"Mileage makes Champions:" The Fairbairn Cup 2025, Cambridge
By Brody Eldridge
Category: College Open VIIIs – Darwin College, 20th place 12/05/2026
Every morning in the wee hours of dawn, students from the University of Cambridge cycle across the town to their colleges’ boathouses. A team of 8 lift the heavy boats out of the boathouse, carrying them to the bank and gently putting them down into the water. The coaches cycle along the river, shouting at their boat throughout the outing.
In 1927, Steve Fairbairn, a Jesus College rower, arranged for boats to race "the longest distance possible," from Fort St George to Little Bridge, and by 1929, the race, now officially the "Fairbairn Cup Races," was open to all colleges. His motto, "mileage makes champions," realized. (Category: College Open VIIIs – Wolfson College Boat Club, 2nd Place 12/05/2026)
The Fairbairn Cup race takes place in December, at the end of Michaelmas term. Boat clubs start preparing for it at the beginning of October, recruiting Freshers and teaching them how to row. The first 4 weeks of term, boats go up and down the Cam, zig-zagging while they learn to row in a straight line. (Category: College Open VIIIs – Trinity College Boat Club, 15th place 12/05/2026)
The cox sits at the back of the boat, using a specific terminology to control the rowers and their actions. Sit in Ditton Meadows and watch the steam rise into the early morning sunlight St Mary the Virgin's bell tower over the tree line as the cows mill about, and listen to the coxswains shout: "Bow, take a tap." (Category: College Open VIIIs – Wolfson College Boat Club, 2nd Place 12/05/2026)
The coach along the bank watches. They might offer to their boat: "Don't rush the catch. Especially you 3. Treat the recovery as a recovery." And on a cold November morning, you might hear the cox, through their speaker box, tell off her boat by saying, "sit the boat." (Category: International Open VIIIs – Downing College, 1st Place 12/05/2026)