Results:
W2: +0 (-1 so far)
M2: +1 (+2 so far)
W1: -1 (-2 so far)
M1: +1 (+1 so far)

M1: After Merton’s quick bump on Queen’s yesterday, we were hoping for a short race today, ready to rematch with Merton on Friday. However, Queen’s seemed to have remembered how to row, and were far better than yesterday, closing their gap with Merton even as we got them down to just half a length by the gut. We came past Longbridges in a tight three boat sandwich, thinking every stroke might be the last few, with massive amounts of wash from both boats coming our way. Even as Fin shouted at them to concede, even gaining overlap at points, they were right on Merton and weren’t going to go down without a fight. The decisive physical bump came as we passed the cheers of boathouse island, the crew exhausted after a much longer race than expected. Despite an appeal from Queen’s that they bumped Merton before we bumped them, our bump on Queen’s standing. This leaves Merton in our sights going into tomorrow.

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W1: W1 rocked up to the boat house on day 2 ready to show the Isis what they were made of. Starting the day as sandwich boat, we knew we’d have to give it our all to climb back into div 1… with strong legs, good vibes and only one concussion we powered up to bung line one confident that we would make Phoebe fly all the way to the finish line, leaving Balliol trailing in our wake. But unfortunately… this dream didn’t turn into reality. Although our start was clean and powerful (some would say one of our best starts yet) Balliol soon chased us down and we conceded just seconds before the klaxon sounded. Despite the bump, the crew’s spirits are still high, and we’re ready to seek justice for Hertford W1 tomorrow.

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M2: We knew that the second day of racing would be a particularly difficult challenge for us. If the crew in front of us, St. Peter’s, managed to bump out early, we would have lost any chance of a bump. Therefore, we prepared for a short race, and rowed at full power from the first stroke. We got off to a good start and quickly caught up with Peters. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t close the last few inches to Peter’s, so the race dragged on and on. Time was playing against us, our legs were starting to burn – after all, we had prepared ourselves for a short race. We were already on the home stretch when our cox, Will, dared a risky manoeuvre. Still only a few inches behind Peter’s, we suddenly swerved and left the optimal racing line; this meant a diversion, but we were now rowing in calm water. We picked up speed and, to our own surprise, were able to bump St Peter’s after all!

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W2: Hertford W2 set out today to a lovely sunny afternoon, anticipation within the crew, and the distant whoop of “fear the deer” from the balcony of Longbridges boat house. We had a strong, clean start, cohesion within the crew, but nothing could close the distance between us and Worcester W2 as they took the first bump of the race on New W2. Throughout the rest of the race, we kept up a good pace, until the turn of the Gut, when Balliol W2 began to gain on us. With all hope lost, the distance between us came down to canvases, and Balliol thought they had it in the bag with a last push on their behalf. Little did they know, around the corner were the screams of Hertford boat house, pushing us forward. Soon Balliol were a distant thought, and Hertford sailed to a triumphant finish down at Cox’s Stone, un-bumped and exhausted. While we did not bump ourselves, the ladies were ecstatic with their close pull away, attributed by many to the amazing line out the gut taken by our cox.