The Boat Race season 2016: The Women's Trial VIIIs Image Library

About the Trial Eights

"Trial Eights is the only opportunity for the clubs to practice a full simulation of The BNY Mellon Boat Races to take place in March. The coaches will be looking to give this experience to their athletes whilst also assessing who handles the pressure of the side-by-side duel well. Each club splits their own squad in two, creating two evenly matched crews with the ambition of creating the toughest racing conditions. The athletes will be looking to perform well and make a claim for a seat in their respective Blue Boats.

Being held in December, Trial Eights is typically held in challenging conditions as temperatures drop and winds pick up. In conjunction with the evenly matched crews, this makes for ever more challenging, competitive and enthralling racing.

The BNY Mellon Boat Races will take place on March 27th 2016. The Newton Women’s Boat Race will take place at 3:10pm with The BNY Mellon Boat Race an hour later at 4:10pm"

Text with kind permission of The Boat Race Company

Crew list CUWBC

For the Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club, ‘Tideway’ raced ‘Twickenham’.

Tideway
Bow: Kate Baker
2: Evelyn Boettcher
3: Rachel Elwood
4: Alice Jackson
5: Lucy Pike
6: Alexandra Wood
7: Thea Zabell
Stroke: Daphne Martschenko
Cox: Olivia Godwin

Twickenham
Bow: Dorottya Nagy
2: Imogen Grant
3: Ashton Brown
4: Sarah Carlotti
5: Hannah Roberts
6: Fiona Macklin
7: Caroline Habjan
Stroke: Myriam Goudet
Cox: Rosemary Ostfeld

Crew list OUWBC

For the Oxford University Women’s Boat Club, ‘Charybdis’ raced ‘Scylla’.

Charybdis

Bow: Georgie Daniell
2: Christina Fleischer
3: Lara Pysden
4: Emma Spruce
5: Ruth Siddorn
6: Elo Luik
7 Maddy Badcott
Stroke: Kate Erickson
Cox: Morgan Baynham-Williams

Scylla
Bow: Issy Dodds
2: Merel Lefferts
3: Elettra Ardissino
4: Rebecca Te Water Naude
5: Anastasia Chitty
6: Joanne Jansen
7: Lauren Kedar
Stroke: Emma Lukasiewicz
Cox: Antonia Stutter

Official Newton Women’s Boat Race Trial Eights Report

Race Report CUWBC

10th Dec 2015

The Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club Trial Eights took place on bouncy water in blustery conditions, although far from the worst December’s weather can provide.

As is Trial Eights tradition, the race took place on the Championship Course and represented the only opportunity for the clubs to row competitively side-by-side along the full distance they will take on Boat Races day.

The Light Blues opted for Twickenham and Tideway as names, in recognition of the change in location for both The Women’s Boat Race and the Women’s Varsity Match, and it was the latter who drew the favoured Surrey station. This slight psychological advantage perhaps played its part beforehand as Tideway, stroked by returning Blue Daphne Martschenko, looked visibly more confident than their light blue counterparts.

Trial Eights are brutal in their nature and design, pitting friend against friend, and crews can be susceptible to nerves, mistakes and the wrath of the 4 and a quarter mile course. However, both crews got away cleanly under the watchful eye of umpire Rob Clegg and, perhaps surprisingly, it was Twickenham who stole the immediate impetus. They got away well and had established a strong rhythm by the top of the Putney embankment, drawing out to a slight lead over Tideway. Clegg was forced into early action as he negotiated the crews apart past Fulham football ground as Twickenham, buoyed by their powerful start and enjoying the Middlesex-station benefits of the first bend, continued to draw away from Tideway.

The experience of coxswain Rosemary Ostfeld began to show as Twickenham stretched out to a length; the most subtle of tweaks on the rudder and her opponents were rowing in the dirty water laid down by her impressive looking crew. As the race edged on towards Hammersmith Bridge and the water became visibly choppier, both crews veered towards the Surrey bank. Tideway, steered by 19 year old Olivia Godwin, collided with a white buoy approaching Hammersmith which doubtless cost them additional distance. However, the race was relatively unaffected; Twickenham had established a real dominance over proceedings with a sharp, efficient rhythm which made use of their superior power in the middle of the boat.

By Chiswick Eyot, the lead was two and a half lengths. By this stage Tideway were struggling to connect with the water at the front end and seemed a little at odds with the conditions. After the halfway mark, Twickenham continued to move away and finished the race four lengths ahead of Tideway.

Text with kind permission of The Boat Race Company

Race Report OUWBC

The two Oxford University Women’s Boat Club Trial Eights, dubbed Scylla and Charybdis, were names derived from a Greek idiom meaning ‘having to choose between two evils’.

It was the Charybdis who drew the Surrey station. With three returning Blues spread across the two crews, including 2015’s winning President Anastasia Chitty, the stage was set for a phenomenal race.

Under the scrutiny of Coach Christine Wilson, who has masterminded three successive Oxford victories during her tenure, the two boats left Putney Bridge together. It stayed that way initially, but by the end of the Putney Embankment it was Scylla who had snuck ahead. There looked to be some timing discrepancy on stroke-side within the latter, but it didn’t cost them any time – if anything, Scylla continued to move away and had established a lengths lead by Fulham football ground.

With Lauren Kedar and Chitty in the stern four of Scylla, it was clear to see why they were leading; their rhythm was long and powerful and they were making good use of their Middlesex advantage. The behaviour of both crews was exemplary throughout; umpire Rob Clegg had very little to do in the first half of the race.

Steaming under Hammersmith Bridge, it was Scylla who continued to lead Charybdis by around two lengths. Races on the Tideway are often decided by which crew can cope best with the elements, and so it proved here. Despite Scylla’s substantial lead coupled with a higher rate of striking, it was Charybdis, stroked by President Maddy Badcott, who looked the more composed as the conditions worsened past St Paul’s boathouse. Scylla drifted right out towards Chiswick Eyot, prompting a disapproving shake of the head from the on-looking Christine Wilson.

Suddenly, it was Charybdis who had the momentum. Driven on by the unshakeable voice of Morgan Baynham-Williams, they slowly began to reduce the deficit. Moving past the Eyot, Scylla looked ragged in the choppy water and their opponents took full advantage; Charybdis took a length in twenty five strokes.

From that point on, there was only going to be one winner – Badcott’s crew simply walked away around the second half of the Surrey bend, drawing out to a length fairly quickly before pushing on through the final stages of the race. The final verdict was victory for Charybdis over Scylla by three lengths.

Text with kind permission of The Boat Race Company