What a Term we had in Michaelmas!
Lucy Cavendish College Boat Club President, Chris Launchbury, reports on a very successful Term.
Women’s Co-Captain 2023, Emily Moon, tells us all about the start of Term four-day training camp.
The women's squad of Lucy Cavendish College Boat Club were delighted to welcome back their returning and new senior members for 2023, and what better way to do so than in the form of a weekend training camp! Organised by the women's captains and coaches, the four days leading up to the start of term saw our keen rowers power through a busy schedule of ergs, circuits, outings, indoor tank rowing and video analysis sessions. This crash-course event was put together for the opportunity for our rowers to refresh their skills from last term and highlight ideas for improvements for the training ahead. Most importantly, however, it allowed our existing seniors and coaches to welcome last terms novices into the squad, making it one of the largest memberships the club has seen to date.
The training began at college on Friday afternoon which involved a gentle return to training using the ergs at the gym. This did contrast slightly however from the hour-long circuits workout also from that afternoon, bursting with burpees, bench presses and bicep curls run by our fantastic senior member Emily Robinson.
With 40mph winds and intermittent downpours threatening our weekend of training, we had to make some adjustments to Saturdays' schedule. Despite this, three of our women's crews hit the water in the afternoon after a morning of land training. The ‘Lyda’, ‘Speedwell’ and ‘Rennie’ crews battled it out against the typical Lent-style weather with a series of exciting bumps-style races along the Reach and a number of long-distance pieces. The coaches demanded for many of these pieces that the crew should race with their feet out of the shoes to improve connection between the toes and the boa - a tricky skill to master even in perfect conditions! Video analysis each evening of the day’s water training, run by the 2021-22 women's captains Miriam and Janka, provided honest and detailed technical feedback.
In addition, sessions at the Cambridge Rowing Tank on the Sunday provided the perfect opportunity to put this into practice.
Most of our rowers concluded the weekend with an impressive high-intensity sprint session on the rowing machines, whilst a small number with energy left to spare took to the water again on the Monday morning for an extra outing of technical work. It also provided the opportunity for one of our aspiring novice coxes to refresh their training in preparation for the busy term of coxing ahead.
Both coaches and captains alike were extremely impressed by the improvements in technique over the weekend. These improvements were evidently achieved through the enthusiasm and coachability of the squad even in all weather extremes and forms of erg-fatigue. Taking these positives from the weekend, we can be sure that the training camp has given the rowers a springboard to dive into the term ahead.
Women's captains, Clara Green and Emily Moon, said: "After all the preparation it took to organise the event, we are very pleased with how things went. The Lower Boat Captains have done a fantastic job of training our new rowers last term, and we know that each individual rower that has joined us now will make a valuable addition to our squad. We are very grateful to everyone who helped coach, cox, advise and support us in every way to make the weekend a success. We’re super excited to support each and every rower through their rowing journey this term and we hope to make it as memorable, exhausting and rewarding as possible".
Be sure to look out for the distinctive blue and black blades of the LCCBC women on the River Cam for what promises to be an impressive term to come!
We’re very grateful to our coaches Hannah Spry, Abbey Child, and Gloria Jansen for their help with the training camp, and all of those who gave their time to make it a success.
