CCBC Lent Term 2024 Report

crew bond both through ergs and team dinners. While we felt that our Bumps results (-2) did not reflect either this work or the caliber of rowing we know we can produce, it highlighted areas of improvement which we aim to tackle during both Holiday and Mays training.

W2 were the stars of the Christ’s Lent Bumps season with there very impressive Blades Campaign. With all of them racing in their first Bumps, they relied heavily on both their novice race experience as well as this terms racing in Newnham Head and Pembroke Regatta to power them through! Much of the boats success can be attributed to Christ’s College Boat Club Lent Term the cohesive group of rowers, almost all of whom noviced together and have continued to diligently train. We are 2024 Report incredibly proud of the results they were able to achieve With Lent term coming to a close, the CCBC Captains have this campaign! been reflecting on the events of the term. Please find brief reports from them below. Additionally, please also find a Men’s Captain Mateo Hoare’s Report: summary of each day of Bumps in a separate document.

We came back from our training camp in Seville raring to get started, with two strong crews on the men’s side. M1 As always thank you for you continued support for CCBC were once again very busy, with training intensity and please feel free to reach out to me with any boatie news increasing from last term. We went big for our first race of or messages. term, entering Winter Head-to-Head twice, racing 4 x 2 km and coming in at both 11th (14:17.0) and 19th (14:37.8) Best wishes, place. The next weekend we left Cambridge for the Lizzie Snow (Publicity officer) college’s first off-Cam race in two years, to race the Head eas207@cam.ac.uk of the Nene in Peterborough. It was a really constructive Facebook: @christsbc experience that allowed us to row 5 km against crews from Instagram: @christscollegeboatclub across the country, coming in at 23rd with a time of LinkedIn: @christscollegeboatclub 19:16.0. Rowing in M2 was a big step up for the many exWebsite: christscollegeboatclub.co.uk novices in the crew, and they certainly delivered. They got their first opportunity to race in Newnham Head, with a Captain of Boats Georgia Denham’s Report: The boat club has enjoyed a successful term - much fun was firm 9th place finish in their division (8:31.0). Bumps was, as ever, the pinnacle of the term’s training. M1 went down had by all! A clear highlight was W2 winning Blades in Lent Bumps. The crew were all Michaelmas 2023 novices, one overall, with some extremely hard-fought battles brilliantly coached to their triumph by Kate. We also saw playing out, managing a solid row over one day, and achieving the crew’s first bump in six years on the final day M1's first bump since 2018 - onwards and upwards! I was lucky enough to be on the tow path for the row backs and against Caius M2. M2 held their position in the rankings, not letting being bumped on the first day deter them and couldn’t have been prouder of both crews.

Special mention also goes to our former Captain of Boats, bumping Trinity Hall M2 to move back up on the third day, with row overs achieved on the other days. M1 have not let Katy Hempson. At time of writing, she has made it to CUBC’s Openweight _Trial VIIIs_ for CUBC’s Women’s the momentum drop and continued to train post-bumps, Boat Race. Katy learned to row at Christ’s and transitioned gearing up for the Head of the River Race on the Thames at the end of March. to the OWs after her Lightweight Boat Race win against O*ford last year. Keep a look out as the final crews are W2 Captain Bryony Clarke Report: announced in the coming weeks!

Thank you to everyone in the club, committee, coaching W2 has had a great first term together as a crew this Lent!

After some bonding in the sunshine on camp in Seville, we team and our friends further afield for a fantastic term! returned to our native waters ready to train. Intimidated by the ergs and weights schedule ahead of us, what quickly Women’s Captain AnaRosa Capp’s Report: blossomed was a very close group with great music taste The Women’s Side saw plenty of racing and success this Lent, despite the frightful weather and plenty of flooding. and even better motivational quotes - as the first boats know While deciding to not race off-Cam this term, W1 did race well, crews who erg together stay together. Our first race at the start of term was Newnham Head, which left us middle in Winter Head to Head, and Winter League 1 in the 8+. of our division and feeling ready to train hard and improve With many crew members out ill through the middle of our race approach. As Bumps crept closer and the outings term, a last minute decision resulted in a scratch 4+ racing in Newnham Head with the boat crowned winners of the got earlier, we realised our affinity for race starts and division as the only college entrants! Despite being a crew corners and started to hone a race technique which would be crucial for our blades campaign. Still working on timing, new to rowing together, W1 trained hard and built a strong

ratio and set as we return to normal training, we have gained After a strong Newnham Head ninth place, two of our boys a lot of confidence as a crew seeing our progress and decided they could not carry on with the necessary time results. The weeks before and of Bumps saw the girls commitment. A few weeks before Bumps, what followed committed more than ever to our blades campaign and hit were endless frantic emails and messages to the whole extra morning ergs, even when the river was flooded. Christ community.

Fuelled by Jaffa Cakes and crew pasta, the team spirit was And, of course, they delivered. Joe Mutch stepped up higher than ever going into Bumps and our races improved without hesitation. Legend! Max Fenner, the W1 coach, each day - by the third day, we felt so sure we could get also stepped up in our hour of need. Nor were they just blades if we kept calm and pushed, and we did! The cherry making up numbers; Joe trained with us as much as on top of a great term of rowing, the row back with the possible and Max pushed beyond his limits in the boat Christ’s flag flying felt so deserved after all the hard work when it counted most. The campaign itself was better than from W2. Ready for more at Mays! we could have hoped. We were bumped on the first day, but the scratch crew found its feet to row over (technically) on the second and bump on the third! By the last day, the M2 Captain Tom Vaughn’s Report: relatively relaxed row over felt like a victory lap to a crew It has been a term of highs and lows for M2, but we come who were strangers to each other at the start of the week. out of it feeling overwhelmingly positive and proud with Those coming back next term are fired up and ready to hit what we have managed to accomplish in suboptimal back hard. circumstances. With a boat consisting entirely of freshers (undergrad and postgrad), all of us are still working out how to balance our time and attention.