CUWBC report by Larkin Sayre, President

CUWBC has had a great first half of the season in the lead up to the Boat Races. We are currently in Banyoles in Spain on our annual training camp, and got to ring in the new decade as a squad (although we were all asleep by about 9:30pm!) We are being treated to sunshine and calm water and being here is invaluable to our training. The highlights so far this season have been strong results at Four’s Head, a Trial VIIIs race where both crews finished within 5 seconds of each other and bonding as a united squad. The Cambridge Openweight Women train alongside the Lightweight Men and Women which means we are a team of about 60 people. It’s never boring trying to manage logistics, and boating 15+ boats at 6:30am before sun rise is always hectic! We love training alongside so many different athletes and pushing each other to be faster each day.

We have a strong group of athletes on the team this year and a great mix of returners and those who learned to row through their respective colleges. Now that we have completed Trial VIIIs we are moving into the section of the season focused on forming racing lineups. Our coaches Rob, Paddy, Katy and Matthew have been working incredibly hard for us and are tirelessly reviewing and looking for improvements. It’s a fantastic training environment and we can’t wait to see what 2020 brings! We look forward to testing our speed against some fast opposition during fixtures and especially on 29th March. First on the schedule is Quintin Head on January 25th. We are looking to defend our title having fielded the fastest women’s crew in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Give our Light Blue crews a cheer if you’re down by the river!