I was not in the boat for the first day because I had a tutorial that could not be missed which clashed with the race time. Nevertheless the guys did pretty well considering they had an M1 boat behind them. They were eventually bumped by St. Antony's but the guys were well proud of having held them off for as long as they did, especially considering it was an M1 crew they were fighting. We finished the river length without getting bumped again so it was not a bad day.
This is a link to the St. Anthony's Boat Club page which has some videos of the M2 guys on day 1.
http://boatclub.stantonys.info/content/torpids-2011-m1-day-1
Day 2:
Racing is big fun! I was at the 4 seat and happy with that position. I was feeling relaxed and cool as a cucumber about the race to come...
We started off incredibly strong, taking half a length out of the boat in front of us (St. Antony's) in the first ten strokes. But behind us was LMH, and they stayed right with us as we chased St. Antony's, giving no water to us from the get go. This was my first time rowing under these conditions but I adapted quickly. After about six strokes we were already rowing through the dirty water from the crews that started ahead of us. I missed a stroke early on fighting the chop but that was to be one of only three missed strokes over the 2200m course. I lightened up my grip on the oar and just let it flow up to the catch, getting a sense of the water through the blade and knowing that it was a strong catch position by feel rather than by muscle memory, which couldnt be relied on in such ugly water.
After about 1200m the river comes to a bend where it widens significantly; this is called the 'gut' of the river. This is where the race really begins. We did a power ten going into the gut and kept our rating even and our power firm even after those ten strokes. Then two bumps occurred ahead of us and in rapid succession. With both boats immediately astern of us suddenly out of the race our new target was several lengths off. By now we had opened up a 2 length gap on our trailing rivals LMH and they were dying while we were steady at 34 strokes per minute.
By the time we crossed the finish line we had cut the gap between us and the boat ahead to 2 or 3 lengths and we had pushed off LMH at 2.5 lengths. I'm not disappointed that we didnt score a bump. I did not row my best, though I rowed hard, and I feel confident that we will seal it tomorrow. I need to be driving my knees down much faster and letting myself finish the stroke. My hands come down near the end and start feathering early - this is bad for a hundred reasons. Also when I get tired I let my shoulders come into the stroke too early, but if I can keep driving my knees down properly then that wont be a problem. If I can keep these things in my head tomorrow then the improvement will be felt in the cover between strokes.
At the end we felt good about our effort and a small cheer went up from the guys on the boat led by Graham on the bank. It was a hell of a workout and we just pushed off those guys behind us like it was nothing at all. It felt like we were rowing at 83% of our possible ability today and we crushed LMH. Now its Jesus College in front of us and we are aiming to make them miserable.
A couple of the videos are really nice full length shots of the whole race. Naturally this makes them unruly large files and precludes me from uploading them tonight. I will share them once I have time or else you'll have to pester me when I return home and I'll bust em out on the laptop.
The rest of them are up on my youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ueHuBf6-jw
&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esR2_Y0kIaA
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