Joint Captain’s Report After a 2 year hiatus, Lent Bumps was finally confirmed
Christ’s College Boat Club Spring 2022 Newsletter The past few months have been very eventful for Christ’s College Boat Club. Most importantly, Lent Bumps have returned for the first time since 2019! Beyond Bumps, CCBC crews have participated in six different races throughout Lent Term, and judging by our most successful Lent Bumps campaign in several years (eight bumps in total!), the high engagement levels at the club have certainly paid off. This Spring edition of the CCBC Newsletter reflects on the events at the boat club from Lent Term and the Easter holidays and contains: -
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A joint Captain’s Report from our Captain of Boats, Katy, and our Men’s Captain, Rich who comment on the many races and results from this Spring. A race report from Winter Head to Head where we sent three women’s crews and two men’s crews to race the 2x2000 meter race. A race report from Head of the River Race on the Thames which our M1 crew participated in during the Easter break. A summary of how our combined women’s crew did at Bedford Head, another race off the Cam! Results from Second Trinity Challenge Sculls where two of our members won their respective divisions! A commentary on our termly Boat Club Dinner Featurespace’s ‘Featured Space’, a segment from our wonderful sponsors sharing some exciting graduate programmes and internships!
As always, if any of you wish to share rowing news or stories with the rest of the CCBC community, you are more than welcome to contact me to be featured in the next edition. Many thanks, Christina (Publicity Officer) chrl2@cam.ac.uk Facebook: @christsbc Instagram: @christscollegeboatclub LinkedIn: @christscollegeboatclub Website: christscollegeboatclub.co.uk
to return to the Cam in 2022! With 7 senior crews at the start of term, training began in full swing, with a painstakingly crafted outing planner by your 2 favourite Captains, which was quickly rendered obsolete as we realised CUCBC were not in fact going to hit us with the 2-boat restriction any time soon. M1 saw a few changes in their line-up, with some brave members stepping up from M2, and even a former novice in the boat. Whilst the crew were fresh, their positive attitude and slightly questionable chat has kept them in good spirits through cold, wet and windy outings. W1 remained mostly the same as last term, with a couple of changes in the seat order, and the return of yours truly . W2 and M2 saw some big changes in lineup, with many former novices stepping up to the challenge. W3 and W4 quickly merged to become W3 Extended Edition TM, with a large group of rowers and 2 coxes sharing weekly outings between them. In the run up to Lent Bumps, the club took advantage of the racing opportunities offered, and produced some excellent results. Please see our full race report for more details, but highlights include our first off-Cam race in years, where a W1/W2 composite crew raced at Bedford Head and finished 3rd out of 12 entries in Band 2 Group 2 of event W 8+. At Newnham Head, M2 showed what they were made of when they finished 3rd out of the Men’s Lower Boats, only 30 seconds behind M1! Their forward-thinking crew captain later showcased his decision-making skills when M2 opted to go to the pub instead of race Pembroke Regatta, an event that was inevitably called off due to terrible weather. We also saw success in sculling events, with Max Fenner and AnaRosa Capp winning their respective division in Trinity Second Challenge Sculls. Despite unfortunately missing out on Getting On, our W3 showcased their skill amongst the lower boats when they finished second in their division at Talbott cup, only being beaten by Jesus W3 (the 2nd fastest crew to not get on). As week 6 crossed into week 7, we saw the return of the event we had all been waiting for – Lent Bumps 2022. Christ’s had 4 crews participating, following an excellent GoR by W2 and M2. Some crews were feeling particularly ambitious about their campaign, some crews slightly less than ambitious, but regardless the boat club pulled together and prepared for 5 days of tight racing and excellent last-minute-sub-finding (huge thank you to all of our subs!). Again, please see our Bumps report for the full details of our week of racing, but overall CCBC had an incredibly successful campaign, with the most bumps seen in years!
W1 achieved +2 overall, W2 achieved +3 (our highest scoring crew), M2 also achieved +2 and sadly our M1 ended the week with -4 and some lovingly painted spoons from W1. Notable bumps include M2 bumping St Catharines M2 ¾ of the way down the Long Reach and W2 bumping Clare W2 halfway down the Long Reach - 2 excellent displays of grit and determination! Credit must also be given to our W1 cox Felix, for some of the tightest and smoothest corners taken in the campaign (see here for a demonstration: Lents 2022: Friday: W1, fast-forward to 4mins in to watch W1 bump FaT W1). Looking ahead to next term, we are extremely optimistic and ambitious on the Women’s side. Following on from successful campaigns from W1 and W2 this term, we are hoping they can build on their progress even further, bringing home many more bumps, and possibly even blades in Mays 2022! We are also hopeful that with continued training and commitment, W3 will be able to get on and add to the club’s success. We also hope to enter a number of other events both on and off the Cam, possibly including Head of the Cam, Peterborough regatta and St. Neots regatta. M1 certainly faced some difficulties with crew illness during Lent Bumps but their -4 result should not be interpreted as anything lacking from the Men’s side. There is some serious talent developing in M2 and M3. Indeed, M2 have been nipping at M1’s heels this term and M3 have not been too far behind either. Looking forward to next term it is clear that seats will be competitive across the side. Having performed well in the Talbott cup, we are certain that M3 should be able to get on for May Bumps and we will surely see M2 build on their success in this most recent campaign. After what felt like a good and enjoyable row at HoRR earlier this month, M1 are looking to take that same energy and improve upon their race record at some off-Cam races and, of course, HoC and bumps. As always, we are so incredibly proud of this club and what they have achieved, and we can’t wait to see where your efforts and enthusiasm take us next term. YEAH CHRIST’S! HUGE BOATIE LOVE, Katy Hempson (Captain of Boats and Women’s Captain) and Rich Turner (Men’s Captain)
Winter Head to Head The first race of Lent term was Winter Head to Head, a 2x2000m race where we entered 3 Senior Women’s crews and 2 Senior Men’s crews. At the time of the race, crews had not yet fully been decided, so it provided a good opportunity for everyone to showcase their rowing and try out different seats ahead of crews being finalised. W1 finished in 4th place, with Pembroke, Jesus and Emmanuel ahead of them (crews which were all much higher up in the Lent and May divisions). The race itself was rate capped for W1 at r24, apart from the final sprint, and we saw excitement as we almost overtook Cambridge 99s women. For some members of this crew, it was their first time racing in a senior crew, or with W1, and it was Katy’s first race back with CCBC, and her first time rowing for a couple of months after injury. W2 finished 6th out of 9 crews in their division and contained aChrist’s number ofArmada our new seniors, and we were proud to see them beat a number of other crews and put in some consistent times, particularly as a number of the individuals in the crew were rowing in new positions and also had a new stroke seat for this race. With huge effort from the W3 crew captain in finding last minute subs and organising the crew, W3 were also able to race! They showed their enthusiasm and determination despite multiple members of the crew swapping sides for the first time, a new rhythm and a mid-race crab slowing them down slightly. Yeah girls! On the Men’s side, M1 and M2 raced. These were closer to the finalised term crews than the Women’s side, and so this race marked an initial point to build upon. M1 saw Alex Tocher become the new stroke seat, and multiple crew members stepped up to M1 for the first time, either from M2, or even from a novice boat! They were able to beat Clare M1 and set a good base to build upon in the coming weeks. M2 was an almost entirely fresh crew, with many new seniors stepping up. They raced very well and came 4th out of 8 crews in their division - an excellent first race for M2!
Head of the River Race Taking to the tideway as a boat club for the first time since 2019, M1 entered and raced HoRR at the end of March. For those who haven’t raced it before (or at least haven’t done it in a long while), the race is over a 6.8 km course from Mortlake to Putney (The Boat Race course in reverse), rowing with the ebb tide. This year, Christ’s M1 were one of nearly 300 crews entered — both national and international, amateur and professional. Crew members included our Men’s Captain, Rich Turner, other M1ers, Caitlyn Furley (cox), Alex Tocher, Mikesh Patel, Rob Cooper, Mateo Hoare and Ollie Norbury. Excitingly, we also had the return of last year’s Men’s Captain and Captain of Boats, Herbie Lambden, in addition to ex-M1er and current W1 coach, Max Fenner, who stepped in as subs. Unfortunately, Kate tested positive for Covid just 24 hours before we were due to race meaning that we were to be without our coach on the day! Luckily for us, Tricia Smith, who learnt to row at Christ’s before going on to row in the Blue boat at bow (with wins in 2018 and 2019), was on hand to help and we were re-rigged in record time. This is despite our strokeman, Alex, letting the boat swing down to whack Rich’s knee whilst unloading it from the Cantabs trailer (almost taking him out for race), and several members of boat being late due to “public transport travel disruptions”. Boating from Putney Town Rowing Club, we were conveniently right by the start, and Tricia’s familiarity with the river allowed us to take to the tideway very efficiently (even being able to stay relatively on station) following some sage advice. With a slightly scratched crew we rowed down to the start of the race more concerned with having an enjoyable row rather than a good result, we were starting from the middle of the final division (with the weakest current) after all. Being the first time the majority of the crew had ever raced on the Thames, or over this distance, we really didn’t know what to expect, however, we quickly settled into a good pace and rhythm, overtaking a couple of crews on the long stretch between Barnes Bridge and Chiswick Eyot. However, as soon as Caitlyn notified us that Hammersmith bridge was in view, we stepped up a gear, overtaking a further two crews in quick succession just as we passed under it. Spurred on by this feeling we kept pushing until the finish line, overtaking a 5th crew and finishing with overlap with our 6th crew, Jesus M2. Later we discovered that Christ’s M1 came 74th in their category, 212th overall and beat several Cambridge college M1s.
Whilst the race itself was very enjoyable, the paddle home was probably the highlight. As we easied on crossing the line we really started to feel the burn (quite literally) — the weather had been fantastic and most of us had forgotten to put sun cream on before the race! Further, much to our concern (amusement), after having spun (and after desperately applying sun cream to ourselves to hopefully spare us on the way back) we passed a very distressed looking Churchill M1 who unfortunately had one of their rowers catch an ejector crab just before the finish, an event that has now gone down in history amongst the Cambridge rowing community. To add to the antics on the paddle back, we even had a good laugh ourselves with our cox and strokeman switching seats! To top the day off, we finished the day with a few pints (and bowls of chips) at the Ship. All in all, a very enjoyable day!
Bedford Head On Sunday 15th February, CCBC had its first off-Cam race in 3 years, with a trip to Bedford for a painstakingly arranged W1/W2 composite crew, featuring a brilliant last-minute sub from the Kings Women’s Captain. An 8:10am taxi (lie in!) over to Bedford was an excellent opportunity for a good breakfast, crew chat and gave time to organise seat order. The Bedford Head is raced on the Great River Ouse and was a 2km time trial. Our crew came in with a time of 7:32, and finished 3rd out of 12 entries in Band 2 Group 2 of event W 8+, beating a number of other college W1 crews on the river, including Churchill and First and Third. Racing in an earlier division meant we were able to avoid the rain whilst racing, but unfortunately derigging became a soggy ordeal. Despite the miserable conditions crew morale remained high, and overall, the day was highly successful, particularly for a scratch crew. The women’s side look forward to more off-Cam events, hopefully to be joined by the men’s side.
Second Trinity Challenge Sculls
Lent Boat Club Dinner
Christ’s enjoyed a double victory at the Second Trinity
Despite a busy Lent term with countless outings, races
Challenge Sculls race this year! Two of our towers decided to swap out the sweep oars and jumped in their single sculls for this year’s race, where both of them competed in the 1x category. The course ran from Little Bridge to Peter’s Posts. Max Fenner, current W1 coach and previous rower at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships, won the M1x division for the 2600 meter course, while W1’s 7-seat, AnaRosa Capp, took first place in the W1x division. Big congratulations to the two scullers for their double gold!
and (worst of all) erg sessions, CCBC made sure to stay on top of their social events as well. Beyond swaps with Pembroke, Jesus and Newnham, we enjoyed the termly boat club dinner. However, the usual formal hall was swapped out with the University Arms Hotel banquet hall due to some conflicting scheduling with the college. The new surroundings did not prevent classic BCD traditions such as fining, gifts to coaches and plenty of speeches from going ahead. All in all, it was a wonderful evening and the first BCD since 2019 to celebrate the end of Bumps!
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