Cambridge made it two wins in a row in this years Lightweight Boat race.

Both crews had shown good speed in warm up fixtures against crews from London RC, Goldie, Leander, UL and Bristol University, and looked sharp in the build up to the race. Oxford won the toss and chose the Berks station with the better of the strong stream conditions.

The 2009 CULRC Trial VIII’s Race produced a hard fought battle between the two crews “Maverick” and “Iceman”. Just like in Top Gun, the rivalry between the crews was fierce in training with each crew seeking to out-do the other in practice pieces. Also like the film, Iceman came out the victor, winning the race by a margin of 1 length.

CULRC had their best ever row in the Fairbairn Cup. They covered the course in a very quick 13.29 and were 15 secs off the two matched CUBC Trial Eights which finished within 1 second of each other.

The Fairbairn Cup is one of the largest races that the CULRC races in during the Michaelmas Term occurring just after the end of full term. It presents an excellent opportunity to produce a strong performance in front of home crowds on the Cam and there is always much appreciated support from the banks.

Following the results from the Boston Trial, a quad of (stroke to bow) John Hale, Al Chappelle, Iain Rist and Chris Kerr was selected to race in LM4x at 4’s Head of the River. Sadly the event was cancelled at the last minute as we were waiting to boat from our generous host club Crabtree.