Over the last few days the melting snow and patchy rain have driven the level of the Cam up and up. It's not high enough to trouble the nearby houses, but the flooded banks and strong current have led to an almost constant red flag - putting a serious dent in everyone's Lent Bumps preparations. These photos are of the Churchill boathouse on Tuesday, and the river has since risen into some of the bays themselves. You can find more photos in the Gallery section.

You can't even see the hard

The road to the boathouse

Last Saturday was Newnham Short Course, a 1.6km head race from the Little Bridge to the Railings on the Reach. Churchill entered 4 crews, all eager to prove their rowing credentials as Lent Bumps draw ever closer.

Race report from M2: As always the pre-race marshalling for M2 was punctuated by some epic banter, which definitely helped us ignore the cold. The race itself was even better, with the crew putting down a solid performance throughout. Overall we were very pleased with our sub 7-minute time.

W2 marshalling before the start

W2 coming under the railway bridge

W1 took part in our first race of the term on Saturday. The Cambridge Winter Head to Head involves two legs of 2km. We were pleased with the strong racing rhythm that this new lineup held through the downstream leg. We overtook Jesus W2 through the narrow gut, and unfortunately clashing blades disrupted both crews before we managed to pull away to pick up the pace again on first post reach for a strong finish. The return leg was against a very strong stream, but we sat tall and kept our tired legs pushing! Final position: 10/15 of the W1's, had hoped for better, plan now is to train harder, row smarter, go faster. Kari