After an initial and successful fixture against Leander in February, CUBC’s Men’s crew was looking forward to a challenge from Oxford Brookes. Brookes provided exactly that, with an aggressive start and clashing in the first strokes. After taking an initial lead on Cambridge, Brookes was challenged by the smooth Cambridge rhythm along the boats, Through the Fulham Bend, Cambridge moved through to a 1/2 length lead, but was unable to extend this along the Crabtree Reach, becoming slightly bogged down in the chop and headwind. Clashing through Hammersmith Bridge, Brookes took nearly a length’s lead with the inside of the Surrey Bend ahead of them.
Coach Rob Baker’s men were not to be denied, and blunted the challenge of Brookes and moved back to Brookes through the rest of the piece, chewing through the Brookes lead to finish just 1/2 canvas down.
The second piece showed a different Cambridge crew, taking the initiative with a start at 45 strokes a minute, taking a length lead by Emmanuel boathouse. Cambridge pushed out to 2/3 a length of clear water with 2 minutes to go, cox Charlie Marcus taking the advantage of steering his own line, and dominated the piece to take a 3 length victory.