Author: Henrik Hannemann

Summer Eights 2017 – race reports

Not quite three months of peaceful training on the river and here we are for Eights Week! With M3 successfully rowing on last Friday, four crews in maroon (well… maybe fuchsia, depending on whether you ordered the latest round of kit with that colour accident) are aiming to bump up.

The following reports were written during the week and distributed on the alumni Facebook group
 
Wednesday

M3 [MDiv7 – bungline 1] -1
With a motley crew of some of the guys fancying a summer paddle and veterans of “the tree” the Women’s 2nd Torpid (nowadays colloquially known on the river as “doing a Merton”) braved both rowing on, clocking in the last qualifying time of the day which both qualified them but saddled them with the misfortune of inheriting last year’s bungline. Now squaring off against St Hilda’s M2 who qualified 25 seconds ahead of them, fight was valiant, but unfortunately short and the division headship had to be handed over. Though St Hilda’s failing to bump up as sandwich boat allows a chance for revenge tomorrow.

M2 [MDiv4 – bungline 11] – row over
With a strong start from a difficult bungline M2 had closed hard and fast on their Brasenose counterpart. At Salter’s a mere quarter length separated the Merton boat from the Brasenose stern which quickly became just a canvas even decreasing to a foot or two as they shot Donnington Bridge. Unfortunately, the last few centimetres are the hardest to close and with crews nearly evenly match, the race rhythm and composure showed tenacity and the hard training, but left both crews returning to the same bunglines tomorrow. Hopefully the row will be shorter and will come to a sudden, bumpy, end.

M1 [MDiv3 – bungline 2] – row over
Looking sharp and composed during the warm up M1 was looking to clear Exeter out of the way in order to be able to bump up into the next division. A concerted effort and strong and solid row, closing in onto Exeter showed a crew set up well for the bump with good coxing line at difficult corners, but Exeter, for today, escaped the Merton bow. With Exeter not being able to capitalise on their row over, the battle for division headship and the chance to move up is back on tomorrow.

W1 [WDiv2 – bungline 9] -1
In their freshly refurbished and bright-purple Joe Virden, the Women’s 1st Eight challenged the Magdalen and Linacre women in WDiv2. Unfortunately, the strong graduate crew from Linacre proved the better one of the day W1 will have to look for their bungline one further down tomorrow.

 
Thursday

Round up of day two of Summer Eights: a rather mixed day for Mertonians, but some good rowing nonetheless. The weather continues to hold beautifully.

M3 [MDiv7 – bungline 2] -1
Despite a variation in line-up due to injury, M3 put in good showing in the first division of the day. After a great start and a good settle the crew found a strong rhythm as they pushed upstream under Donnington Bridge. Balliol M4 – a blades-tapped Schools Eight – unfortunately made an early appearance alongside. Despite concession, the large speed differential led to Balliol running over the Merton stern, lodging themselves firmly in the rudder yoke and spinning M3 into the bank. It wasn’t pretty. The tally on the Merton side is a bent rudder stem and yoke and a shared-off bow ball. Presumably the Balliol bow will have need for a few patches as well.
With strong crew improvements, despite the downward slope on the bumps charts, the crew is looking forward to the remainder of the week.

M2 [MDiv4 – bungline 11] -1
Today St Hilda’s men took revenge for last year when the 2nd VIII had inflicted the first bump on them since they started fielding men’s crews. A kerfuffle with crews in front, both Brasenose M2 and Osler House had different interpretations of “clearing the racing line” necessitated some hard rudder whereas St Hilda’s could make use of a slightly straighter gaining hard. Unfortunately, an appeal led to no avail and M2 will be starting from the unfavourable bungline 12 tomorrow.

M1 [MDiv3 – bungline 2] +2
The men’s 1st VIII had not only one, but two chances to showcase them putting the hard training of the last months to good use. After a strong start and closing hard onto Exeter, the gap was merely half a length at the entrance of the Gut, having closed it to a canvas by the time both crews raced past Longbridges further upstream along Green Bank. While it nearly looked like to be a replay of yesterday, Exeter had to bow to a strong row from the men up Green Bank. Oriel M2 did not stand a chance and Merton has now returned to MDiv2 after nearly a decade of absence.

W1 [WDiv2 – bungline 11] -1
In true Merton spirit with the boats improving even during the race weeks, the women’s 1st VIII had made it to Top Gut until they had to concede to LMH despite rowing and chunky rhythm. Tomorrow they will have Exeter on their tails who will try and avenge their men being taken down by Merton M1 today.

 
Friday

On the third day fortunately for one boat, unfortunately for all others, the trends of the earlier days were continued. A bonus for all boats was the continued amazing weather and the banks being more and more filled with spectators cheering on the racing crews.

M3 [MDiv7 – bungline 3] -1
Our fun mixed boat is unfortunately placed with several schools Eights around them. As such they had to concede just after Donnington Bridge to a powerful St Catz pushing them to start a bungline further down for the last races. 

M2 [MDiv4 – bungline 12] -1
One of those days when planned race (quick start, settle to pace, pushing off Donnington Bridge, speeding up green Bank and catching St Hilda’s at Boathouse Island) was somewhat different to the reality. St Hilda’s bumped out quickly on a slow mixed Osler House crew ahead and Lincoln raced up from behind. A bow on stern bump as M2 was the result. Clearing the race line under full power, the Osler House cox was fearing another bump, but the well-trained crew’s responsiveness prevented that. The next race should be the best one of the week.

W1 [WDiv2 – bungline 11] -1
A slightly rocky start did not stop the women from gaining 1/4 length on LMH quickly whose start seemed to be less determined than yesterday. As the crews settled unfortunately Exeter W1 were out for revenge for their men being bumped by M1 yesterday and charged up the bunglines. A valiant push held them at bay for some lengths but the bump was indisputable right before shooting under Donnington Bridge. The last races are now to stave off the dreaded soup implements.

M1 [MDiv2 – bungline 13] +1
A quick start a high-paced but short race: St Anne’s had nothing to show and M1’s powerful rhythm and speed and had to concede in the Gut.

 
Saturday

The final day of Eights week was a very eventful one, fortunately none of the Merton crews were involved in any of the (multitude of) crashes which happened. We had two full boat evacuations, even MDiv1 had to be klaxoned due to a severe crash in the Gut. Luckily the Magdalen cox is alright, though their brand new Empacher is less so. Both Headship crews rowed over meaning Christ Church are holding it for the men and Wadham for the women.

M3 [MDiv7 – bungline 4] -1
As every day, our motley crew of M3 paddled to the bunglines. Having been relegated three times so far in the bungline fight, the plan was to not continue last year’s trajectory and collect spoons. Unfortunately, Keble M4 was chasing and since their two coaches, both ex-Oriel M1 rowers one of whom rowed Isis, decided to sub into the crew our valiant M3 had no chance. At least Keble spend some money of their rather deep pockets on a set of wooden spoons which were presented to our crew.

M2 [MDiv4 – bungline 13] +5
A rather surprising reversal of fortune brought M2 significantly back into the plus today by achieving a double over bump. With Lincoln M2 ahead who had a very likely bump on Osler House, the expectation was to fight for the row-over. The chasing Regent’s Park already having rowed over as head of MDiv5 were now pursuing both their blades and a promotion to MDiv4. They had closed to overlap by Donnington Bridge. A series of pushes, only few feet of manoeuvring space through the Gut, M2 never had more than a canvas of breathing room from the chasing Regent’s who gained overlap again at Longbridges. A forced early crossing due to bumped-out crew having wrongly cleared to Green Bank, the final move was made at Univ raft. The chase was broken, clear water opened up and M2 powered to the line. A row to their true potential and credit to their training.
Much to everyone’s surprise, no successful row-over was announced on the tannoy, but a bump on Brasenose M2 instead. While Brasenose (having started on bungline 8) claims to have been wedged in by crews bumping out ahead of them and promptly appealed, their attempt to disguise their lack of coxing skills by blaming others was discovered and the bump upheld, thus creating a double over-bump in favour of M2 leaving them net +3 for Eights Week!

W1 [WDiv2 – bungline 12] -1
A great start allowed W1 to reel LMH slightly back in with the Wolfpack of Wolfson W2, the highest-placed ladies’ 2nd VIII, hot on their heels. The brief hopes of not repeating ourselves were squashed despite a good fight. The bump came just before Donnington Bridge. Despite another addition to W1’s collection of cutlery particularly suitable for the soup course, the week ended on a positive note as the crew put in a strong effort and plans for resurgence after the long vac with strong autumn and winter training are already afoot.

M1 [MDiv2 – bungline 12] +1
In a fantastic continuation of the previous days, M1 bumped up and decisively so: Pembroke M2 was caught under Donnigton Bridge. A very good performance reeled in Pembroke throughout the bunglines and this was an excellent end to Summer Eights. Not only did the crew bump up a division, but by sending Pembroke to the bottom of the division has now surpassed the highest-placed 2nd VIII on the river as well as becoming the most senior boat in the club. The only frustration of the week was the row-over on Wednesday, meaning that the crew did not repeat last year’s success of winning blades.

Overall summary for this year’s Eights:

Torpids race reports

An exceptionally sunny and reasonably dry Hilary Term with only three days of red flag in early February meant that Torpids was hotly contested as all clubs had ample time to get their crews on the water. Despite this one club decided not to field any men’s boats at all, Merton fielded a second women’s Torpid for the first time since 2013. Successfully qualifying in rowing on, four boats were vying for success during the week.

The following reports were written on the day an distributed on the alumni Facebook group
 

Wednesday
W2 [WDiv 5 – bungline 12] + 1
The boat to start everything off technically started their Torpids campaign last Friday already. Their qualification in Rowing On ensured Merton having a second Women’s Torpid for the first time since 2013. Despite them having to start at a very unfavourable bungline in the bay between the Isis Tavern and Isis Boathouse and having a crew which was faster in rowing on placed behind them, they managed to capitalise on Exeter’s start and the subsequent unrest with a bump.
 
M2 [MDiv 5 – bungline 6] + 2
After last year, the unexpected drop out of both Magdalen men’s crews which had fixed division bunglines allowed M2 to rise a further two bunglines before the first racing stroke was even taken. Undeterred they continued the game of chasing down Wolfson M3. After eluding the M2 last year, this years crew was finally able to garner themselves a wolf pelt. The navigational skill took M2 past Wolfson who seemingly favoured a closer inspection of the river bank.
A particularly skilful St Hugh’s M2 being handed down half the division gave M2 another boost, leaving them on bungline 4 for tomorrow.
 
W1 [WDiv 3 – bungline 10] +1
W1 bumped St Peter’s W1. The first Torpids bump since Thursday of Torpids 2015 and only the second one since 2012. This could be a turning point!
 
M1 [MDiv 2 – bungline 9] -1
Unfortunately M1 could not complete the day in the same fashion the other crews had. While pushing LMH very hard off the start and closing down considerable distance on them, Keble chased M1 hard off the gun and caught up with them just after Donnington Bridge. A slight fluster during the concession allowed LMH to run away a little bit which M1 was unfortunately not quite able to close again and was left with the arduous row over.
 
Overall a very decent day for Merton rowers at Torpids, especially considering the training constraints under flag and the last-minute crew changes in W1 and W2. Three more days and many more chances for bumps.

Thursday
The second day of Torpids 2017 was another solid performance from the Boat Club. Still continuing overall in the plus and two crews with chances of further glory!
 
W2 [WDiv 5 – bungline 11] +1
A rocky start allowed Exeter to close to nearly a canvas to which a crab contributed, but was quickly recovered. Once more it showed that bumps racing is a mix of skill, luck, and lack of skill on part of the opposition. Passing Keble W2 who had already bumped, Exeter’s blades clashed with theirs which gave W2 to the necessary breathing room to gain their composure and push for the bump. After 500m W2’s race was over as St Hilda’s W2 conceded at the entrance to the Gut.
 
M2 [MDiv 5 – bungline 4] -1
After a successful first day, the foreshadowed results from the Isis Winter League in which Regent’s Park M1 posted a considerably fast time came to be today. M2 had to concede though showed a strong and determined row thereafter, making successful inroads for an over bump on Trinity M3 though unfortunately not quite able to close the last gap.
 
W1 [WDiv 3 – bungline 9] +1
After years of having to balance the previous crews having been very strong, W1 has now seemingly found its place, though not quite its equilibrium. After a long row pushing the crew to their limits, W1 bumped Corpus Christi W1 at the top end of Boathouse Island. No amount of running across the river by Corpus, nor the last-minute crab in Merton’s stroke seat could stop W1 from claiming their second bump of the week.
 
M1 [MDiv2 – bungline 10] rowed over
With a solid start M1 tried to avenge yesterdays bumps on them. Settling into a strong pace the crew followed the ideal race line out of the Gut and up Greenbank while both Keble and LMH ahead were chasing up the towpath side. A push to make inroads on Keble along Greenbank and in the crossing did unfortunately not cover the necessary distance. With Keble bumping Worcester at the top of Boathouse Island, todays hard row over will hopefully be somewhat balanced by (hopefully) a bump on Worcester, who so far have -7 to their name, tomorrow.

Friday
Some say the third day is the hardest of bumps racing. Today certainly proved to be a trialling one for Merton rowers.
 
W2 [WDiv5 – bungline 10] -3
A solid start marred by a slight scrape on the bank. While pushing away from St Hilda’s W2 and closing distance to Christ Church W2, unfortunately 4 seat caught a boat stopper crab. With a full restart W2 manage to once again close Christ Church W2 down to overlap in the Gut, but this time 3 seat decided it was time for a crayfish break. Recovery at race pace, pressure steering, and hard rudder should have brought the crew out of the Gut… Should have since a solid crunch heard all the way to racedesk at Longbridges Boathouse indicated W2 had tried the overland shortcut. The safety launches extracted the bow three rowers before safely towing the boat stern first from the bank. All rowers are safe and despite everything the total tally is one bent backstay in bow seat.
For completeness sake: being stuck in a tree on top of the bank resulted in crews bumping by row past. As coveted the footship of Torpids may be, onwards and upwards tomorrow.
 
M2 [MDiv5 – bungline 5] -1
Being chased by a strong Wolfson crew, the M2 went off with the gun and held the hungry wolves until the Middle Gut when they had to concede. Blatantly ignoring the coxing strategy of W2, a smooth line out of the Gut took M2 along the course while being chased down by LMH M2. Knowing when to run and which line to take is an important part of bumps coxing and with running away across the river and holding them at a canvas, M2 crossed the finish line denying LMH M2 their blades potential. For tomorrow the chase with LMH M2 is back in the cards, but there is also Trinity M3 being handed down.
 
W1 [WDiv3 – bungline 8] rowed over
With a plummeting Corpus behind W1 acting as a very generous buffer, the boat went in for the long-haul race chasing St Hilda’s. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a long-haul for good and both crews rowed over the whole course. Same set-up at the bunglines tomorrow, though since Corpus has disappeared into WDiv4, St Antony’s W1 will be lining up on bungline 9.
 
M1 [MDiv2 – bungline 10] +1
Once more M1 is somewhat bucking the trend of the other boats, this time fortunately going upwards. A bump on Worcester in Middle Gut placed M1 back onto its starting bungline of the week. All this happened undeterred by the cox box issues leaving the valiant cox with having to shout at the crew (and the poor stroke having to take the brunt of it). A short race in Torpids is a successful race. Tomorrow the crew will be tasked with chasing down LMH while holding Exeter at bay who are trying to get blades having come up from MDiv3.

Saturday
W2 [WDiv5 – bungline 13] +1
Having been somewhat tree-related relegated to the foot of the river, W2 made solid start despite the crosswinds. St Hilda’s W2 bumping out before Donnington Bridge left W2 chasing Exeter W2 whom they had already bumped once on Wednesday. Steadily closing distance and being at half a length coxing into the Gut, this time the tree was given a wide berth a text book push out of the Gut sealed the over bump on Exeter W2 outside Longbridges.
 
M2 [MDiv5 – bungline 6] rowed over due to klaxon
After a strong start and tidy rowing, M2 was set to push hard again on Wolfson M3 having reeled them in already to 3/4 of a length by Donnington Bridge, the crew got robbed of success on the last day by a klaxon due to swans in the race line.
 
W1 [WDiv3 – bungline 8] rowed over
Chasing St Hilda’s W1 once again but holding off a strong St Antony’s W1 at the same time showed that W1 has settled into more sustainable realms of the bumps tables. With not many boats having bumped out, the race was still going strong coming out of the Gut by which stage St Antony’s had cut the distance to W1’s stern to a mere half length. Seemingly having spent their pennies though, St Antony’s got lost slowly but steadily ground again along Greenbank though the final verdict can only be speculated: a St Hilda’s rower decided that the sunshine and all the spectators were enticing enough to opt for a race-pace Cambridge swim test leaving the second of our crews in one day victim to a klaxon.
 
M1 [MDiv2 – bungline 9] rowed over
On the final day M1 was once more left with chasing down LMH on whom they had closed considerably on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the start and leading up to Donnington Bridge was not quite matching LMH who added a tiny bit of distance onto the starting lengths. That being said, strong race rhythm pushed the crew along the course and leaving Exeter, who were chasing for blades, behind in their wash. A strong row-over ended the Torpids on the starting bungline of the week.
 

Overall summary for this years Torpids:

Merton 2nd Torpid 2016 – addition to the blades collection!

Only just back from the Christmas vacation, Torpids training started in earnest. With the crews selected, the 2nd Torpid boasted a wide variety of rowing experience from several years to having been roped into rowing merely a couple of months earlier. We had four weeks until we had to prove what we are made of. Despite a moody river, training progressed well on land, in the rowing tank, and on the water whenever the river level allowed us a proper outing.

Rowing On was the first time (and fortunately with hindsight the last time) we had to row over the whole course. With 3 min 7.5 sec the crew posted the second best time after Lady Margaret Hall II. With a solid performance and a clear aim ahead we went into race week, acknowledged as a very good crew, a force to be reckoned with.

On the first day, starting off bungline two, we caught up with Exeter II in the Gut, but also LMH II, who were marginally quicker than us in Rowing On, did not pose a threat at any point in this race. Having bumped to the top of the division, the sandwich race promised to be an exciting one. Before we had even reached Donnington Bridge, Wolfson III had caught up with Mansfield II while St Hilda’s I had already bumped out on St John’s III. The four crews starting in front of us had either bumped or got entangled. The Mansfield cox had not conceded in time which got the crew entangled and due to fantastic reactions from the rowers, hard rudder, and a bit of ‘hope and pray’, we managed to squeeze our eight through the gap and bump Mansfield II by row past.

After the exciting first day, we had to reschedule as we were now rowing in Men’s Division V. While lining up behind and being ready to chase down Wolfson III, yet again we were faced with crews plummeting down and others bumping out. With a clean side-to-side contact, we bumped Pembroke III who had started three places above us at the top of the Gut.

The plan for day three was rather simple: keep doing what we had been doing and bump the next crew in our way. On Thursday this was Worcester II who also had started three bunglines ahead. While St Hilda’s I had closed them down early before the Gut, Wolfson III bumped them at the beginning of Greenbanks which left us with a couple of more strokes until we had bumped them, too.

On Saturday everyone had one word in mind – blades. Having closed down on Wolfson III on all previous days but always having been denied the bump, we hoped to complete our task today. Unfortunately, once more another crew foiled that attempt, but bumping Regent’s Park in sight of the boathouses in the crossing made a glorious conclusion to a successful Torpids campaign.

Within six weeks the oarsmen came together and showed what committed training and a clear aim can mean: return to fixed divisions and gain blades while doing so!

Photo by F Money