It’s 4am on a Wednesday and I’m squinting at the (somehow already risen) sun. This might not seem surprising – it is May Week after all. Except instead of hiking up my dress and clutching a bacon bap as I begin the struggle towards a survivor’s photo, I’m dressed in a unisuit and visor, climbing into a boat with a few other bleary-eyed rowers who have made the decision to sacrifice their precious hangover recovery time to row along the backs.

You might be thinking, surely rowers aren’t allowed to block up the stretch of classic Cambridge sights between Magdalene and Queens’ – that’s punter territory! Well, you would be right. Punting companies (and the occasional kayak) retain sole dominion over this stretch of the river, confining college and city rowers alike behind Jesus Lock – in the daytime. But if you’re determined (and slightly deranged) enough, you can briefly trespass on this sweet sweet stretch of river, accompanied by views of beautiful bridges and the limestone facade of King’s, so long as you’re willing to wake up at the crack of dawn to ensure you’re safely back behind Jesus Lock by about 6am.

“The simple joy of rowing past stunning college architecture at sunrise was priceless”

Rowers are famously used to waking up early anyway, and in the time-warp of May Week, I was in the perfect condition to wake up at 4am and successfully trick my brain that this was perfectly fine. Getting in a boat following two back-to-back balls might not have seemed like the smartest idea, but self-preservation isn’t something found in abundance at this point in term anyway. Case in point: another rower, clearly making the most of the fact that he was already awake at an ungodly hour anyway, arrived at the boathouse straight from a May Ball, decked out in black tie, only to hop straight into a boat minutes later with scarily sober efficiency.

In fact, May Week is the optimal time to row on the backs. Okay, there’s none of the serenity of knowing everyone else is asleep while the natural world is just waking up around you, nor the silence that allows you to take in the chirping birdsong and dewdrops on the crocuses and herons just stretching their legs. But who needs that when you can row under the Bridge of Sighs to cheers from bedraggled, drunken party-goers as you sing along to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ blaring from a tent pitched among the cloisters of John’s?

As a female rower, being heckled by spectators on the bank is unfortunately something that I’m relatively familiar with. But it was certainly a new experience to swap out our coach cycling along the towpath for being yelled at by a dozen sloshed students, half-dressed in black tie, to “push harder,” to “get it up to rate 30,” and (with surprising accuracy) that we were “down on bowside”.

“Backs rowing is something every rower should try before they leave Cambridge”

Our company on the bank was far from being the only thrill of rowing on this forbidden stretch. While the section of the Cam rowers are used to paddling down is already slightly too narrow, the backs made it look like the Amazon River. We quickly got the knack of getting through the bridges however, which demanded that each pair in our 4+ swiftly pulled in their blades seconds before we whizzed under – a dangerous move in a capsizable boat – and then quickly pushing them out again to get straight back to rowing, apparently making our cox feel like a “Formula One driver”. Upon making it back to Magdalene Bridge in one piece, our two seat, like a giddy child at a fun fair, immediately demanded that we “go again” – who needs the dodgems at May Balls when you can whizz in and out of the Mathematical Bridge? Nevertheless, McDonald’s breakfast beckoned, and at 6:30am we returned to the laborious task of carrying our boat out of the water and over Jesus Lock to row the 50 metre stretch back to our boathouse.

Rowing on the backs was truly one of the most memorable moments of my May Week (partly due to being one of the only moments I was sober enough to remember…). The simple joy of rowing past stunning college architecture at sunrise, after the chaos and exhaustion of a week of Bumps, was priceless. It also provided the perfect chance to speed down the tourist stretch of the river without the struggle of ploughing with a metal pole through the Piccadilly Circus that is May Week punting season.

Both the nature of rowing – as an inherently repetitive sport, fixated upon perfecting a single movement – and its culture, ensure it has a reputation for being quite intense. Easter term, with the mental and physical exhaustion of Bumps, is definitely when that intensity is at its highest, so it was incredibly refreshing to hop in a boat with my friends just to row along a stretch of some of the most beautiful sights Cambridge has to offer. It gave me the chance to enjoy the sport, the river, and its surroundings purely for the sake of it. Backs rowing is something every rower should try before they leave Cambridge – as long as you can find anyone else willing to wake up at 4am with you!