Fairbairn's Cup and the Christmas Head round off a great year of rowing

The penultimate week of this term saw St Mary's rowers competing in two races to round off the rowing year; the Fairbairn's Cup followed by the Christmas Head.

The Fairbairn's cup on 1 December was a race for Cambridge University College 8's. St Mary's entered some time-only crews to get experience for some of our older athletes in larger boats. Our Year 12 and 13 girl's crew had a great first race of the term, overtaking a crew during the race and finishing in the top eight for times, after limited preparation. Our Year 11 coxed quad also gained valuable experience in a crew boat without the additional stress of any meaningful competition.

Saturday 3 December saw the first whole school race for St Mary's with the Christmas head. Run along the river Cam in front of the boathouses, this race is often the first race ever for St Mary's girls and this year was no exception with lots of pupils getting their first taste of a proper rowing race.  

37 St Mary's pupils raced across 10 crews in a time trial format against various other town and college crews. There were great displays from all of the crews, especially those participating in a time trial like this for the first time. There were also a couple of wins, with Joelle A. comfortably winning Women's J15 singles and Georgia L. and Hannah H. winning Women's J16 doubles.

Thank you to all of the parents who came down to support and well done to all the girls for two great days racing.

Rowing at St Mary's