After the many successes of Hilary Term, the tour de force that is Univ W1 came back even stronger and made history yet again this Trinity, winning headship on the women’s side for the very first time. Standing amongst fellow Univ rowers and supporters on the rafts of Univ Boathouse on the Saturday of Eights and watching our crew row-over at headship truly was one of the most exciting and proudest moments of my time at UCBC so far, and I’m sure the same could be said for many of the other rowers, friends, and Old Members gathered on the banks of the Isis for the first time since Summer Eights 2019.

Summer Eights wasn’t the only success for W1 this term. The bumps began as early as Week 1, where Univ entered a 4+ into Oxford City Bumps and finally got that first bump on Wolfson, setting the tone for the bumps campaign to come. Starting at 4th place in Div 1, over the four races Univ’s City Bumps 4+ bumped to 3rd place, making them the highest placed college crew with only Oxford Academicals RC and Wallingford RC out ahead, a challenge perhaps for next year.

A week later, W1 were off to Nottingham to compete at BUCS regatta, where the best crews from British universities and colleges had gathered to race the 2 km stretch at the National Water Sports Centre. A successful time trial of 06:05.1 placed the crew 26th out of the 43 university-squad level crews competing in the Intermediate 8+ category. Unfortunately, a broken rudder prevented the crew from racing in their final, however, to place amongst crews performing at the university level is truly exceptional for our college crew.

Just one week later, and with a fully repaired rudder, W1 returned to continue their racing success at Bedford Regatta. Valiant races against strong Cambridge college crews (Jesus and Pembroke) resulted in Univ winning the Women’s Open Eights (Band 2) category and earned the crew some new silverware!

The focus of the following weeks turned to Summer Eights. The crew began at 4th place, owing to the success of the W1 of Trinity 2019; the last time Summer Eights was able to safely go ahead. Over the first three days of Eights, Univ bumped Pembroke, Wadham, and Wolfson, before then rowing over on day four. These bumps were by no means easy: On day two, an exciting four boat sandwich between Christchurch, Univ, Wadham, and Wolfson unfolded at Boathouse Island, before Univ got the bump on Wadham before the finish line. Upon landing the boat on the Saturday, the celebrations truly began, with prosecco in near-constant supply until well into the night.

Indeed, there was plenty to celebrate. Overall, the Women’s side entered four boats in total into Summer Eights, the successes of each will be covered in our Vice-Captains report. The hard work and dedication of our coach Jono must also be celebrated, as there is no doubt that Univ would not be where it is today without him.

Finally, a celebration of all the crews of recent years who have contributed to the steady climb up the divisions of both Torpids and Eights, providing the foundations from which Univ Women have been so successful this year, and hope to be in the future.

Trinity Term would of course not be complete without a trip to Henley. The crew rowed an impressive time trial of 05:15.8 at Henley Women’s Regatta, but the return of international crews meant that this what not enough to qualify. Despite this, Univ were still the fastest college-level crew in their division, and we hope to carry this success into regattas occurring over the summer vacation.

I hope you have enjoyed following the many successes of the women’s side of UCBC this year, and I hope to be writing to you next year with even more triumphs and successes. Until then, we look forward to welcoming the next round of novice rowers in Michaelmas Term, and to continuing with all our hard work and training so that the success of UCBC continues, and grows, in the years to come.

Becca Tanner – Women’s Captain 2022-23

W1 win the headship!

In the words of our Women’s captain…

W1 at the Headship Presentation Ceremony