Back to the Cam – an alumnae rower reunion

Last Saturday, the 23rd of February, a group of MECBC/NHBC alumnae took to the water together again for the first time in 20 years.  The crew, made up of Sarah Wallis, Anna Davies, Katie Chapman (nee Harris), Abbe Brown (nee Lockhart), Vanessa Bassett (nee King), Jo Strong (nee Holmes), Kate Beaton (nee Jones) and Louise Hobbs (nee Christie), with Lisa Wilding in the coxing seat and bank partied by Sharon Fuller (nee Malkin), cut an impressive figure in Owen in spite of their long separation from the river, proving that rowing is like the mafia; it never really lets you go.    Before pushing off, the graduates of 1992 seemed to be excited and a little nervous, but bravely turned down the offer of having a quick go at the ergs. After a warm up which included some dreaded burpees, they were off.

At this point, it had even stopped snowing! Lisa very quickly found her coxing voice, and the rowers their rhythm. They were sat and they were fast, inflicting an acute case of rowing envy onto their bank party. A steady run down to the lock became peppered with practice starts and bursts for ten on the return journey showing that the club has been well hard long before we adopted this as a motto. After this successful and enjoyable outing, the reunion rowers and some current MECBCers met in the Fort St.George to share stories and boatie banter. It turns out that the proper way to do boat races at boat club dinners was lost somewhere along the way. We know better now.

We’d like to thank everyone who came along on Saturday, but especially Louise Hobbs for organising the outing and getting together a full crew. It was a fantastic afternoon, and we hope to have many more such visits in the future. There are lots of races on the Cam with alum categories . . .

Henrike Schulte to Buehne
Alumnae Officer 2012-2013
Murray Edwards College Boat Club