Downing College Boat Club

Hi, I’m Rosie, a second-year Geographer and Women’s and NB Captain for next year. Having rowed for 6 years, predominantly on the Tideway, I have faced various challenges including bad weather, broken oars and even a rigger falling off in my first race. Nevertheless, I instantly fell in love with the sport, and have continued to row ever since.

When I joined Downing, I immediately contacted Holly, the women’s captain, to ask if I could row and was told there was a spot in W1. I was happy to accept and enjoyed spending the first term getting to know the rest of the boat and was thrilled to come 2^nd in my first race, Winter Head. With a couple of strong results, we approached Fairbairns at the end of the term. Tackling one of the longest courses on the Cam, at almost 5km, we were able to row a strong race and placed 3rd. However, the highlight of my first term was the boat club dinner after Fairbairns, a fun celebratory event attended by the entire club.

Lent started with a training camp in Banyoles, having never been on a training camp abroad, I was very excited. Certainly, despite some cold mornings, the camp was incredible. Using a 2km stretch of lake allowed us to get lots of mileage in, and many rowers were also able to try small boats for the first time. However, the highlight of the week was the evenings, where we were able to bond as a club and I built close friendships with other members of the women’s squad. After the training camp, I returned to Cambridge energised to start training and eager to row my first bumps. Although the term was consistently disrupted by flooding and illness, we supported each other throughout and tried continuing our training for bumps as uninterrupted as possible

On my first day of Lent Bumps, I was incredibly nervous, having never done any race like it. After the cannon, we had a strong start and gained on Lady Margaret ahead of us. Unfortunately, as we turned onto the reach, Caius bumped us. We headed into the second day very determined to try and hold off Trinity Hall, who was behind us. Despite our strong start, Trinity Hall quickly gained on us. However, we were determined to hold them off and were ultimately able to row through successfully. We started the third day of bumps in high spirits and were able to bump Newnham, repeating this on the final day to bump Emmanuel. Ending our bumps campaign with such an incredible result was a testament to the perseverance of the whole squad throughout a difficult term.

We started Easter Term with an on-Cam training camp. Segreants Day rounded off the week, providing me the opportunity to race with a boat of Downing alumni. Hearing their rowing stories from their time at Cambridge was inspiring, demonstrating how important the sport is to so many people. Certainly, rowing was critical to me during the term’s exam stress, offering me a break from studying and an opportunity to socialise in the evenings and weekends. The term culminated in May Bumps. Despite being bumped by St Catherines on day 1, we were able to row through and hold off Queens on days 2 and 3. Unfortunately, battling through a strong headwind on the final day, we were unable to hold off FaT. Despite a difficult bumps campaign against some strong crews, we rowed some of our best races and I’m very proud of how far we came as a crew.

However, the term wasn’t over as we headed over to Henley to compete in the Henley Women’s Regatta. We entered the time trial for the academic eight but unfortunately did not manage to qualify. It was a very valuable experience getting to race along the Henley course alongside some of the best boats in the country. An incredible experience to finish off my first year of rowing at Downing. I look forward to another year of rowing and hope to continue to grow the women’s squad and get some more boats out on the Cam.