BNY Mellon has been confirmed as the new title sponsor for the men’s Boat Race, and Newton, a BNY Mellon company, will continue their sponsorship of the openweight women’s clubs and the Newton Women’s Boat Race.  Furthermore, commitments have been made to bring greater equality to one of rowing’s most iconic events, the men’s Boat Race.  From 2015 the Newton Women’s Boat Race will move to the Tideway to be raced on the same day and on the same course as the men’s Boat Race.

Head Coach Martyn Rooney is cautiously optimistic about the change: “The security of funding at a level equal to the men and the move for the women’s race to the Tideway in 2015 is very exciting. However, there will be a lot of work to be done to build an infrastructure to support this and to attract experienced female rowers to bring the level of the women’s race closer to the men’s.”

The full press release can be found here at Newton.co.uk

The crew order for each crew will be finalised over the coming weeks, but the crews will get their first test when racing next weekend at Henley Head.  Click on each crew to find out more about the crew members, and look out for crew blogs in the near future!

Newton Women’s Boat Race crew (Blue Boat):

Anna Railton
Caroline Reid
Cath Wheeler
Fay Sandford
Holly Game
Izzi Boanas-Evans
Rebecca Pound
Sarah Moir-Porteous
cox: Kate Richards

Find out more about each crew member here.

Lightweight Women’s Boat Race crew (sponsored by KPMG):

Charlotte McClean
Christabel Lines
Emily Day
Emma Copham
Hannah Morgan
Lenka Veselovska
Martina Lagatierra-Wellington
Olga Kasyanova
cox: Harriet Marsh

Find out more about each crew member here.

Newton Women’s Reserves Race crew (Blondie):

Annie Elkington
Christine Hoyer
Eleanor Wigham
Fran Knight
Helena Schofield
Lucy Griffin
Marthe Kloecking
Rose Tallon
cox: Christopher Clark

Find out more about each crew member here.

Spares:

Christina Pettit
Emily Maw
Lizzie Gorton
Lousie Gale
Sarah Knight
cox: Priya Crosby

Find out more about the spares here.

Our focus on the camp was three-fold: to develop individual technique, to build crew cohesion, and to carry out some seat-racing to help with upcoming crew selection. With three training sessions a day and 173km of rowing on the training plan, we knew that we were in for a tough but productive week.

On the second day of our camp we had an opportunity to do some pieces against a crew from Bristol University, for whom it was the last day of their camp. Facing up to an unknown crew was a helpful experience, and it was also encouraging to discover that, despite being fresh back from the Christmas break, we had not lost much of the speed built up over the previous term’s training. Later in the week, the squad raced again, this time against each other and under conditions that mimicked those on Boat Race day. Two VIIIs and two IVs took each other on over 2km, with a victory for the heavyweights in the VIIIs race and for the lightweights in the IVs race.

For the rest of the week, the squad took advantage of the warm weather and flat calm water to lay solid foundations for the last few months of training ahead. Only on one morning did the conditions prevent us from rowing, with thick fog on the lake until well after midday. We spent that morning channelling Mary’s core sessions, with stretching, core and a few team-building exercises, including land rowing in crews. The newly-formed CUWBC Glee Club also used the opportunity to practise their moves, and at one point even managed to get Martyn dancing in his salopettes.

A rash of injuries also kept a few girls out of the boat for part of the week, but that didn’t prove to be any barrier to training hard. One afternoon a straightforward 10k run to the beach and back turned into a two-hour, half-marathon distance session when Jimmy claimed he knew a short-cut. Points go to Olga for apparently smiling the whole way there and back!

The last few days of the camp were dominated by seat races, which will help decide the composition of the three Boat Race crews and a spare four. Assistant coach Jonathan Conder noted that the races “resulted in some very close contests that demonstrated the strength in depth of the 2011/2012 CUW squad.” Selection will be finalised over the coming weeks, with competition for all three crews still looking fierce and with the final crews certain to be strong.

Coach and photographer Jimmy Appleton has put together this video to showcase what we got up to during the week.

CUWBC Training Camp 2012 from James Appleton on Vimeo.

Martyn Rooney summed up the overall success of the camp, saying, “I am very pleased with the progress we have made on the camp and we are now looking forward to some focussed training and sparring in the coming weeks.” President Izzi Boanas-Evans is likewise pleased with her squad’s progress and is looking forward to the next few months: “the CUWBC squad of 2012 is looking strong, and ready to push into the final countdown to the Henley Boat Races.”

And indeed it was. Eager to race but struggling with a crosswind, the crews lined up under increasingly exasperated starter’s orders: “It’s too cold for faffing – now get straight!” A fast start from all three crews meant that there was very little between them in the opening stages of the race, with no crew managing to gain more than half a canvas of advantage as they settled on to their rhythm and powered through the first minute.

By 500m, however, Big Fish and Little Fish had begun to open up a lead on Cardboard Box, increasing their advantage to about a length by the 1k mark. At this point, Big Fish had taken a slight lead on their smaller rival, but a move from Little Fish at 1k saw them close the gap again. This left the crews trading inches and seats almost to the finish line, but Big Fish handled themselves better in one last blade clash and were able to edge ahead in their build in the finish. Big Fish cross the finish line a third of a length ahead of Little Fish, with Cardboard Box a length behind them.

Such a close race showed the overall strength of the squad, and will prove to be excellent side-by-side racing experience when it comes to taking on Oxford just a few short months away. The squad is now taking a well-earned Christmas break (though training does not stop!) until their January training camp in Soustons in the south of France.

Crews:

Big Fish: Priya Crosby (cox), Cath Wheeler, Helena Schofield, Martina Lagatierra-Wellington, Rebecca Pound, Caroline Reid, Lucy Griffin, Lenka Veselovska, Sarah Moir-Porteous

Little Fish: Chris Clark (cox), Charlotte McClean, Ellie Wigham, Holly Game, Christine Hoyer, Rose Tallon, Louise Gale, Emma Copham, Marthe Kloecking

Cardboard Box: Madelaine Scragg (cox), Emily Day, Fay Sandford, Annie Elkington, Fran Knight, Anna Railton, Christina Pettit, Christabel Lines, Olga Kasyanova

First to race were the the Alumni A crew and the squad openweight A crew. Both crews were fired up and determined not to get dropped off the start, with the result that both began taking the rate up for a rolling start well before the umpire called “attention… go!” The alumni held the squad in the first few minutes of the race, before the squad began to push through, eventually finishing about half a length clear.

Next to race were the Alumni B crew and squad openweight B crew. The alumni crew made their greater racing experience count against the squad crew, and won by a length and a half. Finally, the squad lightweight crew took on the Alumni C crew. The squad won by about a length – but it should be noted that six of the alumni crew had already raced as part of the Alumni A crew!

After racing, the squad and alumni mingled over mince pies and mulled wine, with some of the squad taking the opportunity to meet their alumni mentors and put faces to email addresses. Thanks go to our alumni officers, Trish Keegan and Rachel Smith for their help in organising the event, and to Ken Richardson for umpiring the races.

The first VIII’s preparation for the race took a surprise turn when they discovered that their boat, kindly on loan from Swift, was in fact bow-rigged. However, new stroke Holly Game rose to the challenge and, with the help of experienced stern pair Emily Day and Fay Sandford, was able to set up a strong racing rhythm that took the crew over the course in a time of 15:45.60.

The second and third VIIIs proved well-matched, with the third VIII actually 2s faster over the first half of the course. However, the second (lightweight) VIII pulled back into the lead over the second half, finishing 5s ahead in a time of 16:24.30 to the third VIII’s 16:1.00.

Although the event marks the end of college rowing for the term, the CUW squad’s focus is now on the Trial VIIIs race in two weeks’ time. In the mean time, we are looking forward to squaring up to some alumni crews on the Tideway next weekend, for some valuable side-by-side racing experience.

The Autumn Head (15th October) was CUW’s first race of the season, and a chance to test the strength and depth of the squad. With eight VIIIs entered, the squad was geared up for a full day’s racing and confident of success. Success came in the form of wins in the IM.2 and IM.3 categories, and the fastest women’s times of the day. However, not all the races went so smoothly: one of the crews broke a blade 600m from the finish line and had to limp home (though still at r32!) in sixes. Despite ruining what looked to be a fast time, it at least resulted in some interesting photos!

Cambridge Winter Head (19th November) followed on from CUW’s success at the IVs Head in London. Six VIIIs and two IVs entered, and dominated the racing by winning the IM.2 8+, IM.3 8+, IM.1 4+ and IM.2 4+ categories. All crews were mercifully free from equipment failure, although one did get asked if they were a novice crew – apparently our parking skills left something to be desired!

The fastest IV put in a strong performance to come second in the IM.2 category with a time of 22:16.97, finishing just 2s behind the category winners.  The first IV, despite being severely impeded in the early stages of the race, did well to finish third in a time of 22:29.03.  Both crews will gain confidence from having beaten their Oxford counterparts.

CUWBC I near Hammersmith (Image courtesy of Alan Hendrick).

Elsewhere in the division, the third and sixth IVs turned out to be well-matched in speed, finishing within less than a second of each other, with times of 23:06.44 and 23:07.26 respectively, and placing 9^th and 10^th in the division.  The fourth IV came 20^th in a time of 23:34.22, while the fifth IV came 28^th in 23:51.94.

The CUW/Isle of Ely lightweight quad also did well in the tough Elite Lwt 4x category, finishing fifth in a time of 21:24.89.

Overall, the results show a promising start to the winter season and will give the squad plenty of positives to focus on as the cold mornings start to set in!

The full press release can be found at here Newton.co.uk

Izzi Boanas-Evans, President, rowed at 2 in the 2011 blue boat and at 4 in the winning BUCS championship VIII. Izzi is studying Engineering at Murray Edwards college.

Ruth Blackshaw, Vice-President, rowed at 4 in the 2011 blue boat and at 6 in the winning BUCS championship VIII. Ruth is a Geographer from Newnham college.

Fran Knight, Honorary Secretary, stroke Blondie in 2011. Fran is doing a fourth year in management studies after an undergraduate degree in social anthropology. She is from Christ’s college.