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Henley Women's Regatta
Henley-on-Thames, 17th - 19th June 2010

The final regatta for our Women’s first crew ended in bitter disappointment. Sarah Fish, Alice Mason, Briony Rose and Antonia Gerlach coxed by Catherine Pateman went to Henley Women’s Regatta for one last race as a crew, sacrificing their last week of University partying for daily training.

At the start of the year, getting to Henley was just an aim, but when we finally reached Friday, the qualification day, we were sickened with nerves, with 16 out of 30 crews to qualify for heats. After a surreal row down, and a picnic lunch with family Fish, we heard over the tannoy that we had qualified, and once again Kent seemed to be the most excited club to hear the news.

Saturday brought the first day of heats. A good start to the day by having none other than Matthew Pinsent helping us boat! Rowing up to the start line we felt proud of our achievements this year and that we had made it to the heats and with a sentimental word from our cox at the start line we were hungrier for a win. With the adrenalin rushing through us, we lined up next to Edinburgh, shaking and ready to go.

Attention. GO! All you could hear was the clunking of the gates and the coxes driving their crews, when out of nowhere Cat plunged her arm into the water. What on EARTH was she doing? We were all confused, and then it clicked as we hit the booms; the rudder wire had snapped. After our first 10 strokes we were a seat up on Edinburgh, only to have it snatched from beneath us, watching the Edinburgh crew row away as if it were slow motion. We tried to carry on, but with the rudder stuck against bow side every 5 strokes took us into the booms, there was nothing we could do. The feeling of utter disappointment at that moment was indescribable, all of our heads dropping into our hands, the Henley dream was over.

Rowing down, it didn’t really sink in what was happening, we could hear Kent cheers from the bank and their voices changing to confusion. As we got the boat out of the water, we all burst into tears (a very rare occurrence for most of us!), with a bystander commenting, “I think that’s your problem”, reaching for the wire.

A very frustrating way to an end, but we had a very successful year as a crew. We achieved our goals of winning at least one regatta and getting to Henley, a first-class way of finishing a University career for two of the crew members.

Photos from the day