Gallery: Christmas spirit in full flow at City of Cambridge Rowing Club’s Christmas Head on the River Cam
A group of Grinches on the River Cam may seem ominous given what has happened in 2020 but fear not, they were just taking part in the City of Cambridge Rowing Club Christmas Head last Saturday (December 5).
The first race on the Cam since March also included a turkey as a cox, escapees from the ‘Gotbusted Penitentiary’, a rowing Christmas tree, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, chickens and even Father Christmas himself, as the lifting of the second lockdown restrictions made it possible for the annual fun to return to the river to provide some festive cheer.
There were 152 crews in action, and the best fancy dress prize went to Cantabrigian’s SSBB crew, who were dressed as scuba divers.
Among some of the category race winners were the Driving Home For Xpressmas crew, from Xpress, in the open masters coxed four category, The Flaming Flamingos from City of Cambridge in the coxless four championship and club section, Hercules from Cambridge 99 in the open coxless pairs, and Cantabs’ Battleship BBSS in the women’s club coxed four section, marking a one-two-three for the club with the Christmas jumper crew edging out some scuba divers and a Christmas dinner.
The winner of the club open eights section was host club City of Cambridge's Legs Miserable boat, and they were also the fastest overall.
Cantabs had a number of crews on the water, and had the two fastest women's crews on the day - with the eight dressed as sheep and a shepherd inching out their rivals dressed as tacky tourists.
The Hills Road Sixth Form eight were the fastest J18 crew and third fastest men's eight overall, while the Aquaphobes were the quickest masters eight entry.
There was also success for Cantabs' David Richardson and Cecile Auty-Jacklin in the mixed masters double sculls.
There was also domination for the Senior Women in the W4+ event, where despite being 'battleship rigged' (an unconventional rig where pairs of rowers row on the same side as opposed to alternate sides, making steering a challenge for coxes), Cantabs finished in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with the Christmas Jumper crew edging out their squad mates dressed as scuba divers and a Christmas dinner. Though the scuba divers were consoled by winning the coveted best fancy dress prize.
Also walking away with the top two spots were the Cantabs junior girls in the J15 coxed four and J15/J16 double sculls, as well as winning the girls' J16 quads.
