Emma Sprints 2017

 

HHBC Novice W1 Wins Emma Sprints 2017!

Yesterday we saw the victorious win by Hughes Hall Women’s Team at their first ever race on River Cam! A race filled with drama and suspense from the word “Attention, Go!” We showed consistency, courage and beating the odds in four 500-meter side-by-side sprints. The first race was against Jesus NW2 and the two boats overlapped at the beginning of the race, with blades clashing wildly between the boats. Our women kept their cool and rowed on whilst Jesus came to a losing halt! We maintained a strong form in the 2nd round against Selwyn NW1 and in the semifinals against the host Emmanuel NW2. In the final race we went up against the mighty Newnham college, with their strong NW2 rowers that got a head start but we were not phased. Our women caught up in the first 200m of the race just when Newnham lost their rhythm with their stroke woman losing her blade and their boat rearing into the bank. Hughes Hall rowed strong to finish as the W2 division winner! We beat the odds and showed everyone that we might be new but we are not to be messed with. Huge congratulations to our ladies!

HHBC Novice M1 fought till the very end to earn a respectable 3rd place.

The NM1 came together as Noah’s Ark with the cox dressed as Noah (with a beard!) and each rowing pairs dressed as different animals. Having to use a completely different boat that is bow-rigged than what they trained in, the new stroke, Connor O’Pray, had to muster a lot of courage within a short time for the crew. They started their division just as they witnessed our NW1 winning their whole division before them. Gathering the same focus as the women, they started off their first race against Emmanuel NM2 strong. Emmanuel had their boat steering towards ours right off the start but we managed to push off them just before they could do any damage and rowed on to the finish line. In the quarter-finals we showed Caius NM2 who’s the better crew by finishing another sprint race with a strong win. Going into the semi-finals, we were up against First and Third NM2 (who ended up as the division winner). Both crews were equally matched having stayed side-by-side throughout most of the race. But with our boat that kept steering into theirs forcing the race to stop twice, our novice men had to concede defeat. Not phased by the semi-finals, our NM1 went up against Jesus NM2 in the final race to claim the third place position of the M2 division! Well done guys.

The Hughes Hall NM2 dressed up as zombies to scare and beat the opponents! It was unfortunate that the officials called the start of their first race before the boat was lined up with the course, which led to an accidental crash to the bank. The crew extracted the boat from the bush very quickly and got back into the race. They remained calm and rowed hard and strong towards the finish line. Having better technique and coordination, they would have caught up with Darwin NM2 if the race was longer! Under tough situations like this the whole crew didn’t show any frustration but only positive attitude and sportsmanship. They have proved themselves as one capable and committed crew and we’ll see more of them in action in the Clare Novices’ Regatta next weekend!