Karen Wiemer

I arrived at Cambridge University with a B.Eng. (Metallurgical) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and read Materials Science at St John’s College, graduating with a PhD in 1993. I joined the Ospreys in 1989 after earning a swimming Half Blue and playing in the second CUWRFC Varsity match at Grange Road. I learned to row at St John’s. My catch on the water improved more than my catch on the rugby pitch (not difficult!) and I decided to trial for CUWBC. I rowed in the 1990, '91 and '93 Blue Boats, the 1991 and ’92 Lady Margaret Boat Club May Headship Crews and National Championship winning crews in the UK (1990) and Canada (1993). After graduating, I worked as an engineer in various industries for many years collecting a few more initials after my name (CEng, Eur Ing, EWE) until deciding to take a career break to raise my children. Over the years I have coached more Lady Margaret Boat Club crews than I can count and I continue to coach at the club, mainly the women’s 1st VIII. While I was a student, sport provided a much-needed balance to academic pressure and allowed me to make many life-long friends. I enjoyed it enormously. I can see that sport is equally, if not more important, to Cambridge students today and I am pleased that I am able to be part of that in some way. Sport remains an important part of my life and I am very aware of the many benefits of staying active, especially for women, as one gets older. I am very happy to continue being part of the Ospreys as a member of the senior committee and look forward to helping them support women’s sport for students and beyond.