MCBC win Blades in Torpids 2023

Undoubtedly, the highlight of MCBC’s Torpids 2023 campaign has been our W1 boat winning blades. They have become our most successful boat since 2016 and definitely earned this victory as they never actually needed to row more than half of the course! We are so proud of the girls in this boat, and their exceptional Mansfield alumni coach, and ex-boat race rower, Martha Birtles. She has worked wonders with the crew, and this combined with the dedication and commitment of the rowers and cox has produced great results! They finished the week four places above where they started and with a few bottles of well-deserved champagne!

Our other crews all had an exceptionally good final day, each of them getting the bump that they wanted! In terms of specific crew round ups, our O1 were in a difficult position in the division and got bumped twice on day one, had a very strong row over on day 2, got bumped twice again on day 3 and did manage to get the bump on day 4, but unfortunately also got bumped before this point. Overall, most of the crew in this boat were novices at the start of this year, so they deserve so much credit for how far they have come individually and as a team. Our W2 had their fair share of bad luck this campaign, aptly summed up by snapped steering on day one on the start line. This unfortunately caused them to fall an entire division on the first day. However, they worked so hard for the rest of the week to end the campaign back in the division that they started in!

The O2 started the week with one of the most exciting races that we saw. The result was a row over, but the stamina within the boat and the confidence of the cox meant that they did not concede at some very tough points of the race. The rest of the week saw some bumps from them but unfortunately, they were also bumped a few times on these days, causing them to end the week two spaces below where they started. Again, huge credit must be given to the rowers and coxes of our two second boats as almost all of them only got in a boat for the first time 5 months ago!

As always, we had huge support from Mansfield students on all of the days, but especially on the final day (pictured). We can’t thank everyone enough for their hard work, commitment and support during this campaign. It’s definitely been one to remember!