Oar-some success at Summer Eights
Niamh Louwman, President of the Catz Boat Club, reports on the Club’s achievements at this year’s Summer Eights:
Summer Eights took place this year for the first time since 2019, after a few years of disruption due to the pandemic. Catz had a hugely successful campaign, with two crews gaining blades and five boats entered overall, showing the strength of the Club and dedication of all our athletes and committee members.
The women’s boats
Our W1 won blades by bumping other crews on every day and moved up to the top half of Division 2, now only a couple of bumps away from Division 1. They bumped Somerville, Linacre, St John’s and Balliol, all before ‘the gut’ meaning they never had to race more than about 500m!
This was the first W1 blades in Summer Eights since 1996, a huge achievement for our girls.
Our W2 had two races out of four stopped by a klaxon within the first few stokes – not ideal! They then were bumped by Teddy Hall on the last day, dropping one place overall.
The men’s boats
M1 started 9th in Division 1 and overall went up one spot after a tumultuous week involving technical row-overs and general Summer Eights chaos. M2 went down two spots overall.
M3 was another great success story. They won blades, bumping four crews in Division 5 including a number of first and second boats. They are now the highest 3rd boat on the river, and have gone up 33 spots in the last five years.
With 14 straight days of racing where they have bumped every day, they are now tied with Green Templeton W1 for the highest number of consecutive days bumping in Summer Eights. This is hugely exciting for the club and we hope to keep the streak going.
Overall it was a really exciting week of racing for the Club, with a number of old members coming back to watch and race, and amazing support from the Rowing Society and the College, particularly from our Master Kersti.