Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter for Michaelmas 2019 here.

For the majority of the term river levels were too high for crews to got out on the water. However, this did not stop UCBC from having a great term. We started doing new strongman type circuits, tackling "fun" team sprint ergs and completed a 24 hour ergathon to raise money for Oxfordshire Mind.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

UCBC alumni, Helena White and Neil Slinger, invite you to the first UCBC London Drinks at

The City of London Club, City Room

on 24 February 2017

Drinks and Canapés will be served from 7:30pm

Dress: lounge suits

We hope you will be able to make it along to meet up with your old crews, catch up on old times and hear about UCBC’s bright future this coming year.

The women’s 1st VIII are all set to go head of the river in Summer VIIIs and the men’s 1st VIII getting closer to the top of Division 1.

Please book your place by emailing Read further

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Please read the Friends of UCBC newsletter here.

Dear Friends,

Another successful term of rowing is over, and we are all looking forward to the lighter evenings and warmer days that Trinity term will bring. UCBC fielded an impressive six crews this term with many novices enjoying the opportunity to join the senior squads.

Both the men’s and the women’s sides have been successful this term. It was brilliant to see M1 win blades after hours of hard work in training and many trips to Dorney. The highlight on the women’s side was W1 placing 39th in the Women’s Head of the River, finishing as the fastest Oxbridge college. It was wonderful ....

Hilary ‘16 proved a tempestuous term for the lower men's boats of UCBC. High rainfall and poor conditions led to an erg-heavy term for the second and third crews. The lack of water time was especially unfortunate given the high novice turnover that the men's side enjoyed going into Hilary. Much of the term's rowing was lost to the elements, and it's unfortunate that our recent novices didn't get an appropriate amount of training going into Torpids.

Despite the best efforts of coach and former Univ W1 rower Jojo Bowman, M3's hard work for the term went unrewarded as they narrowly missed out ....

With a strong foundation set in Michaelmas, M1 looked towards a successful Torpids. During Hilary, and after crew selection, M1 worked on the water at Godstow and made four weekend trips to Dorney Lake when the Isis and Godstow were red flag. These trips were extremely useful in continuing our training and we're thankful for having the funds available to do so. Unfortunately, due to high stream, our first head race – Henley 4s & 8s – was cancelled and so Torpids came with the crew having little race experience this term.

On day one of Torpids, Brasenose were ahead of us and LMH behind. With ....

UCBC recently received the sad news of the passing of Derek Thurgood, coach of the Univ women’s first eight in the late eighties and early nineties. Derek was held in very high regard by those who knew him and his is a great loss for the rowing world.

He learned to row in the East End and was a member of Twickenham RC for many years, later joining Upper Thames and also being elected a member of the Leander Club. From the early seventies to the mid-eighties he was involved with the coaching of the Oxford Blues crews – both men and women – and enjoyed a long run of victories in the Boat Races ....

Continuing the trend of increasing yellow-striped kit at Blues level, this year saw two Univites represent Oxford: first year medic Rebecca te Water Naudé, who rowed in the women’s reserve boat, Osiris, and second year physicist Alex Rowe-Jones, who stroked the lightweight men’s eight. Writing in March, Becca says:

“I've been lucky enough to train as part of OUWBC since halfway through Michaelmas term - I raced in trial eights in December, and spent New Year's Eve on training camp in Italy. It's been a truly incredible experience as well as a very sharp learning curve, as I had sculled in Y ....

It has been a fun year so far for UCBC! At the beginning of the academic year we held a drinks event in our club room for all members of the boat club, which was a lovely occasion to enjoy the wonderful boat house we have and to catch up with all members who were or weren’t rowing last term. We hope to see more evenings like this in our boat house in the future! Also last term the women’s first boat attended a formal hall with the Master and other UCBC members to celebrate their hard earned blades won in Summer VIIIs, which of course was an excellent celebration. More recently, after Torpids t ....

From 10am on Saturday 20th February until 10am on Sunday 21st February UCBC held a 24 Hour Ergathon to raise money for the boat club and for Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. For 24 hours, members of UCBC participated in a relay on the rowing machines, despite the horrendous February wind and rain.    

After bringing the ergs up from the boat house to Radcliffe Quad and decorating them with balloons and posters, over thirty boat club members rowed tirelessly to complete the challenge. Admittedly, those who signed up for the daytime shifts were much more sensible than those of ....

Univ was one of just a few colleges who had three women’s crews competing in Torpids. For many crew members (five in W2; two in W3) it was their first experience of bumps racing, and both crews dealt admirably with the occasional chaos which is more common in the lower divisions, whether it was adapting to new crew combinations as people subbed in, or staying calm when their race was klaxoned due to an ejector crab in the gut (thankfully not from a Univ crew!). 

W2 achieved one of the earliest bumps of the whole of Torpids, catching Green Templeton II just off the start on the Wednesday to ....

Our term this year started with the dreaded red flag, which persisted throughout W1 training camp in 0th week. Luckily, thanks to the support of our old members, we were able to make a trip to Eton Dorney Rowing Lake with M1 and get some training on the water during training camp. Lots of red flag this term meant lots of land training and another trip to Dorney later in term! Even when we didn't have red flag, the demanding schedules of some of our rowers (with Dora commuting from Reading and Jenny teaching in a school) meant we relied heavily on the help of Sophie Wicken, Katie Hammond, and J ....

The 2016 Dinosaurs’ and Cassandrians’ Dinner was a wonderful evening and a great success. Over 50 white blazers, old and new, could be found in the Allington Room, where members shared their memories of, and affection for, the Boat Club.

It was brilliant to see the reunion of the Dinos and Cassies who matriculated in 2000, and they proved an inspiration for many of the crews who are planning their reunions in years to come.

The evening began with a champagne reception, followed by a three-course meal and port. We continued on to the College Bar and on and out of college, which made the m ....

Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe a term has already gone by, since we were first meeting all the novices at the UCBC taster day. Training for Torpids is well underway, and UCBC is looking forward to another opportunity to race. Both the Men and Women’s First VIIIs are in strong positions in Torpids and are hoping to continue moving up the Division.

We were very fortunate with the weather in Michaelmas, giving all the crews lots of opportunity to train and compete. It was great to see the improvement our 40 novices made over the term; they all should be extremely proud of how they pe ....

Univ's senior women started the term strongly, with a large squad of keen rowers making trips to Godstow to train together, and a comprehensive training plan from Coach John Ewans, whose enthusiasm and commitment got everyone excited for the term. After a couple weeks of training, the racing began, with an excellent performance in IWL A, where our eight won the women's category with a sharp and focused row, and where our two fours came first and second, with only a 5 second difference in time between them!

With this strong performance and healthy intra-squad competition, we were keen to per ....

The Univ Senior Men have started the year well with a term which saw the introduction of new M1 coach Tom Godleman and racing in the Isis Winter League.

With a small squad of 11 rowers, we developed our technique on the water in the 8+ and 4+ and made strong improvements each session, leading to a very satisfactory quality of rowing to build upon next term. Hard work was done by all rowers in the gym, greatly helped by a structured training plan involving ergs, weights and core strength sessions. This accumulated in smashed PBs on the ergs. Consequently, we did well in the Isis Winter Leagu ....

Univ's men's side put together three strong novice crews this Michaelmas, with each competing in both Nephthys and Christ Church Regatta. Though MNB and MNC both battled bravely in Nephthys, their efforts went unrewarded with first round exits for each crew. MNA fared better, losing narrowly in the quarter finals.

Fortunes improved for Christ Church Regatta. Despite losing to Lincoln MNA in the first round, Univ MNC came back strong to beat Mansfield MNC easily in the repecharge. Unfortunately their last minute switch to 'friendly-boat' status prevented them from advancing any further ....

Michaelmas term was off to a busy start, as usual, with a rush to recruit new members of the boat club, teach them to row or cox, and prepare them to race in Christ Church Regatta in the seventh week of term. In this challenge the help of the senior club members, as coaches, coxes and subs, was invaluable. 

This year the UCBC women had two novice crews, consisting of a mix of first and second year undergraduates as well as some postgraduates. We also had two of the senior women rowers try their hand at coxing - which worked well as they were able to use their experience to help the novi ....

Below is a short message from the incoming president - Please read the full newsletter here.

Dear Friends,

It was wonderful to see so many Old Members, families and current students supporting Univ at Summer Eights this year and able to join us in celebrating the success of our crews. It was especially inspiring to see the reunion of the 1990 and 1991 headship crews, particularly when the women’s and men’s first VIIIs are in with a real chance of gaining headship over the next few years.

UCBC was highly suc ....

UCBC's men's side saw two lower boats compete in Summer VIIIs this year, each featuring a good mix of novice rowers and returning crew members.

M2, hot off the back of a bumps-laden Torpids, finished off the year with a strong Trinity term. Coached for their second term by Ian Macconachie, M2 hit the ground running and enjoyed a successful build up to Summer VIIIs. Despite bumping Teddy Hall II within 14 strokes on the Wednesday of Eights, M2 fell just short of overbumping Linacre M1 the day after. Having recovered from their overbump attempt, M2 took another quick bump on Magdalen II on Fr ....

The first few weeks of term saw a lot of changes for W2 and W3, with trials to organise crews for Summer VIIIs. We had a mix of returning rowers who had taken Hilary off, and rowers from last term's W1, W2 and W3, and with selection finalised just a few weeks before VIIIs everyone worked hard to get used to rowing as a crew.

W2 started summer VIIIs as the fourth highest second boat on the river, but we're pleased to say that on land they are the best reserve boat, after their victory in the Tethys Erg Sprints Competition early in term. Some might attribute their success to the low turnout ....

Fresh from the Men's Head of the River, M1 entered Trinity term with optimism and a change of coach, leading to a strong Summer Eights performance.

Univ 1st VIII opened the racing season with the Head of the River Race. Thankfully, despite choppy conditions and a stiff tail wind, racing wasn't cancelled this year. M1 finished 167th out of 343 crews and 5th out of 10 among Oxford colleges. With the feeling in the boat being that more technical progress could have been made, long term coach Oliver Collins was replaced by W1 coach John Ewans.

A new term and a new coach: Trinity kicked off w ....

This term started for W1 with a two week training camp on the Isis, with the squad coming back a week before term to make sure we had enough time to train before Eights in 5th week. We trained in fours, and after the training camp we entered two crews in City Bumps. W1 saw excellent results, with the A crew being bumped once and rowing over three times, finishing third on the river, and the B crew bumping 4 times to win (mini) blades! This was an excellent start to the term and, with the men competing alongside us, was a great chance to work together as a boat club and get to know the triallis ....

2015 is the 25th anniversary of Univ Men going to the head of the River in Summer Eights and we will be celebrating this fact at this year's dinner. Below is a couple of extracts from the Cherwell newspaper covering the event back in Trinity term 1990.

MEN'S EIGHTS

This year's Eights Week saw the demise of once invulnerable Oriel, and the triumph of University over Christ Church for their crown. Oriel were hoping to win their tenth Headship in twelve years, whilst Christ Church remained confident in an experienced team, including two members of Oxford's Isis Eight, as wel ....

On the request of some of our old members, we are planning on ordering some UCBC t-shirts to sell to our current and old members during Eights 2015. They will be similar to the Univ Boat Club t-shirts, designed by Ciara Burgess, and worn by W1 last year (see images below).

We are yet to finalise the pricing, but they will cost in the region of £15 per t-shirt, with all proceeds going towards the boat club. Of course, we will appreciate any larger donations.

If you think you will be interested in such an item, or have any suggestions, please get in touch with our Wome ....

Dear Friends,

With the worst of the winter and nearly 6 months of solid training behind us, UCBC is again looking forward to a glorious summer of rowing in the build up to Summer Eights 2015. It seems like yesterday when it was the first week of Michaelmas and we were hosting all of the new novice recruits at the UCBC taster day.

Since then, Univ has had a successful first half of the season. The senior women had several wins and moved up 4 places in Torpids to 7th on the river, with 4 crew members who only began rowing this year. On the men’s side, the highlight was the blade winning me ....

We had two lower boats training hard this term. Both M2 and M3 saw many freshers come up from novice rowing last term as well as returning rowers.

M2 had a new coach, Ian Macconachie, who is a returning coach having previously coached M3. His crew had a very successful term, and their commitment and many hours of training culminated in a flawless four days of rowing in Torpids and winning blades! They were able to bump very quickly every day, and were able to do so without ever having to row through the gut over the course of the whole regatta. Overall, M2 finished 8th in Div 4, going up 4 ....

After all the excitement of Christ Church Regatta, the previous term was over, and this term started with a squad of senior and novice rowers trialling for W2 and W3. After the initial 2K tests and some outings to assess technique, we split the squad in two and started training in earnest for Torpids. Training for W3 in particular was possible with the help of subs from W1 and rowers from previous years. W2 stuck it out through some tough ergos and a lot of early morning rowing to compete in IWL E before Torpids. The girls all really stepped up to the challenge of training this term, with only ....

After the disappointment of Torpids being cancelled last year, W1 were keen to perform well this year. Blessed with good weather throughout the term, the girls put in the miles at Godstow as well as on the ergs. In the run-up to Torpids W1 entered a number of races, on and off the Isis. W1 won all five Women’s Coxed Four events in the IWL Series and the Eight came 5th in IWL E. W1 also entered two Fours and an Eight in Henley Fours and Eights and saw some good results, especially after having to call in last-minute substitute rower due to illness. The Novice Four put in a brilliant performance ....

Since the start of Michaelmas term, M1 have been training hard on and off the water, building strong foundations for the rest of the year. This year we have been fortunate enough to have been donated our own weights suite, a welcome upgrade to our training facilities at the boathouse. The term culminated in Univ placing 10th in a head race up the Isis, as part of the Isis Winter League.

Hilary term began with a newly formed M1 in Oxford before the start of term, raring to crack on with training. Bringing the old guard together with some new blood, we have had a lot to learn but have pro ....

This year's Dinosaurs' and Cassandrians' dinner was a great and lively success. The Dinner was hosted in the Hall this year, with members new and old, all bound by a common blazer and shared affection for the Boat Club. We were in the Hall rather than the Alington room because of numbers: a record 64 Dinos and Cassies in attendance this year.

The evening began with a champagne reception followed by a three-course meal and port. We then continued on to the College Bar and on and out of college, making the morning after a bit difficult for some!

Various past first VIII crews gathered toget ....

Univ Women started the term well in their first race last weekend at IWL C. The Women’s 4+ continued last term’s success, winning the Women’s Coxed Fours by 16 seconds. We look forward to competing at Henley Fours in a couple of weeks, which wil give us the chance to compete against crews outside of Oxford. You can watch part of our race here.

With four of the rowers in the Women’s 8+ having only learnt to row last term, this was the longest race half of the crew had done. Yet it was a great performance from all, with strong rowing and good techniqu ....

This Michaelmas term all started at the Univ Freshers’ fair, where rowers and coxes, including several of Univ’s university squad triallists, were available to answer any and all questions about rowing, and to direct any interested students down to the boathouse for the taster day. Our taster day this year was a big success, with a barbeque manned by senior rowers, tours of our unique facilities, and opportunities to use the club ergometers and to sit in a boat and take some strokes. We also continued our tradition of valuing and recruiting coxes by holding a Q&A session where several of our ....

The year got off to a good start with a senior squad around 15 strong putting in the hours. Training at Godstow 5 times a week, we have had time and space to focus, away from the hustle and bustle of the Isis in the build up to Christ Church Regatta. Some recent bouts of rain have rendered Godstow unrowable but we have been training hard in the boathouse, hopping on the ergs and making great use of our new weights suite - a brilliant addition to our facilities which will certainly make a difference come Torpids and Eights.

The term culminated in a solid performance at the Isis Winter League ....

Univ saw a great turnout this term with 3 men’s novice crews training and competing in both the Nephthys and Christ Church regattas.

MNA trained very hard, having 3 water sessions a week on top of their land training. The benefits of this could be seen in the weeks leading up to the regattas, when 5th week saw 4 members of MNA be part of the winning team who competed in the New College Indoor Regatta. This consisted of a 4x500m relay in a knockout style competition and showed just how strong MNA were.

After disappointingly being knocked out in the first round of Nephthys Regatta, it was ....

The Univ Women have had an extremely successful start to the year, despite having just three returners from last year’s W1 squad. Yet the depth in the women’s side, and the dedication to training this term has meant that we have seen some great results.

In Autumn Fours, the first regatta of the year, we reached the Semi-Finals of the Women’s Coxed Fours, beating Trinity A by 1 length and Brasenose A by ¾ length, but unfortunately losing to Jesus A in the Semi-Finals by 1 length. However, it was a promising start and provided a great platform on which to build on over the term. The next opp ....

The new rowing magazine Row360 has a piece on Univ Boathouse. You can read a copy of the article here.

We hope you enjoy reading the article and would encourage you to check out the rest of the magazine.

Please visit the Row360 website for more information about the magazine.

Ali Cigari
UCBC President

The men’s 1st VIII had an unfortunate start to the racing season with the cancellation of Head of the River for the second year running. This was not the outcome we had wanted. We were looking to put in a strong performance, despite having to call in two substitute rowers at the last minute, one coming all the way from Derbyshire on his birthday. However with the boat half full of water by the time we came under Hammersmith Bridge and the waves showing no sign of relenting, it was understandable they were forced to cancel the event.

Trinity term started on a better note with the 1st VIII p ....

The Women’s First VIII have had a successful term, building on their achievements in Hilary, after an intense two week training camp to start the term. With two fours to train in, all the girls made massive improvements, so the opportunity to race in the 4+ at Oxford City Bumps was exciting. The first four successfully bumped up one, finishing 3rd on the river. The second four had a rather nightmarish start which involved firstly the bank, secondly the bungline attaching to the rudder, leading to a bungee start (funny for the spectators, not so funny for the rowers!) and thirdly all the boats ....

After a limited amount of rowing during Hilary Term due to the flooding it was great to see so many rowers returning this term.

We were able to enter a men’s 4th VIII in Summer Eights, with Univ submitting a total of nine crews, which was more than any other college.

M2 had a strong, tight crew and trained hard all term. Unfortunately during Summer Eights they struggled with equipment including the stroke’s seat coming off mid-race and the cox box failing in the first two days. As the regatta progressed they were able to show everyone what they could really do with a solid row-over on ....

Trinity Term! was really strong for the women's side of UCBC, with 5 boats entered in Summer VIIIs including W2, W3, a graduate boat and a coxes' beer boat. W3, W4 and W5 all had to compete in Rowing On to qualify for Eights. All three boats qualified, making Univ the boat club with the most boats on the river.

The women's 2nd VIII did a lot of training, putting in laps after many crews had left the river each morning, followed by plenty of crew breakfasts to keep spirits up after rainy sessions. It all paid off in Eights, as W2 bumped both Hertford II and Worcester II quickly on the first ....

Please see the 2014 Trinity term newsletter here.

Training did not end after Summer Eights for five members of UCBC as we prepared to enter Henley Women’s Regatta for the first time in too many years. In the end, three weeks of intense water work and committed erging paid off, with a solid performance from the crew.

We entered the Cathy Cruikshank Trophy for intermediate academic coxed fours. Racing began on Friday 20th June with time trials; we were already familiar with the stretch of the Thames at Henley, having come over for a paddle the night before. With the landmarks firmly entrenched in our minds (and written on the leg of our coxs ....

On Saturday 10th May, UCBC women took nine rowers and a coxswain to the 150th Bedford Regatta. We were entered in both the women’s Novice 8+ and the College 8+ events. Crew changes meant that our successful Women’s Head of the River crew from last term had one last chance to compete together ahead of seat racing the next week.

The day started well for us. Unfortunately for St Catz, we had been drawn against them in the first round of both events. We beat them twice in the space of an hour, by 5 lengths in the Novice 8+ and easily in the College 8+. A much-appreciated break then followed, ....

This year, Univ Women’s 1st VIII entered the Women’s Head. Looking to make the most out of a solid term’s training, we wanted to improve on our position over the last few years.

We boated in the sunshine - all-in-one, sunglasses and visor weather making a pleasant change from the majority of our water time over the past few months. After a couple of hours marshalling and watching other crews race, we were raring to go.

A solid start meant that we were soon at a confident race pace, which the crew then held for the remainder of the course. We were gaining on the boat that had started a ....

After a very unfortunate draw in Nephthys, Univ were ready to come back with a vengeance for Christ Church Regatta. Out of all of the colleges, Univ entered the most crews into the regatta with 4 men’s boats and 3 women’s boats.

On the first two days, MNA were against two friendly boats (Jesus C and Somerville B), who they beat easily. In round 3, the competition was more serious with them racing against Linacre A, but victory was still theirs with a lead of 2 lengths. Disaster struck in the 4th round when a seat failure caused a momentous crab, bringing the boat to a stop and the race to a ....

Univ rowers, porters and alumni staged a 24 hour charity rowing machine relay in Radcliffe quad in November last year, as part of a fundraising campaign in memory of two distinguished Boat Club alumni.

Olympic silver medal-winning cox and two-time Boat Race winner Acer Nethercott, who learnt to cox as a novice with UCBC, passed away unexpectedly from a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor earlier this year. Just a few months earlier, former Men’s 1st VIII rower James Townley died while serving with the Royal Engineers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Both men were extremely well-liked an ....

When I first arrived at Oxford, I had no experience at all with rowing. I didn’t even know that coxswains are responsible for steering the boat! Long story short, I wasn’t interested in trying out coxing because I thought I would be particularly good at it. Rather, I did it because I saw how close-knit and vibrant the rowing community is at Univ, and I wanted to make new friends with people outside my program and degree-level. What I lacked in height I made up for in motivational skills, and I thought it would be nice to encourage my friends to dominate on the river like the total champions th ....