Novice Sprints

Novice Women
Cox: Chris Beans Jackson 
Stroke: Rose Maloney
7: Vaish Sabari
6: Celia Gaier
5: Luisa Alamo-Gomez
4: Emer Daly
3: Catherine Napper
2: Mary Baron
Bow: Daniella Wu
 
The second race for some of us and the first for others was the Novice Sprints Regatta for which one crew of eight had been entered. Since Cambridge Head we had been focusing on the speed and coordination of our race starts to pull away from our competitors as fast as we could. Both at the boathouse and in the gym the girls have been practicing their technique to prepare for the races.
 
With a relatively early, cold start after Friday night schenanigans, all the girls were ready to cheer the Novice men before our race. It was all very nerve racking seeing all the other UH crews getting ready but with the atmosphere at our boathouse, our nerves settled and we started getting ready to race. We energised ourselves to take our favourite boat, “the Stämpfli”, onto the water, took the blades out making sure our gates were tightly closed and got ready to race. With layers piled on, cox Beans got us out from the shore to Surrey side to wait for our first race against the Royal Vets.
 
With adrenaline pumping through our veins, we powered past the boathouse towards Chiswick Bridge but were taken down by our competition. Although we had a disappointing defeat, we were through to the next round, hungry for revenge. We fired each other up, chanting before our race against GKT and it was worth it. We SLAYED, powering through the finish line watching our rivals paddle in after us. We did it and were ready to slay some more.
 
Last race was against SGH, time to give it our all although our tanks were nearly empty. If we went down we wanted to go down with pride. With the last bit of energy left, Beans coxed us to the finish line, sadly defeated but with one win in the bag. With a promising 3rd place, we were ready for next week’s Allom Cup ready to SLAY some more.

Men's Intermediate VIII
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Sunday morning saw the intermediate men take on the intimidating challenge of rowing the first of many sprint races that we’ll be facing this year. Despite the eight in the boat having not rowed as a single crew, we were all feeling confident off the back of some promising training sessions throughout the weeks in the lead up to this race. As is always the case, tensions were high as we jostled for alignment at the start, but the call to attention soon saw us focus in, breathing steady, primed to seal victory within the first twenty strokes.

Suddenly the flag descended and we were off, launching ahead of George’s in mere seconds, willed on by the cheers from ever-shrinking crowd supporting us from the riverbank. As the rate continued to build we pulled further ahead, seemingly securing victory with every stroke. However, much to our dismay, it soon became apparent we had backed ourselves too much and soon we found our power dwindling as we sustained an unrelenting rate 37. Desperate not to relinquish the lead we had fought so hard for early on we pushed as much as we could muster, but no amount of effort could see us maintain our lead unless we dropped the rate. Steadily, George’s began to claw back from near-certain defeat, pushing the boat into further frenzy. Mercifully, we found ourselves crossing the finish line just as the last of our strength was waning, winning by a narrow margin.

​Victory was bittersweet, pleased with the result but disappointed with our performance, as we knew we could do better. After a less-than-brief respite, we got back on the water with a renewed commitment to secure one race we could be wholly proud of and ready to give King’s a challenge. Thankfully, this time round we executed the race as we had hoped, giving King’s no chance for respite throughout. Unfortunately, our effort still wasn’t enough to best them this time, dropping behind in the final portion of the race and ultimately finishing half a length behind. Despite this defeat, we were ecstatic with our performance and are now keen to show what we can do in the weeks to come!