SNRC men’s 2 crew at Cambridge Bumps.

St Neots Rowing Club won the John Jenner Trophy for a record fifth time at this year’s Cambridge Bumps, and remains the only club not based on the River Cam to have ever won it.

The trophy is awarded to the club that achieves the most bumps throughout the four-day event per number of boats entered. St Neots had four entries – two men’s and two ladies’ crews in the top two divisions – and all achieved at least one bump throughout the week.

The Bumps is one of the most exciting events on the local rowing calendar and often attracts large crowds, eager to see an alternative to traditional regattas. Crews start in a line on the Cam and attempt to catch – or bump – the boat ahead. Those that achieve this move up a place in the starting order for the following evening’s race – and get the chance, according to tradition, to adorn themselves in garlands made from willow plucked from the riverbank.

The St Neots men’s first crew climbed from fifth to third place in division one, putting themselves in a good position to challenge for the overall Bumps Headship title next year. Both women’s crews bumped once over the course of the event, but it was the men’s second crew that scored the most, climbing an astonishing five places in division two. They even achieved a rare ‘over-bump’ on the Wednesday, catching the crew three places higher in the starting order, after the two boats immediately ahead of them had already come together in the own ‘bump’.

“Winning the John Jenner Trophy for a fifth time in six years is an amazing achievement for our club,” said St Neots Club Captain, Steve Fox. “Our top men’s crew also had ambitions to claim the overall title. That proved to be beyond them this year, but they’ve put themselves in a great position to mount a serious challenge next year.”

“The Bumps are a fantastic event and we once again enjoyed a memorable few days competing in them.”

St Neots women’s first crew: Kat Harris, Aimee Parker, Tash Holdaway, Voirrey Taylor, Louise Shorten, Liv Hooper, Dominie Clarke, Jade Hellett and cox Libby Milne.

Four crews travelled to Peterborough on 5 June to compete at the Peterborough Spring Regatta, taking on clubs and universities on the one-kilometre rowing lake.

The day started with our WNov 4+ of Ali Young (cox), Tash Holdaway (stroke), Jaione Echeveste, Hannah Towns and Dominie Clarke (bow). They got off to a great start in their heat but had to stop after 300m to avoid Warwick crashing into them. After a re-start the St Neots ladies pushed home to finish second, which meant they qualified for a repechage to try to grab the last place in the final.

Next on the water was Tash Holdaway in her WNov 1x. She led her heat from the start and won by 15 seconds to qualify for the final.

The women’s repechage followed soon afterwards. Of their two opponents, a Leeds University crew had the fastest heat time, but our ladies were determined to get to the final. After 400m the St Neots ladies were in second place, but as Leeds started to look scrappy Ali called for a push; the ladies took Leeds with a couple of hundred metres to go and held on to win their place in the final.

Our next crew was a men’s pair of Stuart Williams and Kevin Sadler. Gusting winds made for challenging conditions and they placed third in their race. The time was not want they wanted to achieve, but it gave them aspects to work on for their next races.

We then had our fastest turnaround of the day: Tash went down for her delayed WNov 1x final while the rest of the ladies prepared for the coxed four final. Tash gave everything to claim third place, then immediately leapt out of her boat – leaving it with some of the club’s men – and dashed round the lake to join the rest of the Nov 4+ ladies.

The ladies had a clean start in their final, but after 150m they had to stop because of a collision between York and Leeds University and go for a re-start. Fatigue was by now creeping in and they fought hard to finish third – not bad for a relatively new crew. The ladies were also grateful to Ali, who gave up her Sunday to cox them superbly, especially in the repechage.

Last up was our MasD 4+ crew of Trevor Rickwood (stroke), Bob Hetherington, Kieron Marriner and Karl Zwetsloot (bow). It was their first race since losing their novice status just two weeks earlier. They made a strong start, urged on by cox Tash Holdaway, and did well to keep up with a Bedford crew in second place, but they couldn’t quite make up the five-second gap and both finished well behind a far superior crew from Boston. The valuable experience gave them lots to build on as they prepare for more races this summer.

Both Josh Davies and Fergus Mitchell also attended the event. Fergus Mitchell-Dwelly competed in the Elite single category and reached the final and came third overall. Josh Davies also competed in this final but was unfortunate not to make the final. Josh also competed in the IM1 single scull category and came second in the straight final missing out on the win by just under 2 seconds.

Members past, present, young and old gathered at the club recently for a special and poignant boat naming ceremony. Two singles and a coxed four were doused in Champagne as their names were revealed: one to mark a club anniversary and two in memory of former members.

First up was Sesquicentennial, the term used to describe a 150th anniversary, which now adorns one of our new singles. The name marks St Neots Rowing Club’s 150th year, in 2015, and was revealed by last year’s club captain, Ali Young.

The name of the second single was Tom Walker (right), in memory of a former member who died aged 26 in 2009, just five months after being diagnosed with cancer. “Please accept our grateful thanks for giving us the honour of naming one of your boats after our son,” said Tom’s mum, Ann Walker. “Although it was a very emotional day filled with poignant moments, it brought back so many happy memories of watching Tom row. As a club, you should be immensely proud of the way in which you enable young people to grow, both individually and as a team. Tom was a proud and very happy St Neots rower.”

The coxed four was the last to have its name revealed – Alex Davies (left) – chosen to remember another former member who died young, aged just 22, in 2014. The name was revealed by Alex’s mum, Sarah Davies, who is herself a prominent rower at the club.

“We’d like to thank the members of St Neots Rowing Club for remembering Alex in this way,” said Sarah. “Alex would have been quietly pleased and very embarrassed at having a boat named after him.

“In his early years Alex was a dedicated and enthusiastic rower, always trying to improve his technique, which paid off as he progressed to become a skilled rower. Alex was always happy to help or advise when asked and enjoyed being a member of the club. Now he has the opportunity to be on the water regularly.”

The tradition of giving newly named boats their first outing on the water had to be curtailed slightly, because river conditions were unsafe for singles. Instead, it was left to a crew led by men’s captain, Dom Chapman, to give Alex Davies its first outing as everyone looked on.

Two more new boats are due to be named at the club in the next few weeks.

Bibi Grobarova, Kat Harris, Caroline Murden and Valya Malyarova, coxed here by Rachel Tackley, won their category at this year’s Cambridge Winter League.

Some members of our 2015-16 beginners group have tasted victory at their first attempt at competitive rowing.

Nearly the entire group entered this year’s Cambridge Winter League, and both the women’s and men’s 4x+ crews won their categories – although not enough clubs entered for organisers to present them with any well-earned trophies.

The women’s crew comprising Bibi Grobarova, Kat Harris, Caroline Murden and Valya Malyarova won with a combined time of 41 mins 31 secs, making them the third-fastest women’s 4x+ crew in any category. The men’s crew included Steve Taylor, Rob Stirling, Dave Cullen and Stuart Fleet and had a combined time of 40 mins 04 secs.

Other members of the beginners group teamed up with senior members to form a men’s Nov 8+; victory escaped them on this occasion but – like the winning crews – they showed huge improvements as the three-month league progressed.

All the crews were helped along the way by various coxes, including Chris Leaf, Rachel Tackley, Hannah Towns, Jaione Echeveste and Martin Lycett.

“Well done to everyone in the group who took part,” said learn-to-row co-ordinator Alistair Mackie. “The Cambridge Winter League is always a good testing ground for new rowers. It has really increased the appetite of everyone who took part to now push on and hopefully achieve more success at regattas later this year.”