UCBC newsletter TT24

W2 racing during Summer VIIIs

After a year of weather interrupting training and cancelling races, our crews were relieved to have a sunny Trinity filled with water time and opportunity to showcase their strength! This year was another excellent Summer VIIIs bumps campaign. W1 successfully held on to 3rd on the river, and M1 bumped up +3 to an exceptional 6th! W2 bumped up +1 overall and are the second highest W2 on the river. M2 went +2 despite it being the first proper term of rowing for half the crew! M3’s amazing effort also moved them up +1, and our beer boat went +2 into the next division. This is not only a reflection of the commitment of our students, but also our amazing coaches who help us be the best crews on the river.

Outside of bumps, crews have travelled across the country to represent us at Bedford Amateur Regatta, BUCS, and Reading Amateur Regatta. Still to look forward to, we have two women’s fours hoping to qualify at Henley Women’s Regatta, and a men’s eight aiming to qualify for Henley Royal Regatta. Perhaps more prestigiously, we will again be sending crews to Llandaff on a pot-hunting venture!

We have also had a bustling social calendar, with Summer VIIIs dinner and Leander Lunch, kindly hosted by Ron Jordan and Richard Powles. Trinity also saw the inaugural Martlet Regatta take place! Despite the rain, it was lovely to welcome back alumni and see some excellent racing. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who continues to support our club. Whether it’s by cheering us on from the bank, donating, or keeping up with us from around the globe, we really appreciate your help and encouragement. We look forward to another great year ahead!

Thank you as well to our outgoing committee for working around all the obstacles thrown our way this year, and good luck to our incoming committee – hopefully the weather will be kinder next year!

Louisa Boult
UCBC President 2024-25

From the Women*s Captain

W1 at Summer VIIIs dinner

After tough Michaelmas and Hilary terms this year, where many races were cancelled, the women*s side kept their heads held high (and, thankfully, in the boat)! They trained hard, setting themselves up for an incredibly successful Trinity term!

After a short break over the Easter vac, W1 were back to work with abundant water time, ergs and weights sessions. The first race of the season was Oxford City Bumps. The Univ crew, despite being knocked down in the first race, managed to maintain their position of 4th on the river out of 22 crews for the remaining three races, which put them in a very competitive position at the beginning of the term.

W1 on their way to bump Teddy Hall on the first day of Summer VIIIs 2024

Following extensive seat races at Dorney, the crew was set, and they began to focus on the races ahead: BUCS and the Bedford Amateur Regatta. Unfortunately, the crew didn’t qualify for a BUCS final. However, they won races against both Cambridge and Oxford college crews in the two events they were entered for at the Bedford Regatta. In the first event, their first race was against Pembroke College, Cambridge. The two crews were neck-and-neck all the way to the finish line and neither knew who had won by the end, but umpires decreed that the victory was Univ’s by a bowball! In Univ’s next race, they were unfortunately beaten by Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In the second event, they managed to beat Pembroke college, Oxford by 3 ¼ lengths, but unfortunately were subsequently knocked out by Cambridge ’99 Rowing Club.

Having both wins and losses under their belts, the crew used this as a springboard to leap into the rest of the term and continue to build off their successes and to improve on their power and technique.

The main event of the term, Summer Eights, was an incredible triumph. Univ W1 were in a challenging situation, being 3rd in the river surrounded by fast crews and blues rowers. Univ exceeded expectations and managed to bump St Edmunds Hall on the first day! Then after two days of rowing over and sadly being bumped by Wadham on the last day, they managed to maintain their 3rd place on the river, showing their competitiveness and determination – it is truly a reflection of their resolution and hard work over the term! It is also credit to Jono’s coaching which has reflected in this amazing result in the main event of the term.

After a successful bumps campaign, Univ continued to defy expectations at the Reading Amateur Regatta with 2 Univ crews entered from the Women’s side. The coxless four managed to beat Globe Rowing Club by 3 ½ lengths but were unfortunately knocked out by Worcester Rowing Club. The second Univ crew won their first race against Southampton University and sadly lost their second race against University College Dublin. With both crews reaching the semi-finals in their respective events, it was great to end the academic term on a high!

The season is by no means over for Univ. The Women’s side have entered 2 crews into Henley Women’s Regatta, with the hope of qualifying for the ‘Frank vs Harry’ Cup and also for the ‘Cathy Cruickshank’ Trophy. It is an exciting opportunity for the women*s side to continue developing and we are hoping to continue the great work throughout these races and into next year!

Lenka Hozzova
Women*s Captain 2024-25

From the Men*s Captain

The view from the Bowball of the M1 boat shortly before Magdalen are bumped

Trinity term began with the now traditional quadruple rowover behind Oxford City at City bumps but got more exciting at Bedford where M1 won the Band 3 Open Eights category, with confident victories over Bedford RC, Norwich School, and Jesus College (Cambridge). We were simultaneously entered into the Collegiate category where a scrappy victory over Trinity College (Oxford) led us to face an extremely strong, and eventual victor, Churchill crew immediately after. In the baking heat we couldn’t quite find the legs to pull through. Regardless, Bedford was a critical experience, both highlighting areas to work on and giving confidence in the buildup to Eights.

Summer Eights rolled around with the usual frantic balance of academic work and training. Everyone’s sleep schedules were greatly aided by Dylan’s refusal to do morning sessions. We headed into Wednesday with the relative speeds of the crews around us a complete unknown. It turned out that the next crew, Magdalen, were pretty fast and Teddy Hall, above them, pretty slow. The inevitable bump happened and we were left chasing the overbump. A spirited row saw us close to a quarter of a length on Balliol before we ran out of river and they escaped.

M1 making a rare appearance in front of Univ Boathouse during Eights

Thursday and Friday saw Teddy Hall and Balliol despatched, with both being bumped before the Gut. The Thursday bump on Teddy was marred by a late concession and spurious appeal that delayed celebrations until late in the evening. The Wolfson cox’s inability to keep hold of their bungline led to a penalty bump whose net result was that we were chasing Magdalen rather than the – we thought – softer target of Pembroke. We were nervous about being the third boat in a three boat sandwich. On the day, excellent steering by Alex and an amazing effort by Pembroke meant that we caught Magdalen along Greenbanks, putting us sixth on the river – the best result since 2017.

A Univ eight won Reading Regatta Open Academic Band 2, with a scattering of small boats also entered. A Henley crew is again being assembled, this time with contributions from Christchurch.

Many of my friends and crewmates are leaving, including Andy Bridger, Lloyd Arnold, Claas Mertens, and Cam Lang. While this leaves the club much shorter in experience than in the recent past, I am excited to see what the next year holds – hopefully less rain. A barrage of post bumps outings aimed to give the new guys a head start and a technical leg-up and achieved really good progress, fuelling my optimism for the year ahead.

Paolo Cicuta
Men*s Captain 2024-25

From the Women*s Vice-Captain

From Men*s Vice-Captain

M2 dressed up before Eights Dinner with coach Mark P Roberts (back right).

Following the frustrating lack of rowing in Hilary term due to river closures, Trinity term was an opportunity for the lower boats to bounce back. Because Torpids was cancelled this year, many rowers in M2 and M3 were experiencing bumps racing for the first time in Trinity, but we’ll let this term’s positive results speak for themselves.

As well as fielding an impressive 4 boats for Summer Eights, the Men*s side have furthered the scope of their novice programme this year with the introduction of a novice coxed four which competed at BUCS regatta in early May at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. This boat took four first years, who were completely new to the sport in October, and put them on a fairly intense training schedule from the beginning of Trinity term in order to develop their skills for BUCS and beyond.

At BUCS regatta, the novice four (or colloquially ‘The BUCS Four’) were competing against other beginners from universities all across the country, and this was their first experience of side-by-side racing. With this in mind, it was an impressive result in itself to qualify for Final F of the Beginner Coxed Fours category. In their final, the BUCS Four got off to a steady start but slowly made their way through the field, and by the end of the 2km course they had climbed to 4th out of 6 boats, narrowly missing out on third place. Their performance was recognized by the commentators, who remarked “a good charge there from Oxford just as they were coming towards the line… they just threw everything at it.”

The Beer Boat showing some impeccable fashion sense

The following week, M2 accompanied M1 and W1 to Bedford regatta, where they reached the final of group B in the College Eights category. They were given a bye in the first round of the knockout competition, putting them straight into the quarter-finals. Facing St Hugh’s College (Oxford) M2, they won easily, though the semi-final against Merton M1 was much more of a challenge and was a real test for the crew. After some tight racing, they managed to win by a canvas, which put them into the final against Emmanuel College (Cambridge) M2. In the end Emmanuel were too strong, beating us by a length and a half, though our M2 gave them a good run for their money and it was fantastic to see them as a competitive crew outside of Oxford. Our novice four also made an appearance at Bedford in the Open Coxed Fours category as well as racing in M2. However, they were matched against an experienced four from Cambridge ’99 Rowing Club and didn’t progress past their first race in the quarter-final.

Overall, Univ’s lower boats had a successful Summer Eights campaign, with M2, M3 and M4 all ending in a better position than where they started. M2 inherited a strong place on the river from last year’s crew, who led a strong campaign to gain three places and secure their position in division three. This meant that M2 this year were surrounded by the the tough competition of other M1 boats, but clearly weren’t phased by this and rose to the challenge. Proving the effective coaching of Mark Proberts for his second year on the job, M2 bumped twice over the four days and rowed over on the other two. On day one, they were able to bump Somerville M1 before Donny bridge – a huge moment proving the potential of our newly formed crew. Days two and three were slightly frustrating for M2, as they couldn’t secure the bump on Linacre M1 despite gaining considerable ground. Not being put off by this however, they bumped Corpus Christi M1 on Saturday, which was a great way to end their Summer Eights.

M3 got off to a strong start in Eights, bumping Wolfson M4 on day one. Rowing over on day two, they were then positioned behind Mansfield M2, who they jostled with on days 3 and 4. Although we managed to bump Mansfield initially, their crew came back on the final day to bump us. Despite this, M3 went +1 overall, demonstrating the small amount of training time they had as a crew to be efficient.

Finally, it wouldn’t be Summer Eights without the beer boat. As usual, the clubs finest rowers all climbed out of the woodwork to assemble one of the finest boats Oxford had ever seen. Various rumours were spread about the origins of the crew, with St Hugh’s concluding that every woman in the boat had graduated in 2015. Despite fighting an uphill battle, the crew managed to come away with a respectable +2, seating them at the bottom of Div 5 for next year.

Arthur Bird and Tom Forster
Men*s Vice Captains 2024-25