New College Boat Club

Well done to all crews who raced in this year’s Torpids. After such a long period of red flag, all did fantastically well to put together four days of fine racing.

Net results from the week are as follows:

- M1 finished down two places and will begin Torpids 2014 on bungline 5 in division 2

- W1 also finished down two places in a highly competitive top half of division 1. They begin next year on bungline 5.

- M2 finish where they started after an epic battle with St. Antony’s throughout the week. They begin next year on bungline 11 in division 3.

- W2 finished the week down 2 places, starting next year 10th in division 3.

These numbers don’t quite convey the ups and downs of the week, the excitement of bumping and the frustration of being bumped. We look forward to more racing next term – Summer Eights is a rather different beast, and definitely more exciting still. We will see up to 15,000 spectators descend on the Isis on Saturday of 5th week, and being a part of a racing crew during Eights week is an experience that is second to none during one’s time at Oxford.

GDBM,

James Parry-Crooke

President

The beautiful weather meant Saturday of Eights was even busier this year than usual, with a strong supportive presence at NCBC’s boathouse of both current College members and Alumni. Many thanks to all for coming down to support our boats, and we hope that a good time was had by all.

The day started out with M3 putting in a strong row over, with the crews on either side of them bumping out leaving the crew with little opportunity to move further up the charts. This leaves the crew up one position, and 11th in Div 6, putting them in a good position for next year.

W2 had a stroke of bad luck (no pun intended) with their race being klaxoned just as they reached Lincoln W3 (video here). Despite lodging an appeal, the bump was not awarded, thus ending their run for blades. However, their performance this Eights was still fantastic, gaining 6 places with 4 bumps over the 4 days, putting them in the fixed divisions at 13th in Division 4.

M2 had a challenging day with a blade-winning St Hugh’s M1 crew bumping them, thus leaving M2 with an impressive 6th position in Div 3, and 4th 2nd VIII overall, behind Christ Church 2, Pembroke 2 and Oriel 2.

W1 got bumped by St Catz W1, leaving them 3rd in Division 2.

M1 had a very lucky race, gaining on Lincoln out of the blocks but also being chased hard by an LMH crew on for blades. Genius coxing by Sam Winter-Levy and a klaxon (video here) meant the crew avoided getting bumped on the last day, leaving M1 4th in Division 2.

The racing was followed by a champagne reception in the Gardens before a lively Eights dinner, including the usual speeches and handing out of awards. The Sarah Livermore Cup for overall contribution to NCBC was jointly awarded to Andrew Boggs and Jon Strang. Andrew has been coaching and rowing for the club every year since arriving 3 years ago, and his contribution on both fronts has been truly invaluable. Jon has been steadfastly rowing in M1 for all four years of his time at Oxford in both Torpids and Eights, having only started rowing as a fresher. Oarsman of the Year was awarded to fresher Paul Donnelly, who has rowed in M1 in both Torpids and Eights having only taken up rowing this year. Oarswoman of the Year went to W1 rower Jennifer Firman. The inaugural Ben West Cox of the Year award (with suitably miniature cup) was awarded to Polly Simpson, who has coxed both M1 and W1 this year, and is beloved by both crews. It was also fantastic to see a strong Alumni turnout, in particular the 30th anniversary reunion of the 1982 Men’s and Women’s crews who had also joined us for the racing that afternoon. NCBC warmly welcomes Alumni to all events and hopes to have another strong showing at next year’s Eights Dinner.

Another day of sun, Pimm’s and carnage…

Rather more carnage than usual today, due to stronger wind, resulting in a ‘magnetic bank’ and many klaxoned divisions. Notable mentions to Worcester M2 who managed to completely sink their boat, a Linacre crew for utterly destroying one rigger and Trinity M3 for blocking the river after bumping out resulting in our M3 completely demolishing their stern: pic.twitter.com/L8KbAFbb. NCBC members and Alumni will be glad to hear that the trusty 2kv that M3 were rowing in suffered barely a scratch (OK quite a big scratch), and both crews were OK too.

M3 were about to bump Univ M3 at the time of the incident, and amazingly the race was not klaxoned resulting in St Catz 3 steaming past (coxed by none other than Blue Boat cox Zoe de Toledo) and trying to claim a bump. OURCs ruled that all crews involved would get row-overs (apart from Trinity’s bump).

W2 keep coming out with phenomenal performances, getting an overbump on St Catz 2 to reach the top of Div 5 and subsequently bumping Oriel 2, putting them in the fixed divisions! Congratulations girls! Having started at 6th in Div 5 the girls are now 6 places higher and on for ‘megablades’ chasing Lincoln W3 tomorrow.

W1 rowed over between Somerville and Wolfson. M1 had an unlucky race where they were caught by Lincoln M1 and are looking to bump back up tomorrow.

Race times for tomorrow are an hour earlier, so:

M3: 12.15

W2: 14:00

M2: 15.45

W1: 16.15

M1: 16.45

The recent weather has truly put the ‘summer’ into Summer Eights today, with temperatures reaching 26 degrees on Boathouse Island! The good weather is set to remain with us for the rest of the week, and what better way is there to make use of it than to come down to the boathouse, sip some cool Pimm’s and watch carnage unfold on the river?

Today brought another exciting day’s racing for NCBC. An impressive M3 consisting of an essentially scratch crew put in another solid performance rowing over ahead of St Catz M3, with Trinity M3 bumping out ahead of them. W2 followed up yesterday’s bump with another, this time catching Exeter W2. M2 maintained their position on the river as 4th in Div 3, ahead of Linacre M1, with Somerville M1 bumping out ahead of them. This also makes them the 3rd Men’s Second VIII on the river behind Christ Church 2 and Pembroke 2, well done boys! W1 were caught by a fast Wolfson crew on Greenbanks. M1 put in a rapid start, closing hard on Worcester M1 through the Gut, but unfortunately were caught by Trinity M1 first.

Race times for tomorrow are:

M3: 13.15

W2: 13.50

M2: 16.45

W1: 17.15

M1: 17.45

Results will be posted live to twitter.com/newcollegebc as usual (also visible on the homepage). Live and historical bumps charts are available on eights.feathersquare.com for which there is also an iPhone app, OxBump.

An exciting day for NCBC today, with 5 crews entered for Eights 2012. M3 and W2 both successfully rowed on last Friday to qualify, placing them in Men’s Div 6 and Women’s Div 5 respectively. M2 continued from 5th in Div 3, W1 at 13th in Div 1, and M2 at the top of Div 2. Divisions this year have had an extra boat added at the bottom of each division, meaning 14 crews now race at a time (13 plus sandwich boat from the division below).

The day was off to a good start with M3 catching St Catz M3 by Donnington Bridge. W2 followed up this strong showing by catching St Anne’s W2. Despite last minute crew changes and less training than usual, the traditionally strong M2 managed to bump Linacre M1 in Div 3, placing them 4th in the division. M1 was caught in the first part of Longbridges by Wadham M1. Wadham went on to bump Worcester M1 at the bottom of Div 1, so M1 is now chasing Worcester tomorrow, from 2nd in Div 2. W1 was also bumped, by Keble, placing them at the top of Div 2 and looking for a row-over and ‘revenge bump’ tomorrow.

Race times tomorrow will be:

M3: 13.15

W2: 13.50

M2: 16.45

W1: 17.15

M1: 17.45

Results will be posted live to twitter.com/newcollegebc as usual (also visible on the homepage). Live and historical bumps charts are available on eights.feathersquare.com for which there is also an iPhone app, OxBump.