Producing some excellent pieces over the lock the weekend before, M1 had high hopes going into Fairbairn’s. After a shaky start in rough water through town, M1 soon settle into a chunky rhythm at rate 31. A nice period of technical rowing down the Reach in (an admittedly) strong tailwind helped M1 stay at a splint in the low 1:40s. Some nice steering from Will round Grassy and First Post Corner lined us up for a strong final stretch. Taking the rating up to 35 brought M1’s split down to 1:28 as Queens’ crossed the line with a final time of 14:59.
M1 was the 4th fastest college boat out of 31, their best placing since 2012 and ahead of Oriel OXF (Fairbairns 2016, 2017 & 2018 winners). This strong performance sets us up nicely for the Lents.