New Presidents of the Oxford and Cambridge Women’s Boat Clubs

Via Canada, where HTBS’s Tim Koch is right now, HTBS is reached by a press release:

The new Presidents of the Oxford and Cambridge Women’s Boat Clubs, who will lead their crews into The 2014 Newton Women’s Boat Race, have been named today. Leading the clubs this year will be two returning Blues from the 2013 encounter, Oxford stroke Maxie Scheske, and Cambridge cox Esther Momcilovic.

Maxie Scheske stroked the Oxford Blue Boat to victory last year in her first year at the university. She competed for Team GB at the Youth Olympics in 2013, winning Bronze in the eight and Silver in the quad, and at the European Junior Championships in the four and eight. She also won Women’s Henley in 2011, having first learnt to row at St Paul’s Girl’s School in London. Scheske is 19 years old and is studying for a BA in Biology at Magdalen. She has dual British and German nationality.

Commenting on her election, Scheske said, ‘I feel very privileged to have been elected as President, and I am excited to lead OUWBC into a new year of racing. I have a lot of rowing experience that is external from Oxford, and have raced internationally for Great Britain, so I would like to bring this experience to my role, helping the squad to continue reaching for speed. I feel very positive about next year’s Boat Race, we have proved that our training this year has paid off, and I believe that we can build on that result to get even faster in this next season.’

Esther Momcilovic has competed against Oxford twice already, narrowly losing The Newton Women’s Boat Race last year, but coxing the Cambridge Lightweight Women’s crew to victory in 2011. She first learnt to cox at Cambridge University. 24 year old Brit Momcilovic is currently studying for a PhD in the History of Science at Clare College.

Speaking after the announcement, Momcilovic commented, ‘I feel both excited and privileged to be given the opportunity to lead the CUWBC in the coming year. Our squad are a fantastic group of athletes, and with a strong junior committee behind us we will look to turn the tables on the result from last year, building a firm foundation for our move to the Tideway in 2015.’

The Newton Women’s Boat Race will be raced at Henley on Sunday, 30 March, 2014.

HTBS editor comment: when the press release mentions ‘last year’s’ race, it actually means the race in March this year, 2013.