Summer Eights 2015

Summer Eights 2015 was a spectacular week of hard-fought races, thrills, and spills for the seven Pembroke crews competing and the many supporters who came to watch.

Our M4 and W3 crews both qualified to race through the "Rowing On" time trials, and gave very strong performances on the first two days of racing, only to be bumped on day three by speedy crews from Mansfield.

M3 stormed up three places in Division 5, to finish as the second-highest M3 crew on the river. Now sitting closely behind Wolfson M3, next year's M3 will enter a grudge match to decide who will hold the coveted "M3 Headship".

This year's W2 stood out from the other women's second boats for both their tidiness and their speed. They had a series of strong row-overs but were bumped by Green Templeton's blades-winning W1, and next year's W2 will inherit a good starting position at the top of Division 4.

M2 climbed their way three places up Division 2, and are the second-highest M2 crew on the river behind Oriel M2. In a high division surrounded by M1 crews, Pembroke M2 gave a truly impressive performance, which leaves them in an enviable position for next year.

W1 shot up two places on the first two days with emphatic bumps on crews from Teddy Hall and St John's. However, despite closing hard on Wadham on the remaining two days and demonstrably being the fastest women's crew on the river, we missed out on the bump and finished in second place. This is our highest finishing position in three years, and places next year's W1 within striking distance of the Headship.

Despite executing some phenomenal evasive manoeuvres on day one, M1 were bumped shortly before the finish line by a Blues-stacked Christ Church boat. They spent the next three days thwarting a strong Magdalen crew to finish third on the river.

This year's Eights campaign gave many of our crews a taste of both the sweetness and the sting of bumps racing. It was an exciting learning curve from the first race to the last with some truly memorable racing performances, especially from W3, who almost triple-over-bumped, and M2, who have earned their highest finishing position in eight years.

The tremendous drive and dedication of our athletes has made this a rewarding and exciting year to be a part of PCBC, and we look forward to a competitive 2015-16 season.

- Millie O'Driscoll, PCBC President 2014-15