St Catharine's College Boat Club

Bumped Magdalene M2

Having beaten Magdalene M2 in Pembroke Regatta, we were optimistic about our chances today. Nonetheless we knew it wouldn't easy - having been unfortunately overbumped yesterday Magdalene had a point to prove, and Churchill had a score to settle behind us, so were bound to go off hard. The row down was good, and notably less nervy than yesterday.

Although 'chaotic' might be an exaggeration when describing our start, it was by no means ideal. As we drifted, Maria wasn't able to keep hold of the bung, plus we lost our line. Some excellent steering from Maria combined with a healthy lump of pressure from strokeside soon got things back on track though.

Churchill started very strongly on us, closing the gap quickly. However as was proved yesterday we had the greater fitness and as time went on we slowly pulled away again. The real excitement was going on in front, anyway. We made some ground on Magdalene but more importantly and concerningly they were very rapidly closing in on Clare M2 in front of them. As we were coming through the gut the bump between Magdalene and Clare looked ever more imminent, but we were still creeping up behind Magdalene and just like yesterday with the first whistle we found a new lease of speed.

Just as things were starting to get interesting, Trinity Hall M2 (ahead of Clare) decided that enough was enough and promptly parked on grassy corner (unconfirmed reports suggest that they had no rudder). This handed the bump to Clare,  leaving a whole lot of open water in front of Magdalene. We seized this opportunity, and it was not long at all before Magdalene tasted the kiss of the dragon (Ben's sock, and our figurehead).

All this pandemonium meant a very exciting division, but also makes things rather interesting for Friday. With a fast, and annoyed, Trinity Hall in front of us, and a slower Clare in front of them, we will have to start very well in order to continue this fantastic start to the week.