Bumps, Blades, and Bowballs- Cambridge Boatie Chat

What happened in the first division to cause a rerow - anyone know?

Hey, i'm looking at applying to Cambridge next year for entry in 2012. I'm a pretty keen rower, not great at the moment as my fitness is really bad, but that'll obviously change over 2 years. I've never done a proper 2k, but i've done one where I got 7:20, and I think I may be able to get slightly better now.

I'm 6ft, and 12 stone 9. Do you think I can get my 2k down to Goldie standard? :P

Hey, i'm looking at applying to Cambridge next year for entry in 2012. I'm a pretty keen rower, not great at the moment as my fitness is really bad, but that'll obviously change over 2 years. I've never done a proper 2k, but i've done one where I got 7:20, and I think I may be able to get slightly better now.

I'm 6ft, and 12 stone 9. Do you think I can get my 2k down to Goldie standard? :P

Bloody hope Clare have a W2 after all I put in for them!

And since when did Addies have a Lents boat?

Probably looking at around 6:15 for Goldie Boat. Thats a world of difference from 7:20 but never say never. If you set your mind to training you can probably get to sub 6:40 relatively quickly, sub 6:30 within a year of proper training. Anything below about 6:20 probably requires some degree of natural ability as well but should be gettable to most males who apply themselves enough. Also you will need quite good technique to start with. Most Golide rowers will be a bit heavier than 12st9 but you could easily get to the right sort of lean weight over the course of a degree, assuming you dont have a high amount of fat to start off with.

Good luck.

Hey, i'm looking at applying to Cambridge next year for entry in 2012. I'm a pretty keen rower, not great at the moment as my fitness is really bad, but that'll obviously change over 2 years. I've never done a proper 2k, but i've done one where I got 7:20, and I think I may be able to get slightly better now.

I'm 6ft, and 12 stone 9. Do you think I can get my 2k down to Goldie standard? :P

Do you actually row or do you just erg? Very few people make it into the (male) Blues squad as undergrads fresh from school if they did not do a LOT of rowing at school. You need the technique as well as the erg times. Also, who taught you to erg? I ask because you see an awful lot of people at the gym using the machines with terrible terrible technique and who could improve their times massively, and stop damaging their backs, with just a bit of tweaking. Even some gym instructors aren't great at teaching you how to use them.

As has been said, 7:20 is a long way off the required standard - at some colleges that wouldn't even get you into their first boat. Keep working at it, and if you get in, get involved at a college level first, and if you do well at that, think about trialling.

Yeh I know it's a long way off, but that wasn't a proper 2k in my opinion and I've already come leaps and bounds from it. May pull a sub 7 now. I row 6 days a week with my school, and the coaches taught me to erg My technique's alright i've been told, just need to work on fitness and strength!

Yeh I know it's a long way off, but that wasn't a proper 2k in my opinion and I've already come leaps and bounds from it. May pull a sub 7 now. I row 6 days a week with my school, and the coaches taught me to erg My technique's alright i've been told, just need to work on fitness and strength!

Bloody hope Clare have a W2 after all I put in for them!

And since when did Addies have a Lents boat?

Yep.. and Addies putting out a boat meant (according to CUCBC rules) that they were put in bottom of the penultimate division, pushing Clare W2 back down to sandwich boat. But hopefully they can get Addies today

My first bumps in about 2 hours

I doubt there is an M1 crew in Cambridge which doesn't do at least 8 sessions a week, and Goldie is still along way off for most them.

Yeh, I can imagine hah! Well, i'm planning on doing a 6 year course, so at some point I should get into Goldie if I can get to 1st College Boat standard for when I start I'm currently doing 13 sessions tbh, doing all my rowing at school and an A1 every day. But not sure if you can count A1s haha!

tbh if you think you'll just walk into a college first boat you're rather deluded, unless you suddenly become national champion, or their entire first boat leaves. depends on the college of course

sorry if we keep being really negative, but you've got to realise that mens rowing at cambridge is just ridiculous - women's is different, you can be a good college rower and try trialling and have a chance, but men's you need to be something pretty special to have even a chance due to the number of international rowers that do postgrads, or land economy...

speaking of walking into things, has everyone seen newnham's attempt at rowing on land..... http://i.imgur.com/WXz6W.jpg

Well, it's just because I have no idea to what standard people row at down in Cambridge. I've done countless searches trying to find erg times for Cambridge College and Univ rowing, but I can't find anything. Technique won't be a problem, because i've got 2 years to work on it and our coach Todd Jesdale knows his stuff! Shrewsbury has a good reputation for their rowing, and i'm trying to get into that :P From what I heard College rowing did less than us, so i've obviously been misinformed with that

And don't worry about being negative, I need to learn somehow!

Yeh, I can imagine hah! Well, i'm planning on doing a 6 year course, so at some point I should get into Goldie if I can get to 1st College Boat standard for when I start I'm currently doing 13 sessions tbh, doing all my rowing at school and an A1 every day. But not sure if you can count A1s haha!

I presume then that you are applying for either medicine or vetmed. In either case, you still only realistically have 3 years to get into the Blues squad - it is virtually impossible to trial/train with them during clinical years.

But get into Cambridge first and then worry about rowing.

Ah right, I didn't realise it'd be hard to get in during clinical years. I'm doing Vet Med yeh, with Cambridge as my first choice Yeh, I know i'm assuming I get in, which is actually pretty unlikely haha. Well, thanks for all the help guys !