Women’s Squads

Welcome to the Cantabs Women’s Squads. Whether you’re interested in training and racing at national events or prefer the more social side of rowing, Cantabs has something to offer you!

We are organised into a number of different squads, depending on commitment, aspirations and ability. At Cantabs, we’re lucky to benefit from the best coaching provision of all town clubs on the Cam. Each squad has at least one dedicated coach, whose bios can be found here.

All of our women’s squads participate in the Cambridge Town Bumps. In 2021, Cantabs fielded 12 women’s crews for bumps – the highest number of women’s crews entered in the event’s history, despite the pandemic! Cantabs W1 have been Head of the River since 2017, and Cantabs W2 bumped City of Cambridge in 2021 to finish 2nd on the river. 4 of the top 7 women’s crews in Division 1 are Cantabs. That is, our 2nd, 3rd and 4th boats are faster than many clubs’ 1st boats.

At WEHoRR in 2017, three squads were represented in the five-strong contingent from Cantabs. The A, B and C crews were formed from athletes from the Senior Women’s Squad, finishing 14th, 59th and 96th, respectively. The D crew was formed from athletes from the Intermediate Women’s Squad, and the E crew was formed from athletes from our Junior Squad. In 2019, Cantabs A finished 19th, missing out on the Provincial Pennant to Nottingham RC by less than 1 second.

Please contact the women’s captain for more information on any of these squads.

Senior Women’s Squad

This squad is aimed at rowers who are committed and who want to race competitively. You don’t have to be experienced to join, but you should be enthusiastic! The Senior Women’s Squad mainly focuses on racing at national events including Henley Women’s Regatta, Fours Head, WEHoRR and the Dorney regattas, but we also compete at a lot of other events along the way.

You can read more about our Senior Squad here.

Intermediate Squad

This squad is aimed at women who have some rowing experience and would like to develop their skills, or those who still want to compete, but have other commitments such as work or family.

The Intermediate Women’s Squad training plan consists of 4-5 sessions a week including ergs, outings and circuits. This squad mainly races on the River Cam, but also fields competitive crews at and local races in places such as Peterborough and Bedford, and they race at WEHORR each year.

The Senior Women’s Squad coaches keep an eye on athletes in the Intermediate Women’s Squad, and those who are making good progress will be invited to join the Senior Women’s Squad.

You can read more about our Intermediate Squad here.

Progression Squad

This squad trains 2-4 times per week, mostly consisting of ergs and outings. The focus is generally on races on the Cam, of which there are many to choose from: Winter League, Town Bumps, Head of the Cam, Winter Head, Christmas Head, Head to Head, Autumn Head, Cambridge Nines Regatta… the list goes on!

You can read more about our Progression Squad here.

Learn to Row

If you are a woman interested in learning to row, you can find out more here.

Social Rowing

We also have a stand-alone women’s squad, who go by ‘Racks Out’. Racks Out are a more social crew, who compete on-Cam but also have fun racing regularly abroad at regattas and head races in places including Heidelberg, Warsaw and Budapest.

You can find out more about them here.

Masters Rowing

All of our women’s squads, contain masters rowers – we have no separate masters squad, instead encouraging masters age athletes to pick the squad which suits their training and racing aims most closely. When masters events take place, each squad often sends masters crews to compete.

The Senior Women’s Squad enters high-level masters competitions as well as more local races with masters events. In the last few years we have won the Vet Fours Head and Pairs Head multiple times, as well as Vets Head pennants, and won gold at the British Rowing Masters Championships. Crews have also gone to (and medalled at!) the World Rowing Masters Regatta. Masters-age athletes in other squads enter masters status events wherever there is interest.

Please contact the women’s captain if you are interested in joining one of these squads.