Ladies that Row

Being a butch manly man and not one to attend such functions that have the word "Women's" in the title, I inadvertently overlooked the fact that there were lots of birds in spandex getting sweaty all at the same time last week. So it's up to Dr K to fill us all in:

A rather successful Women's Henley

The 'serious' competitive season for the women's squad traditionally ends with Women's Henley. After a succession of disappointments, the four crews entered (another record for CoBRC?) were determined to set the record straight.

Friday saw qualifying races for the Intermediate 8 (our novices, from cox to bow Kathryn, Caya, Caroline B, Anne, Naomi, Lucy, Emma D, Amy and Emily K), the Intermediate 4 (our top crew: Diego, Rachael, Jihan, Bekki and Emma W) and the Senior 4 (Emily A, Tracy, Zoe, Caroline R and Bronny). No disappointments here, as all three crews rowed their socks off and secured their places in the regatta proper.

First round races also took place on Friday for both intermediate crews. The four saw off Bristol Uni with a solid row, proving themselves as a class act in the field, and re-affirming our position as the best of the south west. The eight (novices, remember!) excelled themselves yet again. Despite coming off worse at the start, they kept their heads and stormed through Upper Thames (just as they passed their own clubhouse, I am told) to come home with an impressive victory.

This meant a real treat for CoBRC fans, as no less than FOUR crews (with the addition of Nadia in the lightweight 1x) would be racing on Saturday!

Nadia committed to her strongest possible row, yet lost out to a sculler from Exeter Uni by just 3 lengths. We applaud her dedication and hope she's been treating herself with plenty of cakes now that the scales are less important!

The intermediate four drew York City who they'd been close to before, and pulled out all the stops to try and beat them. Despite having half a length lead after their blistering start, the southerners had to concede to the northerners, who were the eventual runners up. Another unrepresentative result for CoBRC (but at least it wasn't the first round this year!)

The senior 4 (weighing an estimated half as much as their rather beastly opponents from Newcastle University) were also disappointed, but remained upbeat since even qualifying at senior status is an achievement in itself. Check them out looking rather tidy in the time trials: http://www.rowtv.co.uk/ (I assume other videos will follow).

A pre-race disaster struck for the novices, when Emily was signed off at the 11th hour. Their cox, Kathryn, bravely jumped into the bow seat at the last minute (despite not having rowed for a couple of months due to coxing duties) and James jumped in to the coxes seat (I doubt he regarded this as a hardship!) The plucky lasses gave their all, but Osiris A were just too strong and eventually went on to win the event.

I would not wish to end on a negative note! This is the biggest regatta in the women's calendar and to have 4 crews very much 'on the pace' is a fantastic result for our little club. VERY WELL DONE to you all, and I will be there next year with bells on! Here's to a summer of fun, pots, and soggy ex-novices.....

Captain K.

Well done all you luverly ladies. Now you can all have a rest and get back to sunbathing on the landing stage for all the poor lads who are still training their not-so-little socks off.