Juniors and Returners 2021 Bumps Race Reports

Helen’s Hell Hounds win their blades!


A fantastic week’s rowing by a combined crew of Juniors and Returners saw them win their blades on the last night.
The crew came together wonderfully well in a couple of weeks and we had a nicely balanced squad combining 7 Juniors with 7 Returners. We had to make some changes through the week to cope with Covid isolations and Latitude Festival! With only one outing for the starting crew before bumps, they very quickly found balance and rhythm and rowed beautifully all week.
First night nerves were turned into real power off the start on chain 16 and we caught St Neots in about 35 strokes, well before the A14 bridge.
Second night – same crew – even stronger – and caught a good looking X-Press 3 – again before the bridge, although it took all of 50 strokes.
Third night we decided to set our finish line at the bridge as we were worried that City/St Mary’s (Kaura’s school crew that she refuses to join!) would catch the 9s crew ahead of them. Didn’t quite make it by the bridge and – caught them just after as they closed on 9s.
So big final night – same set-up – can we catch 9s before they catch Chesterton 2. This was a real race: 9s closed on Chesterton quickly and it looked like they were getting away, but a fantastic series of pushes saw the girls catch them just after first post corner. Brilliant racing – brilliant coxing by Helen Lavelle.
A really excellent week for a tremendous crew.

  • Cox: Helen Lavelle
  • S: Grace Caroe
  • 7: Amber Parsons
  • 6: Kaura Gould/Ella Black
  • 5: Gemma Eastham/Marlena Scott
  • 4: Catherine Watson
  • 3: Amy Glemas/ Evie Buchan / Lexie Weiss
  • 2: Scarlett Atkinson 
  • B: Esme Stewart