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On 26 October, Imogen Grant recorded her fourth consecutive win in the Women’s Wingfield Sculls, the 19th such race. Image: @imogendaisyg/AllMarkOne.
2 November 2025
By Tim Koch
The Women’s Wingfields started on a high but slack tide. Quoted by the British Rowing website, eventual winner Imogen Grant said, It was good fun but it was probably the roughest I’ve had it for the Wingfields… It’s not always the fastest person on paper who wins, I think that’s what makes it so good. It’s not just that you’ve got to be the best on the day but you’ve also got to have the guts to enter.
As both a medic and as someone who constantly punches above her weight, Grant knows an above average amount about guts and, while it is true that anyone who chooses to race in a single scull over the Championship Course at high tide requires more digestive organs than most, Grant in particular required extra gastrointestinal tract as she had flown in from New York that morning, landing nine hours before race time.
The six entries were:
Imogen Grant (Upper Thames): Multiple Boat Race winner and Olympic Gold medalist, Wingfields Champion in the previous three races.
Isabel Lancaster (Reading University): A Henley Women’s Regatta winner in both the aspirational lightweight single and the championship double.
Isabelle Maxwell (Vesta): Had a convincing win in the senior single in the Scullers Head of the River.
Aoife Keane (Molesey): Won the club single at the 2024 British Rowing Club Championships.
Hazel Wake (City of Oxford): Winner of the championship lightweight single at BUCS Regatta and was fifth in her class at the recent Head Of The Charles.
Jennifer Titterington (Newark): Sculled for England in the single at the Home International Regatta and finishing third in the club single at the British Rowing Club Championships.
As the six went afloat from Putney Embankment, another famously fast woman was there to see them off (though how many of them felt The Spirit of Ecstasy after Hammersmith is open to conjecture).Just above Putney Rail Bridge, Umpire Greg Searle prepares to turn, left to right, Lancaster, Maxwell, Titterington, Grant, Keane and Wake.Titterington, Keane, Grant and Wake under Putney Bridge on their way to the start line.Soon off the start, defending Champion Grant moved up to successfully challenge Lancaster, Maxwell and Titterington for the lead.Passing Thames Rowing Club on Putney Embankment, from left to right, Titterington (4th), Keane (5th), Grant (1st), Maxwell (3rd), Lancaster (2nd) and Wake (6th). At the Black Buoy (which is yellow) sited at the upstream end of Putney Embankment, the positions had not changed though parallax error makes Lancaster appear to be in front. In fact, Grant had a half length lead over Lancaster, who had clear water over Maxwell and Titterington, with Keane close behind.When the race reached Barn Elms, it was still Grant, Lancaster, Maxwell, Titterington, Keane and (out of shot) Wake.At the Mile Post, Lancaster continued to push Grant with only a few feet of clear water in it. Passing the Mile Post (far left) the yellow bow of Titterington’s boat is just visible. In front of her is still Maxwell, Lancaster and Grant.
Mile Post times: 1st Grant (5.45), 2nd Lancaster (5.47), 3rd Maxwell (5.53), 4th Titterington (5.56), 5th Keane (5.57) and 6th Wake (NTT).
Lancaster and Grant at Harrods.Maxwell, Lancaster and Grant at Harrods.Grant and Lancaster approaching Hammersmith Bridge.
Between the Mile Post and Hammersmith Bridge, the first, second and sixth places remained the same, but Keane went from 5th to 3rd while Maxwell dropped to equal 4th with Titterington.
Hammersmith Bridge times: 1st Grant (9.54), 2nd Lancaster (9.58), 3rd Keane (10.13), 4th Titterington, 5th Maxwell (10.15) and 6th Wake (NTT).
Between Hammersmith Bridge and Chiswick Steps, the battle between Titterington and Maxwell was settled with Titterington taking 4th and Maxwell 5th.
Chiswick Steps times: 1st Grant (15.34), 2nd Lancaster (15.40), 3rd Keane (NTT), 4th Titterington (NTT), 5th Maxwell (NTT) and 6th Wake (NTT).
Lancaster (2nd) and Grant (1st) approach the Chiswick crossover. Along Duke’s Meadows in increasingly challenging conditions, it is Keane (3rd), Titterington (4th) and Maxwell (5th).Approaching Mortlake, Grant leads followed by Lancaster, Keane, Titterington, Maxwell and (out of shot) Wake.Lancaster and Grant downstream of Barnes Bridge.Approaching Barnes Bridge, Lancaster and Grant are clearly far in front of Keane and Titterington.Grant reaches Barnes Bridge eight seconds ahead of Lancaster.
Barnes Bridge times: 1st Grant (21.29), 2nd Lancaster (21.37), 3rd Keane (22.13), 4th Titterington (22.17), 5th Maxwell (22.27) and 6th Wake (NTT).
Third placed Keane and fourth placed Titterington pass Emanuel School Boat Club downstream of Barnes Bridge.Just before Barnes Bridge, fifth placed Maxwell is passed by the umpire and following flotilla.Grant reaches the finish in a time of 26.07, Lancaster in 26.15.Perhaps Grant is showing what a big heart she has? Picture: @imogendaisyg/AllMarkOne.Left to right: Wake (6th), Maxwell (5th), Keane (3rd), Titterington (4th), Grant (1st) and Lancaster (2nd).The Women’s Wingfield Sculls Trophy on display in the Tideway Scullers clubroom.
Two universities can be very pleased with the 2025 Wingfield results. Both winners are Cambridge University Boat Club alumni and both second placed scullers are at Reading University BC. The men’s race winner, George Bourne, is only the second person to win the Wingfields and the Oxford – Cambridge Boat Race in the same year.
With her fourth Wingfields win, Imogen Grant is the most successful female Wingfields Champion since the women’s race began in 2007.
The most successful Wingfields Champion of all time is Jack Beresford who recorded seven wins between 1920 and 1926 before standing down. I suspect that Grant intends to break this record.
Grant is one of the most extraordinary rowers of this – and probably any – generation. How she has achieved everything she has whilst qualifying and then working as a doctor is mind blowing. And she didn’t start rowing till her first year at Cambridge. I’d imagine the coaches at Trinity probably thought, well, she is a bit on the small side but she can have a go… She’s also a cycling blue btw.
Hear The Boat Sing 
Thank you, Tim. I hope she does so, then a man & a woman will have achieved a remarkable feat, albeit about 100 years apart.
Excellent coverage again, thanks.
Grant is one of the most extraordinary rowers of this – and probably any – generation. How she has achieved everything she has whilst qualifying and then working as a doctor is mind blowing. And she didn’t start rowing till her first year at Cambridge. I’d imagine the coaches at Trinity probably thought, well, she is a bit on the small side but she can have a go… She’s also a cycling blue btw.