Today saw six Cambridge fixtures on what turned out to be a crisp, clear day on the Tideway with some great racing. Up first were CUBC women, looking to come back strong following their losses against Oxford Brookes in their first set of features.
This time CUBC Women ‘A’ faced the University of London ‘A’, with the Cambridge crew including two changes from their Brookes fixture line-up. For this fixture, both crews raced two pieces, with the first from the start to the start of the Eyot, halfway down the course. UL won the toss and chose Surrey, meaning Cambridge would have the advantage of the Fulham bend for the first piece.
Women ‘A’ – First Piece
Off the start, it was close between the two crews, with Cambridge creeping ahead to a quarter of a length by the Black Buoy. From there, Cambridge settled onto a strong rhythm coming onto the Fulham bend and were able to take advantage of their Middlesex station to draw a length clear by the milepost.
Having moved into clear water, cox James Trotman steered aggressively ahead of UL, prompting repeated warnings by umpire Matt Smith. With Cambridge having sat at one and a half lengths clear coming under Hammersmith, UL moved back on them to narrow the margin to one length at the Eyot.
Women ‘A’ – Second Piece
For the second piece from the start of the Eyot to the finish, both crews swapped stations. Faced with being on the outside of the Surrey bend, Cambridge immediately adopted a more aggressive pace, taking half a length out of UL off the start. Stroked by their President, Caoimhe Dempsey, Cambridge moved out to nearing a length by the steps. However, the Umpire was again unhappy with the steering of the coxes, repeatedly warning Cambridge from the bandstand round to the finish.
With their final lift to the finish, Cambridge were able to get to one and a half lengths clear of UL by the finish, capping off some fantastic and close racing by both crews, and securing Cambridge women their first fixture win of the 2023 season.
Men ‘A’ – First Piece
The CUBC Men’s ‘A’ crew faced a strong Dutch National side stacked with many of the same crew who had won the 2022 Windermere Cup, indicating their calibre. As with the women, Cambridge were on Middlesex for the first piece, which this time ran up to the end of the Eyot. Cambridge got a great start to hold pace with the Dutch, creeping out to a narrow lead coming up to the Black Buoy.
With both crews being told to move apart as their blades overlapped coming up to Barn Elms, Cambridge capitalised, with cox Jasper Parish pushing the Dutch wide around the Fulham bend and allowing Cambridge to stretch out to a lead of three-quarters of a length by the Mile Post. From this point, Cambridge were able to set the tone of the piece taking clear water and continuing to move away to a commanding lead of two and a half lengths.
Men ‘A’ – Second Piece
For the second piece both crews swapped stations, with the predictions from the umpire’s launch being that the second piece would be far closer. Following a blade clash just off the start, with both crews being warned, Cambridge were able to move to a narrow lead, with umpire Tony Reynolds having to instruct the Dutch to start taking the bend.
However, once the Dutch had found their line, they were able to step onto a strong pace and take advantage of their bend to lead going into Barnes Bridge. With both coxes taking a surprisingly tight line to the inside of the final bend, the Dutch were able to continue moving away with their final sprint to the finish securing them the victory by one and a half lengths.
Although unable to take the win in the second piece, it was a strong show of intent by the CUBC ‘A’ line-up in their first tideway fixture of this boat race season.
Women ‘B’ & Men ‘B’
In the rest of the fixtures, the CUBC women’s ‘B’ (Blondie) match-up with the UL ‘B’ crew produced some fantastic racing. Despite the last-minute change in line-up for the Blondie boat, they were able to take the first piece by two lengths before UL were disqualified for a foul at the start of the Eyot.
In their final piece from Chiswick Steps to the finish the margin was just a third of a length to Blondie, with UL having pulled back from three quarters of a length back round the bandstand, forcing a last-minute sprint from Blondie.
For the men, CUBC ‘B’ (Goldie) faced UL’s ‘A’ boat, with the latter winning the first piece by one and a quarter lengths and the second piece by just a quarter of a length.
Lightweights
In the lightweight fixtures, the CUBC men faced the UL ‘B’ line up, taking emphatic wins in both their pieces. Meanwhile, the CUBC lightweight women came up short against a strong Imperial College crew, with Imperial taking the first piece by four lengths, and the second by two and a half lengths. A great afternoon’s worth of racing for Cambridge who will next be down in the Tideway in two weekends’ time, where all three women’s crews will line up against Thames Rowing Club, and the open-weight men against Leander, and the lightweight men face London Rowing Club.
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