Best Ever for King's Women's Crew
Women's Head of the River Race 2015
Picture: King's Women's crew: Steffi Stone (Stroke), Ellie Baker, Ali Meakes,Dani Wilcock, Emily Thomas, Jess Thuringer, Harriet Kefford and Lucy Leach and coxed by Robyn Lewis
After a long hard winter of training the covers came off in style for King's College London Boat Club's (KCLBC) women's squad over the weekend at the annual Women's Head of the River race. On Saturday 16th March, the 600 strokes or so from Chiswick Bridge to Putney Pier, covering 6.8km, were raced by 300 women's crews from across the UK and Europe. Taking place on what is their home stretch of water, King's College London Boat Club entered two women's crews. After an early pre-paddle at 06:15 to settle nerves, the two boats were put away for one final time and the race warm-up rituals began. The boathouse was filled with visiting teams and tensions were high as the crews couldn't wait to start.
Racing the popular Intermediate 3 category (IM3), the 1st VIII entered the fray determined to get the better of the other 124 crews in the division.
Following 75 minutes of marshalling, the 1st VIII turned and rowed through Chiswick Bridge to start the race which sees crews rowing in procession to post the fastest time. Building the pace through the start line King's sped downstream. Sitting side by side with a crew coming through Barnes Bridge, cheers from the supporters urged on the 1st boat past.
Beyond the bridge wind began sweeping the river but undisturbed the crew powered on to overtake another boat - the call from the cox Robyn Lewis reminding the crew of what they were capable of, having raced UCL only the week before in much windier conditions.
Entering the middle of the race the girls continued to make up a markable distance on the crews ahead and knowing supporters would be at the next significant landmark, Hammersmith Bridge, the team set themselves up with pairs of pushes. The result was the King's crew had overtaken a further three opponents by the time they reached Hammersmith, where supporters holding banners from above encouraged the crew yet further
Maintaining their rhythm up to Putney the crew knew the end was coming. With a call from stroke Steffi Stone to pick up the pace the crew speed through to the finish, catching local rivals Imperial College School of Medicine on the way. A final call from the cox ensured the girls went through the line with their strongest finish this season.
Rowing through the bridges at Putney the crew knew they had rowed well but would have to wait for over 100 boats to finish before finding out how they fared against the competition.
One such boat to come through next was the 2nd VIII. The crew gave a solid performance that was particularly impressive given that for many it was their first experience of such a large scale race. After a nervous wait at the start everyone focused their energy. A powerful row with some unconventional but inspirational calls on the tough stretch from Hammersmith to Putney gave the crew the determination to keep rowing strong to the finish. Crossing the line it was clear to see that everyone had fully committed to the race and given their all for 24 long minutes of pain. They placed 13th, well above their starting position.
The KCLBC 1st VIII finished 37th overall in a time of 21 mins 36.9s and 3rd in IM3 behind the household rowing names from Oxford Brookes University and The University of London - the best ever result from a King's women's crew. This marks the fantastic end to a tough winter season which had seen huge improvements throughout the crew and which has hopefully set up the team for a successful summer racing season. Congratulations to both KCLBC women's crews.
Finishing the top of the day's results meanwhile was a composite entry into the Elite category drawn from the ranks of the current Great Britain national rowing squad. Here, on board, and representing her Sport Imperial Boat Club, was King's PhD Geography student Zoe Lee. She was joined by a former King's PhD student. alumna and Olympic champion Katherine Grainger who together helped the crew to first position in a time of 18 mins 58.6 s
KCLBC women's 1st VIII: Steffi Stone (stroke), Ellie Baker, Ali Meakes,Dani Wilcock, Emily Thomas, Jess Thuringer, Harriet Kefford, Lucy Leach, Robyn Lewis (cox)
KCLBC women's 2nd VIII: Emma Passey, Ella Towers, Alice Davies, Jess Sparey, Cassie Ayre, Milena Nalinnya, Charlie Kydd, Jess Southwell, Manuela deMendonc (cox)
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