On December 5th, 2013 my crew--NCBC Novice Women's 1--had our last race of the season, and our last race as a crew. Coming in a day before the end of term, I promised that I would write a race review for the NCBC website if no one else did while I was on a long weekend to Rome.
No one did.
So I promised I would write it "soon" if no one else did.
Soon ended up being a couple of days ago, but I did write one. And like most things that I write for other things, I'm also going to throw it up here, just so I have it saved somewhere in context :)
Enjoy.
Wednesday, December 4th, NW 1 met for a short outing. Just one last practice outing as NW1 before Fairbairns and the end of our existence as a set crew. The weather was perfect. Sunny, not too cool. The water was pristine. Flat, even. Empty. The most perfect rowing conditions the Cam has to offer. Basically everything that Thursday, December 5th--race day--was not.
Thursday, December 5th, was so windy that several of the girls decided to walk from Newnham to the boathouse because they figured it might not be totally safe to cycle. The flatwater of the Cam stirred up about as nicely as the atmosphere in the locker room when NW2 (racing in the same division as NW1) realized they were short of a rower as a lovely morning surprise.
Jenna screaming “Call ANYONE who has ever held a blade NOW!” was how we started out our race prep. Sarah Adams, our stroke, saved the day (it seemed) when she talked a friend who had rowed in college to join us---until that friend called back after puking. Messages were left, hair was pulled out, madness occurred and in the end NW1’s cox, Sam Flint, threw in her sweater and donned her lycra to row for NW2, and NW2’s coach, Hayley, nabbed said sweater and pinned on a boat number as NW1’s new cox. Already down a rower (Leanne did GOOD on breaking basically everything in her thumb except the bone) Gabby ended up being swapped sides to Bow side (for the first time), and the footplate on seat 6--a constant culprit for needed boat repair--got re-inserted literally minutes before push off.
Marshaling 50+ boats on a river barely wider than an 8 is long, was everything anyone whose rowed the Cam could ever dream it might be. Beautiful chaos. All that was missing was an orchestra to provide a soundtrack. Angry swans, screaming coaches, cox and near collisions galore. NW1 happily pulled off our first ever rolling start as a crew (in our last row as a crew) and off we went for 2.7 kilometers of Cam, wind, rain and then sleet down the river, under the bridge and onto the reach, with our coach Jenna, and injured teammate Leanne, cycling along.
Hayley took every opportunity to power 10 us up through the fabulous new cox box (somehow breaking the boat earlier in the season meant it reappeared not only fixed, but updated). With a final time of 12:01.1, NW1 came 6th in our division, and even better than that, we managed to spin and row home without getting blown into the bank. Not something either the boat ahead of us, or behind us, were able to manage. By the time the afternoon races rolled around the rain had turned to solid sleet, a tree fell over and blew into the river, and hence races were cancelled.
Overall, a very good day for Newnham novices. We’re officially ready to keep rowing and as seniors now :)
Oh yeah, it was basically the best time ever.
To read this, and other Newnham College Boat Club news and race reviews, see: http://www.newnhamcollegeboatclub.co.uk/#/current-race-reviews/4569851752
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