Winter League - Sun 15 Feb, 2.6km head race
Tamzin Byrne
Hi college captains!
Winter League
Sun 15 Feb 2026
2.6km motorway > Green Dragon
£88 VIIIs, £44 IVs (£11/seat)
Welcome back for Lent term! Entries are open now for the Winter League head race on Sun 15 Feb. The college spots often sell out, so get in quick.
Entries close for February leg: 11.59pm Wed 11 Feb 2026 or when entries have filled
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/crawinterleague/home?pli=1
Email: winter...@crarowing.co.uk
The February leg of this three-leg race features special CUCBC race categories, with pots for colleges awarded at the end of the day. This is a great prep-race for WEHoRR/He-HORR, and an easy mid-season target for lower boats. Your coxes get the opportunity to race the bumps course and nail those lines around Grassy. We do our very best to marshal efficiently so most crews can marshal and race in the time it takes for a normal outing.
Winter League 2025 race dates
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Sunday 11 January 2026done ✔️ - Sunday 15 February 2026
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Sunday 22 March 2026 - great training for HORR
What is Winter League?
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For those not familiar with this epic event…
- Racing is 2.6km upstream from the motorway to the Green Dragon.
- Prizes are engraved pots, which you might choose to fill with mulled wine at the 99s bar (Ribena for the juniors).
- But the real prize is to watch the seasons change on the Cam, from January sleet to springtime blossom
While this is a three-leg race, most colleges choose to enter just the February race: the college pots are awarded based solely on the February leg for CUCBC VIIIs banded into Lent Divisions 1 and 2+.
How do I sign up?
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Divisions 1 and 2 (morning) are already close to full with town boats, but there is plenty of capacity left in divisions 3 and 4 (afternoon).
There are two systems:
- If you are a large club making a lot of entries, there is a spreadsheet you can fill in.
- If you are a small club or individual crew, there’s an online form.
- Payments are made directly to Cambridge 99s, bank details are on the website.
Tell me more!
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All info will be on the Winter League website in the first instance:
https://sites.google.com/view/crawinterleague/home?pli=1
If you have any questions, the organising team from X Press and Cambridge 99s can be reached via winter...@crarowing.co.uk - please contact us by email rather than WhatsApp with any questions.
We have also set up a WhatsApp group for race secretaries and club captains for important updates (eg: weather and safety announcements) so we can get info to clubs as quickly as possible, while updating the website.
https://chat.whatsapp.com/I7TkJu1tgdaJFZQTQlJ5al
Row-throughs
Row-throughs can be arranged, and we will circulate a form for this the weekend before the race. We strongly encourage crews to avoid training outings around 10am-12noon, as the river will be extremely busy. Afternoon row-throughs will make for much better boating.
Hosting trailers
If you have the capacity to host a visiting club, please let us know on winter...@crarowing.co.uk. The requirement would be for access for one trailer and space to rig boats. Our CRA friends/rivals from Ely, St Neots and beyond are joining us, and we are hoping to avoid congestion outside 99s/old CRA/City.
Cheers,
Tamz
On behalf of the CRA Winter League Committee
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Tamz Byrne (they/them)
CRA Winter League Committee winter...@crarowing.co.uk