WA

Wednesday (Round 1)

WA vs Jesus

Georgina Lang
Aoife Bennett
Rebecca Simpson

Alison Carrington
Kelcey Flowers
Rebecca Nicholls
Elizabeth Bennett
Eleanor Pschirrer-West
Cox- Carlo Attubato

Hertford Women’s novices have had a successful Christchurch campaign, showing a definite improvement on last year, with no seats being broken, and no crashes into banks! We stormed ahead on our first race, winning by several boat lengths after Jesus’s tactical decision to stop for 10 seconds mid-race surprisingly failed!

Thursday (Round 2)

Bye

Friday (Round 3)

WA vs New College

Georgina Lang
Aoife Bennett
Rebecca Simpson
Kelcey Flowers
Lizzy Skells
Susie Webster
Naomi Cooper
Imogen Harter-Jones

Cox- Carlo Attubato

Unfortunately our victory was not to be continued as we lost our second race against New College. The girls gave it their all, rowing well to the finish line, followed by the cheers of Hertford supporters and ‘emptying the tank’ in the last few meters but New couldn’t be caught. Regardless of the results, Christchurch has been a chance to celebrate all the hard work and early mornings that the novices have put into learning to row this term – something that is no mean feat!

MA

Wednesday (Round 1)

MA vs St Hilda’s

1. Samuel Oh

2. Jonathan Topaz

3. Rory Saitch

4. Haodong Li

5. Rohit Vijjhalwar

6. Lucas Tse

7. Fritz Björklund

8. Rafee Ahmed

Cox- Naomi Housego-Day

MA took to the Isis with confidence to face our Longbridges neighbours St Hilda’s. Coming of the start hard, rating well above 30, the crew started to edge away from St Hilda’s. Coming through Boathouse Island, St Hilda’s caught a crab and MA pounced, pulling out to a length. MA controlled the race from there on out, gradually extending their lead to finish a 1 1/2 lengths up and safely to the second round.

Thursday (Round 2)

MA vs Wolfson

1. Samuel Oh

2. Jonathan Topaz

3. Philipp Schellhaas

4. Haodong Li

5. Rohit Vijjhalwar

6. Tetsuro Ono

7. Fritz Björklund

8. Rafee Ahmed

Cox- Naomi Housego-Day

Full of confidence from the day before, MA faced Wolfson in the second round. Starting on the county side, MA got in to their rhythm quickly and pulled out to half a length along Greenbanks. However coming past Univ, MA faltered and to shouts from their own supporters, Wolfson made their move, overturning their deficit to lead by half a length by the end of boat house island. With time running out, it was not looking good for MA but with less than 50m left, MA went back to the bottom of the well one last time. To shouts of “they’ve f****d it!” from the bank, MA produced the sort of comeback rowing has not seen since the Searle brothers in 1992, storming through in the dying seconds to take the win by less than a foot. Raucous celebrations ensued.

Friday (Round 3)

MA vs Balliol

1. Rory Saitch

2. Jonathan Topaz

3. Philipp Schellhaas

4. Haodong Li

5. Rohit Vijjhalwar

6. Tetsuro Ono

7. Fritz Björklund

8. Rafee Ahmed

Cox- Naomi Housego-Day

In a position they had not expected to be in at the start of the week, MA lined up against Balliol to fight for a place in the 4th round. Unfortunately, despite putting in an excellent performance, producing some of their best rowing, Balliol had just too much speed.

Over the term, both Novice Squads put in a huge amount of work, leading to some of the best racing HCBC has seen at Christ Church Regatta for a few years. The atmosphere around both squads has been excellent. Credit must go to both lower boats captains, Naomi and Rosie, and the coaches, Marcus and Lewis who have navigated the treacherous course that is Michaelmas Term and have big plans for next term.