle to our racing, and everything ran to schedule as we rigged on the crowded banks of the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. Marvelling at the amount of water and the times going up on the results board for the top schools eights who were racing, the clouds cleared and tech tops were off as we pushed out onto the lake. Despite an uncertain start (in part due to the unfamiliarity of racing from a stakeboat), we soon found our rhythm and maintained it consistently for the duration of the 2K course. With Fitz, Chester and Gloucester surging ahead from the off, our battle for fourth place with Derby lasted most of the race. Matching each of their pushes, Christ’s maintained discipline and kept ahead, and with some obdurate coxing and emphatic calls from Holly finished in fourth place with a respectable time of 06:49.5. Faced with some challenging competition our result was not sensational, but given the crew a decent time, a valuable experience, and – above all – an enjoyable day racing.

Spring Head to Head

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.

Head of the Cam

On Saturday 27th April, Christ’s were represented by three student crews and 3 alumnus crews in Head of the Cam, a 2.6km race upstream from the A14 bridge.

This was the first race of term and W1 had benefited from just two outings before launching into the race. We were a mixture of women who had rowed in W1 and W2 last term. As we rowed down to the start, we hit enormous waves on the Long Reach. Indeed, small boats had been advised to pull out of the race due to the extremely high winds. Fortunately, the rest of the course was more sheltered and therefore calmer. It felt like a surprisingly relaxed race, with the focus largely on staying together and honing our racing technique. In the future, we will need to build the physical resilience to push harder and maintain higher rates throughout races. This was a good start to the term as we finished 5th with a time of 12.39.

M1 entered Head of the Cam having completed only one training session. The crew has changed slightly since last term due to two injuries. We made a good start under the motorway bridge, but it lacked real aggression. This is where we lost time relative to the competition. We were hit by  a strong headwind as we came onto the reach. The crew resettled onto a lower rate and rowed long under these difficult conditions. We found calmer water as we came under the Railway Bridge and made a decent push for the line, finishing 7th out of the college M1s. The crew were pleased with their gutsy row on the reach, but recognised that a more punchy start will be needed in order to compete with the quicker college crews.

M2 had only had one outing before racing Head of the Cam but with a mostly unchanged crew from Lent, we were reasonably confident of a good result. Our start was aggressive and ambitious but upon rounding Ditton corner and starting down the Reach, the headwind became a hindrance which we could have dealt with better. It was not helped by the fact that we had to overtake down the Reach and take the less sheltered water but nonetheless, under the Railway bridge we were able to regain our composure for a strong finish. We managed to finish top in the Mays 3rd and lower division which bodes well for our Mays campaign!

Among the alumnus crews, Crustaceans W1 finished with a time of 15:02, sadly not earning a prize for coming first, for lack of any other competitors in their category! Crustaceans M1 finished with a time of 11:18 and Crustaceans M2 finished with a time of 12:34.

Head of the River Race 2019

30th March 2019 saw CCBC’s participation in the Head of the River Race (HoRR), held annually on the tideway, for the first time in two years, the crew consisting of a combination of M1/M2 rowers as well as a last-minute sub. Read more “Head of the River Race 2019” →

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