After the slight chaos of marshalling, we set off for a first 2k. Luckily we had the wind and stream in our favour but that didn’t stop our coach, Hannah Spry, from reiterating the importance of the lock-on and not letting ourselves be fooled by how fast the boat felt like it was moving. With our cox, Michelle Low, calling for ‘Strong Legs’ and ‘Power On’, we finished after making up several lengths on LMBC – now Hannah wanted us to catch them!

After a quick spin around and some much need Haribo Super-Mix, we were ready for the race homewards – this one would be much harder against the stream and the wind but Hannah reminded us all of the importance of early squaring and sharp catches to send us home. Having warmed up from our first race, and with LMBC in our sights, we headed off and in no time at all we’d past First Post Corner, got through the Gut and were powering on to The (never-ending) Reach. It was at this point that we had to forget the pain that was in our legs and imagine a new pair that would take us across that finish line. All along The Reach, we were gaining, with Hannah and Michelle telling us how close we were…by the end we were only 3 feet from LMBC (definitely good practice for Bumps)!

The waiting for published times seemed to take forever but by 10.30pm we knew that not only had we won our division with an overall time of 16.55 but had also beaten St. Catz, Newnham, Jesus and Kings W1, as well as beating the winner of Mays Div 2 category by 10 secs!

It was really wonderful to celebrate Speedwell’s first victory with Dame Veronica, who donated her last year, today. I look forward to bringing you more good news over the next few weeks – with Newnham Head, Robinson Head and Pembroke Regatta on the horizon before Bumps, it’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks…STAY TUNED!