Men’s Novice A – Beat Wadham MC

Ah Christ Church, shall we compare thee to a summer’s day? Probably not, given its late afternoon in November and there’s just been a race klaxon’d for an ejector crab. Yes, Christ Church regatta. Never have 2 words struck so much terror into the hearts of novices, and this fear might’ve taken the hert of Hertford’s brave boys as they sat on the startline. But our boys were strong, and gave no indication of their apprehension about the task ahead. Beside them on the county side was a Wadham boat (that allegedly contained a senior rower…) bristling with obvious talent, moving gently in the stream. Soon the boys in red were called forward by their (extremely attractive) cox, and faster than you could say ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks’ they were off. The Battle for Holywell Street had begun.
Hertford were quick off the start, a slightly messy few draws quickly recovered to reveal strong and confident strokes as they belted towards Boathouse Island. Out of the periphery of their vision, our brave boys saw the Wadhamites catch an early crab and this served as the fire to their tinder, as the call to ‘SETTLE!’ was made and the stroke was lengthened. Sure enough, the gap widened as Hertford’s confidence grew, and soon the gap was several boat lengths. Towards the end of the boathouse island the call was made to seal Wadham’s fate, and the power was laid down in truly awesome fashion. Onlookers gasped as the unrelenting Hertford craft surged to the finish in a flurry of well-timed strokes and righteous fury, and thus the Wadham crew were laid low before their home crowd at the finish. A convincing start to a promising regatta, an impressive performance that presumably means the oarsmen of Wolfson won’t be sleeping well this evening. Forza Hertford, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
– Joe Wynn

Hertford MA Crew:
Cox- Joe ‘The Razorback’ Wynn
8- Alastair ‘The Power’ Duffey
7- Jack ‘You’ve got no bridge’ Waterman
6- Milo ‘Keep the Calm’ Rignell
5- Patrick ‘walk-on-water’ Austin
4- Guy ‘King of the Novices’ Neven
3- Tobi ‘Barbarian’ Endlich
2- Kostas ‘The Killer’ Laurinaitis
1- Charlie ‘Jeans’ Wang

Women’s Novice A- Lost to Jesus WA

After one run through of our start on the ergs, the WA novice boat headed down to the start for our first race against Jesus A. We got off to a good start, picking up a lot of speed over the first ten strokes and getting ahead of Jesus as one of their rowers caught a crab. Unfortunately we too had our fair share of mishaps going on (hearing “I’ve fallen off the seat” halfway through the race is never reassuring) but still managed to keep a good pace going around the bend. In the final 100m it was looking promising, but Jesus managed to hold it together slightly better than we did in the final few strokes and just got ahead at the finish line, winning by less that a foot. Although it wasn’t quite the debut we were hoping for, it was an encouraging start for our two races tomorrow – come down to watch/cheer!
-Abie Witts

Women’s Novice B– Lost to Keble WB
(Race Report to follow)

Women’s Novice C- Lost to Regents Park WA

Today WC faced Regents Park WA in the Christ Church regatta. Unfortunately despite our best efforts, Regents got ahead at the beginning of the race and we never caught up with them. They finished the race about a boat’s length ahead of us.
– Amy Grace Whitsey Franklin