Crew: Cox: Amy Hill, S - Hannah Badger, 7 - Anna Feest, 6 - Alice Handy, 5 - Carly Gilson, 4 - Alice Wenban, 3 - Abi Smith,  2 - Ayesha Holderness, B - Bree Livesey. 

After many outings, and one particularly cold dip in the Cam (the crew became known as ‘WDamp’ after their unfortunate encounter with a novice Clare boat), the morning of Fairbairn’s arrived. The crew arrived raring to go and eager to race in the Filippi - the boat we borrowed from Clare. Following a good warm-up, we pushed off from Queens’ Boat House to slot in behind Fitz W1 and paddled to the start-line, pleased to see that the weather conditions were in our favour!   

The race began with a strong rolling start, and after a few ‘settle’ calls, the crew quickly found a steady rhythm at rate 29. This saw W1.5 swiftly pass the boathouses and the Green Dragon Bridge. As we neared the railway bridge (the half-way point) the rate began to creep up, but some great coxing calls from Amy encouraged us to once again find our race rhythm. Her motivational calls, and a big ‘power 10’ saw W1.5 power up the reach. After a push around Ditton Corner (this time without sinking) and up Plough Reach, the crew ‘ploughed’ (excuse the pun) towards the finish-line! 

As the finish came into sight for Amy, her calls encouraged a final push from the crew. The splits began to drop and everyone gave their all to bring the boat across the line. The sound of the claxon bought a sense of relief, and excitement, after a strong race.

W1.5 (or rather, WDamp) ended the day as the fastest W2 boat on the river, and came 9th overall in the W1 division! The success of Fairbairn’s was a great end to an exciting term of rowing for the crew, which has left us all looking forward to what is to come in the New Year!