It's not been the best bumps for Churchill so far, but nevertheless there have been some good performances. I don't have many detailed reports, but here are the results anyway:

M3 rowing up First Post Reach on Day 2

Day 2

M1 - Rowed over keeping roughly on station with Queen's in front of them after Downing bumped Emma behind them.

M2 - Had a good chase against Selwyn II but unfortunately got bumped coming round Ditton.

M3 - A good start but Clare Hall soon started to close in slowly. We held them off until Grassy though, and matters weren't helped when Downing failed to clear and we both became entangled with them on the way past.

W1 - Got bumped by Jesus II.

W2 - Got bumped. We had been warned that Pembroke were fast. The last two bumps they made happened within 30 strokes, so our making it to first post corner wasn't too bad. Tomorrow we're racing at the head of division 4, with New Hall II chasing us, so we're looking to be sandwich boat.

Day 3

M1 - Finally got caught by the fast Downing crew who were supposed to be getting blades this year.

M2 - Got bumped by First and Third coming round First Post Corner. A poor start by us gave them a massive advantage we couldn't hold off.

M3 - Were hopeful of a row-over today with only Sidney Sussex as the sandwich boat behind us. We were  doing well until another parked boat forced a wide line coming into Grassy. Some quick calls by Amy meant we didn't actually hit it this time, but Sidney gained a huge distance on us that we didn't managed to pull back, eventually getting bumped outside the plough.

W1 - Got bumped by Magdalene.

W2 -  Rowed over head. A comfortable row over at the top of division 4 made us sandwich boat. In the next division, the two crews in front bumped out very quickly leaving us chasing an overbump on LMBC III. A bold row, we closed the gap to 2.5 boat lengths before running out of river.

M1 had a good row up and a good start settling into a strong rhythm slowly closing the gap on Cats. Unfortunately when Queens, who never came off the sprint, put us under pressure coming around first post we failed to put in the sprint we needed to keep clear and were bumped. It did however, allow us to watch Downing, under no pressure from anyone, row straight into the bank round grassy (obviously a Churchill boat would never do this). Then Emma, unable to believe their good fortune at seeing Downing stationary, rowed into the bank trying to bump them.

M2 row back after their race

M2 got bumped by Pembroke M2 down the gut. They had a massive start, and we failed to capitalise on our longer-distance strength, but are going into tomorrow ahead of Selwyn M2 hoping to keep some boathouse pride.

M3 unfortunately crashed into the bank at Grassy (boat parked on the inside forced a wide line), and so got bumped by Jesus IV. Jesus had closed considerably on us coming up first post reach, but we had managed to pull it together and come back roughly on station. Clare Hall had also come on strong and were only about 2 strokes from bumping Jesus when we crashed out.

W1 got bumped by Christs W1, who were as strong as ever.

W2 got bumped by St. Edmund's W1. We got off to a strong start, and were soon gaining steadily on New Hall W2 who we were chasing. We didn't panic and continued to gain on New Hall despite St. Edmund's W1 closing in. Sadly the experience of the Eddies first women was too much for us to hold off for long, and we were caught not far past the motorway bridge, having closed the gap on New Hall to less than a canvas. Selwyn W2 went on to overbump New Hall. Tomorrow we are chasing Eddies W1 and being chased by the sandwich boat.

More pictures are available in the photos section. 

The boat club held their annual general meeting on last Sunday, 8th June. Items discussed included long-term plans for rebuilding the boathouse and the question of sponsorship, which led to the creation of a new "Sponsorship Officer" position on the committee.

The main part of the meeting was the election of next year's committee. All the candidates gave short speeches about what their plans for the next year would be, although only the Men's Captain position was actually contested. Unfortunately no-one thought to take any pictures of this exciting part of the electoral process, but we do have a highly detailed artist's impression instead.

The list of next year's committee is shown below, along with links to their manifestoes. Note that some of the positions were only filled during the meeting and so no manifesto is available.

An artist's impression of the Boat Club AGM

Overall Captain – Hugh Thompson
Men's Captain – Quinlan Windle
Ladies' Captain – Kari Schaitel
Men's Vice Captain – James Davies
Men's Lower Boats Captain – Will Hamilton
Ladies' Vice Captain – Jessica King
Social Secretary – Warren Clegg
Sponsorship Officer – Chris Burfiend
Coxing Rep – Holly Foster
Secretary – Lorna Ayton
Treasurer – Chris Williamson
Equipment Officer – Mark Whiting
Webmaster – Chris Wilson

A couple of photos from Champs Head 2007 for Churchill W1:

Off the start

The crew after the race

 Results of the race can be found at the Champion of the Thames rowing site here.