St Catharine's College Boat Club

Today was a particularly special first day of Bumps as W1 lined up in our shiny new boat The Sandy, kindly donated to the club by Mr Sandy Robinson (1960). Starting in front of Queens' W1 for the fourth time this year, Catz were ready for another showdown. We were chasing Peterhouse in front. It was time to give Sandy the christening he deserved. A strong start left us immediately with our first whistle on Peterhouse. We settled to a nice leisurely 36spm and they held us at a length going under the motorway bridge. Pushing off bridge, we closed to half a length on Peterhouse while Queens', deploying what can only have been their familiar fly-and-die-at-grassy strategy, had cut the gap down to around a length behind us. Unphased by the familiar looming presence of Queens', we stayed composed and continued to reel Peterhouse in along first post reach, though they had other plans as we were driving them forwards to close on Homerton in front. A four boat sandwich began to develop as we closed to canvas approaching first post corner. It was time to make a move. A sharp line from Sid and a big four out of the corner finished the job as we bumped Peterhouse and denied Queens' once again. Bring on Homerton tomorrow.

- Fiona Conlon