Bumped Lucy Cavendish at Grassy
With racing cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday, by the time Friday came around W1 were itching to get out and show Lucy Cav who was boss. We’d kept up an impressive campaign of hatred against them all term and the thought of them escaping our grasp because of a ‘beast from the east’ was not a pleasant one. Hence, on Thursday evening over half the crew came down to the river armed with shovels and buckets to clear the towpath of snow and raise our chances of racing. Thankfully it paid off and a fast-paced race saw us secure QCBC’s first bump of the 2018 campaign, and W1’s first Lent bump since 2015!
We did have a slight hiccup before we’d even started, realising on the bank that we had no working whistles - however, Paul’s assurance that he has ‘a very loud voice’ put our minds (somewhat) at ease. After a very excitable start, winding up to 43, we were holding Lucy Cav at a length whilst Tit Hall hovered a length away from us; the next thirty seconds felt like a real slog as we struggled to gain ground or put any water between us and our chasers. On India’s call we got it together under the motorway bridge and had pushed to half a length by First Post; ahead, Lucy Cav were close to overlap on Caius in front and looked set to bump out. However, out of First Post the crew shifted up a gear, putting down what can only be described as the mother of all power 10’s - before we had time to think, half a length became a quarter and we caught Lucy Cav coming around Grassy. For Ulrika and Maya, this was their first bump ever with Queens’, and my first since 2015 - after an elated row home we’re now setting our sights on fluke overbumpers Tit Hall ahead of us when we race tomorrow.