The men's 3rd Eight won blades again. I'm told they would prefer to be known as 'the M0 Rocketship', however I'll stick with 'the Army of the Dead'. Their last bump was also the occasion of Mal Spencer's 100th start in a bumping race. For him, I assume, the starting cannon now holds all the terror of a pedestrian crossing light turning to green.

Turning to more recent service to the Boat Club, the winner of this year's Ben Sylvester Award has also been announced.

David Zimmer and Mal Spencer, stern pair of M3, thankfully opting for a relatively restrained `fancy headgear' theme for the final day's racing.

The SCCBC men's squad had a very successful Trinity term, which started off strong based on an intense training camp in Northern Italy just before term. With only five weeks to get ready for Summer Eights, we hit the ground running, and set the men's first boat before Bedford Regatta on May 11th. While the crew was eliminated by Magdalene College, Cambridge, it was critical practice for racing later in the term. The men's second boat was more variable in the weeks leading up to Summer Eights due to a number of sicknesses and absences necessitated by work.

Both boats had a successful summer eights campaign, with both ending the week +1. M2 bumped St Hilda's on the second day of racing, while M1 bumped University on the third day. Both the M2 and M1 divisions were klaxoned on the fourth day, which was disappointing. However, we finished without having a single boat bumped during all of Summer Eights.

The Men's 2nd Eight closing on St Hilda's on the Thursday

Throughout the term, spirits were high, and spending time at the boathouse and on the Isis was a highlight for all the SCCBC guys. With a strong undergraduate contingent, the boat club is looking forward to carrying the success this year forward to next year, under the leadership of Shane McCarthy and Joe Grey. Thanks to all who came out to watch and support!

For the better part of this term, the focus in the women's squad was on Summer Eights. This definitely paid off, with both crews continuing their steady or, in the case of W2, their rapid climb up the Eights tables.

W1 went into the week surrounded by whispers of a possible second set of blades for the year: we knew we were likely to be faster than the crews in front, the real question was by how much. Unfortunately, a slow start from the Lincoln crew two bung-lines ahead meant this wasn't to be as we were left to row over on the Wednesday. But with a significant amount of pressure now relieved and three days of racing left, we were able to relax into our races and get two strong bumps, before rowing over to end the week as we started when Anne's caught the spoons-winning Somerville crew in front.

With some dominant bumps early in the week (including an over-bump on Corpus just under Donnington Bridge, and a penalty bump after the Mansfield crew we were chasing caused a klaxon when they forgot to steer), W2 went into Saturday +5 and with a chance of blades. Starting on bung-line 3 and with a slow Keble crew behind, we knew that we were looking for an early bump. Little did we know, however, that the race would be over within the first three strokes as the Lincoln crew on the top bung-line hit the bank off the start, giving Jesus an easy row-past and us a tough lesson in resilience as we went on to row the course better than we ever had before.

Next year, W2 will be looking to earn a place in fixed divisions, and W1 will have their eyes on a Division I bung-line following a 15-year hiatus.

The Women's 2nd Eight about to bump Keble II on the Friday.

The Women's 1st Eight chasing St Anne's on the Saturday

Unable to stay away from the river for more than a few days at a time, the squad continued to train post-Eights (many taking the opportunity to use the small boats). We entered more crews than any other college into Oriel Regatta on Saturday of 7th Week, with four women's IVs added to the three men's IVs in the CrewdVIIIs category [scratch mixed VIIIs]. Varying degrees of success here, with one crew getting knocked out in the first round, and another taking 3rd place out of 25 crews.

A change of rules of entry for Henley Women's Regatta left the majority of the squad ineligible to race, but two members from our W1 crew formed a composite with Hertford W1 to enter an Aspirational Academic 8+. We didn't make it past the time trial, but it was a great opportunity to race among some of the top university crews from around the country and others from across the pond. A good goal for next year, perhaps?

Special mentions to the finalists in our squad who were able to balance such a successful Eights campaign with Finals this term: Oriane, Orlaith, Rachel CM, and Rachel I. Although we say farewell to many of our team from this year, we have a strong contingent of returning athletes next year and are well placed to continue this upward trajectory with guidance from Coach Rowan, and under the leadership of our fabulous new captains, Abby and Ilayda.

RS Chairman Kevin Skinner with Rachel Craig-McFeely and Jakob Kaeppler at the presentation of the Ben Sylvester Award

Since 2002 the Ben Sylvester medal has been awarded annually to the Boat Club member judged to have `most significantly contributed to enhancing the rowing life of St Catherine's College'.

The winner of this year's award is Jakob Kaeppler, Rachel Craig-McFeely proxime accessit.

Anytime you need someone to jump in on short notice, whether it be bankriding, driving a rental car, taking over the secretary role, coxing or rowing, Jakob will say yes.

Whether it be rowing, coxing or behind-the-scenes organisational work, we can always rely on him to step up and fill do what needs to be done.

He has also coxed so many woman's and mixed boat outings in the cold winter mornings. He has been helping as much as he can whenever there is a short of cox, despite being a keen rower himself

Finally, Jakob's genuine love of rowing always shines through he can often be found taking out a single or double in the mornings, even after consecutive days of practice.

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