Tuesday - round 1:

Competitor: Cauis  Conditions: windy on the reach - standard. Crew confidence: High

In our first round we were drawn up against Cauis. This was a crucial race, as Cauis had won the event last year, so probably weren't looking to be knocked out this early! Having seen little of them on the river, we were unsure what they were going to be like. When we arrived to marshall, I was a little nervous in seeing them bring along half their boat club to watch, whilst we had no bank party.

We were Upstream station. The first few strokes of the start were a little ugly, and Cauis probably took nearly 3/4 length out of us by first post. However, the crew responded exactly to the race plan on this, and did not flinch, even though we could see them coming up fast. This position was held going into grassy. Coming out of grassy we made our first big push, which really opened up the ground between us, and we probably took 2 lengths here. Going into grassy we lost a fair bit of boat speed, but coming out, the crew sat up and the rhythm really came into play. A big push left Cauis in the distance, and we had the reach to ourselves. Approaching the finish line, a strong final 10 stroke absolutely decided it, and we were able to row home with our head high on a very strong win.

Time: 7.32, 17 seconds faster than Cauis.

Wednesday - Round 2:

Competitor: Magdalene. Conditions: same. Crew confidence: intermediate

We were unsure of how fast Madgalene were, but knew that we would be closely matched after posting very similar times on the previous days racing. Sharing a boat house, the competition is naturally very high between the two crews.

We went in with the same race plan. This time we were bottom station, so could't see the action ahead. In hindsight, this probably helped us for this race. Again on the start we had some length opened up on us. Again, we stayed calm, and held to our game plan, which we had executed perfectly in the previous day's racing. Madgalene were up until coming out of Grassy. Our push down Plough reach saw us take it back to level, and then another half length taken out of them. Out of ditton we were gradually closing in on them, though you could really tell from the apprehension on the bank that it was a tight race. We put in our two big pushes here, and continued to make ground on Madgalene a stroke at a time. It was a close finish, but we took it. A fantastic race, thankyou Magdalene.

Time: 7.29, 7s faster than Magdalene.

Friday - Semi Final and Final:

Semi final - Competitor: King's. Confidence: Mid-High.

Again, looking at the previous results showed that we were potentially 5s faster than King's. However, this was such a tight margin that we knew we were in for another tight race. Having seen away Fitz with a strong row in the previous round, King's had surpised our predictions.

Upstream station, start was better on this one, and we managed to find our rhythm and platform coming out of First Post, leading to a great line round grassy. Although King's had really pushed on the start, maybe getting upwards of 3/4 length on us, we got this back along Plough reach, opening up the gap to nearly 1 1/2 lengths. King's responded, coming onto the reach we had just over 1 length on them. We weren't quitting, and still knew we had two big pushes left. These were executed confidently and cleanly together (minus one bad stroke!) and we opened up the gap all the way up the reach to give us the win. King's kept pushing us all the way to the line, another really strong race, thankyou King's.

Time: 7.24, 7.5s faster than King's.

Final - Competitor: Downing. Confidence: Mid

We had seen little of Downing either on the river or in races. They had posted a good, close race with Peterhouse in their previous races, but we knew little of Peterhouse either!

As with the previous 3 races, we lost some ground on the start. Coming into first post, Downing were really gunning it, takings nearly 2 lengths out of the gap, and closing fast. The crew didn't buckle at all, holding our own race plan. We expected this and allowed it, and then implemented our own strategy. A push down Plough reach took the gap back down to station. Coming into Ditton, we had opened up by about 3/4 of a length. Downing however were not going to give it to us that easily, and retaliated to our push out of Ditton to take it back to almost station. All 5 of the crew really wanted this, and were working together calmly and collectively, even though we were shattered after the previous race. Coming into the final 10 strokes, we settled up a notch at a steay 35 and really shifted the boat, ploughing over the line at high speed.

Unsure of the result (eyes in the boat chaps, eyes in the boat), Charlie came over to us and told us 'it's a win chaps, but not that kind' or similar, to which I nearly dropped in disappointment before he admitted that it had been declared a dead heat.

A great race Downing, and a great end to the week's races.

Thankyou all crews for providing some really close races.

C: J. Cribb S: P. Mildon 3: N. Gates 2: G. Savell B: S. Greenaway Coach: C. Adams

No-one from this crew has written a race report yet.

C: L. Antrobus S: C. Sturrock 3: M. Varley 2: B. Srigengan B: E. Kwong Coach: C. Adams