With a nearly complete set of race reports for the Hertford M2 boat, you can get into the heads of the hardy crew. M2 bumped up on day one of racing, were bumped by Linacre M2 on day two, were bumped again by Lincoln and overbumped by Pembroke M3 on the third day, and finished the racing week at the top of Div 7 after getting bumped by Corpus on the final day.

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M2 DAY 3- 10/06/21

Rohit, M2: “Today, we arrived a ready crew with game faces and the intention of bumping Teddy Hall in front of us. Following on from the day which resulted in our first bump, we were ready to further climb the division. A light warm-up and some race start pieces on the water led us to the bungline where we would be starting. 5-minute cannon… 1-minute cannon… and Row! Once the race started, we quickly steadied into our stride at around thirty-six strokes per minute as a quick Linacre M2 crew behind were catching up rapidly. It was not long until we had to concede under Donnington bridge, with further complications caused by the fact that our stroke’s blade was caught up with theirs. Nevertheless, we recovered and quickly steadied into our race pace. With quick, strong race pace and excellent coxing, we quickly began to gain on Teddy Hall. Unfortunately before we could catch them, they had bumped a Wolfson crew ahead of them and dropped out of the race. We continued to press on, and soon were within half a length of Wolfson. The stretch of river simply was not long enough and we did not manage to get the bump in the end, but we will come back fighting tomorrow. Overall, M2 put in a very strong row today and I am so proud to be a part of this team.”

“Hertford M2 started in 6th position for Division 6, with St Edmund’s Hall III’s in front of them and Lincoln III’s behind them. After a shaky start which put SHE III’s mostly outside catching distance of the crew, it became a battle to outlast Lincoln III who were bumped early on by Pembroke III’s. Coming through the gut and past the boathouse and Longbridges, we had our best stretch of the race to keep a steady gap ahead of Lincoln. Past Univ we hugged a tight line past the houseboats as Lincoln put on a heavy burst to draw close. Both boats maintained a canvas length gap for 20-30 strokes, but Lincoln just clipped our stern before their oars collided into a boathouse moored to the bank. We then pushed to the finish but were substantially clear both ahead and behind so an uneventful last stretch. We were therefore both bumped by Lincoln and over bumped by Pembroke and found ourselves in 8th position in Division 6 coming into the second day of Summer 8’s. Lincoln was now ahead of us and Corpus Christi II’s behind.”

M2 DAY 4- 11/06/21

“A totally cracking day on the water as we head into our final day of this years summer eights. The M2 crew boys have really put their back into a tricky week with very little training. We were bumped by corpus just pass donny bridge and then rowed clean to the end. Whilst finishing top of Div 7 wasn’t the aim I believe we can hold our heads high and focus our new found love for college rowing for next year. Day 4, Summer Eights, Hertford College M2.“