Christ's College Boat Club Fairbairn's Cup 2023 Report

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but we soon found our rhythm and, much to the surprise of our cox, we managed to hold a strong race pace the entire length of the course. This resulted in another solid eighth place finish, a demonstration of the determination of the crew in all racing environments. Women’s Captain AnaRosa Capp’s Report: Our senior women, though small in numbers this term, pulled off an impressive performance in Fairbairns. The 8 set off feeling incredibly stable and strong, and we soon caught up to Fitz who had started off ahead of us. By green dragon we had caught them and prepared for an overtake. Christ’s College Boat Club Fairbairn’s While Fitz had pulled wide to allow us to go on their inside, we too decided to pull wide and overtake them from outside Cup 2023 Race Report (an interesting decision which likely added a good few As Michaelmas term comes to a close it’s my pleasure to seconds to our time but was nonetheless a good learning share the results of the Christ’s Fairbairn’s Cup entries experience). Following this overtake, we continued a alongside specific reports from the Captains of all the crews strong stretch down the reach, having committed to trying who raced. to pull our time down in the middle before the many Please also keep an eye on your inboxes in January for corners. Going around first post corner Kate called a series more information of the term as a whole as well as a review of up 2s- which despite having always been part of her plan of our upcoming training camp to Seville! were not part of the advertised race plan. Despite them As always, please get in touch if you have any boatie news being a surprise, the crew held together well and cleanly to share. went up two, crossing over the finish at a 38 having raced Best wishes for the holidays and New Year! the main stretch of the course at a 32. We came 10th of all Lizzie Snow (Publicity officer) college crews, and overtook Fitz who are in front of us on eas207@cam.ac.uk the first day of bumps. Facebook: @christsbc Almost immediately upon return to the boat club, 4 of our Instagram: @christscollegeboatclub rowers quickly had some flapjacks and got back on the LinkedIn: @christscollegeboatclub water to race the 4+. The fours race, while equally rated, Website: christscollegeboatclub.co.uk was comparatively challenging, with everyone needing to work harder to hold set and not wash out. We did well to Results: respond to calls by our wonderful cox Mariam. Pushing M1: VIII - 8th - 15:22.7 IV - 8th - 12:20.5 through the pain of a second race, we rounded the corner at th th W1: VIII - 10 - 17:51.4 IV – 7 – 13:57.5 the reach expecting to complete the full length of the NM1: 12/28 - 10:58.3 plough, but instead were greeted with the finish just as we NW1: 21/34 - 13:14.5 began to sprint. A wonderful race which improved our NM2: 18/22 - 14:19.6 fitness and race mentality, was also accompanied by an impressive 7th place finish. We pulled in to the bank, Men’s Captain Mateo Hoare’s Report: It was a long day of racing, with our preparations starting opening a lovely gifted bottle of port, and celebrated a great well before sunrise to get warmed up on the ergs followed day of racing with M1. by a pre-paddle on the water. This, coupled with suitable Men’s LBC John Thompson and Luke Wright’s fuelling-up, meant we felt primed for the race and not even Reports: the wintry conditions could phase us. From the start line we Fairbairns was one to remember for NM1 as they placed settled quickly into our race pace and had a very strong and tied-12th overall. The well-executed race saw the crew composed first 2 km. As we came under the railway bridge clock a time that was 199 seconds faster than the 2022 NM1 fatigue was beginning to creep up on us, but it was cast crew - no doubt an admirable showing and fantastic effort aside with the aid of passionate support from the bank, overall! which spurred us into the final section of the race. We The boathouse was abuzz, while NM2 erged to warm up for gritted our teeth and held onto our pace, with a final burst the race of their lives (or novice terms at least!). Pushing of rate to empty the tanks as we crossed the finish line. The off shortly after NM1, they expertly took their place in the exhaustion was offset by how pleased we were with our queue and waited, the anticipation building. They powered performance, a testament to the crew after a term of very down the cam, the cox expertly steering around all the tight intense training, which was paid off with an eighth place corners. Our shouts of encouragement from the bank were finish amongst the Cambridge college crews. A few of the barely required; within the boat the novices themselves were ferociously yelling encouragement to each other. The braver boys returned later in the afternoon to race the course again, this time in the IV+ and with thankfully race was far longer than anything they’d rowed on the water warmer conditions. The lack of a pre-paddle in the smaller before, but they powered on, and such was their endurance that you couldn’t notice them slowing. As is tradition a boat meant it took us a little longer to settle into the race


couple of minor crabs were flawlessly resolved without a Despite a small pause a hundred or so metres before the break in the rhythm. They broke onto the long reach, and finish line to resolve a crab, they recovered quickly and started sprinting hard as Downing chased. A power ten was finished strong! Well-deserved oat bars were handed out at called just before the line and they finished strongly as the the finish and all were happy, not too chilly, and excited to boat erupted into cheers. It was a wonderful effort from all row back as seniors. In all, it was a perfect way to round - including a novice subbing from the women’s side - and out the term; NW1 were 83 seconds faster than last year’s a great result, beating numerous crews (including one from NW1, and I’m immensely proud of my wonderful novices. Division 1). Women’s LBC Becky Wake’s Report: Anticipation was high for the race that would make the novices seniors. Appropriately prepared with extra layers for the freezing weather, all of their recent hard work this term sharpening catches and strengthening finishes was going to be put to good use. Some were nervous about the distance; horrendous Michaelmas term novice traffic had limited the amount of unbroken rowing they’d been able to do. They began their rolling start in front of Goldie, for a very clean start with good strong technique. By the white railings, they started gaining on Homerton ahead, but with the rule against overtaking before Green Dragon they had no choice but to lessen the pressure. They followed Homerton closely, mere feet away, all along the houseboats until finally they reached Green Dragon, Homerton could tuck in, and a brilliant racing line from the cox allowed them to smoothly overtake. Not wasting any more time, they ramped up the pressure, keeping excellent and swift technique to power forward. At the railway bridge, it was finally time to sprint for the last few hundred metres. With stern pair maintaining a solid rhythm, the rest of them pressed hard to speedily complete the course.

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