UCBC’s new Women’s first boat

Following the success of last year’s event, on 26 May University College Boat Club (UCBC) hosted their second Martlet Regatta, a family-friendly afternoon of rowing and racing. The event began with a naming ceremony, during which the new Women’s first boat was officially unveiled. The boat has been named after Univ’s Women’s Boat Club founder Margaret Chamberlain (1979, Jurisprudence).

Margaret Chamberlain

Margaret Chamberlain was part of the first intake of female students at Univ in 1979. She joined the college in order to read Jurisprudence and soon found herself joining the Men’s Boat Club.

“Before term began the Men’s Boat Club had sent out an invitation to all freshers (including the women) to join the Boat Club, which I ignored on the basis that I had managed to avoid sporting activity so far and had no intention of changing my approach. Fate took a hand when I sat next to the Captain of Boats, Philip Lafeber, at the Freshmen’s Dinner.  He was probably struggling to find common ground and also in need of a cox. He observed that I was quite small in stature and asked if I had a loud voice, to which the only suitable answer seemed to be “yes”. He suggested that I would make a good cox; I said that I had no idea what a cox did. This conversation resulted in a trip to the Boat House and an outing in a tub pair. To this day I have absolutely no idea why I agreed to meet Philip at the river, but I am so glad that I did.

I became the first woman member of the College Boat Club and in my first term coxed the Univ men’s third novice eight, there was no fourth novice eight. My coxing abilities matched the rowing skills in front of me. I couldn’t drive, I hadn’t realised that when one end of the boat moves in one direction, the other end will move in the opposite direction and so my principal qualities were those identified by Philip at the dinner, I was not very big and I had a loud voice, very important in pre-voice box days.”

The Womens’ Boat Club’s first outing

After becoming the first woman member of the College Boat Club, Margaret founded the College’s Women’s Boat Club in 1980 and was captain from1980 to1981.

“A few other women had asked to learn to row, something of a distraction for the Men’s Captain. Their training needed to be organised, managing the Men’s Boat Club was a fairly full time job and I was the only woman with any relevant knowledge at all, including how to get to the boat house.

Thus it was that I was asked by Philip Lafeber to take on the task of running what is now the Univ. Women’s Boat Club. Norman remained dubious about women in the boat house, but once he saw we meant business, he rapidly became our firmest supporter.

It would be fair to say that the men had no great expectations for the Women’s Boat Club and that no particular arrangements were made to accommodate us. We rowed in the men’s boats (adjusted by Norman) with men’s blades and it was some time before our campaign to have our own blades was successful, and some time before Norman let us (or more precisely me) loose in a shell, the precious “John Cross”.

At the beginning of the Summer Term 1980 I had called a meeting in my room in Goodhart of those women who had said they were interested in rowing. I am pretty sure I made it clear that my interest was in doing it properly and happily there was a general feeling that we were not there to row prettily up and down the river on sunny days, we expected to be taken seriously and we wanted to win something.”

You can read Margaret’s full personal account of her time at Univ here.

Louisa Boult, UCBC President has provided a short event report of the Martlet Regatta and boat naming ceremony.

UCBC President Louisa Boult christens the Women’s first boat

To round off the week, we welcomed Univ alumni, staff, and students down to the boat house for our second ever Martlet Regatta! This was kicked off by the naming of the new Women’s first boat – a Hudson now known as the Margaret Chamberlain (after the pioneer of Women’s rowing at Univ!).

The Martlet Regatta 2025

Several crews made it onto the water – some learning to row for the first time, and some putting their experience to the test with some head-to-head racing.

After refuelling at the barbeque, guests took on 100 m sprint erg races and had tours of the boat house to reminisce on old times. A great time was had by all, and we hope to invite even more people back next year!

Published: 25 June 2025

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