This year we entered both W1 and W2 into Champs Eights: a 1450m head race on the Cam hosted by Champion of the Thames Rowing Club. With the return of the Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club Rowers Izzy Vyvyan (who competed in Blondie this year) and Peta Blundell, there have been a few changes to both the W1 and W2 crews and this was the first chance to see how these new line ups would perform in a race.

After a strong start and plenty of power 10’s towards the finish line, W2 raced to an impressive third place in their division (Mays 4^th division) with a time of 6 minutes 22 seconds, beating boats that they will be chasing during May Bumps such as Murray Edwards W3 and Clare Hall W1.

After winning the May’s 3^rd division last year, W1 were nervous about competing in the division above this year (Mays 2^nd division). However, prize tankards were collected as they completed the course in 5 minutes and 33 seconds winning their division by nearly 20 seconds. They finished 5^th overall, beating 6 1^st division crews, and were only 9 seconds off the fastest women’s time.