A recently-formed Cantabs men’s coxed four, consisting of Nigel Coburn, Siggi Martinsson, Wilf Genest, Marcos Gallego and Chrstina Larkin (cox) travelled to St Neots last weekend to take part in the 150th St Neots Regatta. Siggi kindly provided this race report:
As a unit we had recently started training together with the long term objectives of Pairs Head, Head of the Charles and Fours Head in the autumn. St Neots was the first fixture of a ‘Summer Tour’ of regattas in which we planned to acquire the five points we needed to qualify for Fours Head.
We had failed to realise either beautiful rowing or boat speed consistent with erg scores in the few outings we did preceding the regatta. So whilst we did have a couple of good final outings, coached excellently by Rosemary Ostfeld where things started to come together, we had moderate expectations going into the weekend.
In the first round, on a gorgeous day in perfect conditions, we came up against Milton Keynes in the heat of the IM3 4+. We started the race on the unfavoured outside station which is arguably much more disadvantaged by the corner than the rather modestly staggered start compensates for (and a station we would become all too familiar with as we would race ALL our races on it!). We executed our start that we had rehearsed with Rosemary and as we approached the corner at the end of our start sequence we had broken well clear. However due to a combination of a few bad strokes, perhaps us taking the foot off the gas a little and Milton Keynes putting in a push through the inside of the corner we came out of the corner level, a development that stunned us and gave them wind in their sails. For the next 10-15 strokes the race hung in the balance, then we put in a big pre-rehearsed 30 stroke push for the finish line, rowed through them finishing ahead with a winning margin of 6 feet.
In the semi final we came up against a Leicester crew that had beaten Leeds in their heat. This time we did not leave anything to chance and carried on our push through the corner and never let off, extending our lead to four lengths at the finish. We were through to the final against Globe who had beaten Broxbourne and London to get there.
First however we had to race the IM2 4+ semi final against Curlew. We had decided beforehand that we would prioritise IM3 so we would only race IM2 if we had a good chance of winning without jeopardising the IM3 final. So the plan was to execute our start and see where we were at after that. As it turns out we produced some of our best splits of the day and broke a length clear off the start, extended it to two lengths after the bend, settled and held it at that to the finish. Job done, we were through to two finals – unfortunately they would come in immediate succession of each other.
The IM3 final came first. We did not have our best start and Globe got ahead and extended their lead to half a length coming out of the corner. We then put in a big push with all we had, rowed through them and won by a length at the finish. As we struggled to catch our breath the marshals instructed us to immediately spin and head up to the star where the Nines were waiting for us for the all-Cambridge IM2 final.
We got off to a decent start and held the Nines level for the first couple of hundred meters, but as we approached the corner fatigue set in and the power dropped off and we were unable to respond to the push the Nines put in through the corner. In the final straight we tried to take the rating up and push back but to no avail as we saw the Nines crew slide out of contact and win fairly comfortably. A slight downer on a otherwise good day, but considering that it was our fifth race on the course that day and immediately following a tough race, we were not too down about it.
The resulting point for each of us took us up to 9 points in total for the crew, and as there was no IM2 opposition available on the Sunday we had to substitute Siggi and in came Peter Carey which brought us back within IM3 point limits.
The first race, a direct semi-final on a rather wet and miserable day, promised a rematch against Milton Keynes, albeit in a changed line-up. They were to provide little resistance and we progressed safely to the final.
In the final waited Maidstone Invicta. A combination of a strong row and Maidstone for some reason choosing to tackle the reduced distance straight course at a rating of around 30 saw us give them in their own words ‘a good hiding.’
In summary seven good races, six wins, two pots and seven points was an excellent outcome from our first race together, and most importantly fulfils the requirements for Fours Head – so the ‘Summer Tour’ ended up only being one regatta. This allows us to now focus fully on the preparations for the autumn head races on the Tideway and in Boston, without the disruption of having to travel to regattas.
We would like to thank Rosemary for being an awesome coach and for devising a killer start sequence and a ruthless race-winning final sprint move, Will McDermott for jumping in and helping us in time of need and last but not least Andy Johnson for his help and support during the whole weekend.
You can follow our progress on Facebook www.facebook.com/cantabsfour2015 and/or Twitter www.twitter.com/2015Four
The 4+ in action at St Neots
