Pre-bumps assessment 2022

Most years I forget to write what I think before bumps, but this time I've remembered.

Overall: good.

This year, we're definitely faster than our average over previous years: we hit sub-1:30 on every start and even hit 1:19 once, with a tailwind. We are: Harry, Jonathon, SteveO, Conor, Alistaire, Jon, me and Ralph; and cox Theo (photo-shopped in is Adam, see later). Ali is ex-Kings and has only been with us a month but is young and strong; in general our power this year is better than before, with the exception of me; my 2k this year was 7:31.6. Conor's was 6:35 and Ali is rumoured sub-6:30. Theo is a good cox, active and enthusiastic; his only bad point is that he starts spinning from bowside, and can be a little cautious.

Training has gone well; we're balanced and we're prepared to put effort in. We've only had 2-3 outings per week, but perhaps that helps keep us fresh.

Of our opponents we know little, so I won't speculate here... or will I? Maybe I will. St Neots have been dropped down due to Slow and Robs 2 dropped entirely due to Not Existing. So we start at 9, chasing Tabs 3, and being chased by Nines 3. Tabs appear to have settled on Hills Rd, though they have been Aquaphobes at one point. I think I'd feel more confident against Aquaphobes, but it will be fun to row against the Evil Hills Road crew. And Nines are not strong this year but they have Henk at 5. That's day one, subsequent days can look after themselves.

Note: due to the heatwave, Monday and and Tuesday were cancelled, boo hiss. I wouldn't have, but I do admit it was extremely hot and a defensible decision.

Post-bumps assessment

And now it is all over; this written Sunday night. The official write-up is here; it is rather short because there wasn't a lot to celebrate alas. However, M1 did win the Captain's Prize for the best crew that didn't win blades, with the glorious score of two row-overs and one down; alas, all the ladies went down each night, and M2 twice. That of course is a bare account and not a fair assessment.

In more detail: Wednesday, the first night, was in retrospect a missed opportunity; we had our crack at Tabs 3 unhindered by Nines behind, because City took them out on First Post. We knew this meant that City were fast but we hadn't gone off hard enough and of course Nines being taken out removed any push; so we rowed over. Thursday was much better; we went off harder and were within a whisker of bumping Tabs, but alas we got taken down by City. Boo hiss. Friday was expected to be dull as we knew we were faster than Nines, and so we were, to First Post; but they pushed us hard down the Reach and got within 3/4, so that turned out in the usual odd way of these things to be a more satisfying ending that expected (also Henk was dropped down to 2, so Nines may have had some ringers in). Ali had got Covid to was out Weds and Thurs, ably replaced by Adam but perhaps this unsettled us, but who knows. Given another day I think we'd have got Hills.