Women’s Head 2022

It has been brilliant to be back at Leander for a few weeks and to be rowing on the Henley stretch. Due to Covid, I have barely been able to visit the club for almost two years, too worried about catching the virus and stopping the crew from training/having to isolate for ages, so it really is brilliant to be back!

A number of the women I knew by sight or social media but not properly and I had only rowed with a few of them before so actually, it was a really fun secondment for a few weeks, not just because the rowing was good but because I got to make a whole load of new pals.

The race prep was going well and we were looking forward to giving the top eight, comprised of athletes who train at Caversham (and coxed by my friend Morgan Baynham-Williams) a run for their money.

Race day was genuinely something else… we boated from Fulham Reach, just over halfway down the course and genuinely… the weather was biblical. It was wind against tide, which means huge waves and unforgiving gusts. We started well and tried to monopolise on the good water and then the second half was a case of hanging on for dear life and trying not to capsize.

We were chasing down an Edinburgh crew for a long time around the Surrey bend and they made it very hard for us to overtake - great racing from them and their coxswain and we finished in 5th. I really enjoyed coxing eights again and i am so grateful to the women for giving me such a great few weeks back at the Pink Palace.