WA – Beat LMH WA
We knew we had to win today to progress any further in the competition, so we lined up next to LMH A ready to better yesterday’s race. We got off to a good start, gaining an immediate lead. We flew down the rest of the course with only one crab (which Nicolette managed to recover from so quickly that none of knew it had happened), finishing strongly nearly a boat’s length ahead of LMH, who gave us a really good race. It was great to have some more Hertford support on the bank… come down to watch again tomorrow!
-Abie Witts

WB – Beat St Anthony’s WB

Win today for WB against St Anthony’s! A much improved second half of the race allowed us to catch up with and then overtake- before a dramatic crash as we crossed the finish line. Looking forward to 850m tomorrow! #fearthedeer
– Jess Bardett

WC – Lost to Pembroke WA

The girls of WC – Caroline, Anna, Ellie, Penny, Bailey, Annie, Miranda, and Lucasta – started their second race against Pembroke WA on a slightly rainy and grey afternoon. They started well, moving together and for the first part of the race both teams were neck and neck, with Hertford holding their ground. Pembroke began to pull ahead- but Hertford fought back with a push that almost brought the two boats level again! But then, disaster struck as Pembroke pulled ahead, and a few of the girl’s feet came loose from their (man sized shoes) and for a few seconds, the momentum and rhythm was lost. But then we were back in the game as the girls rowed together and looked amazing. But devastatingly it wasn’t quite enough, and Pembroke finished about a length-and-a-half ahead of us. Hertford put up an amazing fight though, pushing hard right until the end, and the effort they put in was amazing!
–Katie Hiscocks

MA – Lost to Wolfson MA

Some cozy weather, a warm sun, some slight breeze, a perfect boat, these are just some of the conditions that we didn’t have today. In fact, in a gloomy afternoon filled with drizzle and cold, relentless wind, in a boat that is slightly aerodynamically damaged by the previous cox who crashed it into the river bank, Hertford MA faced their most challenging opponent yet- Wolfson MA, who, according to some urban legend, has never lost a single race. But neither have we! The Hertford boys are young, fearless and ambitious. As this is the second race already, the experienced Hertford rowers calmly guided the boat towards the starting line. Joe, the detail-oriented, perfection-fixated cox, then spent the next 5 minutes carefully adjusting the orientation of our boat, ‘one squeeze from bow’, ‘stern back it down a little bit’. Finally, we were ready, and next to us, were the Wolfson MA, who, I must admit, seemed pretty ordinary, just like any other boats, but of course, intimidated by the bright primary color of our T-shirts and the sinister and awe-inspiring slogan: ‘Fear the Deer”. “Go!” As the random dude on the bank signaled the start of the race, both boats raced forwards, like arrows that have just left the bow. The clearly more-experienced Wolfson MA began to gain (quite a large) advantage over Hertford, but the Hertford boys didn’t notice, because they were all concentrated on keeping the rhythm of the boat, and pushing backwards with all they’ve got. Suddenly, something happened, as all the crewmen felt a slight disturbance in the force, as well as a significant rocking of the boat. Oh no! Jack had a crab! But before s****ing his pants, Jack calmly picked up the blade and he’s back again! By the blink of an eye, Hertford recovered from the crab and resumed the tenacious pursuit against Wolfson. As both boats approached the turn on the river, Hertford increased the speed even further and were determined to close the (vast) gap between them through some dangerous, but also super awesome, maneuvers performed by the cox, who is way too professional to have a mohawk hairstyle. Approaching the end of the race, Hertford boys finally revealed their last trick: “TERMINATOR MODE”! Suddenly, the screaming and the shouting stopped, as all of the crewmen straightened their face and all you can hear is the sound of their blades entering the water simultaneously, the sound of their seats rolling forward and backward together, and the occasional moan of Charles Wang who was close to a mental & physical meltdown. Sadly, despite our best efforts, this wasn’t enough. Wolfson won the race with ease, winning by at least 3 lengths. Although we lost, we raced well, we raced to win, and we raced for Hertford! We couldn’t have got this far without all the help from our dedicated captain Alex Allison and our occasionally directionally-challenged cox Joe Wynn. Wolfson might have won the race, but they don’t have a f***ing bridge, so who’s the real winners here?
– Charlie Wang

Hertford MA Crew:
Cox- Joe ‘Celine Dion’ Wynn
8- Alastair ‘The Pally’ Duffey
7- Jack ‘Crabman’ Waterman
6- Milo ‘The Gummyman’ Rignell
5- Patrick ‘didn’t-technically-fall-into-water’ Austin
4- Guy ‘King of stretches’ Neven
3- Hormuz ‘Nice Movember’ Dadbhoy
2- Michael ‘The Giant’ Antys
1- Charlie ‘The Grimace’ Wang

***** THE HYPE CONTINUES TOMORROW:*****

WA racing at 12:39
WB racing at 14:40
WC racing at 14:28

#FTD