11.24.2004
christ church regatta
We won our first race! OK, so it was against a B boat, but still. It's always nice to start off a regatta as the very first race and to school the other team completely. So Jesus B went down to a near-flaming defeat. I actually wasn't watching them that closely, but from what I hear they caught a couple of severe crabs toward the beginning of the race. Our stroke set a nice race pace, and while things may not have looked pretty for the entire stretch, there were moments of real shine. We crossed the finish line and spun our boat before Jesus actually had a chance to finish.
As for the other races, two won, two lost, and much carnage was seen on the river.
KEBLE WOMEN'S B def St. Antony's Women's B
KEBLE WOMEN'S A def Lincoln Women's B
Magdalen Men's A def KEBLE MEN'S C
St. John's Men's B def. KEBLE MEN'S B
Tough time for the men: Men's C didn't look that bad until the home stretch, when they came completely unglued. Men's B had a really tough start: two crabs by the stroke, then another at 2 seat. They were down two lengths by the time they'd hit 20 strokes into the race: a distance that would have been surmountable if the race had been extended another 250 meters. But alas, they made up a length and a quarter, but a two-length deficit was too much to handle.
As for the women, the Women's B boat didn't have any problem destroying St. Antony's B: they won handily and looked none the worse for wear. The Women's A boat had a pretty definite lead on Lincoln, which was a virtual lock. Lincoln was not pulling forward, but was not ceeding any ground. However, a stray crew drifted into Keble's lane from the landing rafts and a klaxon was sounded, officially ending the race. This didn't stop Lincoln from rowing up to where Keble had stopped, but to no avail: Keble declared the winner, the offending crew to be fined money, and as a result, only the Men's B and C teams are to race in the repechage races tomorrow. I wish them the best of luck. Men's B is up against St. Catharine's Men's B, and Men's C is up against (bad draw: ouch!) University College Men's A.
As for carnage on the river, there were some severe problems. Mostly, this deals with novice coxes and even more novice rowers who haven't a clue about anything. So we had crews in near-miss situations of moving into and quickly out of lanes, crews in the low-hanging trees, on the bank, into the landing rafts, and off the course. If you've ever seen a crew shell in perfect timing, it's a thing of beauty. If it's out of time, it looks like a centipede with severe problems with timing its feet. We had a few of those today. I met up with and talked with a friend from High School who is now a Rhodes Scholar from Brown U. studying at Christ Church. She was a cox at BB&N and at Brown, and she could not believe how poorly some of these coxes were handling the river. To be fair, it's a pretty terrible river.
So no racing tomorrow for the Men's A or Women's A & B. Put in a hard day's work today. Photos up soon; probably going to take down the other albums for this.
As for the other races, two won, two lost, and much carnage was seen on the river.
KEBLE WOMEN'S B def St. Antony's Women's B
KEBLE WOMEN'S A def Lincoln Women's B
Magdalen Men's A def KEBLE MEN'S C
St. John's Men's B def. KEBLE MEN'S B
Tough time for the men: Men's C didn't look that bad until the home stretch, when they came completely unglued. Men's B had a really tough start: two crabs by the stroke, then another at 2 seat. They were down two lengths by the time they'd hit 20 strokes into the race: a distance that would have been surmountable if the race had been extended another 250 meters. But alas, they made up a length and a quarter, but a two-length deficit was too much to handle.
As for the women, the Women's B boat didn't have any problem destroying St. Antony's B: they won handily and looked none the worse for wear. The Women's A boat had a pretty definite lead on Lincoln, which was a virtual lock. Lincoln was not pulling forward, but was not ceeding any ground. However, a stray crew drifted into Keble's lane from the landing rafts and a klaxon was sounded, officially ending the race. This didn't stop Lincoln from rowing up to where Keble had stopped, but to no avail: Keble declared the winner, the offending crew to be fined money, and as a result, only the Men's B and C teams are to race in the repechage races tomorrow. I wish them the best of luck. Men's B is up against St. Catharine's Men's B, and Men's C is up against (bad draw: ouch!) University College Men's A.
As for carnage on the river, there were some severe problems. Mostly, this deals with novice coxes and even more novice rowers who haven't a clue about anything. So we had crews in near-miss situations of moving into and quickly out of lanes, crews in the low-hanging trees, on the bank, into the landing rafts, and off the course. If you've ever seen a crew shell in perfect timing, it's a thing of beauty. If it's out of time, it looks like a centipede with severe problems with timing its feet. We had a few of those today. I met up with and talked with a friend from High School who is now a Rhodes Scholar from Brown U. studying at Christ Church. She was a cox at BB&N and at Brown, and she could not believe how poorly some of these coxes were handling the river. To be fair, it's a pretty terrible river.
So no racing tomorrow for the Men's A or Women's A & B. Put in a hard day's work today. Photos up soon; probably going to take down the other albums for this.
