Head of the River Race 2009:

1st Men
Time: 19:48.51
11th (of 23) College 1st VIIIs
27th (of 85) in S4
226th (of 409) overall

Glorious sunshine bathed the Championship course, with barely a breeze stirring the air. So great was the weather that those in the trailer decided the inside of a car was to be indulged in, leaving minimal time to rig. Some idiot then managed to shear off two bolts and a quick repair had to be made. Late for marshalling, we boated, only for 5 to discover he was sitting on bare rails. A hasty bargain was made with KCS and having purloined a seat; we pushed off as the last crew from Putney and paddled past hundreds of amateurs to our marshalling spot (if only the same could be said of the race!).

We set off at 183 without knowing the standard of any of the surrounding crews. Aberdeen behind decided clear water between us was something to be avoided under Chiswick and by Barnes Bridge had come level alongside us, not helped by our poor line between these two points. We found a good rhythm after the first minute's paddling, and now in the stream we pushed off Aberdeen to nearly a length to overtake Bath II just past the bandstand, who chose not to concede the stream (despite being in the slowest 30 crews racing it emerged), resulting in stroke side clashing blades. Our rhythm was not upset though, and we had some great rowing coming round the Hammersmith bend; on the inside Aberdeen had used the bend to move up alongside us as we passed under the bridge. Side by side we pushed into the third quarter, meaning we were denied the stream; we stayed level with them, blades within inches of theirs to get as much stream as possible, knowing we were the faster crew, and in the final km we finally broke them to push clear and regain the current. The final 200m burst was very scrappy, but all in all a satisfying performance. If we'd had the racing line we would have been several seconds quicker (and dozens of places higher!), but thanks to Aberdeen for our own private boat race to make things more interesting! Again we overtook several hundred boats sitting in the queue back to Putney in our hurry to rehydrate - the resulting pub visit ended in an invaluable tube surfing lesson and a curry that was "like being punched in the face then kicked in the groin". Result!

Written by Tom Wilson

Women's of the River Race 2009:

1st Women
Time: 21:52.3
170th (of 284) overall

After considerable issues with bowside sub finding, WeHoRR finally began for W1 on the Friday evening when we travelled down to London to stay the night at Lydia's. No crew chew has ever been quite so civilised, what with all the proper napkins folded up neatly and a pair of burning candles on the dining table and all. Thanks again to Lydia's parents for being so accomadating. The next day we got up suprememly early to avoid being late and actually had to wait around at Putney whilst we wondered where Andy had got to. Once he arrived we rigged up without too much hassle, well, except that just before hands on one incompetant person managed to discover exactly how sharp rudders are by walking into one. All bandaged up, we boated and rowed up to our marshalling point where we took the opportunity to eat haribo, sunbathe in the glorious sunshine and generally forget that we actually had to race.

Race we did however, quickly settling down into a smooth, steady rhythm. And so we rowed, and rowed, and rowed some more. We easily left Manchester far behind us, but unfortunately Loughborough did the same to us so we were left all alone in the middle of the river with noone to push off. Thankfully towards the end of the race we saw Queens and Pembroke starting to come up on us which gave us a determination to not let them catch us, and so we pushed hard and fast for the finish as Robyn called our last bump of the term. Andy said afterwards that though our rowing looked techinally very good, it seemed that we weren't putting in much effort, to which we argued that of course the best crews always look relaxed! Celebrations after the race were held in true W1 style - with plenty of cake!

Written by Deborah Smith