Women's Rowing
Having seen some ups and downs in the past few years, MCBC’s women’s squad saw a steady rise this academic year. We experienced quite a difficult first term, complete with torrential rain, terrible weather, high stream and more, which meant a lack of rowing that was especially saddening for our novices. This generated many different types of land training, including the brand-new women’s side circuits, as well as many themed ergs, including the fan favourites: Merg (musical erg) and Ergtic Monkeys.
A positive aspect of our first term was the arrival of our new head coach for the year, Rachel Grainger, who taught us about the menstrual cycle in sports, nutrition, RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport), recovery, and just generally being a female athlete in a sport that is often catered towards men. Meanwhile, Tímea Csahók, our coach for the novice and lower women’s boats, gave our novices a passion for the erg that I have rarely come across (shown by the many Mergs they took part in).
One of my goals as captain this year was to enable my squad to race outside Oxford as much as our budget would allow. Alas, the season did not start quite the way we intended it, with Wallingford Head being cancelled ten days before the event due to the ground in the trailer park being completely saturated. However, we managed to get the senior squad to Quintin Head in January, which was a huge success for the women’s side. We finished second in our category, despite the 6-seat backstay that broke in the middle of our two hours of very chilly marshalling, and which was held together by electrical insulation tape during the race.
Hilary also saw the end of the Isis Winter League, in which Merton finished third overall. We entered every one of the races, despite two of the five being cancelled due to the high river levels. Among the races cancelled were Autumn IVs and Nephthys in Michaelmas and, more importantly, Torpids 2024. Indeed, we experienced our first black flag in many years and had to save the boathouse from flooding.
The women’s side decided instead to focus their training towards Women’s Eights Head of the River (WEHoRR), which Merton women rowers haven’t participated in since before the pandemic. Since our home stretches of river kept hovering between red and black flag, we decided to turn our efforts towards new rowable waters in Gloucester. This proved to be wet, cold, and invaluable training. Unfortunately, WEHoRR 2024 was not meant to be. Because of the river levels on the Tideway, the organisers had to cut half of the crews from the race, including almost every Oxford college crew. After a sobering night of disappointment with the crew, we turned our prospects towards Summer VIIIs. Our biggest achievement of the term was probably the sheer amount of boats we rigged.
In the run-up to the end of Hilary, MCBC took on a 24-hour ergathon, raising more than £2,000 for Homeless Oxfordshire. Thank you to everyone who donated. Aside from the charitable success of the ergathon, it was a beautiful event for the whole squad to bond over, having spent little to no time on the river together that term. There is nothing quite like meeting up with your teammates at 3am for a two-hour shift on the erg and sitting down on a seat that is already too warm for comfort!
Our Easter training camp was at Wimbleball Lake on Exmoor. On theme with the year, Wimbleball was wet, but even wetter due to the many capsizes MCBC went through. Our head coaches, Rachel and Jess, made sure our novices finally got to experience the joys of rowing by immediately putting them in singles. Sounds terrifying, but the novices I am referring to are the new captains for the next academic year, so clearly it wasn’t terrifying enough.
In Trinity, we finally saw something that we thought we might never see again, an OURC’s green flag. I have never been as impressed with anyone’s hard work as I was with our ex-novices this term. Most of them had only ever been in a boat a handful of times, but with the help of our brilliant W2 coach, Timea, and five training sessions a week, W2 made waves. In the meantime, our women’s 4+ made it to Bedford Regatta in St Edmund Hall’s new Filippi 4+ and won their category, taking home a beautiful tankard.
Last but very far from least in our ‘successful despite itself’ season came Summer VIIIs. This last week of the season brought double blades for the women’s side – an accumulation of ten bumps across our two crews, with both crews going up a division. And this was despite W1 having only five members able to participate in all the training and having to find subs a couple days before the first day of VIIIs, and W2 learning to row that very term. Eights Week exhibited a fierce unity in the crews and throughout the women’s side and MCBC. Our coxes, Daniel Orton (2023) and Victor Chu (2022), had not yet had the chance to navigate the beautiful chaos of Bumps, Daniel coming to the Isis from the Tideway, and Victor usually sitting in one of the opposite-facing seats of the boat. They adjusted to it remarkably well and their commitment to the perfect racing line and transformative racing calls was unmatched. It was a shame for Daniel’s hyper-detailed race plan (which he spent many hours on) that W1 bumped before the Gut every day.
The most remarkable thing about the 2023–24 women’s side has been their complete inability to settle for anything less than their dreams and goals. Merton women have been absolutely restless and stubborn, their minds tunnel-visioned on success. It has certainly paid off.
Becka Pickard (2022)
Women’s Rowing Captain 2023–24
Our head coach, Adam Donaldson, stopped us partway down the river on one freezing, misty morning in January, to explain to us the concept of ubuntu, an Nguni Bantu term that embodies the concept of togetherness, humanity: ‘I am because you are.’ If there is one word that can describe the ethos of the women’s squad this year, it is ubuntu. We are all very proud of the effort, determination, good humour and kindness on display at every level within the squad.
We began the year with about a boat’s worth of senior rowers training regularly at Godstow, with two more of our number running the novice programme at the Isis and a few others overcome by work, illness, etc. Michaelmas gave us a great opportunity to get to know our new coach, get back into the swing of training, and set a foundation for not only our rowing but also our attitude, professionalism and focus. The absolute highlight of the term was on the Wednesday of 8th Week, when we went head-to-head with Keble W1 in torrential rain. The most gruelling of Adam’s test sessions (6 x 500m pieces from standing starts) became a thrilling, moving opportunity for the underdog. Despite being 20-something places higher on the river than us, Keble never got close to clear water, and on one piece we held them completely even. Absolutely soaked through, we ended the session (and the term of training) on a high.
Hilary and its weather hit us hard: we only had three weeks on the water in the run-up to Torpids. With only nine sessions at Godstow, we pushed on and made all the progress we could. Having set our W1 crew early on, the closeness and friendship in our Torpids crew was a wonderful thing to experience, and everyone gave it their all. We ended Torpids week with an unlucky -1 overall, but the satisfaction, experience and drive that we gained from the campaign was priceless. For W2, meanwhile, this was the first Bumps campaign for everyone in the boat. Having qualified, which was no mean feat, they took to the week with determination, and experienced the adrenaline of cannons, crashes and appeals at OURC’s race desk. Substantial chaos in Divisions 5 and 6 gave them both jumps and falls in the charts, but the whole crew handled it with aplomb, and we ended on a high, back in Division 5.
Torpids was not the only momentous event that week: we also took the delivery of Irene Tracey, our new W1 Filippi shell. We didn’t row in her for Torpids itself, but one week after the races we reunited our W1 Torpids crew to take her for a paddle on the Isis, in which we took our rate-build higher than we had ever taken it before, and we knew that she would treat us well.
Over Easter, we organised and planned for an action-packed training camp back in Oxford in -1st Week. Unfortunately, the sky gods had other plans, and we had a grand total of one water outing over training camp and 0th Week. The anticipated good weather of Trinity term was slow to appear but when it came, it was glorious. With coaching availability patchy, W1 took their training into their own hands, and welcomed some new faces into the boat in the places of those who had left for exams. We won’t soon forget those sessions and the shouts of ‘Sit central’, ‘Sit tall in the wash!’, ‘Sit on your seat!’, ‘Sit the boat!’ that punctured the 6am Godstow air. Nor will we forget the herd of ponies running alongside us during our race pieces. W2 cracked on with their new coach, Timea, and settled in very well to Joe Virden, who had been handed down from W1. Especially when some old hands returned to the boat, having finished their exams, the girls put some real grit into their training. Again, it was a short bloc, with weather problems at the start and Eights in 5th Week, but we couldn’t wait to give it our best.
Everyone agreed that progress would be the best measure of our success, and both crews made massive progress over Eights Week in settling into the racing rhythm. Although the results aren’t demonstrative of all our hard work (-2 for both crews – we do everything together!), the attitudes and progression were very clear. We should be very proud of how we have rebuilt over the last few years since Covid, and go into next year 100% ready to capitalise on the experience gained this year. None of the women’s rowers is graduating this year, so we will all be pushing each other on with ambition. The campaign for Torpids 2024 starts now.
Tabby Spindler (2021)
Women’s Rowing Captain 2022-23
It is safe to say that this year started with mixed feelings. Following the Blades victory in Summer Torpids 2021, and most of the crew members having graduated over the summer, there were big shoes to fill and little resources to do so. Thanks to committed novice captains, solid weather and keen freshers, more than 20 novices joined the club in October, competed in Christ Church Regatta and returned to rowing in Hilary term. Their incredible commitment and enthusiasm led one of the two women’s boats competing in Christ Church Regatta into the finale, where they placed second.
Hilary term was fundamental for creating a great sense of community, with the no-longer-novices joining the senior members for erg sessions, circuits and outings. It didn’t take long for the crew to integrate, helped by post-outings snacks and pizza socials. IWLs provided great chances to measure ourselves on the Isis against other college’s crews and different types of weather conditions (Eunice, we don’t fear you). Under the coaching experience of Dan and Alex, we managed to enter two boats into Torpids, opening the 2022 bump season, which was the first one for most rowers on our boats. After successfully qualifying in Rowing On, W2 initially bumped successfully but unfortunately this upward trend was stopped and we lost two positions overall. W1 managed to remain in third division, securing a bump on the last day. During the Easter vacation, the boat club spent a week training in Porto, enjoying the sun and the spectacular views and surviving two-and-a-half-hour sessions on the Duoro river. The momentum of the Torpids campaign was kept and the mild weather as well as steady progress in the boat created a strong sense of excitement and commitment for Summer Eights. Besides rowing in the eight, many rowers tried sculling and coxing for the first time.
Back from Portugal, everyone was hyped about Summer Eights and the two boats started a very intense training regime with seven or eight training sessions per week. The commitment paid off. W2 maintained their position in sixth division, with their cox having only a bit more than a month of experience. W1 suffered multiple injuries in the weeks leading up to Summer Eights and the crew, made up of many rowers who had never stepped into a boat until nine months ago, competed fiercely in a tough field. After closing on crews multiple times, the boat rowed over twice and dropped two positions.
We are looking into the future of women’s rowing at Merton with content and excitement. Next year will start with a strong squad of committed rowers and a supportive, fun team spirit, which will welcome any novices. Overall, the team spirit is at its highest, with a large number of amazing rowers who had never stepped on a boat until nine months ago. We’ve definitely managed to lay the foundations for the years to come.
Angela Falezza and Clara Kummerer (both 2020)
Women’s Rowing Captains 2021-22