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“It’s the fastest we’ve ever gone”: Relive the Mixed Championship Eights at the 91��ɫ Club Championships

New at the World Rowing Championships this year, Mixed Eights are gaining momentum. Here’s how they went down at the 91��ɫ Club Championships 

As the A Final for the Mixed Eights began at the end of a jam-packed day of racing, commentator Zoe Thomas dubbed the event the “quintessential race of summer regattas.” But with Mixed Eights featuring for the first time at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai this September (already a longtime feature at the World Rowing Masters Regatta), British seniors are beginning to throw their weight behind this category.

“I think the novelty of the new event, the Mixed Eight, was so exciting for all of us”

Entries for the Mixed Championship Eights at the 91��ɫ Club Championships almost doubled in 2025, as Auriol Kensington RC, Trentham BC and a composite of Avon County RC and Bath University BC joined last year’s competitors to race for gold (and a prize pack from Black Sheep Brewery). The crews were peppered with familiar names: athletes with international representation at age-group level, Henley Royal Regatta winners and a Boat Race winner in Rosa Millard.

Victorious in last year’s Thames RC ‘A’ crew last year, the Women’s Captain was looking forward to racing the category again. “I think the novelty of the new event, the Mixed Eight, was so exciting for all of us,” she said. “For the women, it’s the fastest we’ve ever gone.”

With seven crews racing, only two places in each heat secured a spot straight through to the A final – the remaining crews would have to fight in the repechage for the chance at medals.

Fielding a crew in each Heat, things looked good for Thames RC to take two of the three podium positions. But the Avon County RC / Bath University BC composite threw a spanner into the works by charging down the line, crossing the line over 11 seconds ahead of the Tideway ‘B’ crew.

“It’s lively, it’s long, it’s punchy,” remarked commentator Charles Barry.

Alex Darby of unirowing on Instagram dubbed the move a ‘stunningly unnecessary sprint to the line’. “But why not,” he laughed. “You stick a bucket in there, it means you’re here to rumble.” For a crew made up entirely of scullers with minimal sprint experience, the early win was incredibly exciting. “It could’ve been a double bucket,” coach Poppy Kearney commented. “Don’t tempt us.”

 

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The returning Champions dominated the next heat, finishing almost half a minute ahead of Trentham BC. But the race was far from dull as the battle for straight qualification happened behind them. Hinksey Sculling School led Trentham RC by a gap of less than two seconds right down to the last five or six strokes, where the Stoke-on-Trent club came through by a canvas to clinch the all-important spot.

The repechage gave the Championships their final six as Hinksey Sculling School and Sheffield University BC took the remaining two lanes in the last race.

The A final was smooth. Positions fought for earlier in the day were locked in within the first 500m. Thames RC ‘A’ crew showed their class in the sweep discipline, crossing the line with clear water back to the Avon / Bath composite.

“It feels glorious!” Rosa said, accepting her medal. “It’s so good to be back, and so good to see more competitors here this year, raising the standards of the event. It’s just super fun to be back in a Mixed Eight – it’s been a whole year!

“We’ve gotten faster than last year, so I’d say we stepped on a bit more, prepared more this year. We have quite a few returners. We got that returning spirit!”

“It’s definitely the funnest boat category,” added cox Leena Mueller-Koegler. “We had a blast.”

The Avon County RC and Bath University BC composite crossed the line to take silver – hands went up in the air and water splashed at their first medal in this category.

Liv Greenwell of Avon County RC is a J16 at the South West GB Performance Development Academy and holds three Concept 2 British Records on the indoor rowing machine. As the most experienced sweeper in the boat, Liv was a mainstay of the crew in the four seat. “It was really nice to row with the university students, because I’ve never done that before. It’s been a really fun project.”

Bow pair Bea Hughes and Jack Norton were equally excited. “It was an improvement from this morning by 13 seconds! It’s the bucket. The bucket did it.”

Hinksey Sculling School were less than four seconds behind the composite to take bronze, with almost seven seconds ahead of the Thames RC ‘B’ crew.

Hattie Noyes said; “Today was the first day we did anything with this crew! It was a fairly scratch project, but we made a race plan and we stuck to it really well, we executed it and moved throughout the race. We like the Mixed Eight – it’s pretty fast!”

Watch the races back on Champs Live!