In August 1875, Matthew Webb had become the first man to swim the English Channel, in September Joseph Bazalgette finally completed the construction of the London sewer system, and in November The Times revealed that Disraeli had negotiated the purchase of Egypt's share of the Suez Canal, but had omitted to mention this to Parliament.

In sporting news, football clubs had recently been established at Birmingham and Blackburn, bringing the number of present day English football league clubs up to 11. Oxford had won the Boat Race by 10 lengths, ending Cambridge's run of six successive victories.

Overseas, the first shots in the Perak War (Malaysia) had been fired in November when the locals objected to British Imperialist expansion and abolitionist tendencies. Elsewhere, our American cousins under President Ulysses S Grant were preoccupied with the Indian Wars. Recently the Sioux had refused to sell the land on which gold had recently been discovered, so Lt Col Custer and the 7th Cavalry were soon to be dispatched to press the US Government's case more forcefully.

Such was world into which the first oarsmen calling themselves St Catherine's Boat Club pushed off their raft. To be continued ...

Flag Days during Full Term 2022–2025
Flag	MT23	HT24	TT24	MT24	HT25	TT25
Red	25	44	0	28	15	0
≥Amber	30	48	1	32	21	0
≥Blue	35	50	10	38	26	0
≥L.Blue	45	56	14	42	42	0
Green	11	0	42	14	14	56
Total	56	56	56	56	56	56

Hilary Term 2025 also had its interruptions but allowed some much-needed water time. Eventually, exactly half way through the academic year. Catz crews finally got in their first race, in an IWL time-trial. For the men, almost a minute and a half slower than the fastest crew, it also became clear that they were a long way off the pace required to maintain their position in Div I.

A week before Torpids we were at Green Flag and Rowing On races were held, with the women's 2nd Torpid qualifying comfortably and set to make their first appearance since 2023. However we were back to Red Flag for the start of Torpids and it was decided to race only the top crews in half-divisions, which meant just our 1st Torpids.

The men's 1st Torpid dropped 8 places in the first three days of racing but were saved by a swan-induced klaxon on the last day, although not before S.E.H. had run across their stern.

The more experienced women's 1st Torpid, rowing in their new shell Hunting for a Woozle fared better, gaining three bumps — their first since 2022 — although a crab on the Friday meant they also got bumped twice.

Fastest Catz VIIS in IWL Races
Date	Event	Men		Women
		Pos	Time	Pos	Time
2022–23
5th Feb	IWL-D	9th	+33.0 s	5th	+19.5 s
30th Apr	ISL-A	3rd	+16.5 s	8th	+21.5 s
2023–24
20th Oct	IWL-A	15th	+64.0 s	9th	+25.0 s
4th Feb	IWL-D			18th	+37.0 s
28th Apr	ISL-A	11th	+56.5 s	12th	+49.5 s
2024–25
9th Feb	IWL-D	24th	+85.5 s	14th	+47.5 s
4th May	ISL-A	21st	+50.5 s	3rd	+7.0 s
`Time' is difference from winning time
Best performance 2022–25 shown in bold

In the Boat Races Cambridge handed Oxford another thrashing, winning all 6 races. None of the Oxford men's crews finished within 4 L of their opposition, a harsh introduction for their new coach. At least no Catz students were harmed in the process.

It stopped raining immediately after Torpids and we ended up with the driest March on record, and the warm sunny weather was to continue.

As commonly happens when racing opportunities have been limited, OURCs ran a one-off 'Isis Spring League' time-trial at the end of 3rd week of Trinity Term. The men's 1st Eight were still a long way off the pace but the women finished 3rd, their best result since 2021.

Both men's crews got spoons in Eights but, following their ISL result, it was particularly disappointing that the women's 1st Eight also got bumped every day. It was left to the women's 2nd Eight to provide our only success, bumping on three days, but a steering error on the Thursday led to them getting overbumped, so they finished level. Catz finished Eights with a net loss of 12 places, the worst result of all 35 colleges.

Catz Crews: Current Positions
& highest–lowest positions, 2016–2025
	Men		Women
	2025	Range	2025	Range
1st Torpid	19th	(3–19)	28th	(8–29)
2nd Torpid	41st	(33–47)	58th	(48–64)
1st Eight	20th	(9–20)	26th	(14–26)
2nd Eight	52nd	(42–52)	64th	(55–74)

A numerically-depleted Men's 1st Torpid returning to the boathouse following their klaxoned race on the Saturday.

In summary, another disappointing year. The men's 1st VIII are at their lowest position since the 1980s and the women 1st VIII at their lowest position ever in Eights, and just one place above that in Torpids.

The Torpids scores take account of the positions of all the crews from the lower divisions which did not actually race.

Osler House didn't race in 2025 but have residual positions in the finishing order from last year.

St Catherine's drop from 17th down to 24th, continuing a steady decline since the heady heights of 9th in 2022. We are now just behind St John's and ahead of St Peter's. Our men's 1st VIII are not near crews from either college, but next year the Women's 1st Torpid will start immediately ahead of St John's and the 1st Eight immediately behind St Peter's.

Wolfson replace Christ Church at the top, having taken the men's headship in both Torpids and Eights this year, while Christ Church lost both the Men's Torpids and Women's Eights Headships. Pembroke also had a good year, taking the women's double Headship while their men's 1st boat lie 3rd in both Torpids and Eights.

Isabel Berwick (1985–88), working for the Financial Times, popped up on the radio over the summer and I note she's recently given a Catz webinar on 'How To Get Ahead At Work (Without Burning Out)'. Change 'work' to 'rowing' and I think that's pretty much everyone's race plan.

Finally, and aware that career-wise the focus is very much on alumnae rather than alumni, earlier this week I heard Jana Bakunina (2000–02) on Radio 4 discussing her new book, The Good Russian.