Queen's Ergs

I had my first rowing competition Tuesday night: Queen's Ergs - an indoor rowing relay race on machines. The atmosphere was intensely competitive and exciting. Went down with a couple of teammates earlier in the evening (our heat wasn't until 9pm) and saw what it was all about, cheering on the Lady Margaret Boat Club (St Johns) boats in the earlier heats.

When it came down to it, our boat (LMBC M6: The Captain's VIII, aka "The Grad Boat," aka "Past our Prime") did pretty well. We placed second in our heat (out of 14), and came in sixth among all the lower-division boats. While we are technically M6 (the sixth men's boat at Johns), it's only because we're the grad boat, so we surprised a lot of people who never expected a decent performance out of a sixth boat. We beat three M1 boats, 14 second boats, and every third boat except our own LMBC M3.

After our own heat, and recovering with a drink in the Queens College Bar, we stayed around to support the three LMBC boats competing in the finals (W1, M1 and M2). Great atmosphere, cheering from the balcony, and I adapted a University of Florida tradition (orange/blue!) to Cambridge, leading an alternating "LM! BC!" between the two balconies. While Johns didn't take first in either final, the performances were impressive. Several friends were rowing for other colleges and did very well as well. While I didn't expect it at first, I now see how easy it is to get extremely competitive about rowing here. I can't wait to get in a few more water outings so we can get racing for Maggie on the river Cam as soon as possible.

And on that note, since I need to be at the boathouse at 7am tomorrow morning, it's time to sleep.