Break throughs and progressions since the 1970s

Yesterday, alongside CUBC and CULRC, CUWBC flooded the wet dock at the site of our new combined boathouse in Ely. The plans for the new combined boathouse are a world away from the facilities, or lack of, that Vicky Singh, nee Markham, CUWBC President 1973 and 1974 remembers, in her memories below. I'm also pleased to say our weights and ergo training has progressed since then and I don't have to spend time cycling around Cambridge looking for coaches (although they have been known to sleep through their alarms).

Vicky Singh's memories:

When I was President of the CUWBC there were no ergos in Cambridge. In 1971 we learnt how to row in a dark blue bank tub moored outside Trinity 1^st&3^rd boathouse where our boats were then housed. We only had two, one a clinker eight and the other a shell eight, given by a former President’s mother. They were called Persephone and Marguerite. Canon Duckworth at Churchill coined the phrases, 'Perspiring Persephones' and 'Sweaty Betties'. (There had been a major controversy in the sixties as the CUBC wanted to ban women from rowing in the same Bumps division as men as there was a widely held feeling that it provided a ridiculous spectacle. Canon Duckworth had led the successful campaign in support of the women.)

At first we had to change in the open bike sheds at Trinity, but from 1973 were allowed upstairs to a small room  that contained a toilet, some hooks and a couple of metal beer barrels. Anyone remember the bemused boatman, Frank?

 My friends and I in Newnham were recruited as first years by a dark haired sporty looking Newnham graduate who came round the rooms. The mature club members who were all post graduate and who had been very successful rowing together needed to recruit undergraduates or women’s rowing was heading for disaster. I don’t remember the Boat Race in 1972 but we were running women’s rowing soon after it. The big development that changed the history of women’s rowing at Cambridge came in Michaelmas1972 when Clare, Churchill and Kings took female students for the first time. There was then a situation where girls had access to their own College equipment, boats, boat house and coaches. We started boat clubs in Girton, New Hall and Newnham that were separate from CUWBC and held a Fours Regatta in 1973. The increase in numbers was a natural development from there.

I can’t remember trials being an issue in 1973 as it was a question of finding eight women and a cox who were prepared to arrive punctually for 7.30am outings without the benefit of mobile phones to  remind them. And they were always there. This was the beauty of Cambridge rowing where rowing as a women’s sport seemed to be self selecting so that only the highly motivated and efficient, usually busy scientists with a 9.00am lecture, came forward. The crew that year was made up of 3 Newnham 1^st years, 3 2^nd years, a 2^nd year from Girton and a New Hall post graduate (Jane Kingsbury).

There had been very little socialising between the men and the women but I was fortunate enough to have a good friend going out with the President of CUBC, Chris Baillieu, and so we were invited to his CUBC tea parties and fraternisation began. I remember a lot of time was spent cycling around Cambridge trying to find last minute coaches for various crews. We managed to persuade, David Maxwell, an Olympic silver medallist, to coach the Blue Boat. His friend , Philip Howard, wrote for The Times and came to the 1973 boat race which was held in Cambridge.. We beat Oxford in 4 mins 7 secs on the Cam and our picture was on the home page of The Times. (Who was President when women’s rowing became accepted as a sport and made the sports page?)

 It was decided that some land training would be a good idea and we went to Fenners which was a very basic gym owned by the university. The male coaches were so nervous about straining us that we were started off with empty bars and no weights.

The 1974 Boat Race was held at Oxford, as they alternated between the two rivers, and again , we beat Oxford in 4 mins 8 secs. The crew in 1974 had 2 Churchill 2^nd years, 3 Clare 2^nd years, 2 Newnham 2^nd years and 2 Newnham 3^rd years. As competition between the Colleges  intensified  the need for objective trials became necessary. But still no ergos,  training trips to Ely or financial support from Corporations .

Congratulations to all those who came after and have achieved such incredible heights of international excellence and gender parity.

The current squad at the Ely break through

The whole is greater than....

Already a week into the trialing season and it seems to have flown by; yet I already feel like I've been training alongside the other girls for a lot longer.  Some might attribute it to the emails we sent each other over the summer or the team building assault course that we challenged ourselves with at the beginning of the week. We did have a lot of fun running around in the mud, carrying tyres, jumping into water and clambering over various obstacles (although we are hoping our coxes and coaches didn't pick up too much of the instructors' bootcamp style). However, this sense of camaraderie is something that goes back further than just this year's squad and is strength drawn from being a member of CUW.

Every trialist signs up at the beginning of the season with the same goal, all with the desire to earn their seat and the right to row with light blue blades. We all dream of the opportunity to line up at the start of a Boat Race, alongside people who (if my past three years of CUW crews are anything to go by) will become some of your closest friends.

These are the girls who are there for you through the highs and lows, the laughs and the tears. They are the only people in the world who can truly understand what you are going through and why you are trialing - a question so often asked, yet one which no single sentence can ever fully answer.

This feeling of closeness within the squad and the crews that you become part of over the year was summed up for me when I received an email from Lene Hansen (BB 1997) during the summer.

'Almost 20 years on from the catfight to get into that boat, those women are still my Blues Sisters. We have certainly had our ups and downs, but most of us are in contact and I am more grateful for them every passing year... In fact, I am hoping that one of my sons marries one of my Sister's daughters!'

Looking back at the photo of some of us as we began our trialing journey at the assault course on Monday, we are very much a group of strong minded, competitive individuals. However, over the next few months we will become a team and form friendships that will no doubt last long after we cross the finish line next April.

Ladies and Coxes of CUWBC 2015. Wear a bike helmet.

The 2015 Boat Races will be historic ones both for our club and for women’s rowing as a whole. Next year will see the first women’s crew race on the Tideway, over the same course and on the same day as the more widely known Men’s Boat Race. As the club looks forward to this event, it also provides an opportunity to look back at the history of CUWBC; to remember that we are just one squad in a history of Women’s Boat Races and give us a chance to reflect on what the Boat Race means for all those who have raced before us.

Having been elected as CUWBC President for the 2014/15 season I knew I would be joining a unique group of people. A group of people who have voluntarily given their time and effort to make the club what it is today; all the while having to balance their own academic and rowing commitments.  This was a group of people I wanted to get a chance to know more about.

Over the summer I wrote to all the past Presidents of the club asking if they would like to contribute to a blog filled with stories of past crews and words of advice to the current squad. The responses I have received have been amazing (so thank you to everyone who has been in touch).  I’ve had messages to the squad, stories of trialling and races, newspaper cuttings and photos sent to me. Over the next seven months I look forward to sharing their contributions with you, as well as the 2015 squad’s journey. If anyone else has any contributions they would like to pass on, I would be only too happy to receive them – president@cuwbc.org.uk

Today marks the start of our official trialling period, 209 days until the Henley Boat Races and 215 days until the Tideway races. The start of trialling is always a whirlwind of emotions, especially for those experiencing it for the first time; excitement and nervousness at the challenges of the months ahead, as well as a sense of going into the unknown, it is a comfort however to know that whatever emotions you may be feeling, in all likelihood there will have been a girl before you having the same thoughts.

In my first post I would like to share with you all a message to the 2015 squad as they start their trialling adventure.  It is based on Mary Schmich’s article which was later adapted into a song by Baz Luhrmann (attached below). This advice comes courtesy of Lizzie Polgreen, the 2011 President.

 Ladies and Coxes of CUWBC 2015. Wear a bike helmet.

If I could offer you only one tip for the season, a bike helmet would be it. The benefits of wearing a bike helmet in bike accidents have been proved by statistics, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy your season. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and strength of your body until it has faded. You will not understand the beauty of dedicating everything of yourself to one race until the opportunity has passed. But trust me, in a few years’ time, you’ll look back at photos and race results and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much potential lay before you. Life is not as stressful as you imagine. 

Don't worry about the opposition. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to complete your supervision work by checking your emails. The real progress in your season will come from being the best YOU can be, not from competing with an unknown girl wearing dark blue one hundred miles away.

Do one thing better every day.

Stretch.

Don’t waste other people’s time. Don’t put up with people that waste yours.

Eat properly.

Don't waste your effort on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The season is long and, in the end, the competition is only with yourself. 

Take confidence from the races you win. Take greater confidence from the lessons learned in the races you lose. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old training diaries. Throw away your old train tickets.

Core.

Don't feel guilty if sometimes you aren't sure if you are capable of doing this. The best athletes I know have moments of doubt in their training. It is dealing with your self-doubt that matters.

Get as much sleep as possible. 

Maybe you’ll win your seat race, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll be a blue, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll be the spare, maybe you’ll race in the heavyweight reserves boat. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Fulfil your potential, everything else is down to chance.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but the gym.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Ely will be cold. Training will be hard. You, too, will sometimes wonder why you are doing this. And when you do, you'll fantasize about what you could be doing if you weren't out rowing, if you were living a "normal" student life. Hold out, it is worth it.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. It is as strong and fast as it has ever been. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Listen to advice from your coaches, follow it. 

Listen to advice from your alumni, even if you don’t follow it.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in your crew, because the tougher the race, the more you need to rely on each other. 

Respect your opposition. They understand the things you are doing.

Don’t expect to rely on anything except boat speed. Maybe you have a 7 minute ergo, maybe you have a 100kg deadlift. You never know when your seat race will be.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth. 

But trust me on the bike helmets.