Catz women's recent record in side-by-side racing has not been good. In fact, their last win — when faced with an opposition who actually turned up — was in 2014, and their last win in Christ Church Regatta was even further back. But this term, with 5 wins from 8 races, they seem to have put that behind them, and the senior VIII even picked up some silverware of their own in Nephthys Regatta.

In news of the Blues, the Oxford and Cambridge squads have been competing in the Fours Head and we have an analysis of the results, plus updates on our own triallists.

Finally, there is the end-of-year report on the current state of the Boat Club.

Winners of the Women's Senior VIIIs in Nephthys Regatta

Nephthys Regatta, 16th–17th November
Women's Sen VIIIs (4 entries)
S/Final	St Catherine's bt	New College	⅔ L
Final	St Catherine's bt	Christ Church	¼ L
Men's Novice VIIIs (32 entries)
Round 1	Queen's* bt	St Catherine's	Easily
Round 2	Christ Church B bt	St Catherine's	Dqd
Women's Novice VIIIs (27 entries)
Round 2	University A bt	St Catherine's	2 L
* 'Friendly' crew - not eligible to proceed

Christ Church Regatta, 21st–24th November
Men's Novice VIIIs (56 entries)
Round 1	Balliol B bt	St Catherine's B	1½ L
Round 1	St Hugh's A bt	St Catherine's A	Canvas
Rep	Pembroke A bt	St Catherine's B	5 L
Rep	St Catherine's A bt	Brasenose B	Easily
Round 3	St Catherine's A bt	St Antony's A	2 L
Round 4	St Catherine's A bt	Linacre A	2 L
Q/Final	St Catherine's A bt	Mansfield A	2 L
S/Final	St Catherine's A bt	New A	1 L
Final	St Catherine's A bt	Christ Church A	½ L
Women's Novice VIIIs (50 entries)
Round 1	St Catherine's A bt	S.E.H. A	1 L
Round 3	Wolfson A bt	St Catherine's	1 L

Wallingford Head, 25th November
Oxford College results
Div 1 (136 crews finished)
92nd	17:49.9	Oriel W8
116th	18:57.3	St Catherine's W8
130th	20:11.5	Queen's W8
Div 2 (132 crews finished)
14th	14:47.9	Oriel M8
18th	14:59.4	Pembroke M8
42nd	15:55.6	Wolfson M8
43rd	15:58.0	L.M.H. M8
46th	16:04.3	St Catherine's M8
48th	16:13.2	Brasenose M8
74th	17:12.5	Queen's M8
87th	17:45.5	L.M.H. W8
101st	18:27.4	University M8

The Fairbairn Cup, 29th/30th November
Women's Senior IVs (21 crews finished)
1st	12:16	C.U.W.B.C.
10th	14:15	St Catherine's

Building on the success of our Autumn Fours crew's semi-final finish earlier in the term, Catz women went from strength to strength in Michaelmas this year. We entered both senior and novice VIIIs into Nephthys Regatta, where our senior crew beat a strong field comprised of entirely Division 1 crews to win the senior competition.

Clare Leckie, Women's Co-Captain

Christ Church Regatta saw our novice women win their first round race against Teddy Hall, becoming the first novice women's crew from Catz to win a side-by-side race in half a decade. This allowed them to progress straight through to third round where they found themselves facing a strong Wolfson crew, and despite giving it their all, our crew unfortunately lost out to the future runners-up by just under a length.

In Eighth Week our senior squad managed to squeeze in not one but two external races. Beaten only by Oriel, we placed second in our division at Wallingford Head — a huge accomplishment for a relatively inexperienced crew. Later that week, we sent a IV over to Cambridge where we placed 7th (with a time just 11 seconds behind third-place) in The Fairbairn Cup.

Looking ahead, we're confident that the strength and depth of the Catz women's squad will pay dividends next term and we're incredibly excited by the prospect of having three women's crews in Torpids.

Thanks to Alex Nevin of Worcester College for coxing our senior crew at Wallingford, and to Alex Bowmer for volunteering his time and expertise to run strength and conditioning workshops for the entire squad and providing invaluable treatment for our injured athletes.

The women's novice VIII in Nephthys Regatta

Alex Herkert, Men's Co-Captain

The senior men have also had a very successful fall, competing in IWL A, where we placed second, and travelling to Wallingford Head, which we completed in 16:04. We are looking forward to the next term, and integrating our strong novice members into the senior squad.

Winners of Men's Novice VIIIs in Christ Church Regatta

The main competition was in coxed fours, with Oxford taking the men's title and Cambridge the women's, but only by a handful of seconds. Cambridge also had the fastest women's coxless four.

Oxford's lightweight men, rowing in two coxless fours, finished well ahead of Cambridge (rowing as Granta). There was also a third Oxford coxed four, rather ominously listed as `did not finish'. The women's lightweights raced in a variety of boats which makes comparison difficult. The fastest of these were the Oxford quad scull followed by the Cambridge coxless four, but that would be expected. Oxford women's lightweights certainly aren't short of triallists, managing to fill five crews.

Of our own triallists, Augustin Wambersie was in the fastest coxed four on the day, the Isis A, while Oriane Grant sculled in the women's lightweight quad. Heather Tong is trialling for OUWBC but I don't know if she raced.

On the whole that probably worked out well for our men, who've struggled to replace the many experienced oarsmen who've left since last year, but the women, with a freshly reinstated 2nd Torpid, would have much preferred a full four days of racing.

Come summer, the weather wasn't going to provide any hiding place, and the men's 1st and 2nd Eights lost some, but not all, of the gains they made last year. But they had more success with the lower boats; a men's 4th Eight making their first appearance in 25 years, while the `gentlemen's' 3rd Eight finished off a rumbunctiously successful week with a spectacular double overbump.

The women's 1st Eight had a frustrating time, particularly on the Friday when, closing on Trinity, both crews were obstructed in the Gut. The following day, leaving nothing to chance, they bumped Trinity in just 24 strokes. The women's 2nd Eight went even better, finishing the week with the first overbump ever achieved by a Catz women's crew.

Catz Crews: Current Positions
(& highest– lowest positions, 2009–2018)
	Men		Women
	2018	Range	2018	Range
1st Torpid	5th	(4–9)	25th	(1–27)
2nd Torpid	42nd	(41–61)	61st	(47–61)
3rd Torpid	—	(62–68)	—	(50–55)
1st Eight	11th	(6–15)	20th	(13–24)
2nd Eight	45th	(40–49)	63rd	(44–74)
3rd Eight	68th	(68–89)	—	(75–79)
4th Eight	91st	(88–91)

Anu Dudhia (email: anu.dudhia@physics.ox.ac.uk )