Summer VIII's rowing

Summer Eights is a four day regatta of rowing races among all of the colleges at Oxford, taking place in May on the Isis River. It includes around 160 boats, over 1400 participants, and thousands of spectators lining the banks. As the Isis is generally too narrow for side-by-side racing, Summer Eights is a bumps race: for each division, thirteen boats line up at the downstream end of the river, with 1.5 lengths separating them, and at the gun everyone takes off; the goals is to bump the boat in front of you before you're bumped by the boat behind you. Bumping includes any contact between boats, blades, or persons from one boat to another.

A boat's starting position in the race is determined by last year's finish. Each day it is possible to move up one spot, move down one spot, or stay in the same spot, depending on whether they bump, are bumped, or neither (it's also possible to overbump, gaining two spots, but that's rare). Balliol's Women's First boat finished Head of the River (1st place) last year, a first for our women, and a huge honor. As this year's race approached, one of our eight rowers was injured. It was assumed that the place would be filled by a member of Balliol's second boat (not ideal, but what do you do?). However, five days before the start of the race, I received an email from the captain of the boat: 'So, I know your achilles is still healing, but would you be interested in rowing in Summer VIII's? Unfortunately, this is not a joke.' As this was one email of about 50 in my inbox at the time, I quickly typed a response that I would think about it and that we could chat later. At this time, I didn't realize the race was just five days away!

To cut the story short, I gave it a try, and my achilles felt fine. Although I hadn't rowed in over a year (and even then, my total experience was 8 weeks!), the crew thought I was the best option they had. Rowers work years and train incredibly hard in the hope of one day rowing as a Headship crew, and here I had just walked right into the boat at the last minute possible. I was amused, excited to be back competing again (even if it was just rowing), and very worried that I would screw things up for them! I just needed to not screw up for about a six minute race each day...

Day 1: We kept a comfortable distance between ourselves and Teddy Hall (2nd) long enough for Wadham (3rd) to catch them, allowing us to relax a bit through the finish line.
Day 2: A very close race! We just managed to hold our distance against Wadham (now 2nd). A little too close for comfort! In the meantime, Pembroke(4th) caught Teddy Hall(now 3rd), meaning that Pembroke would chase Wadham in day 3.
Day 3: We held off Wadham (2nd) long enough for Pembroke (now 3rd) to catch up and bump them. We had an easy coast to the finish. But that meant we would be racing against Pembroke in the final day for the headship. We knew they were faster than us. But not only do they have to be faster, but they also have to make up 1.5 boat lengths of separation over the course of the race.
Day 4: The race began well, but out of the corner of our eyes we saw Pembroke slowly gaining on us. Soon they were within feet of our boat, and I think all of us knew we were about to be caught. But instead of giving in, everyone was determined to hold them off for as many strokes as possible. Suddenly, I noticed the distance between us widen rather quickly, and I heard the crowds on the bank go wild. A member of the Pembroke crew had 'caught a crab,' meaning they hadn't gotten their blade out of the water in time and it had gotten caught. Pembroke was forced to stop dead in the water in order to fix it. Catching crabs is not uncommon at all, and happens especially often under pressure. A split second mistake by one of their rowers had given us a break. We rowed on past the largest crowd, watching our distance increase further and further. Pembroke managed to get going again, but at this point we knew that, as long as we could hold it together, the headship was ours. We crossed the finish line, retaining 'Head of the River' status for one more year, and doing so with a non-rower in the boat! Winning Summer Eights earns the Headship crew personalized blades, so I will now be returning to the states with a highly coveted Headship blade, for my three days of training and four days of racing!

Ok, now some pictures. Below we're setting off from the boathouse down towards the start line. Each race is separated by a warm-up period for the next division of boats to race.
A couple photos of us warming up,A picture of us racing on either day 2 or 3,
Racing through the area with most the boathouses,
And the final day- we're taking the boat off the water after winning the Headship. The crew was unbelievably excited, and I felt privileged to have helped them achieve their goal.
One of my favourite photos: This is probably 45 seconds after we saw that Pembroke had caught a crab. We were pulling away and just starting to realize that we still had a shot to win.
Below is a link to a video of the last half of the race on the final day, taken by a member of another college. The video starts right as Pembroke is about to bump us (though it's in the distance), and you watch us pull away. Pembroke was stopped for so long that they were almost caught by Wadham(3rd), and had to zigzag across the river in an evasive technique.
Day Four Balliol W1
Finally, a picture of our cox, the crew, and our coach at the celebratory dinner that evening.