The suitably behatted cox of the gentlemen's 3rd VIII

Bumps Charts

Men	Women

This year's Eights campaign saw lots of boats, lots of falls, and lots of rises (most of those came from one crew however).

M1 had numerous lineups in the run up to Eights, due to crewmembers changing availability. Whilst all the available time beforehand was put to effective use, the crew was lacking the cohesion that would have made the finished product come race day. A lucky, but contested concession from Magdalen and a row over behind Univ were the first two days. Seeing how far we could get against Teddy Hall and Trinity were the final two days. Not as good as last year, but useful experience for the 5 returners for next year

M2 were excited to get more than the one day of racing that Torpids gave them, but this time the competition was faster. Just like M1 they were plagued with a messy start to begin with, but managed on a few occasions to forget that they were a relatively inexperienced crew and really get a turn of speed on. Thursday could nearly have been a bump, and holding off Wolfson at a canvas for nearly the entire length on Friday, until Wolfson got bumped, was an amazing performance.

M3 were the real breadwinners however. The old guard fancy dress boat made short work of the boats starting ahead of them, apart from on the Friday when they made short work of the crew 5 ahead of them. This ridiculous feat meant that overall the men's side is in the black for this Eights week.

The men's 3rd Eight. Erm, just a couple of questions ...

A mixed Eights campaign, but not for lack of heart. Three members of M1 (Mateusz Szczesny, Kit George and Niels Wicke) are also part of an Oxford crew racing at an international regatta in China in a few weeks, and I look forward to hearing how that goes.

The women had a very productive and enjoyable Trinity term, culminating in a fantastic Summer Eights campaign. It proved substantially more successful than last year's competition for both W1 and W2.

W1 rowed over on the first three days, losing what should have been a deserved bump on Trinity on the Friday due to a blocked river, but luckily bumped them on Saturday, meaning they finished +1 overall. W2 did even better, finishing on +6, managing two bumps on Saturday as the sandwich boat.

All in all everyone was very pleased with the performance! Thanks go especially to Rowan and Chloe as coaches, and to Mal, Phil, and Katy for stepping in to cox both boats on various days!

The women's 2nd Eight, gaining 6 places over the week to become Catz most successful ever women's crew.

I feel women's Blue Morgan McGovern deserves a special mention. Not only did she row in the women's 1st Eight, she also coxed the men's 2nd Eight and, the day after Eights finished she ran the Edinburgh marathon. Very much a 'seize the carp' sort of woman.

Holly has been a 1st VIII oarswoman for 3 years and this term, albeit slightly distracted by Finals, has also been coxing the women's 2nd Eight. Whilst acknowledging the calm efficiency with which she has carried out her official duties as Boat Club Treasurer, those who nominated her for the award also said

Holly epitomises what Catz rowing is all about. She trained and coxed the novice women in Michaelmas, despite it not being her role, and really made us all love rowing as we really felt included as part of the club — and most of all made it really fun ... She also never says no to anything, and is always willing to row or cox any outing. She has also been willing to help out with coxing men's crews whenever we needed a sub ... A lot of things would have gone undone this year if Holly didn't step in to help.

Holly Smith, receiving the Ben Sylvester medal from RS Chairman, Kevin Skinner, at the Eights Dinner.

Also nominated were: Zoe Curtis, Nantas Nardelli, Dave Smith, Matt Smith and Niels Wicke.

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