On Sunday 30 March in sunny but windy condition, four of Cambridge’s six crews faced off for their final fixtures ahead of The Boat Race 2025.
Women’s Blue Boat v UL ‘A’
Result: First piece to Cambridge, second piece to Cambridge, third piece to Cambridge
| Name | Seat | College |
| Jack Nicholas | Cox | Pembroke |
| Samantha Morton Van Eybergen | Stroke | Hughes Hall |
| Tash Morrice | 7 | Jesus |
| Claire Collins | 6 | Peterhouse |
| Carys Earl | 5 | Gonville & Caius |
| Annie Wertheimer | 4 | St Edmund’s |
| Sophia Hahn | 3 | Hughes Hall |
| Gemma King | 2 | St John’s |
| Katy Hempson | Bow | Christ’s |
Report report: Annie Wertheimer and Samy Morton
The sun was shining, the wind was howling, the whitecaps were whitecapping, and the Cambridge women were glowing. The outing began as we were escorted by the UberBoat into the warmup zone. We were not phased and continued slicing through the waves.
Our first piece began with Cambridge on Surrey and UL on Middlesex at The Boat Race start line with UL starting a few seats up. The flag went down and the waves went up. A very choppy first two minutes saw the shell fill with water, but we were not deterred. About halfway through the piece, the chop ‘mellowed’ out and we hit our rhythm, taking a length on UL round the outside of the bend. The piece was 5 minutes and Cambridge finished with a couple of seats open.
The second 5-minute piece was a rolling start at St. Paul’s with UL on Surrey and Cambridge switched to Middlesex station. The entire piece was relatively side-by-side, yet Cambridge was continuously inching away throughout. This was an unproblematic piece with no severe steering issues and saw Cambridge win by about a length.
The last piece was a final 5 minutes to the line, from a standing start, with Cambridge going back to Surrey and UL on Middlesex. This piece had aggressive steering and coxing, but Jack Nicholas rose to the challenge. Despite some clashes and several warnings to UL, Cambridge won the piece by about ¾ of a length.
All in all, it was a productive day of racing, with solid practice in tough conditions. Thank you UL for some great racing and for bearing the brutal conditions!
Blondie v UL ‘B’
Result: First piece to Cambridge 2.5 lengths, second piece to Cambridge by just over a length, and third piece to Cambridge by 1 length
| Name | Seat | College |
| Louis De Neve | Cox | Robinson |
| Caroline Rijkse | Stroke | Magdalene |
| Eloise Etherington | 7 | Gonville & Caius |
| Carina Graf | 6 | Emmanuel |
| Polly Shorrock | 5 | Trinity |
| Jessica ‘Beanie’ Spain | 4 | Queens’ |
| Becky Ashford | 3 | Lucy Cavendish |
| Mia Freischem | 2 | Darwin |
| Ellie Sillar | Bow | Emmanuel |
Race Report: Ellie Sillar, Bow
In the final fixture of 2025, Blondie faced UL ‘B’ in three pieces. Whilst the weather was beautifully sunny, all pieces were raced into a head or cross wind creating some challenging choppy conditions for both crews.
In the first piece UL ‘B’ (on the Surrey station) had a powerful start through the rough water, quickly taking almost a length on Blondie (on Middlesex). Blondie maintained a strong base pace allowing them to move back. The Cambridge crew then executing a well-timed push to capitalise on UL’s stroke coming off her seat, quickly gained a lengths advantage. Blondie proceeded to lengthen this out to a 2 and a quarter-length margin by the end of the piece.
The second piece saw the intensity of UL’s start allowing them to gain an early lead over the Cambridge crew. However, throughout the piece Blondie’s punchy rhythm allowed the crew to walk back despite being on the outside of the Surrey bend. As the water began to flatten out the light blue crew rowed through to a take the win by a length and a third.
For the third piece from the bandstand to the finish, UL and Blondie swapped stations, once again placing Blondie on the outside of the bend. UL’s punchy start brought them an early advantage, requiring Blondie to once more fight their way back around. Whilst the start of the third piece offered calmer water, towards the finish line the waves were back to challenge the two crews. Both crews managed the change in conditions well and held contact with each other for the duration of the piece with Cambridge finishing with a half-length lead.
Many thanks to everyone who made the day possible, particularly to University of London Boat Club for three exciting races, and to Clare Harvey for umpiring.
Women’s Lightweights v UL ‘C’
Result: First piece to Cambridge, second piece to Cambridge by 2.5 lengths, third piece to Cambridge by 2.5 lengths
| Name | Seat | College |
| Sarah Sharp | Cox | Jesus |
| Madeline Jackson | Stroke | St Edmund’s |
| Arden Berlinger | 7 | Pembroke |
| Freya Clarkson | 6 | Emmanuel |
| Gigi Pezier | 5 | Queens’ |
| Jessica van de Grint-Stoop | 4 | St Catharine’s |
| Eugenie Dodds | 3 | Christ’s |
| Grace Forward | 2 | Jesus |
| Claire Cooper | Bow | Sidney Sussex |
Race Report: Freya Clarkson, 6 seat
Although the sun was shining and we applied our suncream for the spring weather that awaited, the Thames produced some tsunami waves and challenging conditions for us to conquer.
Warming up, cox Sarah Sharp kept us focused and confident as we were determined to master the conditions. Our fixture against UL was 3 x 5 minute pieces, beginning at the start, St Pauls and Band stand. Starting on Surrey station, the first piece got underway with a strong start only to be stopped after one minute due to UL ‘C’ colliding with a small Dingy. As a crew we kept internal and focused as we prepared for the rerow and subsequent remaining 4 minutes. Although the wash was strong, our rhythm led by Maddy Jackson in stroke was stronger and as a crew owned the choppy water to win the first piece.
Going into piece 2 we were excited to see what we could do with our bend advantage. If one restart wasn’t exciting enough, why not go for two? The initial start sequence resulted in a slightly too close encounter with UL with blades clashing. Once again we got to practice our start sequence with a second restart. Again displacing internal confidence we were unfazed by the wash and settled onto our base pace gaining clear water and taking the win by 2.5 lengths.
On the outside of the bend in piece 3 it was great practice to row round a crew and have the belief within ourselves. The hype was big and the watts even bigger allowing us to cross the finish line 2.5 lengths up.
All in all a great day of racing and thank you very much to University London for racing – we are excited to see what we can produce in just under two weeks time!!
Men’s Lightweights v ‘Granta’ Cambridge Alumni
Result: First piece to CUBC by 2 lengths, second piece to CUBC by 2 lengths, third piece to CUBC by a length and a half
| Name | Seat | College |
| Isabella Fiske-Harrison | Cox | Trinity |
| James Richards | Stroke | Girton |
| Theo Hatcher | 7 | Robinson |
| Janik Schüttler | 6 | St John’s |
| Ben Isherwood | 5 | Emmanuel |
| Josh Moore | 4 | Queens’ |
| Will Morris | 3 | Gonville & Caius |
| Gianluca Maffi | 2 | Downing |
| Jeremy Wilkinson | Bow | Churchill |
Race Report: Will Morris, 3 seat
With just under two weeks to go until The Lightweight Boat Race, the crew took to the Tideway for their final fixture against a strong composite of past and present CUBC talent. With collective experience of 17 Lightweight and Reserve Boat Races, the “Granta” eight was comprised of rowers now rowing for London-based clubs and this year’s lightweight spare pair.
Due to choppy conditions, the crews raced 3 shorter pieces from Barn Elms to Hammersmith Bridge.
Granta won the toss and opted to start on Surrey station for the first piece. With a strong start Cambridge gained a few seats. Capitalising on this early momentum, they were able to push out to around a lengths lead by Harrods. Having settled into a strong rhythm Cambridge continued to move away, winning the first piece by 2 lengths.
Following a short break, the crews switched stations for the second piece. Despite a strong start from Granta, Cambridge won by 2 lengths.
The final piece was slightly longer, finishing at St Paul’s. Cambridge returned to Middlesex station and Granta were given a head start of half a length. Both crews showed grit in the tricky conditions and were level coming under Hammersmith. Maintaining their composure, Cambridge rowed round the outside winning the piece by a length and a half.
Thank you to the Granta boys for giving us another challenging fixture.
Granta Crew:
Cox: Felix Craig-McFeely (Lightweight ‘22)
Stroke: Cameron McKenzie (Lightweight ’21 & ‘22, Goldie ‘23)
7: George Hawkswell (Granta ‘17, Goldie ‘22 & ‘23)
6: Orlando Morley (Lightweight ‘22, Goldie ‘23 & ‘24)
5: Fred Markanday (Lightweight ’19, ‘22 & ‘24)
4: Harry Fieldhouse (Lightweight ’21, ‘22 & ‘23)
3: Hal Barrow (Lwt Spare Pair ‘22)
2: Peter Crossley (Lwt Spare Pair ‘25)
Bow: Alex Tocher (Lwt Spare Pair ‘25)