Threshfield’s Izzy Vyvyan is hoping for a winning debut in the Newton Women’s Boat Race on Sunday.

The 22-year-old is rowing in the number four seat for Cambridge as they bid to defeat their old rivals Oxford on the last occasion that the race is staged at Henley before transferring to the famous Putney to Mortlake course used by the men, in 2015.

Vyvyan, who is studying land economy at Hughes Hall, is the tallest member of the Light Blue crew at 6 foot.

The former Giggleswick School student first learnt to row while studying at Newcastle University before going to Cambridge.

And she will be hoping to emulate her aunty Emma Vyvyan who was a member of the winning Cambridge crew which won by 1¼ lengths in 1997 when she rowed under her maiden name of Emma Wilkinson.

Oxford, who triumphed last year, have won ten of the last 14 races but Cambridge lead overall by 41 wins to 27, so Izzy and her colleagues would love to register win number 42.

Izzy, who says she always looks on the bright side of life, once walked from the Caribbean to the Pacific with Operation Raleigh.

It was part of her gap year where she also helped build a fresh water supply to a village in Nicaragua and worked on an Eco tourist trail in a rainforest in Costa Rica.

Izzy insists that her sporting hero is her father Charles, a former Cambridge rugby blue who played semi-professionally with Sale before captaining Wharfedale.