Women’s Eights Head 2026 – Race Report

Isle of Ely women's eight rowing on the Tideway

Ely’s sweep squad took to the Tideway on Saturday 14th March for this year’s Women’s Eights Head of the River Race – the biggest women’s rowing race in the world, and the high point we’d been working towards all winter.

We gained a lot of confidence from the Head of the East two weeks ago, but at dawn on Saturday there were some nerves. Would our shell really make it to Putney? Would Cambridge remember to pack all our trestles? And had the wind really died down, or would the Thames look like the Atlantic?

Early signs were encouraging: everyone made the 6:17 train (with the right kit and lucky socks), Duncan gave us a McCulloch clan pep talk, and we didn’t lose anyone on the underground. Better still, we arrived at Putney Embankment in bright sunshine to find the CUBC trailer waiting for us, with all the expected boat parts. Our rigging was speedy, leaving plenty of time to re-check top nuts and the midsection, do complicated warm ups in wellies, and spend a very very long time in the Thames RC loo queues.

The tide turned early, which got the Putney marshals excited to boat everyone ahead of schedule. Out on the sunny water, we rapidly started shedding layers and began our 7.5k paddle to the start line. We had a scare when a collar broke loose on a strokeside blade (didn’t check those – yikes), but Isabel didn’t let anyone panic, and steered us to Cygnet RC near Barnes. Bow pair negotiated, and some lovely people provided steadying hands and a screwdriver. Disaster averted! We spent the rest of the marshalling time sunbathing, weighing up our opposition and their kit choices, and watching a University of Exeter crew cause havoc on the opposite bank. Finally, we saw the first racing crews start to zoom past and began the countdown to our starting number (112).

A mere 2h18 after boating, we were off. We spun our bows into the stream, took a few strokes, and suddenly it was Go … we had a textbook start, and settled onto a strong, well-connected rate 29. Either the pep talk or having a good look at Leander 20 minutes earlier must’ve worked wonders – we only needed one rhythm re-set call! During the race, we were overtaken and also overtook others, both of which helped us push on, stay aggressive and stay focused through the “long boring bits”. The landmarks of Barnes Bridge, Chiswick Eyot, Hammersmith and Fulham appeared in no time, and suddenly we were at the Embankment, pushing for the finish. Crossing the finish line, we were absolutely tanks-emptied and very happy – no question we’d rowed our season’s best on the right day. We improved our raw time from last year by 1min 11s. We also improved our overall ranking, and our rank within the masters crews – this year, finishing 9th out of 35.

Getting an Ely crew to one of the major Tideway races is a big team effort for a small club. Massive thanks go to Duncan, who coaches not only technique, but also the push-til-you-drop land training and crew morale; to sweep squad stars Jill, Poppy, Jaqui and Fiona, without whom we wouldn’t have had a racing crew ready to send; to Emma for making our entries actually happen; to our amazing cox Isabel Nimmo, whose commands turn us into a better crew; and to Patrick and CUBC for squeezing our boat onto their trailer and remembering the trestles. We’re also very grateful to Cygnet RC, for saving the day with a screwdriver and being cheery with it.

Isle of Ely W1 from the bridge, on the Tideway

Cox: Isabel Nimmo (Cantabrigians)

S: Jo Williamson

7: Kasia Brzoska

6: Fay Paddock

5: Tanya Monteith

4: Lyn Haynes

3: Ruth Roca-Terry

2: Liz Roberts

1: Kirsty Sherwood

Coach: Duncan McCulloch