JANINE LUMLEY, RICHARD GRIEVESON, CHRIS LION AND MARK LEE

Rowing

As Lent Bumps approached the first Women's VIII came to realise what a task they had ahead of them, four days of rowing over at Head of the River; qute a challenge! However, it was a challenge we were prepared to fight for and we went out with the grit and determination that brought a very deserving result, lots of champagne and another awesome boat burning!

Thanks to fantastic coaching, particularly by Claire Allen and the inspirational captaining of E-C O'Keefe WI developed immensely as a crew in the build-up to the races. Day I always holds uncertainty, but clear heads and the occassional bit of tidy and powerful rowing saw us pull away from a pressurised Emma crew to hold our position. After the confidence builder of day one, the pressure on the crew mounted as the desire to win increased, and we had two more determined and convincing rows on days 2 and 3 to remain at Head of the River going into Saturday's race. The positions behind us had changed thanks to a fast Clare crew moving up the ranks and going for blades.

This was to be the toughest day both Clare and Downing had faced and the week's racing for each crew could not have been more different; Downing had raced the whole course hard for three days so knew exactly what needed to be done and Clare had not felt the need to row much further than the plough before bumping so were probably a bit fresher. Soon after the cannon went off Clare's supporters were left by the plough confused that both crews were still fighting it out and Downing came round onto the reach to the roar of Downing supporters, many risking life and limb to cheer us all the way to the finish. It was a gutsy performance by the whole crew and our superior fitness and persistence sent us over the finish line about 2 lengths clear of Clare. After a champagne fuelled victory lap with our Cox Mikey trying his hand at a little rowing we headed back to College, boat on shoulders, and the celebrations continued with the boat burning and Lent's dinner.

It must be said however that without the integrity of DCBC and all the coaching and support throughout the whole term, such an achievement would not have been possible. The Bumps were an overall success for the club and college, with other noticeable performances being the holding of a very respectable 3rd place on the river by the 1st Men and 2nd Women gaining a permanent place in Bumps for next year. Everyone can now look forward to fewer early mornings, less snow and some pleasant summer rowing - bring on the Mays!

JANINE LUMLEY

Football

If I were to say that this season has been good for the first team, I would a) be lying, and b) be lying LOADs. For the most part, we've been turning up to matches full of banter, shouting at the other team and referees in less than friendly ways, and losing by a variety of margins.

It all started well with a friendly victory over 2nd division Emmanuel. This good start continued with an impressive 5-2 win against Catz in the first league match of the season. This result was partly due to some fab performances from Sat and Brendan. And all that despite a disallowed goal, and a number of missed penalties. From there on in, it all went rather downhill...

For any of you that would rather avoid the painful narrative, we then went on to lose every match in the league, and got relegated.

After Christmas we managed to pick ourselves up, returning from Selwyn with a 2-0 victory and a place in the semi-final of the Plate. In the league we were als showing signs of improvement, Dave putting us 1-0 up at half time against 2nd-top Trinity, although we eventually lost 3-2.

Perhaps the lowest point of the season was the game, away to Girton, where despite going 2-0 up within 10 minutes, thanks to Dave and a great goal from Brendan, we lost 6-2. Following the game, the team drowned their sorrows with *ahem* comrades, resulting in Bully being found outside his house with his trousers undone and soaking wet. A good night was had by all!

Next up was the plate Semi-final at Caius. We turned up with high hopes, 10 men, and the wrong kit. With the tie poised at 1-1 going in at half time it looked like our fortunes might be changing but it wasn't to be, with 2 Caius goals in the second half killing off any chance we had of salvaging something from a disappointing campaign.

So that's it, the story of Downing 1st Team's season, depressing though it may be. In conclusion, I will leave you with some words of wisdom from our outspoken midfielder Ashley Butcher; "School is like a cloud, school is like a tree. School is a bus." No, we don't understand either.

RICHARD GRIEVESON

Squash

Back in Lent term 2003, Downing College men's squash team found itself in Division 4. Three consecutive terms of pomotion later, Michaelmas 2004 began with us challenging for the league title. We even went so far as to run regular training sessions to aid us in our quest! A good start against Caius saw the team take victory by 4 games to 1 and we were in pole position with only one to play. Downing beat Queens (3-2) by a walkover to take the League. The team thoroughly deserved the title, and we were delighted that all the hard work put in had paid off. Thanks are due to Khal in particular for running the training sessions. With the court floors refurbished, we'll be looking for a repeat this term!

squad: Chris Lion (capt), Ben Roberts, James Gunton, Khal Mohamed, J-P Muriuki, Rajiv Shah

CHRIS LION

Badminton

Downing is a sporty college. If you want evidence of this you have to look no further than the ladies badminton team. This time last year it was all but non-existent, residing at the bottom of the 4th division, losing a few matches, conceding most of them.

This year it's been different; the accomplished racket skills of Karen Beaumont, Kat Beechey, Amy Hall, Laura McIntyre, Rachael Watson and Laragh Widdess required the minimum of coaching for them all to reach the standard which has allowed them to rise through the league. Fresh new talent in the form of Tash Close, Lucia Li, Georgie Vallance and Laura Cullinane has given depth to the team and ensured future success.

In Michaelmas, the team was unbeaten. The subsequent promotion to division 3 at the start of this term was an easy transition. With the return of ex uni 2nd team player, Clare Leech, and the exceptional improvement in play, particularly from Rachael and Laragh, the team has again maintained an unbeaten record (with a couple of 9-0 annihilations), gainig a well-earned promotion to the second division. As a result, Downing has become the talk of the badminton community, with an email from the league secretary personally commenting on how impressed the uni team have been with Downing's phenomenal achievement. I have really enjoyed coaching the team and hope to continue next year in helping them reach the top. Any girls that are interested should email me at .

MARK LEE

Cricket

After a first-roud exit in 2003, Downing cricket team were looking to improve in 2004. The toughest in the competition was the second round against Fitz; Downing posted a good score 151-6, off their 20 overs, with Spencer-Allen hitting 52. Some great bowling from Clarke, Morey and Payne in particular saw Downing win by 10 runs. The quarter-final against Wolfson saw Downing restrict the opposition to 80-7, and the team overhauled that score easily, with Spencer-Allen again the mainstay of the batting as Downing won by 8 wickets. Downing had been anticipating an extremely tough semi-final against Jesus, with their seven uni players, but a freak loss to Clare in the quarter-final meant tht Jesus were out. Determined to take advantage of this, Downing bowled Clare out for 166, a decent score but one that we felt we could overhaul, given that 40 overs were available. So it proved, as Lion (71*) and Spencer-Allen (54*) knocked off the runs for the loss of only one wicket with plenty of overs to spare.

To the final, then, and a showdown with Churchill. Downing captain Watkins was unable to take the field due to injury, but was a welcome vocal presence on the sidelines! Downing refused to be distracted either by the vociferous Churchill crowd or by the sound system that blasted the players with music as they went out on to the field, and posted a good score: 185-3 off their overs, with Lion (77*) and Spencer-Allen (51) once again scoring most of the runs, whilst Wiles thumped a few at the end to boost the total. Downing won cuppers in emphatic style, by 105 runs.

squad: Watkins (capt), Clarke, Spencer-Allen, Lion, Morey, Payne, Wiles, Ward, Nadarajah, Khoyratty, Nagayam, Cooper, Owen, Mangat, Davenport

CHRIS LION