Rowing success at Fairbairns once again
Jesus College Boat Club (JCBC) has once again achieved success at the Fairbairns races, which this year celebrated 40 years of Women’s rowing at Jesus College.
One of our first female students, Sally Adams (1979), had rowed at school before arriving in Cambridge. Between them, Sally and the 1979 committee set out establishing Women’s rowing at JCBC, with great success!
The first JCBC women’s boat, a coxed IV, won their first race at The Fairbairn Cup - no mean feat over the 3km course along the Cam. This year draws a lovely parallel with the current first women’s coxed IV winning the University Fours competition at the end of November.
From just one IV back in 1979 ; this year four women’s VIIIs and a IV took part in races for the Fairbairn Cup on Thursday 5th (novices) and Friday 6th (seniors) December. JCBC are using this opportunity to celebrate 40 years of women rowing at Jesus and invited alumni back to participate.
Five alumni crews from the past five decades, with an age range of 21 to 67, took part in these special races on the River Cam. A total number of 15 Jesus crews (women’s, men’s and alumni) rowed across the two days, so there were plenty of crews to cheer on!
Following the incredible successes of women at JCBC over the past 40 years, Jesus College once again proved themselves as one of the best College teams on the river. Of the senior teams, the 1st Women won the VIIIs category for the fourth time in a row, and came second in the IVs category. The standout results from the novice crews was the 1st Men who came second, their best result in the past seven years. The alumni boats also performed well, with the fastest Men and Women alumni crews finishing fourth in their respective invitational events.
The day concluded with a special Boat Club dinner in Hall, where over 100 past and present students came together to catch up and share memories of their time with the Club and Jesus College.
