Bow- Annie Ault
2- Amy Holguin
3- Bridget Johns
4- Philippa Thornton
5- Penny Hyde
6- Rosalind Martin
7- Hannie Knox
Stroke- Marie Becker
Cox- Joe Wynn

After W1’s most successful Torpids campaign in over 35 years (finishing 4th on the river in Division 1), we were looking forward to racing again in WeHorr. The Women’s Eights Head of the River race is the varsity boat race course backwards, and we were all quite nervous about rowing 6.7km, especially as most of our Torpids races had finished after 500m! It was Marie & Hannie’s last race with Hertford W1 as they both sit their finals next term, which gave us another reason to try to row the best race we could.
We boated near the start line, and after a short warm up, we spent an hour as part of a line of 350 boats waiting to start the race. We then span and started rowing hard, picking up the rate to peak under Chiswick Bridge, before dropping back down to rate 30 for the remainder of the race. We stayed strong throughout, and overtook 4 boats over the course of the race. We finished the race in 135th place with a respectable time of 21 minutes and 13 seconds.
Despite the challenges of rowing such a long course on the Tideway, we all had a great day, and really enjoyed being part of such a huge race. We were happy with our time, and hope to build on today’s success as we start training over the vacation for Summer Eights.
Annie Ault, Bow