The Club’s AGM will be held on Sunday 27th April at 2.30pm at the Goldie Boathouse.  Both Ordinary and Life Members (anyone who has raced a Boat Race for CUWBC) are encouraged to attend. A letter from the Chair of the CUWBC Executive Committee and full documentation relating to this meeting have been sent to all those Life Members for whom we hold e-mail contact details. If you have not received this email please contact . A copy of the Chair’s letter to members, formal notice of the AGM and proxy voting form can be found here:

Proxy forms must be returned to by email or to the Goldie Boathouse.

Alumni should have already received details of these via email, but just in case you haven’t, here are the designs for pins commemorating the 30th anniversary of the first women’s lightweight Boat Race, and Anna Railton’s super new mug design to celebrate the move of the Women’s Blue Boats to the Tideway next year.

Those attending the Leander brunch on Sunday can purchase both there, but please email Julie () to guarantee a pin reservation. Mugs will be ready for Sunday, so if you’re not going to the brunch and want one, can you hold off contacting us until after the Henley Boat Races and we will sort you out with them next week. For those that want the previous (GDBO) design, we have also ordered another batch of those.

After having to postpone a previously arranged fixture weekend due to the unprecedented flows that the Tideway has been experiencing recently, the squad travelled to Putney on Sunday 2nd March to test their speed against Thames Rowing Club’s top women’s crews.

For the top crew, this was to be the first ‘official’ Boat Race fixture in which the Club has taken part – a practice run for what will become the norm for the Women’s Blue Boat from 2015 onwards – and as such it generated lots of press and media attention with a media launch following behind the crews as well as the umpire’s launch. CUWBC raced two pieces against Thames RC’s top crew between Putney and Hammersmith Bridge.

Sporting six returning Blues, including this year’s President Esther Momcilovic in the cox’s seat, Cambridge were on the Middlesex station for the first race and immediately took the lead off the start, rating 37 strokes a minute compared to Thames’ 40. Though rowing in a strong southerly wind with grey skies overhead the Light Blues didn’t let the conditions affect them and already had a 1 length lead going past the home club’s boathouse. Both crews settled to around 34, with Cambridge extending their lead to around 2 lengths at Barn Elms, and then to 3 ½ lengths by the finish at Hammersmith Bridge.

Swapping stations for the second piece, Cambridge started on the Surrey side allowing Thames to take advantage off the start. Again overrating, Thames opened a narrow advantage by the end of the Embankment. This lead had grown to around ¼ length by the Mile Post, before Cambridge, reeled them in with clean blade-work in the rough water. Cambridge then continued this momentum to move through and pull out a 2 length lead by the finish.

The provisional Blondie crew raced two pieces against Thames RC’s second VIII, first from Putney to Hammersmith, and then from Chiswick Pier to the Mile Post. In the first piece, the Cambridge crew started on the Surrey Station and Thames pulled ahead off the start with the bend in their favour. As the course evened out, the Cambridge crew moved back through them and by Harrods were half a length in front. A push into Hammersmith from Thames closed the gap to 1/4 of a length at the finish. For the second piece the crews kept to the same stations and once again Thames pulled away off the start. This time Thames were able to keep their lead, finishing with about 1 boat length advantage by the Mile Post.

Thames provided a third crew to race the provisional Lightweight crew. For their first piece, Cambridge were on Surrey for what proved to be a fiercely fought first few minutes before they eventually started to inch past the Thames crew and rowed through to Hammersmith with a comfortable 2 length lead. For the second piece, they switched stations and gave Thames a length and a half head start. A much stronger performance off the start this time from the Cambridge crew, halved Thames’ lead and they then continued to move through at a steady rate.

The close, competitive racing, and opportunity to test themselves side-by-side with other crews provided good experience for both crews, who both came away from the weekend with valuable points to improve before the Henley Boat Races.

The CUWBC would like the thank Thames Rowing Club for both their hospitality and for the competition, and wish their crews the best of luck in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the 15th March.

The 2014 Henley Boat Races mark 30 years since the introduction of the Lightweight Women’s Boat Race. To help celebrate this milestone, the entire 1984 Lightweight crew (including spare) are to be reunited for a row past during the afternoon’s proceedings. That year’s Lightweight Captain, Kath Pocock (née Langsford), picks up the story:

At the start of the Michaelmas Term in 1983 I was asked by Nonie Ray, President of CUWBC, if I would like to help set up the first CUWBC Lightweight crew to race against Oxford. My reply was “Yes, if I am light enough!” Luckily I was. I had been in the losing Blondie crew in 1983 and I was out for revenge.

Trials took place throughout the term, and I was determined to have the crew decided before Christmas. In the days before email, Facebook and mobile phones, I posted the outing times and crew lists on the outside of my door and triallists had to come to my room to see if they had made it through to the next stage! By the end of term we had a crew plus reserves and I posted the final crew list in the window of Ryder & Amies.

During the Lent term we continued to row with our colleges and only rowed together, on the Cam, twice a week. We also had a tea party each Wednesday afternoon in the basement kitchen of Stephanie Bew’s house! I remember delicious sticky buns from Fitzbillies plus walnut cake and crumpets from Sainsbury’s. It was a great opportunity to bond as a crew.

We borrowed a white plastic boat from New Hall. However, we did have our own Macon style blades, and very special blades they were too! We wrote to numerous companies to seek sponsorship and were lucky enough to secure £1,000 from British Sugar to buy a set of blades. The stipulation of the deal was that we were to have the Silver Spoon logo painted on to the spoon of the blades. We were the first crew in the UK to have our sponsor’s logo on our equipment as the ARA had just voted to allow this. I had to phone the ARA (phone box on Queen’s Road and a bag of 10p pieces) to verify the maximum size of the logo, which I think was two inches. Two representatives from British Sugar came to my college room to discuss the deal with myself and Louise Makin. I remember offering them sugar for their tea, but they had it without! We also had Silver Spoon t-shirts and a photo shoot down by the river.

We had four excellent coaches; Roger Silk from LMBC, Hamish McCallum who rowed at Clare, Chris Harris from CULRC and Ewan Pearson from CUBC. Each coached us for two weeks and their complementary coaching methods developed us into a fine racing crew.

Our kit was not very elaborate. We had Cambridge Blue rowing vests, edged in white ribbon round the neck and we each had to sew on our own CUWBC badge. I designed our scarf which was inspired by the CULRC and Blondie scarves and was white with two Cambridge Blue and one mustard-yellow stripes. I remember going to a tailor in a small back-street workshop and getting him to make a prototype and being very excited that, for a few days, my scarf was unique, until he made eight more!

After the Lent Bumps where the crew members competed against each other, we moved to our training camp in Henley. We had a mixed build up to the race, with two outings day, some great and some less successful, and a few cases of nerves. To build ourselves up for the race we watched Chariots of Fire between outings. The line “I do this for my family, for my university and for my country” sticks in my mind!

On race day the weather was miserable; cold, wet and windy. We weighed-in and boated. Unfortunately we hit Henley Bridge on the way to the start! Not too hard, but my rigger was slightly bent and my blade was washing out a little. We had no replacement rigger, but I knew it would be alright, there was no danger of getting stuck in or catching a crab. It was very windy at the start and difficult to line up so the race started further down the course than we were meant to. Our carefully rehearsed race plan was no longer relevant as the landmarks came too soon, so we just pulled as hard as we could and were ahead of Oxford all the way. I only really believed we were going to win when we came to the island and I knew there were only ten more strokes left. My first thought when crossing the finishing line was relief, we had won! Rowing back to the start felt good.

In the evening we had a dinner with the Blue Boat, Blondie, coaches and guests in Leander. My crew presented me with an engraved Dartington rose bowl and I promised to fill it with light blue roses each March. I never have, as naturally light blue roses do exist!

I am very pleased that the Lightweight races have continued and feel very privileged to have been in the first crew. I just wish I was still a lightweight!

Following the inaugural 1984 lightweight varsity race, four of the winning Cambridge crew (Louise Makin, Stephanie Bew, Jane Fullam and Mary Phillips) formed a lightweight coxless four that won a silver medal at the National Championships and was then selected to represent GB at the , where lightweight women’s rowing was included as a test event before being fully incorporated into the World Championships in 1985.

Crew List

Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, or some other such variant, the squad reassembled in Gatwick Airport on 2nd January, ready to jet off to more exotic climes. The destination was Banyoles, Spain, home to the 1992 Olympic Regatta. Eager to get down to training as soon as possible, the squad went on a run round the lake to stretch out their aeroplane-cramped muscles. After that, it was down to business.

The next few days were made up of intense training and seat-racing, finding the all-important combinations and rankings that would aid the coaches in their selection decisions. On Tuesday afternoon, after the culmination of the races, the squad enjoyed some welcome time-off, visiting the beautiful city of Girona, and making good use of the opportunity to sample the local churros and hot chocolate.

In the days after, crews started to take shape, with some excellent technical progress made in the eights. The climax of this was an exciting 2km race between three eights on the last day, putting newfound technique and race strategies to the test.

The whole squad thoroughly enjoyed their time in Spain, taking back the makings of some strong crews across the board and a real sense of excitement about the coming term. The only downside was having to leave such beautiful weather behind, and re-embrace the slightly more inclement January Ely conditions!

On Thursday 19^th December 2013, for the first time in the history of the Club and in preparation for the Women’s Boat Race moving to the Tideway in 2015, the annual Trial VIIIs race took place on the Championship Course: 4 miles 374 yards from Putney to Mortlake.

Monty Python-themed crews, ‘Nudge Nudge’ and ‘Wink Wink’ (and third VIII, ‘Say No More’) had spent the preceding week training out of Thames Rowing Club. The chance to spend an extended period on the Tideway, away from Cambridge and the distraction of academic work, enabled the crews to develop as a unit in advance of the fixture.

Lottie Meggitt in the bowseat of ‘Nudge Nudge’, and the first Cambridge woman to cross the finish line in a Championship Course Trial VIIIs race, describes Tideway week and the race from her perspective:

“Being Cambridge students we couldn’t leave our books behind completely, and one in particular hit a nerve with our crew. ‘Will it make the boat go faster’ is the story of the GB men’s VIII which won gold at the Sydney Olympics. Ben Hunt Davies’ description of the Olympic final, in which they decide to go out as hard as they can and then hang on for dear life, was a real source of inspiration to us: in the last 500m he has nothing left, but as he looks down the boat he thinks of his crew mates pushing and knows he has to keep backing them up.

This was our plan and something we knew we had the mental toughness to replicate. We had watched boat race videos. We had seen crews row round the outside of the bend to win, we had seen crews rowed through after someone blows up. This race seemed to be about finding our chance and taking it for all it was worth.

In some initial side by side paddling the previous week we’d been a bit behind Wink Wink, but with each outing, we started to find a solid rhythm that we soon felt became unstoppable. Some practice starts and blade clashes in sparring with ‘Say No More’ gave us confidence that we were capable of some good speed and could hold our nerve, and onto our oars, in tough situations.

Coming through Putney Bridge to the start line the atmosphere was incredible; tradition mixed with innovation, and we all had a lot of confidence in ourselves, and more importantly in each other.

We had certainly had faster starts during the week but even though Wink Wink had took a 2/3 length lead by Barn Elms, our killer rhythm lead by a stern pair of double blue Holly Game and Newcastle legend Izzy Vyvan, backed up unfalteringly by a very strong and gutsy middle 4, started to buy us back some seats and we passed Harrods level.

With the big Surrey bend coming up in their advantage, Esther called for us to make our move and twenty hard on the legs gained us 3 seats. At the top of the Chiswick Eyot we made our second move, this time closing the door on ‘Wink Wink’ and flying out to a full length just past the Crossing Point, eventually winning by an official verdict of three lengths.

Racing that course will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life: It is truly a race incomparable to any other. All nine members of ‘Nudge Nudge’ can’t wait to take the rhythm, trust and bravery they have learnt over the past few days into their Blue Boat, Blondie, and Lightweight crews for the 2014 Henley Boat Races. But more importantly, quite a few of them will be taking it to the Tideway in 2015 too.”

Earlier in the day, ‘Say No More’ had their own ‘trial’ against a competent crew from Thames RC, racing on the ebb tide from Chiswick Eyot to Putney. After a strong start, both crews were level, but ‘Say No More’ started to gain a slight advantage with the inside of the Surrey Bend in their favour. They hit a strong rhythm under Hammersmith Bridge and accumulated a lead of 3/4l before Harrods. The Thames crew clung on to them, and they were unable to break free. The bend then turned in Thames’ favour who drew back to level by Barn Elms. At the Black Buoy, Thames had pulled out a slight lead, but both crews sprinted hard to the finish line and Say No More finished 1/2l down.

Despite finishing down, the experience of racing side by side against good opposition, over a duration of around 12 minutes was invaluable. The squad as a whole would like to thank Thames RC for their hospitality for the duration of the Tideway week as well as for the good racing!

Nudge Nudge
C: Esther Momcilovic #
S: Holly Game #
7: Izzy Vyvyan
6: Kate Ashley
5: Valentina Futoryanova
4: Catherine Foot
3: Hannah Evans
2: Anouska Bartlett
B: Lottie Meggitt *

Wink Wink
C: Priya Crosby
S: Melissa Wilson #
7: Jilly Tovey *
6: Fiona Macklin
5: Caroline Reid #
4: Sara Lackner +
3: Hannah Roberts
2: Sarah Crowther
B: Ella Barnard

Say No More
C: Will McDermott
S: Gabriella Johansson
7: Jenna Dittmar
6: Clare Hall +
5: Christina Ostacchini
4: Emma Walker
3: Abbie Lawrence
2: Louisa Salmon
B: Stella Isaac

# Denotes previous Blue
* Denotes previous Half Blue
+ Denotes previous Blondie-colour

Alistair Potts (BB ’95) gives his account of the Alumni Sparring on the Thames which took place the weekend before Trial VIIIs. Full results below.

“If I had any doubts whether this would be a day of the utmost awesomeness, they were instantly dispelled when I saw Sarah Winckless (BB ’95, ’96, ’97) waiting outside Thames Rowing Club to greet the alumni crew. She was saying hello to literally everyone who meandered by, but in that special manner she has which immediately persuades you that you’re the most important person she’s seen all year. Which, for me, was something close to the truth. The last time I’d been in a boat with Sarah, some of the current squad hadn’t even been born. I didn’t tell her that. I think we’d have both felt a bit old.

No-one would have described it as a nice day: a steady drizzle seeped off the balcony while we tried to remember how to loosen shoes in a boat. Eighteen years is a long time, but only if you measure it in terms of time. The disorderly ordinariness of the boathouse, its arcane rites of washers and rig, return as surely and unavoidably as the tide washes up the hard. I’m back doing something I can, without any conscious effort; the unfamiliar rapidly turned inside out like an ill-behaved umbrella.

The strip of water, the Tideway, has changed just a little – more buoys scattered every half mile for purposes unfathomable. But really just the same, a dull streak of grey and brown, rowing’s romance-stripped Coliseum, its dullish tide now ebbing rapidly down towards Battersea and beyond. If it once, long ago, intimidated, it is now no more threatening than a fond friend whose wiles you long ago accepted, then grew accustomed, and finally stopped noticing.

We have a job beyond just looking pretty (although we do that rather well). We’re here as the Official Opposition, the Shadow Blue Boat, we’re here to go toe-to-toe with the real thing from the Mile Post back down to Thames, three minutes if you go the long way round. The CUWBC have pulled out all the stops – a real umpire with real flags, and a toss for stations (because, says the CUWBC coach, the coxes have to get used to calling heads or tails).

I have been blessed throughout my rowing career by an angelic guardian contriving to twist fate in my favour, and true to form we won the toss. Surrey was my choice, I’d like to say for convincing tactical reasons but really because you have to choose something, and Sarah was looking at me expectantly. I couldn’t remember what the other side was called. Lining up at the Mile, the wind was ensuring a swell large enough to pitch the boats in a long, lazy lift and plunge, an insistent sway of water alternately making a gap where there should be a catch or exploding off your rigger like an unseasonal water-bomb. It felt good to be back.

The boats were called to the start, the students bravely choosing the middle of the fairway where the water was roughest. I should really have been thinking how lucky I am to get the chance to mess around on the Tideway after all this time with such a top bunch of women. But instead I’m revelling in the injustice of being aligned by someone who’s clearly completely incompetent and channelling my utter disgust into a determination to kick the students as hard as possible, and after that hopefully the aligner too. For a precious few minutes, for one last time, when the umpire drops her flag these eight women become the most important thing in the world. By a mile.

I know that with the volume of Olympic and World Championship medals owned by our alumni crew there would have been a certain level of expectation. Yet when, three minutes later, we careered past the finish line ¾ length ahead of the students the satisfaction came from an unexpected source. Once it would have been an affirmation of self-belief, a twist of the neck for an opposition held at bay, the grinding, relentless, crushing hammer that holds you at the top of your game. Not now. The truth – the obvious truth – is that the ambition and determination and courage of those CUWBC girls is not yet close to finding its limit, and is immeasurably preferable to what is left of the skill and the fitness and the guile that seep imperceptibly but ruthlessly from all of us from the day we say ‘no more’, no matter what heights we’ve achieved. The satisfaction of the win came from facing that fear that one day, with a certainty, there will come a time when you won’t be able to do this anymore.

But not today. Not today.”

Race 1: Alumni A vs Nudge Nudge (Alumni A won by 3/4l)

Race 2: Alumni A vs Wink Wink (Wink Wink won by 1 1/2l)

Race 3: Alumni B vs Say No More (Say No More won by 3l)

Cath Bishop (BB ’93)  reports on the inaugral Iris Dinner, 23rd November 2013:

There was a buzz in the pre-dinner drinks room that carried on throughout the dinner as 142 of us packed into the dining hall at Jesus College. I spoke to so many fascinating, interesting people, but I was sad not to have spoken to more – I loved hearing snapshots of training exploits, Henley Boat Race stories from across the decades (though I think I heard more about the dinners afterwards than the races themselves…) and other shared anecdotes. And I loved the general excitement about where the Henley Boat Races are going and how CUWBC will rise to the challenge of taking the Blue Boat to race on the Tideway in 2015. I was particularly impressed by how advanced the plans are already for the Lightweights to row past next March with at least two-thirds of the original crew that raced the first ever Women’s Lightweight Boat Race signed up (and in training I think!).

There was a lot of envy throughout the room for the 9 girls who will end up with the honour of being the first women’s crew to race the Tideway Boat Race the year after next – and there will be a huge alumni roar for them down the course. The challenges keep growing for our club, whether it’s competing on the Tideway, extending Goldie Boathouse or building a new, joint boathouse and clubhouse in Ely with CUBC and CULRC. These are things that could only be whispered about when I was at college yet now they are goals that seem almost touchable and which we intend to achieve within the next few months and years. It will require a superhuman effort – but that’s something from which the CUWBC current squad and alumni have never shied away. Thanks so much to all those who attended – and if all the people I heard saying how many other alumni they wanted to bring with them next time, then we will seriously need to find a bigger hall – tickets to the next dinner will be in high demand – the Iris Dinner is here to stay!

Saturday 30th November saw CUWBC back in force on the Tideway for the Fuller’s Fours Head of the River 2013. An impressive seven crews were entered, the largest number  that the Club has ever fielded: six coxed and one coxless. Ready for some serious racing after nearly three months of training, the returning Blues and first time triallists were keen to lay down a positive benchmark against other clubs from across the UK.

The conditions were blustery but thankfully dry – a blessing given the mammoth marshalling times experienced by the coxed crews. It was good to see the Tideway weekend three weeks earlier, coupled with the experience of the often tough conditions out in Ely, pay dividends.

All the crews raced hard and strong and it was particularly pleasing to demonstrate the impressive strength of depth within the squad. Overall, the race was a good experience for all the athletes involved and excellent preparation for the forthcoming Trial VIIIs fixture which is to be held for the first time ever on the Tideway over the Putney to Mortlake course.

See for full results and below for the CUWBC crew lists (Number in brackets indicates crew’s performance in category).

W IM1 4+
4. CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN III – 22:00.5
Melissa Wilson, Claire Watkins, Emily Day, Holly Game. Cox Esther Momcilovic
6. CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN II – 22:22.0
Izzy Vyvyan, Nicole Stephens, Vicky Shaw, Caroline Reid. Cox Priya Crosby

W IM2 4+
3. CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN V – 22:40.0
Hannah Evans, Kate Ashley, Sarah Crowther, Eve Edwards. Cox Annabel Butcher
4. CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN VI – 22:41.0
Fiona Macklin, Lizzie Allen, Catherine Foot, Jilly Tovey. Cox Will McDermott

W Sen 4-
4. CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN I – 22:46.9
Valentina  Futoryanova, Christina Ostacchini, Lottie Meggitt, Ella Barnard

Time Only
CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN VII – 23:02.6
Gabriella Johansson, Anouska Barlett, Holly Newton, Rose Maxwell. Cox Brie Stark
CAMBRIDGE UNIV WOMEN IV – 23:10.0
Clare Hall, Tamsin Samuels, Abbie Lawrence, Stella Isaac. Cox Harriet Boswell

The Fuller’s Head of the River Fours takes place this Saturday on the Thames between Mortlake and Putney with racing due to get underway at 1pm. The CUWBC are fielding seven crews this year and would very much appreciate the support of alumni, friends and family who can make it down to the river to watch. The coxless IV has a nice early start number of 67, before a gap of nearly 400 boats until the coxed IVs go off  at 432, 434, 443, 479, 482 and 489.

Information about the race can be found on the official website  and the full draw is available .