St Catharine's College Boat Club

It all started with a life jacket...

We couldn’t have known on the row down to our starting post that the forgetfulness of an LMBC cox would cause us so much drama! In position at station 14, the canon blasts and Catz W1 were off with a very strong start sequence.

Not long after, the density of shouts and whistles up-ahead signalled that chaos was coming yet Catz were undeterred, we were ready to storm straight through it. We were gaining on Tit Hall when disaster ensued. Churchill drifted across the river in the wind after being bumped out and, with another boat already parked at the bank on the other side, there was no way for us to get through.

The next thing we know, Sid had to call for us to “Hold it up!”. The race was over. Or was it...?! The pile-up of boats under the motorway bridge was all caused by Maggie forgetting their lifejacket. Because Maggie weren’t allowed to race, all Pembroke had to do to secure a technical bump was to row past Maggie’s starting station. However, this wasn’t communicated to Girton who saw Pembroke pull in and thought that they had crashed. Thinking they had bumped Pembroke, Girton stopped rowing meaning that then Churchill had to stop so as not to plow into Girton. This then meant that Tit Hall bumped Churchill, who didn’t get out of the middle of the river in time, thus causing Catz, Queens’ and Caius to have to hold it up.

After 10 very tense minutes of waiting for the umpires to deliberate the chaos that had just occurred, they finally made a decision - Catz, Queen’s and Caius were going to re-row. We made it down to our new starting station and prepared for part 2.

This time we were racing at the head of a 3 boat sandwich and the only way to come out victorious was to row over. The second race began and all 3 crews surged down the Cam. After a minute or so the distance between the boats had shortened. From the bows it looked as though Queen’s were closing in on us. It was time for some drastic action. “POWER 4!!” Catz summoned all their might to push away but with Caius hot on Queens’ tail they were not letting us get away that easily.

Catz W1 were definitely not ready to be bumped on the first day of racing and as Sid heroically called for 2 more power 4s, Catz soared ahead down the river, pulling away from Queens’. Coming round Ditton corner, Caius bumped Queens’ and the race was finished. But the drama didn’t end there... On the row home we unexpectedly received the call, “Build it up to race pace...Ready...Go!”. Downing M1 were charging down the river in the next division and we had only just gone past the P&E. A short burst to the Green Dragon to get off the race course and then the last of the day’s drama was over.

A chaotic first day for Catz W1 but nevertheless a great row and we are excited to see what the rest of the week brings!