Rowing in Cambridge

In my opinion, rowing is one of the most iconic sports when it comes to Oxford and Cambridge. I am sure that you must have already heard about the famous yearly race between Oxford and Cambridge taking place in London on the river Thames (for those interested the current score is 72:70 for Cambridge). You can join rowing either on the university level if you are one of the few selected professionals or on the college level, which is more accessible to all, including novices. I myself decided to take up rowing at the beginning of this year so I will share a few of my experiences.

Like many sports clubs in Cambridge, college rowing clubs organise a taster session for all people without rowing experience who want to try rowing. So I took part in the session last October. The session began with an exercise on a rowing machine during which they explained the right technique to us. Even though it may seem that rowing is just about your hands (at least that is what I had thought), it is a complex exercise in which legs are the most important, while being helped by back and hands. After the machine exercise, we sat in the boat and set off for an hour-long rowing.

If you like the taster session, you can become a member of a novice team for a term and in the following terms you are assigned to one of the proper teams based on time it takes you to row for two kilometres. And indeed, this was my path. Having spent first term as novice I went on to M3 (the lowest men team) for the rest of the year. Once member of a team you get into a routine of erg (rowing machine) exercises and outings (rowing on water). All of them focus on the right technique, which includes right movement of your hands, back and legs, and in the outings you also focus on timing and balance as both are crucial for fast and efficient rowing.

In either of the last two terms, rowing culminates with Bumps, a race between colleges. The point of this race is not to be the fastest, but mainly to catch the boat in front of you. Getting on Race, on the other hand, is a timed race preceding the Bumps, which serves as qualification for the Bumps for the lowest teams. When it comes to the races, my team (M3) was not very lucky this year. In Lent Bumps there were not enough people to race and in May Bumps two people had problems with their seats during Getting on Race, which meant we did not qualify.

To sum up, despite the bad luck in the races and all the morning rowing sessions I really enjoyed rowing. It was an enriching experience, which showed me how it works when you commit to a sport and how much you need to put in. In addition, I would like to thank The Kellner Family Foundation for helping me enjoy another great year full of new experiences.