New Faces at CUWBC

CUWBC have appointed Annie Vernon as Assistant Coach and Dr Sarah Harbour as Club Administrator.

Annie rowed in the GB Women’s Eight at London 2012 Olympic Games and was a member of the Women’s Quadruple Sculls crew with Anna Watkins, Katherine Grainger and Debbie Flood in Beijing in 2008 where they took Silver to China.

Annie rowed for CUWBC in 2003 whilst she was reading History at Downing College. She has competed at six world championships and two Olympic Games, she is a two-time world champion and world silver medallist; her W4x was voted international ‘outstanding crew’ of 2007. Annie has continued to support CUWBC throughout her Olympic campaigns and has edited the Alumni newsletter, the Lioness, since 2010.

Rob Baker Chief Coach of CUWBC said: I am absolutely delighted that Annie is on board as our new assistant coach. Annie brings to the CUWBC great experience, including being an Olympic silver medalist and a former World Champion. Having been to Cambridge University as well Annie is the perfect role model and shows our athletes what can be achieved if they have the desire and are prepared to put in the work.

Annie said: I’m incredibly excited about moving on from my international rowing career into a position where I can still drive forward the profile of women’s rowing, at Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club. The changes to the Women’s Boat Race present a huge opportunity to make this a headline event for global women’s rowing and as a former Light Blue myself, I will do all I can to set up Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club for this new phase in its history. It does seem a rather quick turnaround to have put my oars down and picked up a megaphone instead in the space of only 4 months, but I intend to use all my international rowing experience plus my great memories of rowing for Cambridge to work alongside Rob and drive the Club forwards.

CUWBC have appointed Dr Sarah Harbour as Club Administrator. Sarah brings a wealth of experience to the club as both an undergraduate and graduate student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and as Lightweight captain of CUWBC 2005-6. Sarah joins CUWBC from Pricewaterhouse Coopers and her experience here and as Press and Sponsorship Officer for the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race and will be a great asset to the club.