W2 win blades at May bumps!

🌟 W2 Bumps Report - By Kathy Begley🌟

There were times when the prospect of writing a post bumps race report seemed like an impossibility…but despite some trials and tribulations 😨 we got there - and my god we got there in some style in the end! Yeah W2 !!!

Having taken on W2 Captaincy part way through Easter 🐣 term we had a bit of push to get organised in time for the GOR, but thankfully due to general team work across the whole women’s side and the dedication of coach Toby, we came into the GOR quietly confident 💪🏼 . Although, this was not without drama as one of our rowers was struck by food poisoning 🤮 meer hours before race time! Thankfully our saviour Xen came to the rescue! A very solid row in diabolically windy 🌬️ conditions saw W2 officially “get on” for Mays. Apparently only the second time in Eddie’s history! 🥳

Day 1️⃣
This was, ahem, the first time our W2 actually rowed as a complete crew 👀🙈🫣, and they had the soon to be infamous Peterhouse W3 chasing them (I mean they bumped in the GOR let alone bumps!!)
After a good start, with albeit a fairly sedate rate, we were gradually gaining on Jesus W5, however Peterhouse were bearing down on us and coming into grassy they were on three whistles 📣. Our girls valiantly held them off and overlap was never achieved, but the bump did look inevitable. However, the bumps gods were in our favour 😮‍💨, Jesus failed to make the turn around grassy, and quite literally crashed out. At this point Toby & I on the bank knew that all they needed to do was to hold off PH until we had got past Jesus and thus got a bump ourselves…we roared at the crew “YOU HAVE GOT TO MOVE, NOW. EVERYTHING NOW!!!!” The crew had no idea what was happening but duly delivered, pulled away from house, overtook Jesus and got the bump. Still totally clueless as to what was happening, they now had to contend with pulling into grassy at race pace, trying not to impede the chasing PH crew. I can neither confirm, nor deny, the integrity of Dottie’s bow for the remainder of the week…🤕
A full 1m30s after “parking” (ahem..) Kiran finally realised we had in fact bumped 💥 and not conceded! It was quite the first day!

Day 2️⃣
Thrilled with the excitements of Day 1, and armed with a 3 time W1 blade winner (powerhouse Xen) in the boat 💪🏼, we were confident that we could hunt down Girton W3 with relative ease. Day 1 may have been a stroke of luck, but W2 absolutely smashed it Day 2 and smoked Girton by 1st post. Pure scenes from the Eddie’s squad - their first proper bump!!! 💥

Day 3️⃣
Full of confidence from Day 2 we were quietly confident (apart from Beth who takes pessimism to new heights 😅) that we would be able to pull off another bump today. We knew it would be a harder day chasing Newnham W4 but were feeling good. The main concern was that we were on the outflow station 😭…however we roped in an extra bank party (thanks Pablo) to hold bow’s blade so we didn’t start horizontal in the river. Tho we may have slightly over done it and almost took bowside out on the bank 😬 (!!) thankfully no one panicked and Alexis safely steered them out of trouble. Up ahead, Newnham had a good start and, unfortunately for us, Medwards had a distinctly sub optimal start. Newnham were instantly on whistles and although we were slowly gaining it looked like we were going to have to go for the overbump. However, for the second time in a week the bumps gods were in our favour 🙏. Newnham were on 3 whistles, but Medwards refused to give in, Newnham completely fell apart and we started to gain - quickly!! Our superb cox Alexis once again came into grassy with a spectacular line 👌 , the fading Newnham crew missed the apex and failed to turn, having to drop out the whole of stroke side so as not to crash ❗️, Alexis kept our crew on their perfect racing line 👏 and we once again undertook a crew on grassy!!!! Another fabulous bump 💥 (even if a little dramatic once again!!!)
Suddenly it dawned on us that the hunt for blades WAS ON!! 😲

Day 4️⃣
The nerves were real. No powerhouse sub in the boat, could they get it done? Could the good luck continue?! 🍀🤞 I was sure they could bump Medwards, but also aware that Medwards showed real tenacity the day before (👏) and may well manage to get their bump before we could hunt them down.
Confidence seemed a little low at Marshalling, but after a few pep talks the crew rowed up in fine style. With a fabulous burst down the reach and a great practice start it was time to give it everything. I had stayed back to assess Medwards and was sad to see their practice start also looked GOOD! The instructions to the crew “if you want this, you give it EVERYTHING for a 400m sprint. Do not hold back, do not leave anything out there”.
Well, with no outflow to contend with, the crew hunting for blades, another sublime start from Alexis, it was all over by 1st post 👏!!! The girls absolutely smashed it 🥳! I have never seen them row so well together 🥰. Despite a rather late (non existent) concession from the cox and multiple “bumps” the umpires called it and it was DONE! BLADES SECURED!!!!! WOW!!! 🤩 👏🥳💥

As a rower myself, this was my first experience of bumps from the bank and it was SO much fun!!! 🤩 I am SO proud of what W2 achieved, and how much they improved as a crew over the week 🥹. It was such an enjoyable experience and I am so delighted for each and every one of them. Novices to blades 💥💥💥💥 - what a way to sign off their first/only year in Cambridge! Yeah Eddies 💙🩵🩶