Cambridge fielded the fastest women’s coxless four of the 2016 Fours Head of the River, winning the elite category by The Cambridge crew of Myriam Goudet (Lucy Cavedish), Melissa Wilson (Lucy Cavendish), Holly Hill (Downing) and Alice White (Homerton) covered the 4 ¼ mile course from Mortlake to Putney in 20:02, over 30 seconds faster than any other women’s coxless four.

“The race was more challenging than I had expected. Holly, Melissa, and Myriam were relentless throughout the piece though, and that gives me a lot of confidence as we push forward into the next training block.” Alice White.

CUW II finished in 2nd place in the elite category in a time of 20:40.

Two crews were entered from the CUWBC Lightweight Squad. The coxless four covered the course in 21:20 with the coxed four finishing 5th in elite coxed fours in 21:53.

“We used our tech focuses and length calls to get us to Hammersmith, and finally hammering down on the power and rate for the final 750m” Dorottya Nagy.

CUWBC also took 2nd (crew 62) and 3rd (crew 60) place in elite coxed fours. Crew number 62 featured Claire Lambe (Homerton) racing for the first time in light blue, alongside crewmates Fanny Belais (King’s), Ashton Brown (Fitzwilliam), Rachel Elwood (Gonville & Caius) and coxed by Evie Lindsay (Gonville & Caius).

Three of crew 64 were making their debut for CUWBC including stroke Sally O’Brien (Peterhouse) who has come to Cambridge from Trinity College, Dublin. Speaking after the race, Sally said “Despite having only been out in the crew for one day, we put in a committed performance. We are excited to build on this platform in the next few weeks.”

The Squad now move into the next block of training towards their “Trial races” which will take place in Henley-on-Thames on Sunday 11 December for the lightweights and on the Tideway on Monday 12 December for the Openweights.