Universities at Medway students shared the river – as well as the campus – as they competed in the second Medway Boat Race on Saturday, 3 May.

Students from Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church – the three universities based at the joint campus at Chatham Maritime – battled it out on the River Medway, hoping to win both spectacular silverware, created for the race by renowned Medway artist Paula Groves and local bragging rights.

Following the success of last year’s inaugural race, watched by several hundred spectators, rowers once more tackled a course of approximately 2.6 kilometres, between Cuxton and The Esplanade in Rochester.

This year, for the first time, all the universities were due to enter a crew for the women’s race, which held out the promise of a unique three-way contest. Unfortunately, the Canterbury Christchurch University team had to pull out at the last minute and the race was eventually won by Greenwich, giving them revenge for last year's defeat. The men’s race remained a straight head-to-head clash between Greenwich and Kent and again the result of the inaugural race was reversed, as Kent walked away with the trophy. Most of the student rowers who took part were novices but were trained for the big day by the experts of Medway Towns Rowing Club.