This year’s Cambridge women’s Trial Eights brings together athletes from a wide range of rowing backgrounds to race in mixed crews, giving coaches the chance to assess speed, cohesion and performance under pressure ahead of training camps and selection into the new year. With two coxes new to the programme, as well as many athletes, the coaches will have had their work cut out over the past few months, ranking these athletes and creating the most closely matched crews possible.
Paddy Ryan’s squad have this year opted to name their crews after four of the five Spice Girls, with ‘Baby’ taking on ‘Ginger’, and ‘Sporty’ lining up against ‘Scary’, with CUBC Women’s President, Gemma King, lamenting that “The Spice Girls are a powerful group of women who each bring different personalities and attributes to the band, reflecting the variety of strengths and backgrounds across our squad.” With the crews set and the coxes prepped, tomorrow gives the women of CUBC the all important chance to make their mark on the Tideway ahead of the 2026 race.
Cox
Matt Moran
Matt Moran - 🇬🇧/🇨🇭
A postgraduate at Cambridge, Moran previously studied and coxed at Durham University, before making the move to Thames Rowing Club. Featuring at the helm of The Thames Challenge Cup crew for TRC in 2023, and The Ladies’ Challenge Plate in 2024, Moran certainly has the guts for side-by-side racing. His crew, 'Ginger' is reportedly also named after his firey locks.
Lidya Acar
Lidya Acar - 🇺🇸/🇹🇷
A postgraduate at Wolfson studying an MPhil Digital Humanities, Acar coxed Oregon State’s first eight throughout the 2024–25 season, guiding the crew through a full spring campaign including MPSF Championships and the IRA National Championship Regatta. Now turning her attention to the Tideway, Thursday will be Acar's chance to prove that her skills transfer to format of the Boat Race.
Verdict
Advantage Ginger — Moran’s Henley experience with Thames RC and Durham, as well as his recent performance at Head of the Charles also edges Acar’s collegiate campaign.
Stroke
Eloise Etherington
Eloise Etherington- 🇬🇧
An undergraduate studying Natural Sciences at Gonville & Caius, Eloise Etherington is a name that needs little introduction to anyone familar with the UK junior circuit. Having raced at the 2023 and 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships for GB, Etherington returned with a bronze and then a silver, rounding out a junior career rife with Henley Royal Regatta wins and GB vests.
Carys Earl
Carys Earl - 🇬🇧/🇨🇭
An undergraduate medic at Gonville & Caius, Earl learned to row at Cambridge and has since become a central figure in the programme, stroking the Cambridge Women’s Reserve Boat in 2023, then stepping up to the winning Blue Boats in both 2024 and 2025. Given the unpredictable nature of the Tideway in December, and glancing at the weather forecast for Thursday, having an experienced stroke seat in the form of Earl may make all the difference.
Verdict
Advantage Baby — Earl’s back to back Blue Boat wins outweigh Etherington’s U19 and Reserve Boat experience.
Seven
Charlotte Ebel
Charlotte Ebel - 🇬🇧/🇩🇪
Originally from Urbana, Illinois, Ebel is studying for an MPhil in Politics and International Studies. She brings an extensive academic and athletic background from her time at Syracuse University, regularly featuring in the second varsoty eight, as well as being a Syracuse University Scholar - the highest undergraduate honour available.
Mia Freischem
Mia Freischem - 🇩🇪
Now completing a PhD in Surgery at Darwin College, Freischem rowed in the Cambridge Women’s Reserve Boat in 2025 and previously learned the sport at Edinburgh University, with whom she won the Aspirational Academic Quads at Henley Women's Regatta 2022, and was later president.
Verdict
Even - both learned to row during their undergraduate degrees, and have risen through the ranks since.
Six
Camille VanderMeer
Camille VanderMeer - 🇺🇸
A postgraduate MBA student at Peterhouse, VanderMeer has raced at U19, U23 and senior World Rowing Championships, with a notable gold in the women’s four in Shanghai mere months ago in the latter bracket, and enjoyed a highly successful collegiate career in the US. VanderMeer also featured in the US coxless four and eight for the 2025 World Rowing Cups, and will certainly have a lot to bring to the six seat of this crew.
Aidan Wrenn-Walz
Aidan Wrenn-Walz - 🇺🇸
A postgraduate at Fitzwilliam, Wrenn-Walz graduated from Harvard in 2024, after regularly appearing in both the 1V and 2V eights for Harvard Radcliffe Rowing, and was a CRCA National Scholar Athlete. Wrenn-Walz also represented the USA at the U19 World Rowing Championships in 2019, the same year that she placed fifth in the youth women's single at Head of the Charles - a race she returned to with CUBC in 2025.
Verdict
Advantage Ginger — VanderMeer’s Junior, U23 and senior World Championship experience edges Wrenn-Walz.
Five
Alex Wiley
Alex Wiley - 🇨🇦
A postgraduate at Jesus College, Wiley learned to row at St Catharines Rowing Club before representing Penn Women's Rowing throughout her undergraduate degree, and captaining in her final year - earning multiple academic and athletic honours along the way. Wiley was also in the Penn crew who made the final of The Island Challenge Cup in 2023, losing out to Brookes, and featured in Cambridge's top outfit for Head of the Charles.
Antonia Galland
Antonia Galland - 🇩🇪
Studying Planning, Growth and Regeneration at Peterhouse, Galland represented Germany at the 2023 and 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships, including coming away with a silver medal in 2023. Galland also represented Cal Women’s Rowing, earning multiple academic and rowing honours, and reaching the quarterfinal of The Island Challenge Cup in 2022.
Verdict
Even - both athletes have international experience at an U23 level, both rowed in their college 1V crews, and both have even raced in the Island Challenge Cup. This could be anyone's game to win.
Four
Mathilda Kitzmann
Mathilda Kitzmann - 🇩🇪
Now studying at Christ’s College, Kitzmann competed at the 2019 U19 and 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships for Germany and was part of a successful Stanford programme at NCAA and Pac-12 level. With a silver medal in 2019 and a tenth-place finish in the four 2024, Kitzmann's international experience is not to be underestimated.
Phoebe Pryce
Phoebe Pryce - 🇬🇧
An undergraduate at Homerton reading Human, Social and Political Sciences, Pryce learned to row at St Andrews Boat Club and raced in the Cambridge spare pairs race in 2025. She previously ranked 25th in the single at the 2023 GBRT U19 trials, so could well be a name to watch for the future.
Verdict
Advantage Ginger — Kitzmann’s Junior and U23 World Championship racing tops Pryce.
Three
Lyndsey Bryden
Lyndsey Bryden - 🇨🇦
A postgraduate at Peterhouse, Bryden represented Canada at the 2023 and 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships, racing in the women’s eight and four, including picking up a bronze medal in the eight in 2023. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, the Boat Race will likely be a change of pace that Bryden seems to be taking in her stride.
Nicole Wojtania
Nicole Wojtania - 🇺🇸
A Harvard graduate, now based at Jesus College, Wojtania raced in the Cambridge women’s second eight at the Head of the Charles Regatta. As a former competitive gymnast, Wojtania learned to row at Harvard Radcliffe, and represented Cambridge in the 2023 Blondie crew.
Verdict
Advantage Ginger — Bryden’s U23 World Championship medal outweighs Wojtania’s experience here.
Two
Izzy Campbell
Izzy Campbell - 🇬🇧/🇺🇸/🇨🇦
Studying at Hughes Hall, Campbell rowed for Cal throughout her undergraduate degree, featuirng regularly in the first and second varsity eights. Internationally, she also represented Canada at U23 level, winning a bronze medal in the eight in 2025. Racing across multiple varsity line ups during her collegiate career will allow Campbell to slot straight into the format of Trial Eights, and she'll likely bring a lot to the bow pair of this 'Ginger' crew.
Ellie Sillar
Ellie Sillar - 🇬🇧
Ellie Sillar learned the sport at Bedford Modern School, and went on to race at Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2024. An undergraduate at Emmanuel studying Biological Natural Sciences, Silliar rowed in the 2025 Cambridge Women’s Reserve Boat, and competed at the GBRT November Trials, finishing as the fastest U21 sculler.
Verdict
Advantage Ginger — Campbell’s U23 international racing edges Silliar.
Bow
Fizz McNally
Fizz McNally - 🇬🇧
An undergraduate medic at Sidney Sussex, McNally learned to row at Cambridge and returns to Trial Eights after taking a year out to 'intermit', and admits that it was the friendships that she missed the most. Taking up her seat in the bows, McNally will be looking to make an impression on Thursday to show that she's back in business.
Gemma King
Gemma King - 🇬🇧
Women’s President and a postgraduate PhD student at St John’s, King is in her eighth year rowing at Cambridge, with appearances across Lightweight, Reserve and Blue Boats, and has won every race she's featured in since the Lightweight Boat Race in 2019. She has also raced internationally for England and held multiple leadership roles within CUBC.
Verdict
Advantage Baby — King’s prescience, leadership roles and numerous successful Blue Boat campaigns take this seat.
Although a seat-by-seat breakdown provides an interesting insight into the makeup of the crew, Trial Eights is the true test of how they can come together on the day. This group will have spent all week training in London alongside a further 16 rowers and two coxes, speaking real volume to the strength and depth of this squad once again. Whatever plays out on Thursday, it should certainly give Paddy Ryan and his team some thinking to do over Christmas.
