Ahead of Durham Regatta which starts tomorrow, HEX Editor-in-Chief Alice Martin spoke to Trevelyan College Boat Club’s women’s captains Jess Eddy and Imogen French, who recently took up their posts in time for regatta season, about the yearlong preparation and their hopes for the home turf event.

Jess and Imogen begin by detailing how preparation for regatta season is “quite different” compared to training for the longer head races over the winter. The focus is more on “short bursts of power rather than endurance”, and training consists of “erg pieces, UT2 workouts, and water sessions which have included lots of race pieces”. 

We have all worked so hard throughout the year…so we really want to see that pay off

TCBC has known a lot of success at Durham Regatta over recent years, particularly with their women’s squads. In 2024, the women’s 8 won while the women’s 4 reached the final of their respective events. Additionally, in 2023 the women’s 4 won their final. This year, hopes of yet more medals are high, and Jess and Imogen comment on how “we have all worked so hard throughout the year from ergs to water sessions, so we really want to see that pay off”.

This year, the women’s 1^st 8+, 1^st 4+, and the 2^nd 4+ are competing at the regatta. The 1^st 8+ has had a successful head season over the winter, such as at the Rutherford Head in December, and are averaging amongst the top three fastest colleges, so the squad is very much seeking to continue this success at the weekend. In addition, TCBC has entered a quad (a coxless boat for four rowers with two sculls each) which is a “totally new venture for the women’s squad”. The women’s captains are “excited to see their races after the really hard work they have been putting in”.

According to Jess and Imogen, Durham Regatta is the “most significant regatta of the season, like the Women’s Eights Head of the River (WEHORR) was in head season”. Competing on the same river as in training is an obvious advantage, not to mention an “opportunity to showcase rowing to our uni friends…and lots of our squad have family members coming up from home to support them”. It is an undeniably important event which is also a test of their new captaincy since taking over at the start of Easter Term.

There are also two novice 4+ racing at the weekend which Jess and Imogen believe show “huge potential”. Jess was previously Novice Captain this past year along with now Co-President James Robinson, and she says how it has been “amazing to watch them progress through the club”. The novices have gone through the tough start of learning the basics with Jess and James, to now taking on the “mighty Durham Regatta” in front of an expected 10,000 spectators along the banks of the River Wear.

The intake of novices at the beginning of each academic year is vital for the continuation of TCBC’s success, especially given the majority of the current women’s squad are graduating in the coming weeks. Jess and Imogen are looking forward to seeing what the current cohort can achieve during their final time picking up the iconic Trevs blades.

We hope to train hard to work towards being the fastest Durham college

Trevelyan College Boat Club is arguably equally successful in both the men’s and the women’s events. Jess and Imogen believe there is not a “huge gender disparity in terms of who stays in rowing, the issue rather lies with who can make it through learning to row in the cold winter months and progress to the senior squads”. However, the girls point out the “unfortunate issue” that is the men’s squad tend to “receive a lot more rowers who rowed at school than the women’s squad, which we cannot control, but it is a shame”.

That said, the women’s captains are optimistic and are looking ahead to “starting fresh” in the autumn with the current novices moving up to the senior squad and new rowers arriving. Jess and Imogen’s aim for the 2025-26 season is to “train hard to work towards being the fastest Durham college!”. We wish them all the best.

The 192nd Durham Regatta will be held on 14th and 15th June 2025, with entertainment, food, a classic car collection, and more. Visit https://durham-regatta.org.uk/ for more information. 

Image: Edward Jex