The Rob Roy crew I rowed with this past week managed to win the Cambridge Town Bumps. Thus, retaining for the Rob Roy Rowing Club the coveted title of "Head of the River" that the club has held for several years running now. After a very sharp warm-up, we stormed out of the start rowing as well as we had at anytime all week, and remained well above 40 strokes per minute for the first series of turns, before settling into a fairly stompy rhythm for the body of the race stroking about a 35. We raised the tempo for the final few meters "just for kicks" and saw the competition fade into obscurity. It was a lovely tranquil evening on the Cam, in nice weather and that made for a very enjoyable event to say the least. Especially the start, which features a cork-screwing, crazy set of narrow turns (thankfully allowing the Walshman to take a few light ones before the big push on the Reach!) that are usually lined by spectators hoping to catch sight of a dramatic "bump" or two. It was a real blast to see all the folks out on the river Cam to celebrate the last day of the Bumps in boating parties, BBQs, etc. A really great "social rowing" event.
The crew to be added to the 116 year old trophy for the race is as follows:
Tom Johnstone
Guy Blanchard
Greg "Ball Pin" Scherkoske
Simon "Sledge" Goodbrand
Ed "The House of" Pain
Shawn "Luggage" Walsh
Alex Hamilton
James Silk
Incidentally, the following shell on Friday night included two members of the current Cambridge Blue Boat. As in, the one that defeated Oxford, in this year's Oxford Cambridge Boat Race in March. A tidy victory it was then, indeed! A big thanks to Greg for getting my fat ass out of my chair at work enough times to actually enjoy the event! Here's some photos!
No comments:
Post a Comment