St Catharine's College Boat Club

It was a really big day, first day of Lents 2020. We have been training hard all term for this, all the early mornings and evening erg sessions were finally going show themselves as pure power on the river. The previous year had been a strong one, and we would have to fight hard to hold our position. Christ’s were behind us with an unearned cocky attitude, but with First and Third in front of us it looked like we were in for a potentially long and painful chase. As nervousness set in with the one minute cannon, we got a well-practised push off from the bank and set ourselves up in front stops. With the final cannon blast we went into the starting sequence, putting all our power through the blades. With adrenaline rushing through my head, I couldn’t tell if I was rowing well, what our rate was, or even if I was pushing hard. Minutes passed in a single moment, in a state between pain and euphoria. We got cheered on by FaT from the side of the river, giving us fuel to keep Christ’s away from us, FaT had evidently bumped Jesus, thus confirming our targets for the next day. We were determined not to let Christ’s bump us, and seeing them get bumped behind us was extremely satisfying, especially as it looked like they blocked the river behind us as they were going in to the side, although it was hard to tell for sure because we were speeding away from them at high velocity and soon were invisible to the unaided eye. With no more crews fit to challenge us on the river, we confidently rowed through to the end posts. I felt like I was flying.

- Gustavs Mežciems