Admiral's Regatta
River Wear, Durham
750m
19th June 2013
After a slingshot start, the motley pirate crew of Grey
College captained by the ever raspy sounding commodore Moore took an early lead
in the first race of Admirals regatta 2013. The fresher men’s crew stunned the
small crowd as they stormed down the race course, jolly roger flying high, to
eventually finish the race 3 lengths ahead of the ill-fated Cuth’s senior boat.
Having made it all the way to the finals the crew were not able to pull off a
victory and secure one final pot for the Grey trophy cabinet.
Next up to race were the (extra) heavyweight senior men’s
crew. Having decided on taking out a restricted training IV they weren't
expecting much in the way of a momentous victory, and appeared more interested
in their stockpile of Belgium’s finest. However after a speedy start and having
taken an early lead, much to the dismay of Hutchinson and Hatch, the crew
decided that the prospect of another race was just a little too much for this
early morning booze cruise. So to the dawn chorus of a bemused commentator, the
crew crawled across the line, tinnies aloft, to a gracious (and predictable)
defeat.
Having been put together at the last
minute and to the surprise of half the crew, it was the turn of another Grey
Senior men’s IV. Having rustled together a mixed bag of costumes resulting in a
theme labelled ‘miscellaneous’ the crew
set off for the start were a fully race prepared Castle crew awaited them.
After a clunky start the crew managed to overhaul their opponents cruising to a
comfortable two length victory, this tower of power show was then repeated to
storm a similarly well prepared Van Mildert crew.
Next it was the turn of the Senior Women’s VIII. Having
actually made an effort to get matching costumes the cast of The Sound of Music
made their way to the start line knowing a single victory would secure them an
overall win. After a lightning start (and some divine guidance) the crew
trounced the crew from St. Mary’s boat club and took home the only Grey pots of
the day.
The final race of the day was the college mixed VIII’s,
combining a fresher 4 with 4 from the senior women’s crew. Being an
eco-conscious/ not-motivated-enough-to-get-more boat club, costumes were reused
from previous races resulting in a nuns/cowboys crew. Having entertained the
crowds on the way down to the start line the crew lined up against an all too
familiar, non-costume-wearing, Castle crew.
After a strong start from Castle the Grey boat fell behind by a bow in what
would prove to be the most closely fought race of the day. However having
narrowly lost to Castle in the final of Durham regatta the fresher boys gave it
their all in order to pull off one final act of vindication and claim a
momentous win. (The women were good too). After having exhausted themselves the
crew rowed straight back to the start to face their next opponents, Van
Mildert. With the sun sinking lower than the motivation levels and the pub
calling, there was only one course of action for the crew as they lined up for
what would be the final race of an inspired season of rowing for Grey College.
Seen as though this will be the last blog post this season,
I think it only fair that a special mention go to the Fresher men’s VIII for
providing GCBC with possibly the greatest photo ever taken in rowing.
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