Oxford University Women's Lightweight Rowing Club

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Birmingham Indoor Rowing Championships 2008
Georgie Baines recounts a day out in Birmingham: On 26^th October 2008, OUWLRC journeyed to Birmingham to take part in the much feared ‘Indoor Rowing Championships’. As it was the first 2km test of the season all the rowers (and two of the coxes) were anxious on the journey to the Midlands. We arrived at the National Indoor Arena (home to Torvill and Dean’s ‘Dancing on Ice, The Tour’) and stripped off immediately for the weigh in. Everyone entered in the lightweight student event was under the 61.5kg weight limit and following that, much high GI carbohydrate and salted squash was consumed. Following a lengthy warm up (where 10 strokes felt like the toughest thing ever) we huddled in the ‘holding pen’ eyeing up the competition. We entered the area where a horrendous sight greeted us; a hundred ergs lined up in front of a big screen. We all found our allocated machines and sat down. Then “Attention, Go!” and we were off. For me the first few strokes were a blur of adrenaline, then my brain took over and told me to sit on the split carefully formulated by our coach, then the plan was to just sit there for 1700m. However, like most well laid plans this has the potential to go astray. The sound of the marshals calling other people on, the voice of the commentator and the noise of the crowd all serve to corrupt the rhythm which is essential to finishing the race. By 700m the dry air in the hall burns at the back of the throat. On the screen you can see the person ahead and behind you and personal, inter-squad rivalries spur people on. In no time (but what feels like forever) it’s over. We all collapsed on our machines gasping for breath, but thankful that the first performance test of the year is over. At this point two of our squad realised they had done particularly well; Rachel Hall had won the silver medal and Felicity the bronze. We all watched proudly as they stepped up to the podium to receive their prizes. As we caught our breath back, we cheered on our cox Matt in the men’s lightweight category appreciating the pain as he went over the 2km mark! In the minibus on the way home we reflected on what had been an important day; our first real test in public. Bearing this in mind we headed back to Oxford to go and eat twice our weight in pizza! Thanks to Mike for the awesome pre and post race chats.

Tethys Boat Club Launched with a Win at Reading
Matt Smith reports on Tethys Boat Club's Inaugural Racing at Reading Small Boats Head 2008: On Sunday 5^th October, OUWLRC competed for the first time as Tethys Boat Club at the Reading Small Boats Head. Three Tethys coxed fours (one shell kindly lent by Lincoln College, and another by Exeter College) entered the Women’s Senior 3 class, and in doing so were thrust into competition with many clubs and schools in the region, including three Osiris boats. The weather showed a vulgar persistence in imitating that so favoured in these Isles this summer. Thankfully, long-lived cloud cover had ensured that the day, though uncomfortably wet, was not uncomfortably cold, and so was not miserable. Nine crews raced for the WS3 4+ prize: Tethys I won the event, Tethys II came 4^th and Tethys III came 6^th. The event’s absolute finish order was unconfirmed until all boats had raced. The later-racing crews had the advantage of a swelling and slightly faster flowing course, but failed to surpass the effort of Tethys I. Experience was scattered between the three boats, and for at least two people in each, this was their first race for Oxford. Though the race did not turn into the hoped display of total Tethys domination, important lessons of racing were learned or re-learned by all. The crews were: Tethys I (cox to bow): Smith, Baines, Higham, Ferber, Hall Tethys II: Dobbin, Campbell, Hawksley, Seddon, Linthwaite Tethys III: Leadbetter, Knight, Milligan, Houlgrave, Crewe

Irish International Currach Championships
Rachel Hall reports on more summer fun: On the 8^th-11^th August, in the small Irish town of Omeath, County Louth, representatives from OUWLRC took part in the Irish International Currach Championships 2008. We were joined by teams from Cambridge, the USA, Canada and Ireland for 2 days of racing in traditional Irish currachs. Day 1 saw Rachel Hall and Sophie Knight, and Laura Addis and Georgina Baines go round in circles in the women’s doubles, and Rose Higham put up a sterling effort in the women’s singles. Needless to say, currachs are very difficult to steer and it was very windy – at least that’s our excuse and we’re sticking to it! Nonetheless, Sunday we were much improved with Rachel Hall and Oliver Whitby (OULRC) beating Cambridge to take first prize in the mixed doubles competition. It was not all about the racing, however. The hospitality of our hosts and the entertainment laid on was fantastic. BBQs in the rain, Irish stew and poetry, the banquet and of course, the currach celebrity Dick O’Daire (Dick O’Daire, Dick O’Daire, Dick O’Daire!!). The weekend was brilliant fun made even better by the warm welcome, beautiful surroundings and extreme luck with the weather! A video of the event can be found here, including an interview with Rachel and Sophie.

Sudbury International Regatta Sucess
Suki Tyler sums up: On 2^nd August current OUWLRC members were joined in force by OMA and Development Squad girls, plus some lightweight men, in a bid to take on the ‘curvaceous’ 650m stretch of the River Stour in Suffolk. On the banks a live jazz band kept the rather elegant spectators entertained, despite being drowned out occasionally by Pat Lockley’s inspired drollery over the commentator’s speaker. Spirits were high and it took a sterling effort on OMA member Rachel Lund’s part to abstain from cracking open the celebratory Pimms before the end of racing. Most of the squad got out onto the water at least three times, in an assortment of singles, doubles, pairs, fours and eights. It became apparent very quickly though that the only way of surviving this short but lethal course was expert steering around what amounted to a 90 degree bend. There were casualties. But also some spectacular wins including the WS2 4+ with Sarah Cornick, Felicity Hawksley, Katie Taylor and Linda Reynard, coxed by Becky Donaldson, as well as Sarah Cornick’s single in WS3. The highlight of the day was the sprint eights where OUWLRC triumphed, each member receiving a very fetching hip flask (Sarah Cornick, Felicity Hawksley, Katie Taylor, Suki Tyler, Rachel Lund, Linda Reynard, Alice Millest and Laura Richard, coxed by Becky Donaldson). A fantastic day for OUWLRC and an event to really look forward to next year (although hopefully without the random skinny dipping by some other more unrestrained clubs…..)

Solo Pacific row!
Roz Savage (OUWLRC 1989) is rowing solo across the Pacific. See her blog here: rozsavage.com/blog/. Good luck and best wishes from OUWLRC.

Henley Women's Regatta wins
Crews featuring members of this year's lightweight Blue Boat won Intermediate Eights and Senior Coxed Fours at the 2008 Henley Women’s Regatta. The crews’ performance continues a highly successful summer racing season for OUWLRC. The club has so far won events at Metropolitan, Wallingford and Reading regattas, as well as seeing one squad member selected for the GB EUSA squad. For these Oxford lightweights, the last nine months of training and their Boat Race experience allows them to overhaul many strong crews. The Intermediate Eights event at HWR, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is one of the largest events in the regatta. A compopsite crew of Lightweights and Osiris beat Furnivall Sculling Club in the final by 1 1/4 lengths. The crew was coached by OUWLRC Head Coach Alex Cavell. "They have a great team spirit and thoroughly deserved to win", he said afterwards. This composite eight will be attempting to qualify for the Remenham Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. Emily Piggott, OUWLRC Blue Boat '08 and former Junior International, raced with OUWBC Blues in Senior Coxed Fours. They beat a Nottingham and Molesey composite crew to win the Frank Harry Cup. It was fantastic to cheer on (at least) another 8 OUWLRC old girls competing in various other categories throughout the course of the weekend. Well done to all those involved.

Summer racing for the Development Squad
Nadya Thorman writes of this year's Development Squad: The OUWLRC Development Squad 2008 proved to be one of the most popular the club has ever seen. With around forty girls expressing an interest in rowing, the club was forced to borrow a second boat from Oriel Boat Club in order to allow as many girls to gain as much experience as possible. The OUWLRC Dev Squad was my first experience of rowing outside my college boat club and I feared it would be a harrowing experience; full of hardcore training and girls with nothing to say for themselves but their 2k split. Fortunately I was very wrong. Dev squad allowed those of us on a high (or a low) from Summer VIIIs to carry on rowing where our colleges had left off. It provided an opportunity to row with competent rowers from all over the University and to gain some valuable racing experience. Shortly after getting together two Dev Squad crews were entered at Met regatta in the Senior 3 races. Both performed well against crews which had been rowing together for much longer, with the A crew even getting through to the repechage. Some stormy weather and river flooding meant that training had to be put on hold for a week but this did not deter the possibility of more racing. Reading regatta was the next port of call. Another scratch crew put up a gutsy performance easily beating Curlew Boat Club to make it through to the semi-finals of the Novice category. Despite leading the race the whole way the crew were pipped to the post by Bournemouth University after losing concentration in the last 100 metres, a valuable lesson for all involved as Bournemouth then went on to win the competition. Henley Women’s regatta marked the culmination of the OUWLRC Development Squad season. A large squad meant that it was again possible to enter two boats into the competition. Both boats had the opportunity to train on site in Henley for two days before racing, albeit in some very blustery weather and with one broken rudder! Unfortunately the B boat failed to qualify, missing out by only a few seconds. The A boat qualified however only to be given a tough draw against the experienced and rather large Putney Town A crew. Despite jumping them off the start Putney Town’s superior experience and size saw them plough through us, they then went on to make it through to the quarter-finals. Overall Dev Squad 2008 was a fantastic experience. It gave me the opportunity to receive some valuable coaching and racing experience which many colleges cannot offer, as well as meeting people from all over the university. The emphasis is certainly on enjoyment and I am sure many of the girls will be returning to give trialling a go in September.

Summer Racing for OUWLRC
Caris Marsh reports on wins at Wallingford, Metropolitan and Reading Regattas: “HAWK!”* The aptly named Wallingford Regatta (held at Dorney Lake, over 25 miles east of Wallingford itself) always attracts stiff competition and this year was no exception. The OUWLRC team consisted of just four determined athletes (Rose, Baines, Felicity and Caris) and one miniature being with an enlarged cranium (Becky). Together they made up “hawk-four”. The team competed in both the WS3 and WS4 coxed fours. Three Heats. One Final. No second chances. First up, WS3. This was a learning curve. After an average row in an extremely fast heat and very narrowly missing out on qualifying for the final, the four decided that it was time to stop nearly winning and start actually winning. Round 2, WS4. The four picked up the place and qualified for the final (in a time that would have easily won the S3 event) going on to a convincing win, despite a marginal amount of protest from a Vesta crew in the first 1000m of the race. no hawks were either harmed or alarmed as a result of “hawk-four’s” awesome rhythm. We think. ‘The Dawn of a New Era’ at Metropolitan Regatta* The Saturday of Met was a sad day. This would be the last time that “hawk-four” would row together this season. The four produced some decent performances, narrowly missing out on the final of WS3 4+. Sarah Cornick and Linda Reynard raced their singles in the WS3 1x category. This was also the first racing for two newly formed Dev Squad eights. Sunday saw the dawn of a new era, the era of the composite eight. This particular combination consisted of four of the 4 members of ‘hawk-four’ (Caris, Felicity, Baines and Becky), the ex-pres/Taylornator (Katie) and 4 members of OUWBC (Phoebe, Harriet, Katja and Lucy). The eight started their reign as they meant to go on, dominating the WS3 8+ event. *Domination, Round 2* Reading Amateur Regatta (RAR) is not held at Dorney Lake, but the competition is still stiff as a board. Despite being a two day event, we felt that our presence was only required for one day. Today’s combination was minus Baines, Lucy and Katja, and plus Rose, Emily (OUWBC) and Hannah Seddon (our awesome dev-squadder). It was side-by-side racing with two in each heat (awesome practice for Henley) and despite being shattered from a week of hard training the crew managed to clock good times in four out of four races. The eight won the first three races comfortably to make it into the final where they met with Vesta’s revamped and rejuvenated eight. At the end of the race the Oxford composite eight came through victorious, winning by a margin of just three-feet. Sarah Cornick was also there, in her trusty single, sculling away, like a sculling daemon.

Jen qualifies for the 2008 Olympics
Jen Goldsack (OUWLRC 2003), with her doubles partner Renee Hykel, qualified today for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. They will represent the United States in the lightweight double scull. Congratulations Jen, and heartfelt best wishes from OUWLRC!

BUSA Success
Over the first May bank holiday weekend, OUWLRC squad member, Sarah Cornick, travelled up to Strathclyde for the BUSA rowing championships. The weekend drew crews from universities across the country providing some high quality racing across all different boat classes from Eights to Singles on a course that has previously hosted the Commonwealth Rowing Regatta and World U23 Championships. Sarah has already rowed in the boat race against Cambridge 7 times, 4 times as an openweight and 3 times as a lightweight, and from the start of the season until the Boat Race each year, rowing in Eights is the focus. The summer season however provides the opportunity to train and race in other boat classes and Sarah chose to enter her single scull in the women’s Championship Lightweight event at the BUSA regatta. Although the forecast rain stayed away, a strong headwind down the course made conditions difficult for a lightweight single sculler. However, Sarah made easy work of the wind and progressed through the rounds to eventually win a silver medal behind a sculler from Durham who is on the verge of making the GB U23 team. This result has gained Sarah selection as the lightweight women’s sculler in the GB team that will travel to Croatia for the European Universities Championships at the end of the season - an exceptional achievement especially given that unlike Sarah, most of the competition have been training and competing in sculling boats for most of the season. Hopefully next year when the BUSA regatta returns to its usual location of Nottingham, more Oxford squad and college crews will be able to make the journey to these Championships so the Oxford has a presence that is similar to the other rowing universities. On the same weekend, an OUWLRC coxed four, raced locally at Wallingford regatta. They also had a successful regatta, winning the S4 event and posting one of the fastest women’s coxed fours times of the day.

New Resolute Donated
Misha Joukowsky, a longstanding generous benefactor to the club, has donated a new Resolute race eight to OUWLRC. This is a new “super lightweight” shell which has been developed specifically for lightweights by Resolute, and is the only one in the UK to date. It was first raced at the Henley Boat Races this March. A boat naming ceremony will be held to coincide with Henley Royal Regatta, the exact date remains to be confirmed. We thank Misha for his continued generosity and support.

Notice of AGM
The OUWLRC AGM for 2007-08 will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 31st March 2008. This will be immediately followed by the election of the OUWLRC President for 2008-09. Details of the location of the meeting will be posted on this website in due course. All members of OUWLRC are entitled to attend the AGM, but only those who have participated in the final selection for this year's boat race crew will be entitled to vote upon any matters arising at the AGM and in the election. This notice was posted here on 18 March 2008 by Linda Reynard. ---- added on 30 March 2008: the AGM and Election meeting will be held in the Davis room, St Peter's College, New Inn Hall Street

Henley address
From 15 March 2008 the crew can be reached at: Mill House Mill Road Nettlebed Henley-on-Thames RG9 5AU

2008 Boat Race Crew

President Katie Taylor and coach Alex Cavell are pleased to announce that the crew for the 2008 Boat Race on 23 March has been selected and is:

Bow

Ruth Crewe

Oriel

2

Sophie Knight

Oriel

3

Felicity Hawksley

Mansfield

4

Georgie Baines^†

Merton

5

Sarah Cornick^‡

St Peter’s

6

Katie Taylor^†

Wadham

7

Rose Higham

Worcester

Stroke

Emily Piggott

St Edmund’s Hall

Cox

Becky Donaldson

St Peter’s

^†returning Half Blue
^‡returning Full Blue

Spares:
Laura Addis, Wolfson
Caris Marsh, Christ Church

Wimbleball Lake - part II
Felicity Hawksley reports as the squad returned to Wimbleball Lake in Somerset for a new year's camp: Exactly two weeks after we left, we were back. Christmas had been and gone in a flash, and before we knew it, we had returned to Wimbleball for our second training camp. Again, the weather was freezing and we layered up to retrieve our boats from the shed where they had been left over the holiday. The purpose of the camp was not only to cover some miles and move on technically, but to seat race. For many of us new to the squad, this was both exciting and terrifying in equal measures. The days preceding the seat racing flew by with some tough sessions. The camp wasn't just about improving our rowing, it was about learning to be hard. Being hard took its toll on us! We were knackered. The mileage total was steadily creeping up with every session. Some of our work was done on the ergos, the conditions being unrowable on one day. We also took some time to fly a powerful kite with our coach Alex. The wind was pretty high, and the thing was so strong, it felt like you could get carried away. Our cox, Becky, being the lightest, feared for her safety and promptly crashed the kite into a tree. Midway through camp, our nutritionist Juliet arrived for a visit and suggested some new ideas to adapt our diets to the punishing mileage and weather. She even braved the launch with Alex, coming out on the water to see how we were performing under her nutrition advice-needless to say, she was very impressed! Seat racing arrived. And so did Linda. At first, she was there to drive the launch and help Alex take the times, but she also rowed during the second session. We were tiring and the racing came down to brute strength and determination. As the light began to fade, it was finally over. We crawled home and showered, absolutely exhausted. The lake was due to be bad a few days later, so we walked together up Somerset’s highest point. After our windy walk, we returned gladly to the truck. Alex had brought some food, we dressed up in everything warm we could find, and headed back to our digs, during which much “singing” was done! The next few days saw a combination of boats going out, including singles, doubles, fours and the eight.The final day dawned. The coxless four were gunning to replicate the world record attempt made earlier in the week. Either they did it at the first attempt, or continued to attempt it until Alex got bored! Suffering from fatigue at the end of a long camp, they missed out on the record, but managed some pretty fast times anyway. And with that, the camp was over. We derigged, loaded the trailer and drove the long road back to Oxford.

Wimbleball Lake - part I
While many clubs turn and run to Spain, the chiselled athletes of OUWLRC stayed in England for both training camps this holiday. It seemed like a good idea at the time, saving on travelling expenses… but then winter happened. Ruth Crewe reports on the first of two training camps based at Wimbleball Lake in Exmoor: This was my first training camp away with the club and I was a little bit apprehensive. I envisaged four days of stinky chat about kilos and calories and Ready-Brek made with water, in the middle of the misty moors (no doubt the site of many moors-murders). The reality was far from it. Everyone enjoyed the chance to row and relax in each other’s company without the pressure from other areas of our Oxford lives. Injury prevented some squad members attending the camp, but we were accompanied instead by ex-president Alice Millest who contributed a lot of experience. Our performance nutritionist Juliet also joined us to see the squad in action on the lake. First job upon arrival was to rig our fleet of boats. I was shaking. With the wind-chill it must have been well below freezing. Numb faces, fingers and toes were all prominent features of the trip. UWE held a winter training camp at Wimbleball, the last day of which happened to coincide with the first day of ours, so we enjoyed some match racing against them. With a sense of relaxed purpose, OUWLRC won six out of six pieces, and this reminded me why we punish our bodies day-in day-out at Iffley gym. It was back to the digs in Dulverton for some R&R that evening. Rose & Millest met defeat at the hands of Baines & Crewe on the chess table, and then it was time to get involved with the local carvery and scrumpy. The next two days were bitter - thick frost had to be scraped off windscreens before we could go anywhere. The lake was choppy except for the Upton Arm where we could shelter from the wind and white horses. We got our heads down to some technical drills and battle paddles in fours. The temperature lingered around zero degrees but nobody really complained, we just layered up and got on with the mileage set by Cavell. Around the water sessions we had hydration and body composition testing with Juliet to check we’re fuelling ourselves correctly for best performance. The work in fours made a big difference to crew discipline, I learned to relax when things seem to be falling apart and ‘think with my hands’. Video analysis helped several of us turn important corners with our technique. When we got back into the VIII on the third day, the result was the best square-blades paddling all season. Everything just came together; it was the culmination of four months’ work and a satisfying way to round off 2007. I am sure our improvements will be going with us into January when we return to Wimbleball for a gruelling eight-day selection camp. Next it was back to Oxford exhausted, wind-whipped, and with slightly firmer thighs, for one last erg test before Christmas.

Old Members' Association Dinner Success
Alice Millest writes about the OMA dinner held on 24 November 2007: Saturday evening brought with it the first AGM and OMA dinner since the creation of the Old Members Association in 2006. The event was a huge success, with old girls from the first ever Lightweight Women's Boat Race in 1984 right through to members from the 2007 Boat Race crew. Having the opportunity to share our different Boat Race experiences made for a very special evening and allowed us to put faces to some of the names we have been tracking down for the last 18 months! The dinner also gave the OMA committee and current OUWLRC committee the chance to get some feedback from old girls about what they would like to see on the website and how they want to get back involved with the club on a regular basis. The September regatta proves to be a popular idea and we hope to offer more races for next year’s event. We also managed to raise some funds for the current squad, as many old members expressed the enjoyment of being in a position where they can help out their club. We hope to increase our attendance every year as we improve our database of contact details and maybe one day we will fill a college hall.... If you would like to get back touch with OUWLRC please contact Becky Bryan, OMA President.

Fours Head of the River - 3 November 2007
Felicity Hawksley writes: The new squad arrived at St Paul’s in fine weather, chomping at the bit and ready to show the rest of the rowing world that they meant business. The club boated four crews in total. The quad included two lightweight athletes: the veteran of 6 Boat Races, Sarah Cornick, and Emily Piggott, a first year triallist, at stroke. Joined by two former openweight Blue Boat girls, Debs Turner and Emma Windham, the quad placed 6th in a strong WS2 4x field. Emily noted that the race was an improvement on Upper Thames Small Boats Head the weekend before. The other three crews were in the WS3 (A) 4+ category, and consisted of current squad members, old girls and some extremely kind helping hands from Wallingford RC. Becky Donaldson coxed a boat consisting of stroke, Felicity Hawksley, backed up by 2007 Boat Race winner Linda Reynard and two current rowers, Rose Higham and Caris Marsh. The boat started well, steaming through the first bridge, confident and quick. Unfortunately, in an attempt to overtake KCL, they were involved in a crash that brought them to a standstill, tacking a good 10 or so seconds onto their finishing time. Angered by the collision, the boat quickly got up to speed again, to finish in a time of 23.30. The next crew, containing current squad member Suki Tyler, posted the fastest time of the day, in 23.06. A member of the Wallingford women’s squad and OUWLRC Old Girl Emma Hodson, last year’s president Alice Millest and Wallingford athlete Lucinda Gooderham filled the remaining three seats. Coxed by Wadham’s James Packer, the boat was described as “smooth and nippy” by bow-girl Tyler. The third 4+ to race contained three current girls (Sophie Knight, Becky Hunt, Ruth Crewe) and last year’s boat-race winning 5-seat, Tracy Fenwick. Coxed by Mark Brewer this 4+ completed the course in 24.33, placing 13th in their division. Sophie, stroke, described the race as a good learning experience, specifically citing Tracy Fenwick as an impressive influence on both boat speed and motivation. A good day was had by all, and the current squad took the opportunity to learn a great deal from the old girls (whilst some of those not racing learned a great deal from a vantage point at the Anchor!). The squad gained more tideway experience and demonstrated their mental and physical strength, banding together to produce some respectable early-season results. The racing was followed by a slap-up meal in a Putney pub, during which several squad members fell asleep and some of those who remained awake were treated to a post-lunch detour through Putney by the coach, clearly overwhelmed with nostalgia… Bring on the Eights Head.

“We beat men. Wicked.” Georgie Baines sums up Upper Thames Small Boats Head
Upper Thames Small Boats Head (28 October 2007) The whole OUWLRC squad headed to Henley on a damp Sunday for what was for many of the girls their first opportunity to race for the club, and to have a taster of the Boat Race stretch. We took a quad, two coxed fours and a double down the Upper Thames Head course twice. The morning division gave one of the coxed fours (Caris, Linda, Rose and Georgie, coxed by Becky Donaldson) a chance to race some truly worthy opponents in Men’s Senior 3. After a heroic 13:21.34 minutes, the crew crossed the line faster than three men’s crews! The other coxed four (Ruth, Becky Hunt, Suki and Sophie Knight, coxed by Matt) showed real grit and determination which paid off with a win in the Novice category with a time of 14:37.85 minutes. The quad (Cornick, Debs, Emma and Emily) came a very very close second in Women’s Senior 2, being three hundreths of a second slower than the winners. The double, consisting of two members of the legendary 2007 Lightweight Blue Boat (Tracy and Millest) came 5^th in Women’s Senior 3. The afternoon saw more of the same. The quad came in second again, this time by a second. Not content with beating men, the coxed four went on to beat lots of women, coming third in Women’s Senior 3, with the other coxed four not far behind. And the double won their category! So with tired legs and medals, we retreated to Caris’ house for some good food and to reflect on a good days racing and preparation for the Fours Head the following weekend.

‘Starting off as we mean to go on’ as the fastest women’s crew of the day
*Caris Marsh reports on Wallingford Long Distance Sculls (Sat 29 September)* Four scullers from the squad (Sarah Cornick, Caris Marsh, Emily Piggott and Katie Taylor) competed in this early-season head race on our new home stretch in Wallingford. In the first division all four competed in very competitive singles events. In WS3 Sarah came 2^nd, clocking an impressive time of 17:43 with Emily (only 4 seconds behind at 17.47) in 4^th place. Caris (also S3) was placed 7^thin a time of 18.27. Katie, competing in women’s novice sculls, came 2^nd in a time of 17.57 (a time that also would have placed her 5^th in the S3 event). In the second division the four teamed up and raced WS2 Quads. They dominated the event; winning by nearly 2 minutes and upsetting a fair number of school boys along the way! Their time of 14.32 placed them 16^th overall, making them the fastest women’s crew of the day.

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Matt Smith reports on Tethys Boat Club's Inaugural Racing at Reading Small Boats Head 2008: