Rebecca Dowbiggin

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Rebecca Dowbiggin
Personal information
Born (1983-04-11) 11 April 1983 (age 36)
St Albans
Sport
SportRowing

Rebecca Dowbiggin (11 April 1983 in St Albans, England) was the 7th woman to cox Cambridge in The Boat Race, the annual race against Oxford.

St Albans City in Southern Hertfordshire, England

St Albans is a city in Hertfordshire, England and the major urban area in the City and District of St Albans. It lies east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, about 20 miles (32 km) north-northwest of central London, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Welwyn Garden City and 11 miles (18 km) south-southeast of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north, and it became the Roman city of Verulamium. It is a historic market town and is now a dormitory town within the London commuter belt and the Greater London Built-up Area.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The Boat Race annual rowing race on the River Thames

The Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, rowed between men's and women's open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. It is also known as the University Boat Race and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

Dowbiggin grew up in Cambridge, attending Chesterton Community College and Impington International 6th Form College. She studied for a BA in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. [1] She started coxing as an undergraduate, and went on to cox the 2004 Cambridge University Lightweight Men’s Boat race crew. After enrolling for a PhD in 2005, she coxed the 2006 Cambridge University Women's Blue Boat. Two weeks before the 2007 Boat Race she secured the coxes seat, with Cambridge going on to win. She also coxed Cambridge in 2008 Boat race, won by Oxford, and the 2009 Cambridge boat, which she stated will be the last major event she will cox at. [2]

Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge

The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge, and focuses on the history, material culture, languages and literatures of the various peoples who inhabited Britain, Ireland and the extended Scandinavian world in the early Middle Ages. It is based on the second floor of the Faculty of English at 9 West Road. In Cambridge University jargon, its students are called ASNaCs.

Emmanuel College, Cambridge college of the University of Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I.

The 153rd The Boat Race took place on 7 April 2007, and featured the most non-British rowers in the history of the event. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. The Cambridge crew were considerably heavier than their opponents. Oxford won the toss but Cambridge won the race by one-and-a-quarter lengths in a time of 17 minutes 49 seconds.

Dowbiggin also coxed the England Women's Eight to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships in 2006 and the Great Britain Women's Eight to a bronze medal at the 2007 European Rowing Championships.

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References

  1. "The Boat Race News - The Boat Race". The Boat Race.
  2. "Cambridge cox turns down Olympic shot". 23 March 2009 via news.bbc.co.uk.