St Catharine's College Boat Club

W2 today were looking forward to showing off the full power of their start, and stuck perfectly to the plan, gaining steadily on Selwyn through the ditch and the gut. As fitness levels started to tell the advance stalled, and they were held at around quarter of a length coming into grassy corner. Unfortunately, FaT had been gaining on Catz at a similar rate, and their finishing move proved too much for a tired W2. Tomorrow looks set for a solid rowover. 

From a crew that no one thought would make it past the motorway bridge, I think being bumped by the Plough is a testament to just how much this crew has come on this term.

W1 had a glorious row down to the lock and our start outside the Plough was quite frankly beautiful. The real thing was powerful and controlled even with a strong tail wind the girls coped really well. We settled into our rhythm and made ground on Peterhouse, coming within a few strokes of the first whistle half way down first post reach. Churchill were nowhere near as close as they thought they would be (we had been told we would get 3 1/2 mins of race time) and took an iffy line around first post meaning we pushed away from them.

Unfortunately Peterhouse moved back outside the one length and we didn't manage to get it back. By the time we came around Grassy Churchill were hunting us down. A valiant effort from our girls held Chirchill at bay and some cheeky coxing delayed the bump until the Plough.

Tomorrow is a new day and maybe we will get a second shot at Peterhouse on Friday. We rowed for just over 5 minutes so I think we really surprised everyone!

#ForTheWheel!

May Bumps starts on Wednesday 10th June and we have 6 Catz crews participating. M1 and W1 are racing in the respective first divisions, M2 are in the men's third division (maybe also in the second division if they can bump up), W2 are racing in the women's third division, M3 are in the men's fourth division, M4 are rowing in the men's fifth division.

Hover over a result to see if a race report is available. Click on the crew name to see its members.

* Divisions start 2 hours earlier than stated on Day 4 (Saturday)

For information on where to watch the bumps from see here. Division times are here.
Follow the action on the radio at http://bumps.camfm.co.uk/ and see official results here. 
For a map, see here. Join the tow-path at the pink marker, and follow it to the North-East.
Grassy corner (the second big corner, the large right-hand bend) is a particularly popular spectator spot. 

SCCBC entered 5 events in the SBR this year. Due to a shortage of marshalls, all races were run side-by-side over a 500m course on the reach.

Men's captain-elect Will Norman (M1 Lents 2015) raced in the Peter Brandt (Men's Novice) Sculls: having only learnt to row in October, and not been in a scull before January, he battled hard but was ultimately well beaten by a significantly more experienced sculler from FaT. Sarah Lucas (Women's Captain 2013-14, CUWBC Lightweights 2014-15) was declared the winner of the Delafield (Women's Elite) Sculls by virtue of being the only entrant, before teaming up with a fellow trialist from Fitz to race in the Women's Double Sculls. The straight final against Caius was possibly one of the closest races of the day, with Caius half a length up at the finish.

I had entered the Fairbairn Junior Sculls for the second year running: having had my opponent scratch on the morning of the regatta, I found myself with a bye into the semi-finals. I was a canvas up after the first five strokes, but never properly settled and found my opponent rowing through me, winning by roughly a length of clear water. Sarah and I then teamed up for the Mixed Doubles - again a scratching opposition (apparently one of them was still at Caversham for the GB trials) meant we had a bye into the semi-finals. Our first race was a fairly relaxed row against Selwyn, with Catz 3 lengths up at the finish. We knew we would have to race much harder to win the final against a very experienced Magdalene/Caius brother-and-sister pairing, and desite our best efforts, their height and weight advantage prevailed.

Congratulations to all those who raced today, and many thanks to the umpires and marshalls for ensuring the event could run. Hopefully Catz can build on today's results, and maintain our position as one of the top "Small Boats" colleges. FTW!