WeHoRR and HoRR was a weekend full of drama and excitement, one that saw some crews soar past the competition and others test the limits of Swiss neutrality. All racing crews knuckled down for the longest race of the year, striving against the pain determined to end the racing season with an effort they could be proud of. On this, we followed through, once again overshadowing our UH rivals. With the sprints and head races now behind us, we can look forward to a couple of months away from the Tideway until we return for Bumps to once again make our mark!

Senior Men

Men’s Second VIII

"Despite the slightly less than enjoyable experience of rowing BUCS hungover a few weeks previously, being back in a senior boat for HoRR was a refreshing opportunity to show the world what RUMSBC are really made of. Suffering from a chronic lack of bow-siders meant that two novices, Joe Catling and myself, were forced to sub in for what would be by far the longest distance we’d ever rowed in a day, never mind raced.

The extreme lengths of time we spent in marshalling were largely uneventful (in stark contrast to M1's experience), but for new bowman Timo's complaints ("Scheiß drauf!" "Schwachsinn!") echoing down the boat. After a smooth start off the line, we were encouraged by the shouts of our Men’s First team, now standing on Chiswick bridge after a disastrous marshalling experience, which saw us push George’s even further into the distance, bringing us some satisfaction despite being overtaken by some stiff national competition, before settling in for the long haul.

After almost 20 minutes of pain, cox Holly initiated the Tier system. With the knowledge that soon the race would be over, we put down every last bit of power we had, emptying our ‘tanks’ so we could cross the finish line in a blistering time. However, as our energy began to waver we learnt that there was in fact considerably longer to go than we thought, and after a few minutes of excruciating pain we rolled across the line, broken, but not defeated, in what had been an enjoyable end to a great year of rowing." - Alex Bloom, Seat 5

Men’s First VIII
​
"After the disappointment of coming a very close second UH head the week before, on the morning of Sunday 11th, a fresh faced and eager men’s crew arrived at the boathouse. Our 6 months of elite, high performance tapering had all been preparing us for this day, and the university pennant was in our sites. Even being forced to dredge up former UL rower and general big boy Neale Marlow could not dampen our spirits, and it was clear the boys were prepared for a smashing day.

On the water you could feel the power surging through the boat. Whilst warming up we were leaving crews trailing in our wake, partly because we were rowing the wrong way towards Kew, but mainly because of the watts being put down by each member of the boat. As we eased past the UL 1st VIII (still going the wrong way) you could see the look of awe in Rich Clarke’s eyes as he saw the physical embodiment of ‘Big Boy Strokes’, and the demeanour of a man who realised he had nothing left to teach us as we were literally perfect. Alas, the time was nigh, the start of the race was nearly upon us, all that was left was for us to row up to our marshalling position. Nothing could go wrong from here. 

As we paddled past the boathouse, there was an eerie calm as we began to mentally prepare ourselves for the 20 minutes of pain we were about to endure. Unfortunately, this calm was swiftly broken by a loud European cry from beyond our bows. It seemed that Yulia had taken her coxing feedback of ‘use alternative overtaking manoeuvres’ a little too literally, and had decided that rowing through the Swiss crew that was sat in-front of us was the most logical way to negotiate the marshalling situation. I can only imagine what this crew, who had traveled hundreds of miles to compete in the largest head race in the world thought when they saw a bunch of college boys coming their way. I can only imagine it was a thought of deep regret for being in the correct position. The Hudson/battering ram ploughed into the crew, and when we finally came to a stop we were faced with textbook Swiss neutrality in the face of overwhelming aggression, until their 6 man broke rank and started hurling abuse our way. 

The aftermath left both crews worse for wear, and sadly for RUMS, it appeared the Swiss had come out on top. A broken bow blade and cracked rigger made for a sorry sight, whilst their eight managed to escape with just a damaged gate and a 3 man who’d been hit with his own blade, presumably in an attempted health insurance scam. We quickly moved off the water, where we licked our wounds and repaired the Swiss boat with scraps from our own, before assessing our options. These were limited to a Vespoli with 4 riggers on it, or the Wintech which was on one of the lower racks, and frankly there was an unacceptable risk of back injury if we bent down to pick it up.

As a result, scratching remained our only option, despite the strong will of Neale, who by the looks of it would have done the race solo given the chance, we headed up to Chiswick to cheer on our second eight as they went on to smash the race. Meanwhile both Oxford Brookes and Leander breathed a sigh of relief as they realised that they’d have a chance of victory.

Most importantly, nobody was hurt on the day and a letter has been sent to David Davis requesting the banning of all foreign crews from entering the race, lest the same fate befall them as did the Swiss." - Alex Lane, Seat 5

Senior Women

Women’s Second VIII
​​
"Despite their best efforts, the Watt Farm had not been successful at UH Head; they may have proved themselves the crew with the highest propensity for crying on the Thames, but that wasn’t quite what they’d had in mind. Nevertheless, with three new novices being welcomed into the boat, they set their sights on a successful Wehorr. However, after having only one outing as a crew, in UCL’s kindly donated bathtub that led to captain Claire throwing in her stroking towel and demanding we go back to the safely on the Stampfli, we were nervous.

​Saturday morning rolled around and we set off with anticipation; the pre-race paddle seemed to be going well until new stroke Millie broke her footplate- clearly all those hour long ergs have been paying off. After some masterful coxing from Beans (and a good deal of panic) we managed to collect the necessary tools and fix the offending footplate - finally we would be ready.

We set off ready to SLAM the race we had ahead of us; as we passed our own W1 crew, encouraged by their chants, we took our first casualty in ICSM. There would be many more. We SLAYed the next portion, powering on through Barnes Bridge, only to meet our rivals from the weekend before. Beans assured us revenge was in sight and with some big boy strokes we put some SEND on the boat, sailing past them and leaving them a mere speck in the distance. Much as their own men had looked the week before.

Spurred on by beating our arch-nemesis RVC the next 3.5k almost seemed easy - then, meters before the finish line, we were told we could make it a hat-trick. We pulled up alongside King’s, and with our bow-woman Georgie ensuring us that we could make it a photo finish. One of our newest members, Serena, turned out of the boat to look into the eyes of those she was beating (or not, it’s still a pint) and over the finish line we took them.

Overall, it’s been a fantastic year so far for W2 - all we’re looking forward to now is Bumps and finally getting ourselves some medals!" - Abi Powell, Seat 5

Women’s First VIII
​
"After W1's triumphant victory at UH head, we were ready to show the rest of the country what RUMSBC women can do at WeHoRR. After a pretty smooth marshaling we were off and despite a slightly wobbly start we quickly settled into a strong rhythm. The first half of the race went relatively quickly, with the boat that was chasing us gaining very slowly. Unfortunately, as we came under Hammersmith the chasing crew came up next to us and we allowed our competitiveness to get the better off us and got distracted. Sadly we didn't manage to bring back the concentration and rhythm after this and the second half of our race was less successful than the first.

We had a loud row back with some 'beautiful' singing from Preena and ended the day with a lovely pub lunch and a well deserved pint, happy in the knowledge that we finished 137, beating all the other UH crews easily, despite not having rowed our best. Here's to moving up to the top 100 next year!" - Jenny Budden, Seat 4

The Women's Eight Head of River Race and ​Head of the River Race will see our crews take on a 6.8km stretch of the Tideway from Mortlake to Putney. This race will see several of the Novices take an early jump into the seconds boat, a chance to see what the next generation of RUMSBC can do at a high level. Fueled by our victories at UH Head, this is sure to be to be an exciting weekend of racing.

Senior Men

Men's Second VIII
​
Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Alex Bloom
4: Jack Merritt
3: Joe Catling
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Timo Rodi

Men's First VIII
​
Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Connor Price
3: Neale Marlow
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

​Senior Women

​Women's Second VIII
​
Cox: Chris 'Beans' Jackson
Stroke: Millie Walker
7: Claire Shadwell
6: Asha Dave
5: Abi Powell
4: Hannah Roberts
3: Laura Dan
2: Serena Lu
Bow: Georgie Stagg

​Women's First VIII

Cox: Preena Patel
Stroke: Livi Drewett
7: Nadia Eden
6: Eimear McKavanagh
5: Mattie Williams
4: Jenny Budden
3: Jen Whitehead
2: Libi Hawkes (C)
Bow: Tintin Larsson

RUMSBC have once again proved themselves to be champions of the Thames, bringing home medals in four of the eight categories entered. Whilst no-one of certain of results and Sunday evening was filled with tension, the atmosphere soon lifted when Jerry called out the one word we were all anticipating..."RUMS!". Three more times we heard our club called out, each time followed with rapturous applause and chants of 'Middle! Middle! Middle!', with the Novice Men, Novice Women A, Men's Seconds and Women's Firsts being bestowed with United Hospitals' finest hand-crafted pendants. Falling just shy of this honour were the Women's Seconds, Men's Firsts and both Four's, whose stellar efforts earned them the distinction of second place against some stiff competition. This is a result we can all be proud of (massively), truly reflecting the hard-work and dedication put in throughout the year. However, we're not finished yet, with HoRR and WeHoRR just around the corner we have even more chances to show what we can do when given an oar and a boat to sit in.

Men’s Novices

Men’s Novice VIII

"We huddled together in a circle, arm around each others shoulder. In Zak's case, this was more to stop him from falling over than any sign of camaraderie. Hannah looked nervous; perhaps this was because it had dawned that her time being able to shout at and boss around the big-people in the world (i.e. everyone) was drawing to a close. Matt’s face was one of a man facing the impossible task of trying to appear solemn hours after exceeding his alcohol limit. It was a truly tense moment.

'The winners of the novice men's category is…'

                                                                       *              *              *

We arrived at the boathouse at 8am. The knowledge that this was most likely our last time rowing together made me sad - even the 6:00am starts were going to be something to (almost) miss. Already there were nerves; BUCS hadn’t been ideal preparation. From the reports, enough crabs had been caught to stock a seafood restaurant, and throughout the race the boat was sat lower than Jamie’s 2k split. Still, there was reason for optimism. The silver lining - there always is one - is that from BUCS the team somehow emerged as the best novice boys medical school team in the country. And to claim otherwise is fake news. It meant that we weren’t just defending our pride at UH - we were defending our UK no 1 spot. 

On the water, we cheered on the W1 and M1 team who raced before us. But all too quickly - despite wanting that little more time to prepare, just another second to go through the plan - our time to race had come. Even though we knew that the pain would come faster, we gave into the adrenaline and caffeine and kicked off from the start hard. The difference being that this time, unlike the other pistes, when the pain did hit, not one of us stopped committing. By the time we got to Kew Bridge the sound of heavy breathing was constant. Photos taken at that point show that even Joe wasn’t trying to look good for the cameras. Yet watching the George’s crew disappear from sight was like a mouthful of ibuprofen, and not once did we drop from the rate thirty that was set in the first minute. Having M2 cheering us on between the bridges helped too, meaning that with the aid of a couple of power tens we were speeding past the boathouse to the chant of ‘middle middle middle....’

The final sprint wasn’t pretty. But neither was it meant to be. If we had been able to execute a perfect final 750m then no one had been pushing hard enough previously. However it was effective, and even the catching of a very small crab only served to focus our minds. By the last ten strokes we had all emptied our metaphorical wells, with only Hannah’s countdown and Zak’s surprisingly effective shouts of ‘go faster’ having any sort of effect. And then - it was over. We were paralysed by the pain for a second - before immediately worrying about where we had come. 

                                                                       *              *              *

Back to the results: huddled in the circle, arms around each others shoulders, hoping…

‘ 'The winners of the novice men's category is…boat twenty…one! RUMS!'

HELL YEAH! 

They say that history is written by the victors. While it might be a little presumptuous to claim that we made history (Sunday 4th March, Chiswick, London, 10:00, if any historians are interested), it is true that I can write whatever I want about this race and you’d have no choice but to believe it. Luckily, the actual facts are all that’s needed for great reading; finishing almost a minute ahead of the next best UH team, beating KCL, beating UCL B, and being just beaten by UCL A - a team of individuals whose degrees require about as little time as the margin they beat us by: 6 seconds. Well done to Hannah, Luca, Alex, Joe, Zak, Will, Chris and Swopnil. We absolutely dicked them." - Sam Wray, Seat 6

Senior Women

Women’s Second VIII

"Rise and shine, back to the grind. A hazy sun breaks the horizon, and a new day dawns on the Watt Farm. The final harvest. 

Arriving at the river at 6:30, not another crew was in sight. A good sign, commented Anna - “the early bird catches the crab after all.” Down in the bay, we re-assembled the combine for one last heavy yield. The crew did the usual warm up paddle down to Putney and back, and left the river feeling confident that they had gained enough length to complete the race in roughly 45 strokes.  

The pre-race routine began with a round of espresso shots on the captain, and a pack of yum-yums. Millie Walker swapped her broken paddle for a tungsten reinforced blade, whilst Georgie Lloyd stocked up on amiodarone, and applied a final layer of diprobase. Fernanda was crushing peanut shells underfoot as she surveyed the stream, whilst Asha Dave pondered where would be best to bury the other crews afterwards. The morning air was filled with the sweet sweet tones of Claire Shadwell’s rendition of ‘The one an only’, only now several octaves lower as a result of all the steroid injections. In the distance, Abigail Powell was practising swift arm and leg movements, an alternative interpretation of Rich’s power strokes that would later take form on the dance floor to the rhythmic call of whuubang, whuubang. Christopher was stood with his usual pensive look, sinking the remaining contents of a Heinz tin of beans. 

It was time to face the music, and as W2 motored down to pink lodge, several crews capsized in the wake. A quick glance at the boat behind left us assured the competition were unfamiliar with lycra or creatine. On the sound of Jerry’s bellow, Chris Jackson stepped on the accelerator, ranking the beast up to rate 42 to cross the start line in a supersonic blur. The crew moved together as one, like the integrated parts of a well-oiled machine. At Brentford lock, George Lloyd  pulled out her telescope to survey the crew behind. A mere speck they be. Approaching Kew Rail, it was time to pull out the aggressive card. At bow, the tiny-hands-man Georgie Stagg lead us on with fire and fury, whilst 7-seat completed her transformation into the incredible bulk. The crew steam-rolled under the bridge with the sort of strokes that Rich will assure you could only have belonged to some very, very big boys. But the race was not done yet - an overtake was in sight! The crew ahead crumbled and cowered in the blinding sight of the Watt Farm approaching. “Be thee angels?” they cried. “Nay, we are but men.” Left sobbing in our wake, cox Beans called to begin the final attack as we powered into the final straight. We must have come near to the speed of light, as in an impressive warp of time and space, we somehow managed to finish before the finish line. Unreal scenes. 

Approximately 25 pints later that evening, the results were announced to reveal that the Watt Farm had narrowly lost to the neighbouring pig farm. The crew assembled in kidney bean formation and wept in synchrony. Passers by likened it to the final scene of a greek tragedy. Minus Asha Dave who had already fallen peril to 2 bottles of wine, and Anna Shadwell who was spooning vomit off of her chocolate brownie. But not to worry - Fernanda Guiseppe Fenn Torrente has sworn those pesky dog doctors won’t be around for much longer. Apparently her great grandfather once described revenge as ‘a dish best served cold’, or something like that..." - Claire Shadwell, Seat 7

*UPDATE* Following an error in time calculations, the Senior Women's Second VIII have been awarded medals!

This is it. The day we've all been waiting for. It's time to take on UH Head, the race that all those eye-watering ergs, all those early morning outings and night-time paddles, all those circuits and all the races we've had this year have been working towards. All crews have had their shares of victories and defeat this year; tomorrow it's time to bring together the lessons learned from all those occasions, work together as a crew and cheer on our fellow team mates. Let's show them what RUMSBC are made of and make this another night of domination. Middle! Middle! Middle!

Men's Novices

​Men's Novice VIII
Cox: Hannah Hickingbotham
Stroke: Luca Richards
7: Alex Bloom
6: Sam Wray
5: Joe Catling
4: Zak Mansell
3: Will Shorrocks
2: Chris Anetekhai
Bow: Swopnil Lamchane Gurung

Women's Novices

​Women's Novice VIII Boat A
Cox: Kelly Wyatt
Stroke: Hannah Roberts
7: Annalise Munro
6: Serena Lu
5: Laura Dan
4: Ceyda Oral
3: Alex Robinson
2: Yemi Talabi
Bow: Fiona Chegwidden

​Women's Novice VIII Boat B
​Cox: Greg Gibson
Stroke: Federica Ezennia
7: Maddie Sanz
6: Gracie Sutton
5: Alisa Rasch
4: Melissa Nelson
3: Sophie McWilliam
2: Radhika Kumar
Bow: Riya Gosrani

​"It’s been a stressful week, struggling against the weather to get one final outing together as a crew before the big day: UH head. Despite the ice snow and wind, we’ve still been training hard! The novice girls are super excited for their first UH head race and ready to give 100% on the water. We smashed it at Newcastle, and know we have the endurance and power that we need. Now we’re on our home territory and nothing can stop us now!" - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men's Second VIII
​
Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Timo Rodi
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Ollie Marwood

Men's First VIII
​
Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Connor Price
3: Rory Shadwell
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

​Senior Women

​Women's Second VIII
​
Cox: Chris 'Beans' Jackson
Stroke: Georgie Lloyd
7: Claire Shadwell
6: Fernanda Fenn Torrente
5: Abi Powell
4: Millie Walker
3: Anna Shadwell
2: Asha Dave
Bow: Georgie Stagg

​Women's First VIII

Cox: Preena Patel
Stroke: Livi Drewett
7: Nadia Eden
6: Eimear McKavanagh
5: Mattie Williams
4: Jenny Budden
3: Jen Whitehead
2: Libi Hawkes (C)
Bow: Tintin Larsson

Whilst some crews managed to achieve success upon the Tyne, BUCS Head was found to be a mixed bag overall, with unplanned substitutions, unfamiliar boats and unfortunate weather conditions adversely scuppering the chances the remaining crews from performing to the best of their ability. Regardless, we reveled in the success we did achieve (with the novices fully committing to post-race celebrations on Saturday night) and resolved to learn from the shortcomings of the weekend to make sure we bring it for UH Head!

Men’s Novices

Men’s Novice VIII

"Before the race had started, we sat in the freezing gust of winds and looked our competitors on the left, failing to fathom how any of them could be novices and causing our hearts to sink deeper than the W2 boat. This was reminiscent of our race against King’s during Winter Sprints, but on a much bigger scale – we knew tragedy lay ahead. Starting 9th on the course as UCL A (‘arrogant medics’), our captain boosted our morale by warning us that “we would get overtaken at some point” and that “we had no chance of winning”. But it had not even crossed our minds that we would have a major crab only 2 seconds into the race. Well, that is exactly what happened! Fully knowing that we had messed up – big time – we froze with hopelessness and despair as did our boat came to a halt. We could only watch as UWE went past us with a grin. I could feel it burn into my soul.

Only the day before, Will had asked how much faster we would go if we didn’t have a cox? I soon found this question answered, when, upon this race, I realised their importance within the boat. We were suddenly revived by the sounds of Hannah, screaming with calmness and encouragement, calling “power 10s” and telling us to “empty our wells”. However, we did have 3 more major crabs that resulted in being overtaken by 3 more boats – but this did not matter! Eventually, we made it to the finish line.

We were determined to win with hard work, and in the end we came out at the top, securing our place as the best medical school in the country at BUCS Head in Novice Men division (edit: we actually came 23rd out of 24th). Bring on UH Head!" - Swopnil Gurung, Bow

Women’s Novices

Women's Novice VIII Boat A

"The journey to the BUCS competition was a long one, filled with a myriad of challenges set to test our mettle and build us up for the big day. From 2k trials to ergs to practice pieces spanning a more than healthy portion of the Thames to the long, grueling, cramped 14:30 train up to Newcastle, every challenge was met with optimism and a determination to put our best foot forward.

On the race day, the winds were forceful and the water was choppy, but spirits remained high as the early glow of morning sunlight basked the landscape with an ethereal light that promised good fortunes and positive expectations. With feet set, blades in rigors and all eight in the boat, we rowed up getting our first taste of the River Tyne’s force and fury. Even as choppy waves caught our blades, our focus was high as we rowed, with the pride and grace that one could only expect of ‘Kel’s Belles’ up the River Tyne. Once into position we waited for our turn to race, maneuvering – with Kelly’s expertise coxing – between the less intellectually gifted rowing boats that threatened to capsize our boat.

At last the moment came for us to race, we began to spin our boat and built up our speed to race pace up to 33 strokes per minute. ‘Legs one, legs two, legs three….’ came the call that saw the formidable force of Kel’s Belles rear up in all its RUMS glory and send the boat flying down the river. Each stroke saw the WNA boat attacking the rough tide of the River Tyne, getting the boat closer and closer to the finish line. The halfway mark reached, each girl maintained the focus on technique, the separations, the engaged cores, the tap downs that would make all the difference in the minutes and seconds that would mark our BUCS head position. As the pain seeped through our muscles and the finish line loomed within our reach, the uplifting calls of Middle, Middle, Middle, gave us the boost to push our boat over the finish line and into 23rd place. With our BUCS achievements secured under our belts, we look forward to next week, where we hope to smash UH Head and bring home the win for RUMSBC." - Yemi Talabi, Seat 2

Women's Novice VIII Boat B

"Hearing the horror stories the seniors candidly shared about the infamous rowing conditions of the river Tyne, we were understandably apprehensive as we arrived in Newcastle. Encouragingly, on race day, we were welcomed by a shining sun and not too cold weather. Taking this as a good omen, we paddled our way towards the start line full of optimism.

It was during this paddle that we discovered that the seniors had not been lying to us. On the river we were met by a strong and freezing wind, choppy waters and waves that flooded the boat. Very encouraging though was the fact that thus far no one had yet crabbed! Not even our very own Novice Captain Nicola, who was forced to sub in at bow (despite her past as stroke) when we did not have enough rowers to compete with.

After a very long marshal, where the wind kept trying to push us against the wall, we made friends with the University of West England boat and our cox Greg entertained us with his singing, before eventually setting off with a really good race start. The results of all the hours spent both on and off the water training shined through as we kept up speed and power throughout the race, only being overtaken by two boats. Still this kept us motivated to only push harder to keep other boats from catching up to us, although this may have led us to rush up the slide a bit too much and cause Greg to become exasperated with us in the middle of the race. But in the end we did ourselves proud with a time of 12.54s, better than UCL’s own 2nd team!" - Federica Ezennia, Seat 4

Senior Men

Men’s Second VIII

"M2 were already prepared for a less than ideal performance at BUCS Head, with my own health being in something of a dire state and our esteemed captain of Novices being drafted in in place of an absent Timo. Prior to the weekend Matt had promised that he would 'take it easy' at over the weekend, although it remained to be confirmed whether this was in reference to Saturday night's celebrations or the race itself - a query that was quickly answered upon a cursory glance at the snapchat story on Sunday morning. Nevertheless Matt stayed true to his heritage and failed to be bested by a few beverages, turning up in a better state than many of the freshers (despite youth being on their side).

However, things continued to stray further from 'ideal' when it was revealed one of our own would have to be surrendered to M1, after a purulent finger forced Luke drop out, and thus we bid farewell to Ben Southgate and welcomed Alex Bloom into our boat.

When we did finally make it onto the water to face a shortened course, we agreed to red-lining it throughout safe in the knowledge we had nothing to lose and any ground made would be an extreme embarrassment to other crews. Upon setting off we managed to hold our rate well at 32s/m, but a number of large waves did their utmost to disrupt our rhythm, meaning we failed to get the desired send on the boat. Continuing with steady progress in spite of this, we found the momentum we had built over the race halted towards the end when a loose seat resulted in a crab, leaving us motionless but for the action of the waves. Endeavouring to recover from this blow, we pushed hard against the heavy water but it was too late to make up the necessary ground. Unsurprisingly, we placed last, but victory is sweetest when you have known defeat, so we can only hope this makes UH Head feel all the better." - Adam Jones, Seat 2

Men’s First VIII
​
Pending...

Senior Women

Women’s Second VIII
​
"W2 had been feeling apprehensive about BUCS, due to a combination of only having had one previous outing as a whole crew, and the horror stories of our bow seat, who has had a couple of very difficult races on the Tyne. We were prepared for anything: the freezing northern temperatures, the rough waters from the Saturday, even colliding with a Men’s VIII. And yet it all went smoothly. Perhaps the only thing we hadn’t prepared for was our cox having a pre-race wee over the side of the boat while marshalling (but we all admired his dedication to minimise the weight in the boat).

As the race started we settled in to a good rhythm behind our new stroke, and came away strongly. We spent most of the rave making gains on the boat in front of us, though never quite caught them, finishing a respectable 34/44th. Though we ended strongly, we all felt we had not quite emptied the tank. We look forward to racing UH this Sunday with a crew that we have trained in and we intend to leave it all out on the water this time – medal medal medal!" - Millie Walker, Seat 6

Women’s First VIII
​
"UH Dress rehearsal aka BUCS Head. A race that, it can be fair to say, a fair few of our club lament. Alas, with UH Head only a week away, this was definitely massively going to be the time we proved to Rich that we were angry, aggressive, full of fire, hostile, frustrated, aggressive choppers.

Sunday came around and I must say you couldn’t miss the excitement in everyone’s eyes. Glittering, coruscating in fact. Thankfully, marshalling was significantly warmer than last year. Although it was shrewdly observed that we were the only crew not in long sleeves. But this just immediately propelled us with a confidence that we were racing püssi like crews. With some enormous bay parking tekkers from Preena, it wasn’t soon before we were off. Thirty seconds before starting – DISASTER STRUCK! We still weren’t up to race pace due to a minor footplate malfunction which left us rowing in sixes with 10 seconds to go before the start. But these big boy ladies got us up to 32 in a mere stroke!! It was more a state of mind even. Be thirty two…and it was done. Know thyself. Our 30 seconds at 32 felt super speedy and light, like rowing on Vaseline or another hydrophobic emollient cream. We settled into a nice chunky rhythm and with all nine lives remaining we began the Way of the Warrier!

Now you might think this would be a dramatic tale, with lives lost on every choppy wave, off stroke and a heroic effort to take us across the line with one last life. BUT YOU’D BE WRONG! Because we are frickin Tideway RUMSBC women. and every cheesy chip smelling wave that his us, we just hit back even harder. There were times in the third quarter where I wasn’t sure if we were in Newcastle or Utah.... just kidding my eyes were in the boat! But jokes aside, a strong overtake in this section and Eimear’s Irish wizardry let the mitochondria of the boat on and pushed us away. The final straight was in sight but we were dismayed to hear that we still had 5k to go according to Preena. Despite this, we tried to keep it as together as one for the last stretch and with the sweet sweet cry of middle middle middle as we approached the end, we managed a big ass accidental overtake - the best kind. Some dodgy marshalling and precarious boat handling later, we were done - 9 lives remaining and ready to SMASH UH HEAD. We know what we need to improve on and we’re ready to get massively Turnt in this final week to get us those tasty medals.

Shout out to our baby the Wintech - we love and miss you, we’ll be back with you soon." Nadia Eden, Seat 7

Over the weekend RUMSBC will be heading on one of its few excursions away from the familiarity of the Thames to show that we can indeed hold our own against the big boys and girls of university teams from far and wide, and get in one last race to practice ahead of UH Head! On Saturday, the Novices will take on a 3000m stretch of the river Tyne, before the Seniors face a hefty 5000m test of endurance on Sunday. Best of luck to all competitors, let's make this a preview of the success we'll achieve at UH Head.

Men's Novices

​Men's Novice VIII
Cox: Hannah Hickingbotham
Stroke: Luca Richards
7: Alex Bloom
6: Zak Mansell
5: Joe Catling
4: Will Shorrocks
3: Dom Atraszkiewicz
2: Chris Anetekhai
Bow: Swopnil Lamchane Gurung

​"The march to the North will be a stern test for the novice men. Preparation has been going well and can build on their medal-winning ways at Winter Sprints with a strong showing in the Toon. Battling similar chilly and choppy conditions in less than apt garments (sorry) they are well seasoned for the challenge of the Tyne. This is their last chance to get big miles in with UH Head merely a week later." - Matt Kinsella, Men's Novice Captain 17/18

Women's Novices

​Women's Novice VIII Boat A
Cox: Kelly Wyatt
Stroke: Hannah Roberts
7: Annalise Munro
6: Melissa Nelson
5: Laura Dan
4: Ceyda Oral
3: Alex Robinson
2: Yemi Talabi
Bow: Fiona Chegwidden

​Women's Novice VIII Boat B
​Cox: Greg Gibson
Stroke: Eve Kerins
7: Maddie Sanz
6: Gracie Sutton
5: Alisa Rasch
4: Federica Ezennia
3: Sophie McWilliam
2: Radhika Kumar
Bow: Nicola Skajaa (C)

​"This is it, we’re coming up to the final few races of the year, but this is our first ever Head race. The girls have put in so much effort this term and are excited to show off their endurance and technique in Newcastle. With an intense training tour under our belts and lots of water miles and race pieces behind us we are ready to give it our all at BUCS Head. It’s not long before our final showdown at UH head so it’ll be great to see how we do under race conditions and channeling the adrenaline that goes with it!" - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men's Second VIII
​
Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Matt Kinsella
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Ollie Marwood
​
"M2 are excited to travel to Newcastle and compete at national university level. Keen to compete with other 2nds crews and looking to surprise as many university first eights as possible. They’ve been digging deep in training sessions and holding off M1 more and more. They’ll be looking to be hot of there tails when the results come in! With the United hospitals head race just a week after BUCS head these boys will be looking to send a message to there fellow medical school competitors!" - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

Men's First VIII
​
Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Connor Price
3: Luke Martin
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

"We roll into the last race before UH Head eager to show what speed we’ve found since Quintin. A lot of work has been put in with the help of Richard Clarke and William McCaughran. This boat found a lot of speed over training tour weekend in maidstone and the boys of M1 will be well rested for the trip to Newcastle ready to punch well above their weight looking to take down as many university first eights as they can!" - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

​Senior Women

​Women's Second VIII
​
Cox: Chris 'Beans' Jackson
Stroke: Fernanda Fenn Torrente
7: Claire Shadwell
6: Millie Walker
5: Abi Powell
4: Rosa Mobayen
3: Anna Shadwell
2: Asha Dave
Bow: Georgie Stagg

​Women's First VIII

Cox: Preena Patel
Stroke: Livi Drewett
7: Nadia Eden
6: Eimear McKavanagh
5: Mattie Williams
4: Jenny Budden
3: Jen Whitehead
2: Libi Hawkes (C)
Bow: Tintin Larsson

​"The women’s squad is psyched to swap Tideway for Tyne this weekend as we grapple with the Northern winds and take on BUCS Head. As a UH Head dress rehearsal, this is quite the race and both crews are ready to show what they’re made of. We have put in many a mile of snow and rain driven training, and now is the time to see how it’s paying off!" - Libi Hawkes, Women's Captain 17/18

Quintin Head was another astounding day for RUMSBC, with both men's crews performing admirably despite less than favourable weather conditions and substitutions in both boats. M1 came 14th of 27 in their category with a time of 11:22.97, beating off several of their UH rivals with ease and chasing hot on the heels of Bart's. Not ones to let M1 claim all the glory, M2 finished this grueling race in  a time of 12:06.06, placing them 8th of 20 in their category. Boding very well for UH Head, this result put M2 well ahead of many of their UH rivals and mere seconds away from George's 1st crew.

With such excellent results at this stage, we can only hope that we reach new heights in the weeks to come and achieve the success we've worked so hard for throughout the year. Well done men!

Men's Second VIII
​
"Quintin Head was the first head race of the year for the men’s side of the club, so as expected there was a mixture of both excitement and nerves during our long marshaling period. However, seeing the many high quality crews race past us, including our very own M1, naturally increased our excitement and made us hungry for the race. Although term one is sprint season, the focus of training is still very much with UH Head in mind, so the crew was itching to see how the culmination of 3 months of training would serve us in our first official head piece.

Clearly it had served us well, as we got off to an exceptional start, steaming past two crews with ease in the first third of the race. Unfortunately our success at the start ended up being detrimental to us for the middle third, as we had no crews to push off of during a very long and boring stretch of water, so sadly the power and rhythm dropped off a bit during this period. Fortunately, we were greeted by a rather enthusiastic King’s crew during the latter third of the race, who came storming up behind us. Embarrassing a good King’s crew is all the motivation we needed to get our heads back in the race and start winding the power and the rate back up, and managed to hold them off in what become a grueling battle to the finish line.

Overall, we were reasonably happy with our performance. Our strong start was certainly very promising, and the focus for training now is to keep that performance going for the duration of the race, and continue to build on that strong finish. This race gave us a good platform to build on for the months leading up to UH Head, as well as giving us the confidence that UH Head is ours to lose." - Jack Merritt, Seat 4

Men's First VIII
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"Having trained hard over Christmas and with the recent success of Winter Sprints, RUMSBC were ready to show their metal at Quintin Head. Despite the forecast of wind and rain, larks and japes were flying between M1, morale high whilst Freddie feasted on a large breakfast of chips. However, we all knew these would leave him not feeling so chipper later on…

Sure enough, the intense warm up of 10 minutes UT8 followed by stretching and a side dish of banter left Freddie feeling peaky and well before we were ready to boat it was evident that his knees were weak, palms sweaty and there was vomit on his splash jacket already. With Freddie functioning at 30% and Will McCaughran claiming he “might row well today” – little help that would be with his training plan consisting of skiing, sailing and “driving my daddies sports car” –, we set to marshaling.

We wound nicely into the start line and, with a deft hand and rousing motivational war cry, Julia saw us through our first overtake. The rowing was choppy, but no doubt all eight (minus Will who’d blown by this point) were farming serious watts and once through Barnes Bridge with a whipping tail wind the boat sat steady (despite bow’s best efforts). Midrace pace was spicy; rhythm was chunky and quads were burning. Once Hammersmith Bridge was in view, we slammed the pedal to the metal, executed our tier system and steamed (or rather splashed) across the line.

We knew we had made Rich proud and estimated we would be around 30 seconds (rowing pittance) off the UL1V. Good job boys." - Sam Gunning, Seat 6

Following on from a terrific UH Winter Head, the RUMSBC Men's squad couldn't wait to get back onto the water - so much so that they have entered themselves into the Quintin Head, a grueling 4000m stretch between Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridges. Whilst injury (to both man and boat) has led to some unexpected substitutions, both men's crews are confident that they will continue the year in the same way they started it - watching the competition disappear into the horizon. For information on Quintin Head, check out the website here:

Men's Second VIII
​
Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Timo Rodi
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Matt Kinsella

Men's First VIII
​
Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Will McCaughran
3: Luke Martin
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

UH Winter Sprints proved to be a resounding success for RUMSBC, with MN, M2, W2 and W1 all securing medals, and all other crews coming close to enough to victory to keep there competitors wary of loss right the way up to the finish line. With UH Head just a few weeks away, this is marvelous display of rowing prowess bodes well for another day of RUMSBC domination. But until then, we have a number of other events to keep us going, including training tour and BUCS Head, not to Quintin Head, in which the Senior Men's squad will be showing what they can do in the first head race of the new year.

Men’s Novices

Men’s Novice VIII

"After rising bright and early, the Novice Men anxiously awaited our first race. It was RVC, whom we’d beaten before, but that only gave us all the more determination to win again. Despite setting off with possibly one of the worst sprint starts we'd ever performed, we swiftly took up a rhythm and stormed ahead of RVC by at least a length and a half.
​
Feeling more confident, and after an encouraging word from our cox, we now felt prepared for the next race, and our nerves were settled. Unfortunately, it was so soon after our first race that we only had time to line up for the next race and shiver, at the severe risk of developing hypothermia, given that we had no jackets. ICSM finally showed up, late as they were, grinning at us in our horrific state; but despite their significant advantage, they were thoroughly smashed by us with a lead of almost two boat lengths.

After this, we had well deserved rest in the boat house, which largely consisted of eating and sleeping. Our third race was less successful with an unfortunate loss to a non-medical King’s team, whose status as novices was certainly questionable… despite this, we were still ecstatic at our win in the UH Novice Men category, and afterwards enjoyed a well deserved drink." - Finn Norris, Seat 2

Women’s Novices

Women's Novice VIII Boat A

"We approached the start line with optimism following the recent success at Novice Sprints and confident with the effort we had been putting into our training as a boat. Consequent to a strong start, we powered ahead of the opposition establishing a clear distance between us. It was then that the race which initially appeared to be fairly promising took a turn for the worse. Numerous technical difficulties ranging from an open gate, to a foot plate coming loose meant that we continued the large remainder of the race rowing as a six. Nevertheless, we proceeded with determination until the finish with the help of Kelly’s motivational chants meaning that we held onto our lead up to the last few seconds of the race, despite being two rowers down. Subsequent to our defeat, we fully enjoyed winning the two repechage races which we used as an opportunity to build on our race experience. Drawing from how good the boat felt after these and the narrow margin by which we lost our first race, we go forward taking from the positives that the day had to offer and channeling our experiences into each bit of training we do to spare us on in preparation for our future races - all of which we await with anticipation." - Ceyda Oral, Seat 4

Women's Novice VIII Boat B

"Through rain, sleet and snow, the RUMS Novice ladies battled it out on the Thames for the first race of the new year: The UH Winter Sprints. Dressed to impress in our brand new unisuits, our ladies sat tall and proud, ready to drive with our legs to cross the finish line. Sadly, it was not meant to be with our first race against GKT, but not that loss nor the torrential rain could dampen our spirits as we prepared for our second race against none other than our own Novice Women’s A boat. At the start line friends became foes, but not for long as we burst into action. After gaining headway from our opponents, an unlucky crab drew our boat to a stop allowing our opponents to take the lead. Still determined, we powered on to the finish line, closing the distance between the boats to a mere length. Despite the unfortunate results from the races, our team remained proud of how much we have improved together. As a team, we rowed back to the boat house with our heads held high, all while our cox serenaded us with songs by legends such as The Beatles and Queen – thanks Kelly. More driven and determined than ever before, we eagerly await races to come to show off what RUMSBC women can do." - Sophie McWilliam, Seat 3

"The novice girls have put in many winter miles on the water and hours on the erg, and we were very excited to show off our power and technique to the other crews. The WN A boat (Eve, Laura, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Serena, Fiona) unfortunately experiences a few technical difficulties and did amazingly considering - they only lost by half a boat length to the crew they met in the finals of Novice Sprints last term! The WN B boat (Federica, Alex, Yemi, Alisa, Gracie, Sophie, Riya, Jade) also faced challenging competition, which lead to a RUMS v. RUMS race. Instead of pitting the A boat against the B boat, we matched the crews so that no one could predict the outcome! (Eve, Laura, Yemi, Alisa, Gracie, Serena, Fiona) v (Federica, Alex, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Riya, Jade). Unfortunately one of the crews caught a boat-stopping crab, but there was still a RUMS victory! Eight girls (Federica, Alex, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Serena, Fiona) then braved the snow and rain one last time in order to win repechage final." - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men’s Second VIII

"The men of M2 had thought Allom cup would be a perfect opportunity for redemption following our out of character display at Novice sprints, which saw us fall at the first hurdle to LSE. One week on, soul searching done, and we were ready to go. However, on the morning of the regatta we were informed Allom had been cancelled, and so we re-set our focus on Winter sprints.

5 weeks of training followed, and with the crew slightly altered following the Christmas break, early January really saw us beginning to gel. Our new stroke man Martin, and our new German recruit Timo slotted in seamlessly. Side by side training with M1 was really getting the best out of us on the water, and a team bonding trip to Birmingham the weekend before the race put the icing on the cake. We were prepared to prove that our performance at Novice sprints was not a true reflection of us as rowers.

We were in for a long wait to race on the day as the men’s intermediate category was to go to a straight three way final between us, George’s and Bart’s. Down to support the rest of the RUMSBC crews, we waited in the pouring rain until our race was due to start at 3:55pm. Eager to get going, we boated and rowed up to Chiswick Bridge where we waited with our competition. The marshals quickly got us into position:  Bart’s on Middlesex, us in the middle, George’s on Surrey. We floated up river until Jerry had us in position opposite Quintin boathouse. And we were off.

A powerful, measured start had us take seats from Bart’s straight off the line. Our first 35 strokes, which we had practiced so many times in training came off perfectly. It saw us quickly chunk through seats on the Bart’s crew until we had clear water on them. Now to deal with George’s. We’d taken around half a length on them by this point, coming up to a third of the race gone. Holly called for a big power 10, yet we didn’t gain significantly on them. This is where all the side by side rowing we had done in training came into it’s own, we stayed calm and our rowing remained tidy. By the time we had passed half way we began to creep past a tiring George’s one seat at a time, until we had clear water on them too. 30 more “big boy strokes” and we were over the line listening to the RUMS contingent cheering for us. We’d won, made amends for Novice sprints, and laid down a marker for the biggest race of the year; UH Head." - Jack Illingworth, Seat 6

Men’s First VIII
​
"On Sunday the 21st of January, RUMSBC senior men took to the tideway for the very first time as a senior 8 this season. With months of hard training on and off the water under our belts, we were keen to kick the year off with a strong performance against our UH counterparts. Our first race came against a Kings boat fresh off a victory against ICSM, and through the first half of the race there was little that could split the two crews. However, the crew dug deep and our proved enough to come out on top by half a length. This victory put us through to the final against a Barts boat we knew would try and win the race off the start. Both crews flew off the line, and over the first 100m the race seemed to be in the balance. Unfortunately the middle portion of the race belonged to Barts who slowly chipped away, seat by seat, and despite a slight resurgence by RUMS they ended up winners by a length. Despite this loss, we take confidence from a strong day of racing, and look forward to a successful Head season where we can build on this solid foundation." - Alex Lane, Seat 5

Senior Women

Women’s Second VIII
​
"With winter sprints being W2's first and last sprints competition of the year we were all eager to put our hard work to the test. Although our first race against George's started with a near miss of crashing into our mens novice VIII's boat, we didn't let that phase us out. We came together and won by a considerable margin. The final against LSE was a lot tougher than we expected and after being soaked through by the typical January weather it was hard to keep positive. Despite this, we kept our eyes in the boat and gave the race everything. At points LSE would catch up slightly but we pushed harder and with Chris' motivational coxing and cheering from the boathouse as we came up to the finish we smashed the final race and were awarded medals" - Charlotte Withers, Stroke

Women’s First VIII
​
"The UH Winter Regatta always proves to be a challenging race for RUMSBC due to its timing being the weekend after social tour. Combining that with a forecast of snow, wind and rain, the women’s spirits were not their highest. However, an impressive start against George’s in the heats left us a length up after the first 30 strokes, which the crew continued to build on throughout the race, leading to a comfortable win of 2 and a half lengths. We headed into the final against the infamous KCL, apprehensive but determined. Another powerful start, and this time the women settled into a strong and steady race rhythm. At half-way we were holding our own against them, and with Preena’s exemplary coxing we began to gain on them, seat-by-seat. With medals in sight, and a long-deserved victory over King’s just 30 strokes away, W1 emptied the tank for the last minute. Winning by 3/4 of a length, W1 were thrilled with their their first medals of the season. The women hope to keep up this strong performance as we move into training for Head season." - Claire Shadwell, Seat 7

The time is upon us for the third UH event of the season, the UH Winter Regatta. Following the disappointing cancellation of Allom Cup, RUMSBC is raring to once again prove their prowess upon the Thames for the first time this year. Make sure you wrap up warm (perhaps by buying one of our stylish RUMSBC bobble hats) so you needn't miss a moment of a fun-filled day of sprint races, and clear some space on your mantelpiece for you to proudly display the medals you'll be bringing in tomorrow. Let's show everyone who the best UH team is and make sure they know who to watch out for come UH Head!

For information on race times, results and more, please click here.

Men's Novices

​Men's Novice VIII
Cox: Hannah Hickingbotham
Stroke: Luca Richards
7: Alex Bloom
6: Zak Mansell
5: Will Shorrocks
4: Sam Wray
3: Dom Atraszkiewicz
2: Finn Norris
Bow: Swopnil Lamchane Gurung

​"A new year of rowing brings new opportunities to the Novice Men. After their strong showing at Winter Sprints and the disappointment with Allom Cup cancellation, they are raring to go and make the tideway their own. Being their last UH race before they meet their rivals again for UH Head in little over a month, this is their last chance to show everyone what they've got and claim their stake for the UH crown!" - Matt Kinsella, Men's Novice Captain 17/18

Women's Novices

​Women's Novice VIII Boat A
Cox: Kelly Wyatt
Stroke: Eve Kerins
7: Laura Dan
6: Hannah Roberts
5: Annalise Munro
4: Ceyda Oral
3: Melissa Nelson
2: Serena Lu
Bow: Fiona Chegwidden

​Women's Novice VIII Boat B
​Cox: Greg Gibson
Stroke: Federica Ezennia
7: Alex Robinson
6: Radhika Kumar
5: Alisa Rasch
4: Gracie Sutton
3: Sophie McWilliam
2: Riya Gosrani
Bow: Jade Kayran

​"After a disappointing cancellation of Allom cup, the girls are ready to show how much we’ve learnt over the last couple of months. Our sprint-starts are a fine art, and this is our last chance to show them off until Bumps! The competition may be tough but, with all the winter miles we’ve got behind us, we are going to give the races 100%. Good luck girls!" - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men's Second VIII
​
Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Timo Rodi
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Ollie Marwood

​"Following their disappointing performance at Novice sprints, M2 have returned to the new year with new vigour and grit ready to prove novice sprints was a one off. The boys have been battling M1 on the water and holding them off in training sessions, much to M1s annoyance. This confidence they take to the start line on Sunday ready to create as much distance between them and their opposition." - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

Men's First VIII
​
Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Connor Price
3: Will McCaughran
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

"After the cancellation of Allom Cup, the wait is finally over for M1 to prove themselves on the UH stage after months of hard graft ergs and water time. With head season just around the corner this is the one and only chance for M1 to pick up medals and begin the road to UH head perfectly. The boys are eager and confident that they can get their nose ahead and look forward to battling side by side whichever crew may come at them. Good luck to them!" - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

​Senior Women

​Women's Second VIII
​
Cox: Chris 'Beans' Jackson
Stroke: Charlotte Withers
7: Anna Shadwell
6: Mattie Williams
5: Asha Dave
4: Fernanda Fenn Torrente
3: Olivia Duffy
2: Rosa Mobayen
Bow: Alice Gandee

​Women's First VIII

Cox: Preena Patel
Stroke: Livi Drewett
7: Claire Shadwell
6: Jenny Budden
5: Jen Whitehead
4: Eimear McKavanagh
3: Abi Powell
2: Libi Hawkes (C)
Bow: Tintin Larsson

​"After the disappointment of not being able to compete at Allom Cup, these ladies are pumped and ready to compete in their first sprints race of the year. A fun weekend away with friends was a mere 7 days ago, but nevertheless these ladies will be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday. With many rate 38 practice starts behind us, we will be sure to take the tideway by storm and hopefully bring home some medals to reflect all the hard work we’ve been putting in over the year." - Libi Hawkes, Women's Captain 17/18