Newnham Short Course Race Report

On Saturday 2nd February W1, M2 and M3 all took part in the Bridge to Bridge 2k on the Cam run by Newnham College Boat Club. The captains of the respective boats report on their success:

W1: Nairi Weston (Women’s Captain)

W1 competed in their first race of the term on Saturday, which also marked the first senior race for the four now ex-novices who have joined us this term. Having been a crew for only two weeks, we knew that we would not be challenging for a top spot, however a solid race resulted in a promising time which will only get faster as our training continues and places us not far behind many of our rivals in bumps. Moving forward, it has given us plenty of things to work on and with the dedication and enthusiasm that the crew have shown so far I’m confident that we will continue to improve.

M2: Max Campman (Men’s Vice Captain)

Churchill’s Torpedo* were not quite prepared for a race before the short course. A few cancelled outings due to adverse weather and heavy traffic had thus far prevented the crew from perfecting the set of the boat over long, high rate pieces.

Despite this the Torpedo was able to pull through on the day and rowed a perfectly set 2k, with the exception of a relatively minor crab in the first few hundred metres.

The strong performance enabled the M2 crew to hold their own against the other colleges, achieving a time of 7:27 with ease. It also stands the crew in good stead for the end of term with the boats being chased in Lents putting in a significantly slower performance.

*for clarification, the Torpedo is the name given to M2 by themselves in May 2017

M3: Sam Smith (M3 Captain)

Despite the harsh weather and having only had three outings (all of which were short due to lack of daylight hours), M3 put in a good performance in the Newnham Short Course. The boat was fairly set throughout and it was promising to see some of the technique coached through outings and technical erg sessions coming through. Even though we were up against strong competition with the likes of LMBC and Trinity we were still within 11s of 3rd place. Having gotten race experience early on in the term is essential, and I am confident we have good chances in the getting on race and hopefully bumps beyond.

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