Lucy Cavendish College Boat Club President, Hattie Wills, reports on an outstanding 2022.
This year has been notable for LCCBC for several reasons.
Firstly, it marked the first normal year after 2 years of disruption by Covid.
Secondly, it was the first year of increased intake for the college, including under 21s and undergraduates.
Finally, it marked the first year of male students, opening up Lucy to include the first-ever men’s squad.
It’s been a stressful but rewarding year. With over 70 people wanting to learn to row, our lower boat captains were stretched thin, but through three sets of novice intake throughout the year, everyone got their chance.
We’ve entered more crews in more races than the past two years combined, raced off-Cam in Oxford with St. Benet’s Hall, and finished the year with a spectacular last week of May Bumps!
With most of our students struggling with exams and deadlines throughout Easter term, training took a back seat for most of our rowers and coxes. Everyone entered the week with the aim to have fun, enjoy rowing in beautiful weather and to do our absolute best.
Each day, M1 raced first in the M4 division. As the first-ever Lucy men’s crew in May Bumps, nothing they could have done would have stopped us being proud of them, but giving it their absolute all from the start every day meant they barely rowed further than 500m. They bumped every day with lightning-fast speed - first Homerton M2, then Darwin M2, and then Downing M3. Once blades were in their reach, there was no alternative ending for M1, and they bumped Churchill M3 for blades on the final day.
Their success has made history for the college and the boat club and beckons an impressive era for the Lucy men’s squad!
We’re hugely grateful to Cambridge ’99 boat club for the use of their Men’s boat throughout the year for training and races, as well as Jonah Zankl and Ethan Hawkins for coaching, and Catrin Darsley for coxing them to victory!
We are also incredibly excited to be able to thank Emmanuel College. Not only did they let us use their boat for May bumps, but after the huge victory of the crew, they have incredibly generously donated the boat to Lucy Boat Club. We have agreed to keep the name “Colonel Rennie” in honour of the original donor, and are so thankful that the men’s squad can continue to grow indefinitely!
W2 raced next. Similarly to M1, their determination not to row the entire course meant that they adopted a ‘fly or die’ tactic, bumping incredibly speedily every day, with their quickest bump in 342m, barely surpassing the race start calls! They first bumped Clare Hall, then Darwin W2, and Jesus W3. Had the crew they were chasing not bumped out ahead of them on the final day, they would’ve rightly joined W1 and M1 in earning their blades with a final bump. Unfortunately, despite having earned one whistle, they had to make a speedy stop and escape the chaos lying in their tracks as the bump ahead occurred. To say a good boat bumps three times and a lucky boat bumps four is definitely true for our W2.
Despite this setback, they pushed through to the finish, completing the bumps course with a very respectable row over and making their captains, coaches, and cox very proud.
W1 raced last, having listened to CamFM for news of the other crews before they set off every day. With the drive to match the high bar set by the previous two crews, W1 really gave it everything. Their endurance was put to the test by having to row up to 1.5km of the race to catch their competitors - first Murray Edwards W1, Jesus Hall W2, and Emmanuel W2.
On the last day, they gave it power 20s and big legs for the sake of their captains, cox and crew, and their tenacity and determination allowed them to finish by bumping Darwin W1 just after the Plough pub.
They say that a race isn’t won on race day, but for Lucy W1 the commitment and dedication to their crew and club gave them the ability to push through the pain to achieve the first-ever sole Lucy W1 Blades! Another historic achievement for the club.
Special thanks from the women’s squad to captains Miriam Schaepers and Janka Erdos for the relentless effort that they put into the women’s squad, Paula Darwin for coaching, race plans, and encouragement, and Abbey Child, Hannah Blom, and Emma Lepinay for guest coaching. Also thanks to Chris Launchbury and Emily Moon for phenomenal coxing and encouragement of their crews.
As if this wasn’t enough, with 11 out of 12 possible bumps and one row over, Lucy Cavendish College was also announced the winner of the Pegasus Cup for 2022 - the award given to the most successful college club in May Bumps!
We celebrated this at the boathouse with 72 pints of Pegasus beer, courtesy of Milton Brewery.
The word proud starts to sound repetitive, but there is nothing more to say about the performance of the crews this year, after such tremendous achievements. They overcame many challenges, including most of the club getting covid at one point or another, and pulled together in every possible way to make it a phenomenal ending to a historic year.
View the pictures below.
Slideshow boat club by Lucy Cavendish