UCBC newsletter HT25

W1 rowing past Boathouse island on the final day of Torpids

From the President

We have reached the end of yet another wet term! Unlike last year, however, Torpids ever-prevalent ahead, albeit in a slightly different format to what we’re used to…

With split divisions and only S status coxes being allowed for three of the four days, our third/beer boats were sadly benched, despite very successful rowing ons. This left our first and second boats to defend their strong positions on the river. W2, who were bumped on the first day, showed they were not to be messed with and proceeded to bump on Friday and Saturday to overall go +1. M2, strong and steady, rowed over each day. M1 got the all-important bump on Christ Church, leaving them 4th on the river and within touching distance of the Head. W1 moved down to 3rd, but are already working on reclaiming the Headship title next year – double Headship anyone?!

After all this excitement, we sent a crew to WeHoRR and later to HoRR, to show our fellow colleges that we’re great both on and off the Isis. Coming up, we will have a tough day of racing at City Bumps on the 27th April, and we will be sending crews to BUCS early next term.

It was a pleasure to welcome so many people back for Dinos and Cassies in January, and we hope to see you down at the boat house next term for Summer VIIIs (Wednesday 28th – Saturday 31st May)! On the Saturday, we will be hosting a 10 year reunion for anyone at UCBC between 2014 and 2016. On Sunday 1st June, we will be hosting our second ever Martlet Regatta, to welcome back all UCBC alumni and your families! You should be able to register your interest for both of these events via Eventbrite.

This year, we have had three athletes who learnt to row at UCBC training with the Blues squads: Paolo Cicuta, Dylan Dissanayake and Bertie Coomber. Despite one of them succumbing to the ever-prevalent threat of a lower back injury, we wish them the very best of luck in selection and look forward to welcoming them back for Summer Eights!

As always, thank you for your continued support of the club. We wouldn’t be where we are without you!

Hope to see you soon!

Louisa Boult
UCBC President 2024-25

From the Women*s Captain

The W1 Crew from Torpids 2025

Hilary term has been a great success for W1. With three freshers in the boat, two of which had never rowed before, the crew came on in leaps and bounds from trails at Dorney in January to finishing third on the river in March. Everyone in the crew has been very motivated and enthusiastic, with everyone’s competitive spirits boasting morale on the ergs, in the weights room, and on the water.

We started the new year with IWL-C. Conditions were windy and the stream was strong. At certain points in the race, it was difficult to distinguish between the tideway and the Isis! Fortunately for us, our race went ahead with limited disruption, however, the subsequent divisions were called off due to bad weather and sinking launches! It was a chaotic way to start the term, but on paper, we were the fastest women’s college. Despite there not having been many boats that ended up racing, we used this as a springboard to leap from for the rest of the term.

All of the crew went above and beyond what was expected from them in terms of training. Whether that be 4 am weights sessions or weekend half marathons, we knew we would have to put the extra effort in to defend our position on the river and it was clear we did not lack the motivation. We are also indebted to our coaches, Jono, Mark, and Pippa, who were able to guide the crew to reach our full potential, whether that be giving us pointers on the water to overseeing our land training.

The first big event was Bedford Head. The crew was entered twice and performed well on both occasions. In both cases, we were faster than our M2, and we were the second fastest Oxford college apart from Oriel. With them being close behind us in Torpids, and a 3-second gap over the 2 km course at Bedford, we used this as a focus point for the rest of the term’s training.

W2 Torpids 2025 crew with coach, Argy

Once Torpids was upon us, apprehension was running high. For all bar one in the boat, it was our first time racing in W1, and being at the head of the river! Despite this, the crew put their very best effort in from the start gun to the finish line. Being at the head of the river, we had Pembroke in hot pursuit, steered by none other than Erin Kennedy OBE (2x Paralympic gold medal winner). We managed to hold Pembroke off through the gut until they finally started catching up and sadly bumping us at the end of Greenbanks.

After a refreshing night’s sleep and the disappearance of first-day nerves, Univ W1 was back at the start line, this time starting behind Pembroke and in front of Christ Church.

Our start was much cleaner, and our rowing was more technical, which allowed us to apply more power. Unfortunately, about 200m in, the race was klaxoned due to swans in the racing line.

The third day was another day of clean rowing. Our crew rowed powerfully past Univ boathouse but were unfortunately caught by Christ Church on the final stretch of the Isis.

The final day was a very positive one. With a third-place start, we set out to hold our place as third-best on the river. It was some of our best racing, being technically and physically strong. We were able to cross the finish lines with our heads held high, having left Oriel (who started behind us) in the dust.

After a weekend of post-Torpids celebrations, it was time to get back on the water to prepare for WEHoRR. Being a relatively inexperienced crew, only two of us had ever rowed on the tideway, and it was the first long-distance piece we had done as a crew. But we rose to this fun challenge and successfully and powerfully managed to navigate the tideway, with some of us managing to catch a tan along the way. The crew managed to complete the course with an impressive time of 23:02.6 being third out of eight Oxford colleges and interestingly, beating Pembroke!

With the end of a successful term, there is great potential in the crew for the following term. Summer Eights is a big milestone in the Oxford rowing calendar, and we are set on defending our third-place position on the river. There are also other highlights for the future, including City Bumps, BUCS, Bedford Regatta, and Henley Women’s Regatta. With a busy few months coming up for the boat club, training is of the utmost importance these holidays. With the Easter training challenge in full swing, we hope to hit the water fit and strong, ready for another term’s worth of racing and fun!

Lenka Hozzova
Women*s Captain 2024-25

From the Men*s Captain

From the Women*s Vice-Captains

From Men*s Vice-Captains

Hilary has been a lively term of rowing with more events and racing as the academic year goes on. It began with our eyes set on Bedford 8s and 4s Head, which happened halfway through the term and gave us the chance to test our second eight before Torpids. On the back of our competitive Winter training challenge which took place remotely over the vac, we were all looking forward to getting back on the water. At Bedford Head we sent our M2 crew out, packed with this year’s most keen novices. We went on to compete with a range of crews from across the country, placing 6th in our band. It was a shame not to get closer to the top three, but considering a lack of training on the water at the beginning of term (river closures made the return to Oxford tricky) it was great to see the lads make it down the course anyway, experiencing more competitive racing. And then Torpids came around in 6th week. It was initially uncertain whether any of our lower boats would be racing at all because large amounts of rain the week before meant that contingency plans were being discussed, and divisions with less experienced crews were to be ruled out.

However, in a lucky turn, our M2 was placed at the bottom of division 3, which was the lowest division to go ahead this year. The crew was therefore able to race a full four days of bumps – the first experience in the format for most of the crew.

Though we were optimistic for a strong performance from this year’s beer boat (M3), who would’ve been racing in the division below had it not been for the contingencies, it was exciting to see M2 carrying the torch in div. 3. Despite a solid effort across the week putting pressure on St Anthony’s M1 every day, we couldn’t quite secure the bump this time. But, as usual, it was great to see our M2 rowing competitively amongst so many other college M1 crews. The week resulted in a net row-over for our second eight, securing our position at the bottom of division 3: a positive result that we hope to carry through to the upcoming Summer Eights campaign.

Arthur Bird
Men*s Co-Vice Captain 2024-25