Cantabs Women had another strong day in the bumps on Wednesday, with not a single crew getting bumped and a net increase of eight places across the ten crews.
In Division Three, F&J (W9) rowed over in front of Hills Belles (W10), which at least confirmed that we had chosen the right entry order for the two crews. Here’s hoping that City 9 ahead can send XPress 3 down for F&J to chase on Friday!
The Women’s Juniors (W8), starting at chain 11, made a quick bump on XPress 3, catching them near the outflow before First Post Corner, setting them up to chase 99 W6 on Thursday.
Tracey Allison stepped in to replace the injured Cat Darsley as cox of Racks Out (W7). They quickly closed to half a length on 99 5, and finally bumped them at The Plough, completing their second bump in two days. Best wishes to Cat for a speedy recovery from her accident!
Near the top of the division, “Hills Girls” (W6) put on a dramatic performance, as coach Oli Frazer describes:
After a chaotic first day involving crews getting wedged together in front and being awarded a technical row over, it had been a strange introduction to bumps racing for half the crew. The W6 crew, consisting of current and future HRSFC girls with a couple of others thrown in, knew that Rob’s 4 starting in front were likely to make short work of catching St Radegund’s 2. However, lurking at the top of the division looked to be a possible over-bump candidate.
The girls went off hard, managed to clear the expected Robs-Radegund bump in front of them and set to work clawing in City 8: 4 lengths at First Post Corner, 2 1/2 lengths coming round Grassy, 1 1/4 lengths at The Plough; with the tension mounting (and a coach getting slightly nervous that we would come very close but not quite make it) the girls got the first whistle for the over-bump on Ditton Corner. This stirred them from a mid-race lull and they turned on the after-burners to get the over-bump just into the reach to go top of Division 3!
Cantabs W6
Racing as Sandwich Boat at the bottom of Division Two, the Hills Road Girls were feeling a tad tired, and their initial move on Dev Squad (W5) tapered into a solid row over. They now have a chance to row over in-front of Division Three and bump up into Division Two proper on Thursday.
Immediately ahead of W6 in Division Two, Dev Squad (W5) kept up their perfect record, by bumping Chesterton 2, although not without incident, as coach David Oldham reports:
Dev Squad had a slightly wobbly start but recovered to get their cruise speed working and were within a couple of feet of their quarry by the Motorway Bridge. At this point the race plan went out the window and the crew attempted to make the catch on slide speed alone. Chesterton for their part put up a real fight [not least thanks to the crafty coxing of Robert Nimmo], with the bump finally conceded at first post, about 300m after it should have happened.
Further up the division, G-Oar-geous (W4) rowed over as City 6 bumped City 5 ahead of them. Freya Clarke Coetzee reports:
We had a hard fought row-over! After City 6 bumped City 5 ahead of us we had a power drop off in the boat, realising there was nothing to chase. Champs 4 closed in to half a length, which got to three whistles as they came down the inside of us on Grassy Corner. From here we woke up, and had pushed them back out to a length and a half by the finish.
We know we can be faster than City 5 having gained on them on Tuesday, so are feeling positive about catching them.
In Division One, the Senior Women’s W3 maintained their upward trajectory with another focused row at a relaxed rate 37ish. They were momentarily disconcerted by the fierce wash under the A14 bridge, but quickly regathered to catch Radegund 1 shortly after the Outflow.
Further up the Division, W2 implemented their plans for improving over Tuesday’s row to great effect, overlapping City 3 in the Long Reach, with the bump finally being conceded at the Railway Bridge. This puts the crew into sixth place, chasing Rob Roy 1, who were bumped by City 2 on Tuesday.
Still in second place behind City, W1 had a better start than on Tuesday, and closed the gap down to get two whistles at Grassy. However, City gradually moved away, re-establishing their 1.5 length gap by the finish at Morley’s Holt.
Bumps Summary for Women’s Crews, Days 1 & 2
Overall, Wednesday another very successful day for Cantabs Women, with not a single crew getting bumped, a net gain of 13 places, and the prospect of more bumps to come on Thursday and Friday!
Full results are available on the CRA website.
See the Cantabs Men’s Day 2 write-up here: https://cantabsrowing.org.uk/cra-bumps-2015-day-2-cantabs-men-stay-on-top/
