“I am ridiculously proud to be able to say that I coxed M2 today.” – Aneesh Shukla, cox
The gods were not on M2’s side today. Wolfson M2, the crew who impeded us so badly on day one, were in front of us. Unfortunately we were not to get any revenge as they were chasing Downing M3, a sluggish beer boat on a rapid downwards trajectory. Darwin M2, on the over-bump, were chasing Catz M3. There would be no over-bump.
Our race plan was to double over-bump on Caius M3. 11 and a half lengths. We knew it was doable as we’re quicker than Caius M2 and because of Caius M3’s results in the first two days of bumps. There were to be no whistles on Wolfson, we knew we wouldn’t catch them in time and whistles would only get our hopes up pointlessly.
We had a good start: sharp, technical and got the boat moving quickly. Then we settled, to a solid rate 34, our best rating. How close did we get to Wolfson? I don’t know. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about how close we were, just that they cleared the river in time. Fair play to Wolfson today, they literally jammed themselves into the bank in their rush to clear the river. Downing were a little slower and we had to do a bit of swerving to avoid them.
“You’re going to double over-bump one of the crews in front of us? You know they’re quite good right?” – Darwin M2 cox
So, it was just before First Post corner and we had a lot of clear water ahead of us. I couldn’t see Darwin, let alone Caius. This is where we stepped up as a crew: we knew the race-plan, we knew we could do it, and fucking hell we went for it. We did some of our best rowing all term going towards Grassy. Every call I made, the crew made a change.
Going around Grassy, Messrs. Hadlow and Lidbetter took real responsibility and hammered down the legs to give us a tight line around the corner. Looking down plough reach, I could see Darwin and Catz, and possibly, although it may just have been wishful thinking, Caius M3 going around Ditton.
“I hated that. When you called for stroke-side pressure around Ditton. I was in so much pain.” – Sebastian Scholl, 6 seat.
Messrs Wittenberg, Gultlinger and Scholl, took us around Ditton. I called 6 lengths to Caius, it was more like 7. The crew response, a surge in pace. Only 6 lengths, we were pretty much on track. Former Captain Pete Matthews, Boatman Tim Rhodes and M2 Spare Marco Devesas Campos, urged us on from the bank, “YOU CAN DO IT CORPUS!” and “IT’S ON.” Any trace of doubt disappeared from my mind. I trusted their calls.
We made a big move halfway down the reach. Legs sharp for 10. Strokeman Pepe cried out on the first stroke of the move. True grit. Murray Cutforth, a trusty 7-seat, moved with him. Less than 4 lengths now. Gaining on Caius every stroke. 3 lengths. Railway bridge. 2 lengths. Big push. Holding station. Final corner. First whistle. Final push. ½ a length. And then the race was over, it’s a shortened course this year. There’s no doubt that with the extra 300 metres we would have caught them but Bumps aren’t fair and we’ve just got to live with that.
M2 rowed incredibly well today, we took 11 lengths off a good crew and although we didn’t get the double over-bump we were chasing I think it’s absolutely nuts that we got so close. I’m proud to be in a crew that even when it got tough today, rowed their socks off and never gave up. The ridiculous number of outings this term were definitely worth it.
We’re M2, we do what we want. And today we wanted to row well.
(Aneesh Shukla, Cox)
M2 valiantly chasing the double over bump. Incredible efforts. Photo from CamFM.
Corpus Christi College Boat Club 
Amazing stuff guys..you deserved that bump!