The extension of Newnham Shortcourse this year from a 1.6km race to a 2km headpiece meant that many of the best crews participated in the competition when they have historically given it a miss. The extreme weather conditions meant that for safety reasons all lower divisions were cancelled leaving only the M1, M2 and W1 boats to battle it out in the wind. All divisions ran on time and despite gusts of up to 50 mph there were no injuries or problems. Racing produced some telling results, showing which boats could cope best with less than ideal conditions.

Caius M1 continued their winning streak putting in a strong performance in a punishing headwind achieving a time of 7:32 – 6 seconds faster than their Bumps rivals Pembroke. Jesus’ time of 8:08, 36 seconds slower than Caius could give them a difficult first day of Bumps. A good row from Downing M1 suggest they might be strong competition for First and Third M1 after their disappointing result in winter Head to Head.  Another good time came from St Catz (7:51) which puts them 28 seconds ahead of Christ’s M1 suggesting there could be some movement in the lower end of the Lents 1st division and top end of the 2nd division.

The M2 division was dominated by Downing M2 who put in an incredible performance achieving a time of 8:11 – the same as Sidney Sussex M1, and faster than Churchill, Clare Hall and Robinson M1s. Such a strong performance could suggest possible blades for them in Lents. Other M2 times were variable showing a wide range of abilities to cope with tough conditions.

Victory for Downing W1 in the women’s division as no surprise and despite a boat stopping crab on the starting line their time of (8:57) put them 5 seconds ahead of a strong Queens W1 crew. Such a dominant performance – 20 seconds faster than First and Third, who only managed 9:17 puts Downing in strong contention for the Lents headship. Christ’s relatively slow performance (9:47) and the absence of Jesus and Emmanuel from the race means a lot is yet to be seen in the top end of the women’s 1st Lents division.

The absence of LMBC and Newnham – after their Fairbairns win leave many questions to be answered about the lower end of the Women’s 1st division. On the men’s side First and Third and Queens did not race and so all eyes will be on next week’s Robinson Head to see if anyone can end Caius’ string of wins.