On Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December, 7 novice and 6 senior crews from Queens’ College Boat Club descended on the River Cam to participate in The Fairbairn Cup, the biggest race of Michaelmas Term.
QCBC achieved considerable success in the senior competition. W1 won their division and were awarded blades, racing in the Club’s new coxed four, the G. A. Hayter, which was purchased thanks to a generous bequest from the late George Hayter (1939-2015). M2 also won their division and were awarded blades, while M1 achieved 4th place in their division, their best placing since 2012. In the novice competition, the strength of the Queens’ squads shone through as Queens’ was the only college apart from Pembroke to field 4 novice men’s and 3 novice women’s crews.
Below are the race reports from W1 and M2, and a summary of the Club’s overall results.
W1 4+ written by Pippa Sayers, Women’s Captain
Cox – James Zimaras; Stroke – Charlotte Hallam; 3 – Léa Gansser-Potts; 2 – Pippa Sayers; Bow – Kate Attfield; Coaches – Lisa Silk, Paul Knights
Buoyed by our success at Cambridge Winter Head (where we won our division), W1 knew all was to play for as we approached our final race as a crew. We were starting just behind Jesus W1, who earlier in term had won University Fours by a good thirty seconds. A speedy, if somewhat messy, start had Queens’ powering away from Jesus Boathouse.
A ‘commit’ call under Elizabeth Way bridge had the crew settle at a strong rate 31/32, with gritty determination to give this race our absolute all. Soon after Green Dragon bridge we heard the call of ‘we’re gaining on Jesus’ for the first time! Going onto the Reach it was time to dig deep, but a term of hard work was paying off and with gutsy resolve the split dropped further. A final push from bowside brought us round the final corner onto Plough Reach for the final 20 strokes of the race. With every last bit of energy that could be mustered the boat surged towards the finish line.
It wasn’t until the times were released that we realised just how well we’d done – we had beaten all the women’s IVs (including the invitational Cantabs crew), as well as 5 men’s crews, an earned ourselves blades! Another win for Queens’ 1st IV in the G. A. Hayter and the crew are ecstatic. It’s been a real joy to row with and captain this boat, and I hope the success continues throughout the rest of the year!
M2 8+ written by Alex Miscampbell, Men’s Captain
Cox – Iona Pickett; S – Charles; 7 – Varun; 6 – Soma; 5 – Peter; 4 – Stephen; 3 – Haeram; 2 – Lex; Bow – Matthew; Coaches – Rob Jeffrey, Paul Knights
We went off the start exactly as practiced, rate 34, and began to lengthen out. We had to get comfortable early, given the distance and the fact that we hadn't done a piece that long before the race. We attacked the first half with heads switched on and heard splits drop with each stroke as we were helped by a tailwind. On the Reach we were met with some strong crosswinds against which we sat tall. Iona took the corners adeptly with her experience of the course and we managed to maintain pace and power even when turning. On the final sprint home Iona asked us 'how low can you go?!', and we ramped up the pressure and rate, hitting a glorious 1:36 split despite the fact that we had been going close to max pressure for a constant 15 minutes beforehand.
M2 won their division by a comfortable 16 seconds and were the 13th fastest college crew out of 31. They beat 5 other M2’s and 10 M1’s including St Catherine’s & Sidney Sussex.
Summary of Results
Seniors
W1 (4+) – 1st place out of 16, awarded blades
W2 (8+) – 10th place out of 21, beating 11 W1 crews
W3 (4+) – 9th place out of 16, beating 6 W1 crews
M1 (8+) – 4th place out of 22, their best placing since 2012
M1 (4+) – 9th place out of 17
M2 (8+) – 1st place out of 6, beating 10 M1 crews, awarded blades
Novices
NW1 – 12th place out of 28
NW2 – 12th place out of 16
NW3 – 3rd place out of 4
NM1 – 10th fastest of 28 NM1 crews (raced for time only)
NM2 – 7th place out of 18
NM3 – 5th place out of 8
NM4 – 3rd fastest of only 3 NM4 crews to enter (raced for time only)
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