Lent Bumps round up from m1

At times it has been a difficult term for M1. Beset by injury we have frequently rowed in scratch crews; with our first full crew outing only a week before bumps. As a result, we’ve had to draft up a few novices this term, notably Pablo, Daniel D and Daniel T who have each taken a massive step up and it’s been a real pleasure having them in the boat.
To counter our relative inexperience, we sought the calming presence of our sole Men’s trialist, Ed, who, we thought, would help to steady the ship. 
However, whether blasting ‘My Hump’ through the cox box at marshalling, repeatedly woofing at competitors, screaming Panic off every start (which actually means relax - as he likes to clarify every time), and insisting on shouting ‘yeah Eddie’s’ at any crew with even vaguely blue blades, he has been anything but calming - not only living up to the usual Men’s side antics but injecting real energy into the crew and spurring us on to an incredibly enjoyable if not wholly successful campaign.

Nevertheless, Day 1 got off to a tricky start as the dreaded sandwich crew. This of course risked the possibility of rowing twice, not something the mighty Beef Barge fancied and so we ensured we were swiftly bumped by Christs in less than 500m.

However, on Day 2 having survived the great stroke side tsunami off the start for a second time and not fancying the embarrassment of being bumped again, we decided we should probably put a bit of a shift in. Queens made an early attack, but we held them off for an emphatic row over. The first time we have rowed anything more than a UT2 all term and the first time Justin has been above stroke rate 16.

On Day 3, having by this point racked up a sizable number of fines (sorry Kathy) and repeatedly threatened to ‘shark the Clare undergrads’ …Cheers Ed… the mighty Beef Barge continued its crusade, toying with Clare at two whistles for a while to ensure a crowd-pleasing bump outside the plough – the first (and sadly final) of our week.

On the final day we were once again the dreaded sandwich crew, however this time we were up for the challenge. With Clare quickly dispatched for a row over we set our sights on catching Downing in the second race. What we lacked in fitness and technical prowess we made up for in energy and general chaos. When then starting canon fired, we gained on downing until a division stoppage unfortunately robbed us of a bump, ending our campaign with a technical row over.

All in all its been an incredibly enjoyable campaign and I hope we can really build upon this into next term.