News

At the end of Michaelmas term, Churchill fielded our usual range of crews for Fairbairn's - M1, a W1 IV+, M2, and the novice boats.

Fairbairn's is the longest race on The Cam, at 4.3Km for the seniors and 2.7km for the novices (the senior IV+s, including this year's W1, row 3.4km).

Results:

The full results can be found here.

Race reports:

M1:

No report yet.

W1 IV+:

Having eventually arranged to borrow a plastic IV from Kings College, W1 were spared racing in Lady Bondi and were excited to see how we would perform in a new boat. Our last outing before the race was our first in the plastic IV. Needless to say, it was a little wobbly to begin with, but we soon got to grips with it and were ready and raring to go!

Race day got off to a slow and relaxed start with a dash of excitement as Mark and Stella realised that the race was in fact 1 kilometre shorter than we had been training for – woops! After a cheery breakfast and a good hour of marshalling we finally set off.

The beginning of the race was pretty good. We settled into a nice rhythm and were rowing together really well, particularly past Churchill Boat House. Mark kept calling that we were gaining on the crew ahead, and with this in mind we made fantastic progress all the way to the Long Reach.

It was on the Reach that things began to get exciting! We managed to overtake the Corpus IV ahead of us, but no sooner had we done that than the Clare crew behind us began gaining on us fast, and the Downing crew behind them even faster! There were 3 boats side-by-side on the reach for what felt like 10 minutes!! Mark did a fantastic job holding our line despite the confusion of who should concede the racing line when there were 2 overtakes occurring at once! Unfortunately we couldn’t hold off Clare and Downing, but we finished the race still pulling away from Corpus.

It’s been a rocky term for Churchill W1, but I think we should all be proud of our performance in Fairbairns. We came 11^th out of 22 senior IVs, and if only the start order had been a little different we would have felt triumphant about overtaking that Corpus crew. I’m positive that with the same determination and 4 more girls we will do brilliantly in Bumps next term....

Kat Wood, Women's Captain

M2:

The 2nd race of Michaelmas saw equally impressive efforts from M2. After a full term of hard training the team were ready to show the other crews what they've got. A strong rolling start saw the boat sat at a solid rate of 26 which was maintained for the majority of the long race.

Excellent lines were picked out by Su Yin throughout the race to maximise the boy’s efforts. The first serious push was called for on the reach when a very strong crew drove to overtake us. Unfortunately our response wasn't enough and the opposition's determined manoeuvre was successful. However, this was more than made up for later in the race as I witnessed from the bank one of those magical moments in rowing. Those moments that make all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile!

As we rowed down plough reach fatigue was beginning to show and the power was dropping, although the rate remained comfortably at 26. A threatening Clare crew were approaching from behind and in danger of gaining the racing line through grassy. I called for a strong push from the bank and the response was outstanding; pushing off Clare to enable our cox to hold the racing line. This commitment was maintained for the remainder of the race as we held of Clare for the final 600m or so (although the rate had to be cranked to a brutal 34!).

Top work again. Bring on Lents!

Josh Hodgson, Men's Vice Captain

MN1:

The day of the Fairbairn Cup for NM1 was eventful, so say the least. With one of our crew members already being subbed in for by an intensely hungover Josh White, Imy cries of anguish could be heard across court when I saw the text on my phone from Eoghan Hartigan, telling me that he was simply too ill to row.

After frantically calling anyone me and Chris could think of, we realised that the entirety of CCBC, past and present, was hungover. So, we decided that the best course of action was for me to row in his place, and if they noticed that I wasn’t a man then we would ask to simply row for time – I can’t decide whether I’m annoyed or glad that they never did. The ridiculously disorganized marshalling meant that, whilst waiting on the hard, Josh had time to fall asleep amongst the leaf litter and our bow managed to go off for a wander without informing anyone for a good quarter of an hour. I spent my time switching quickly between hysterical laughter and telling the boys ‘right lads, lets keep warm, keep our heads in the games, it’ll be fine’, only to collapse in a heap of delirious giggling once again. It was up to Chris, always the level-headed one, to stop the crew from following me down the path of madness.

Despite all of our setbacks, the race was a great success, the boys really showing off all the effort they’d put in over the term. When I shouted from the 5 seat for a hard 10, I felt the boat surge forward. Ella’s steering was superb, and my worry that our relatively inexperienced cox might fall to the familiar novice situation of crashing out at Chesterton was completely unfounded. Well done guys on a great end to your novice term!

Katie Rogers, co-Men's Lower Boats Captain

WN1:

No report yet.

Queens' Ergs 2011 took place on the 8th November. Churchill entered three novice crews and a mixed senior crew, and good times were had by all...

As the first rowing event of the academic calendar, Queen’s Ergs is the first opportunity for us to show off our rowing abilities. Traditionally a novice event, this year Churchill also entered a team into the mixed-sex senior division.

First to race were W1. A blistering 1:47 start from Alana Livesey set the crew up nicely, and they glided into an impressive 4^th place in the division. The crew then busied themselves with clearing their diaries for the evening, with the birth of the idea that they might actually reach the final. Unfortunately there were a number of very quick times in the following division, and we just missed out on a place.

Next up were M1. After a hurried practice the night before, they were less than ideally prepared. But with an average height of over 190cm, and solid commitment, we squeezed into the final, finishing an outstanding 8^th overall. A special mention should go to Tim Squirrell, who became the fastest Churchill novice of the evening.

Then came the turn of M2. With K-Rog dangling her breasts in front of the rowers like a carrot in front of a horse, the boys were pumped up and motivated (if a little distracted). The over-excitement was apparent (as were some budding erections), when the majority of the boys fell off the seat during the race. This obviously hurt the overall time, but implies an impressive level of commitment.

Lastly, the seniors took to the stage. It was to Matt Grayson’s horror (and everyone else’s delight) when he found that not only were we rowing next to Pembroke, but that he’d be erging against Matt Castle. His nerves must have shown, because Castle felt the need to say “Matt, just remember everything I ever taught you. And don’t worry; I’ll cheer you on when I’m finished”. He kept his word. With our only CUBC triallist out of action, it was left to the lightweight Dan Stebbings to pull the fastest Churchill time of the night, and take us into a very respectable 8^th place, ahead of both Emmanuel and Magdalene Colleges.

There was an excellent performance from all rowers. Huge commitment was shown so a big well done to everyone. At the end of the night, there was only one thing for it...

...pub?

Tom Heycock, a man from Wales.

This Saturday (19/11/11), Churchill M1, M2 and W1 competed in the Winter Head, a 2.5km head race upstream on the Cam.

M1:

The beginning of Winter Head was less than promising for the event organisers. After being told to boat 20 minutes late, we then sat in a queue for a further half an hour contemplating life, Mexicans, and the problems associated with being Tim Squirrell. As enlightening as this was, it wasn’t a particularly effective warm-up.

The race itself was slightly more promising. When we finally reached the starting line, we ploughed up to race pace impressively quickly, and held a solid rate for the entire 2.5km. Sitting in the stroke seat, it was a pleasure to see the gap between ourselves and Corpus widen with each stroke, and even more of a pleasure to see Evan frantically change his line when we nearly caught up with Downing M2 on our push out of the railway bridge.

As this was the first ever race for 6 members of the 9-man crew, I had almost written off this event as a “practice”, but the boys exceeded all my expectations. The boat was balanced, commitment was sustained, and racing lines were exceptional. There are still some things to work on, but I’m confident that we’ll have nailed them come Faribairns.

My thanks to Will Brown for cheering us on from the bank, and to Will Hamilton for subbing in for our 6”7 powerhouse Harald. What Will lacks in size, he more than makes up for in enthusiasm, neck muscles and a strange obsession with parasites.

It’s a huge task for one person to novice in M1, let alone 6, and I’m immensely proud of the boys for how much they’ve achieved so far this term. Let’s keep this up for Fairbairns!

Tom Heycock, Men’s co-captain

W1:

After marshalling/gossiping for around 45 minutes we were all feeling a little cold and not quite in the mood to race for 2.5K. However, after a quick game of Bakery’s Open, I for one was feeling a lot hotter under the collar (“SIX”), ready and raring to go.

We were head of our division which meant that we span and had literally 2 strokes before our rolling start. This could have been disastrous – especially since it was our first race of the term, and the first race ever for our 3 novices! We got off to a really great start though and settled quickly into a nice rhythm.

It was around Grassy when things took a turn for the worse. With Mark calling for “Bow and 3 to bring us round”, 3 promptly caught our first crab of the day! It was well recovered though, just in time for a gate to fly open and another crab to be caught as we hit the Long Reach!

Despite all these mishaps, we managed to finish the race in a fairly respectable time and held off Kings who were absolutely beasting it from their station behind Girton! All in all, it could have gone better, but there were definitely some good bursts and we crossed the finish line rowing together as an VIII.

Kat Wood, Women's Captain

M2:

It was the first race for Churchill M2 this year, and the first race ever for some of the crew. As expected, both nerves and excitement were running high, but focus was maintained as we rowed to the start. After an offensively tight spin, we were ready to race.

Despite not having great opportunity to practice our high rate work the lads wound to 28 over 5 strokes in a clean and precise manner that set them for a promising race. The first 500m of the race were particularly impressive with the boat being extremely well sat and some strong power being put down by all. An unfortunate grip slip led to a crab, but this was quickly rectified and it was really impressive to see a rapid recovery from the entire crew. Clearly fatigue was setting in as power dropped slightly in the second half of the race. We were overtaken by two especially fast crews that happened to end up chasing us (1st on plough reach and the 2nd at the railway bridge), but real determination was shown in resisting the second crew in particular and we held them off for a good 200m until they took us on the inside. It was great to see a massive response to some cox calls for power in the last 500m and as a result Churchill M2 stormed the finish with heads held high.

All in all, an excellent race that everyone should be incredibly proud of. We'll look to raise our mental grit to reduce any progressive losses in power in future races, but today saw great technique and the rate sat perfectly throughout - some real achievements. I eagerly anticipate my recovery and joining the crew back in the Canon, but until them I'm getting huge pleasure from watching the continual progression from the bank. Onwards and upwards!

Josh Hodgson, M2 Captain

The Churchill Novice Women dressed up and raced in Emma Sprints earlier this term. Kat Wood describes the event...

The novice girls came up with some fantastic “Robin Hood – Men in Tights” costumes for the race, a theme which Evan fully embraced by providing his own tights! Costumes aside, the crew was fairly apprehensive about racing since none of them had ever done a racing start before and we had 2 subs in from New Hall! There was no need to worry...

The first race was against Emma. To this day, no-one is quite sure what happened as the boats crashed quite spectacularly within about 20 seconds, leading to Emma’s stroke catching a crab that apparently broke the steering on their boat!! Perhaps Evan took a bit too-mean-a line, but by the skin of their teeth (and some persuasion from Kat and Molly!) Churchill were not disqualified and we were allowed to race again!

The next race - against one of Queens’ umpteen Novice Boats - got off to a great start, with Churchill pulling away and holding them off very impressively! Then – disaster!! Stroke’s seat came off the sliders, so stern pair dropped out. Down to 6 rowers. Next, Bow caught an overhead crab! We were down to 5, and yet still managed to hold off Queens and triumphantly passed the finish line rowing in 8s!

Then we had to race another Queens boat. They were looking pretty good with their roll-ups under the railway bridge, but they were no match for our Merry Men! A beastly victory meant that we were through to the final!!!

The last race against Tit Hall started off well – we even managed to start to pull away! Perhaps that is why their cox decided to steer straight into Lady Julia and refused to hold it up for a re-start. Unfortunately once we did re-start it wasn’t to be. Tit Hall’s coach’s screams of “TEN ON THE LEGS” right into Kat’s ear seemed to do the trick, and we were beaten right at the last minute.

Still, an absolutely fantastic result for a novice crew – most of whom had never raced before, and some of whom weren’t even at Churchill! Bring on Fairbairns...!

Kat Wood, Women's Captain

M1: Rowed over in front of King's
W1: Bumped Girton
M2: Rowed over in front of Emmanuel III
W2: Bumped by Fitzwilliam II
M3:  Bumped by Robinson III
M4: Rowed over in front of Girton IV

---Please click the link below for the full race reports---