St Cross and Wolfson Women Retain Head of the River
Women's rowing team celebrates winning Head of the River, c. Karen Heathcote
The St Cross and Wolfson first women’s boat defended their position at the Head of the River at this year’s Torpids, which took place from 2–5 March. Our Women's rowing team had two very tough races at the end of the week with a fast University College crew behind but managed to hold them off and retain their Headship.
This is a third incredible win for the women’s boat which won the Summer Eights for the first time in 2019 and created history by taking headship of the river for the first time in Torpids in 2021. The women's first boat won also Blades* for winning the race.
The Wolfson College Boat Club, which is made up of both St Cross and Wolfson students, entered the impressive nine crews in total: four into the men's division and five into the women's division.
Torpids is a 4-day regatta of bumps races and one of the University of Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing events of the year. According to its rules, boats within a single division are lined up behind each other, on about a length and a half. There are a series of canons and guns to start the race and then crews row as hard as they can upstream. The aim is to catch the boat in front and bump, and not get caught by the boat behind. If a boat bumps, it moves up a spot on the river and starts the race the next day one position higher. However, if it gets bumped, it has to move down. In Torpids, a boat can drop multiple positions if several faster crews overtake or bump it. The crew at the top of Division 1 at the end of the week wins Headship.
This year's key achievements for the St Cross and Wolfson boat club:
W1 defended Headship
W2 - highest W2 on the river
W3 - highest W3 on the river
W4 - highest W4 on the river
W5 - the only club to ever qualify 5 women's boats
St Cross and Wolfson boat club, c. Rosie Copus
M1 - Bumped up 3 to their highest position on the river
M2 - Bumped up 3
M3 - Bumped up 3
M4 - the highest M4 on the river
Well done to all who were competing for making both St Cross and Wolfson very proud colleges this year!
Many congratulations to all St Crossers in the boats on their performances:
W1: Tamsyn Clark, Verena Wiedemann, Greta Miller, Jennifer Elizabeth Astley, Daina Šadurska
W2: Johanna Friege, Molly Grace, Jessica Dunham
W3: Zhaoying Ma, Eloise Charreyon, Mary Sanford
W4: Daina Šadurska, Claire Holubowskyj, Jessica Dunham
W5: Lily Su, Erin Hayes, Tongshan Liu, Imogen Rivers, Nadya Kamenkovich
M1: William Kinsella, Andrew McMahon, Ben Bellekom, August Aalto, Arthur Smith, Andrew Wang, Mary Sanford
M2: David Geldbach, David Khachaturov, Karim Elmestekawy, Adam Ferris
M3: Henry Aufderheide, Timo Geitlinger, Adam Ferris
M4: James Neenan and Marco Santaniello
*This achievement allows the crew to buy blades with the names of their crew painted on
