SCBC

We weren't quite sure what would happen in this race. There were a number of unknowns - how good were ARU this year? what about Christ's II's result from Robinson Head? would Queens' II hold off ARU long enough for us to get a shot at them? We decided to go out and see, leaving our race plan flexible.

The row up was fairly confident, fairly neat. We have a tendency to panic off the start, so our first practice start under the bridge was more controlled, if a little restrained. Second time round was much better. We got to station, span, waited for the gun.

Our start was nice and controlled, but not very swift. Consequently ARU moved away, and Christ's II moved up on us. A few strokes in we started to settle down and found our rhthym, though something was lacking. We pushed into the corner as Christ's II got a whistle on us, then two. But our pace was coming, and as it did we pushed off Christ's II, getting them back down to one whistle.

Out of grassy we started a small technical rebuild, and the rowing really started to come together. At that point we saw ARU catch a massive crab which they struggled to recover. That, combined with our inside line advantage on Plough Reach meant we caught them just before Ditton. Christ's II were fairly close behind, but they didn't make up the ground they got from us initially.

Obviously we're chuffed to have got a bump on what for many of the crew is the first ever set of bumps. Yet we're aware of things to focus on for tomorrow. With these in mind we're looking to a tough row tomorrow, but with any luck, another great race.