W1 rowing past Univ boathouse on Saturday

Univ’s W1 has had a wonderful Trinity term, not least due to our very exciting new boat! Many thanks to all who contributed to this – it has been very much enjoyed by this term’s crew and will be looked after for many years to come. As we got to grips with our new vessel, the first few weeks of term saw some close seat racing to set the crew, culminating in Bedford Regatta, where two members of the crew swapped between races to finalise the lineup. W1 entered both the Senior 8+ and the Academic 8+ division. In the Senior division, the first race was won against Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, by 1 and a half lengths, but sadly the second was lost to South African Schools. However, the race was incredibly close and exciting (the verdict was only 1 foot) and the whole crew found such a close race to be a really exhilarating experience. Unfortunately, in the Academic category, the first round was lost to Keble College, Oxford, but again the verdict was only 2 feet. A great day was had by all, and we enjoyed supporting the other Univ boats and enjoying the weather!

Attention now turned to the main event – Summer VIIIs. Starting third on the river, W1 knew they had work to do, and so trained hard under Jono’s expert coaching to work with our new shell and new crew. None of us could have predicted the events of the first day – poor clearing after a bump ahead of us caused Univ to hold it hard and end their race, resulting in a penalty bump up to headship! It was truly an honour for this crew to boat from bungline 1 for the second time this year.

W1 at Summer VIIIs dinner

Unfortunately, we were caught by Wadham as we exited the gut, and by Pembroke the following day at a similar place but escaped a strong Wolfson crew on the final day to maintain our position of third for the second year running. With a strong set up for next year, it will be exciting to see what we can achieve in this competitive position right at the top of division 1.

This year is exciting as we have welcomed 5 new members to the Cassandrian society – congratulations to those that have earned their Cassie and have now received their commemorative pin badges. We celebrated this achievement, as well as the amazing year of rowing, at Eights dinner, where outgoing Captain Lenka gave a wonderful speech and handed over to myself. I look forward to following in her footsteps and continuing the amazing work she has done in this position. After Eights, the whole women*s side have enjoyed casual mixed outings to make the most of the end of term, as well as getting out in some small boats.

As well as rowing with Univ, 4 members of the women*s side have been taking on additional training with OUBC’s Development Squad – it’s great to see everyone maximising their opportunities to improve their rowing. Congratulations in particular to those who have represented OUBC at various races this term, including BUCS, Reading Amateur Regatta, Henley Women*s Regatta, and Reading Town Regatta. It is especially exciting to celebrate Liv, who had the opportunity to represent OUBC at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in the Island Cup. The future is certainly bright for UCBC with such enthusiasm right the way through the squad going into the next year!

Amber Ford
Women*s Captain 2024-25

M1 within a canvas of Keble along Boathouse Island on Saturday

Trinity began with an injection of OUBC experience that helped push on an M1 that had fewer old heads than previous years, capping 7 new dinos from the nine rowers and one cox that would make up our Eights crews. Early in term we travelled to Bedford for the crew’s first racing action. We picked up wins over Keble 2nd VIII and Exeter College before falling short against a strong Worcester College crew in a final that provided valuable race experience and highlighted the areas we still needed to work on.

Eights picked up where Torpids left off, chasing Pembroke. Again, they proved tricky to catch, evading us on Wednesday and bumping Keble to safety on Thursday. Friday proved frustrating as Keble held just out of reach but on Saturday, buoyed by the roaring crowds, Keble were caught in a dramatic fashion, involving a three-boat sandwich with Christ Church ahead racing past boat house island on what the coxing briefing would describe as the wrong side of the river, only to bump Keble with a couple hundred metres to spare. This places us fifth on the river (dare I even mention, in striking distance of headship), our highest position since 2014.

This year we don’t have quite the repeat of last year’s exodus but are sad to be losing outgoing captain Peter Moor, and Bertie Coomber. As ever we are very grateful to our head coach Jono Cheesman, and we would also like to thank Mark Probets who has been instrumental in the coaching of novices and Men*s lower boats, without which our almost entirely homegrown M1 this term would not be possible. We have every confidence that the Men*s side of UCBC can continue to go from strength to strength next year as we begin to run out of boats left to bump at the top of division 1.

Rory Proudfoot and Charlie Towle
Men*s Co-Captains 2025-26

A three-boat sandwich resulted in M1’s bump on Keble on Saturday (l-r) ChCh, Keble, Univ

W2 with coach Argy before boating on Saturday

From the very start of this term, the women*s side has been a continued site of dedication, enthusiasm and success. With the sun starting to emerge, an influx of new rowers expanded our ranks, resulting in four women*s boats preparing for eights: a number reached by only two colleges this year.

Alongside this, we had eight novice rowers travel to BUCS to compete in the Beginners 4+ category; both teams competed in side by side finals, with one 4+ winning the D final by sixteen seconds. The strength, determination, and support from both crews reflected exactly what UCBC is about, and we can’t wait to see this develop as time goes on.

As Summer Eights approached, enthusiastic crews and dedicated coaching by Jocasta and Pippa resulted in both W3 and W4 successfully qualifying for racing. With four crews on the river, four days of bumps, and over twenty novices, it was bound to be an eventful year.

Wednesday started strong with an incredible performance from W4: despite multiple start sequences and a close encounter with the landing stage, raw watts and incredible perseverance from the whole crew saw them evade overlap with St Hilda’s W3 and row on with room to spare.

W3 at Summer VIIIs dinner

Throughout the week, however, one crew particularly shone: our W2. After bumping two W1s, our crew succeeded Wolfson W2 to claim the spot of second boat headship, placing 31st on the river! On Saturday, the strength of all four crews was clear: W4 bumped to end Eights +1, W3 rowed over and avoided spoons, W2 fought a close fight
with Anthonys W1 and remained 31st, while W1 also rowed over, retaining their spot in both Torpids and Eights as third on the river.

Beyond just results, however, there is so much to be proud of in the women*s side this term. The support and encouragement shown to all four boats has been amazing to see, and we know this teamwork, enjoyment, and drive to improve will only continue to develop next year. With so many new faces and more to come, the women*s side is in an incredibly exciting position and we can’t wait to see where UCBC will go!

Ellice Chen, Anna Hagan and Liv Pegge
Women*s Co-Vice-Captains 2025-26

W4 approaching Donnington Bridge

Coming off a successful torpids campaign where M2 held their position at the top of Division 4, the Men*s lower boats were eager to continue on their upwards trajectory. The glorious Trinity weather also showed its face, and we were all very glad to enjoy the wonderful sun, participating in numerous morning and afternoon sessions was made infinitely better by the nice weather.

The term started very strongly. With a scratch crew formed, M2 managed to secure “city blades”, taking no more than 100 strokes total and managing to bump well before the Gut every time! It boded well for a very successful term for M2!

The next weekend the Men had 9 novice Univ rowers at BUCS Regatta. On Saturday 3rd May, we had a strong Beginners 4+. With windy conditions battering the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, it was very impressive to see the boys come 21/48 in their time trial and into the D Final! Considering much of their competition were universities with thousands of students it is a great testament to the dedication of the students and coaches alike to have developed rowers this successfully so quickly. The rest of our Beginners 8+ (a composite of M2 and M3 novice rowers) showed that they consistently performed at a high level. In the time trial they came 22/48 in the D Final which most importantly included Selwyn College, Cambridge. With many calls of “shoeing the tabs” being thrown about it seemed certain that Univ and Selwyn would have a good battle down the two-kilometre course. However, Selwyn’s cox had a different idea, steering into UCBC’s lane, clashing blades and getting disqualified. There are two possible reasons for this. Maybe Selwyn forgot that BUCS was side-by-side racing. Or much more likely, Univ’s start was so frighteningly good that Selwyn realised their only chance was to emulate a Boat Race-esque clash. The Eight battled hard, winning the clash and Rory Proudfoot (incoming Men*s Co-Captain) successfully coxed the boat to a 3rd place finish leaving Univ having the 21st quickest Beginners 8 in the country!

The busyness didn’t end as the Men*s Lower boats had their third consecutive weekend of racing and headed off to Bedford Regatta. M2 had many crew-bonding experiences after the coach driver overslept (to the point his boss had to pick us up instead) and UCBC arrived more than an hour late. Entered into two competitions, it was a busy schedule for M2. Boating quickly, the Second Eight defeated Pembroke M2 (College 8+) and then Keble M2 (Open 8+) in quick succession, both easily. Rushing down for their other delayed race against Radley College “B”, the boys patiently waited. And waited. And waited. More than an hour later spent through many crew-bonding jokes, the newly sunburnt M2 dispatched the crew in a tough challenge, holding on to a close finish, winning by a length. After 3 hours on the water the Eight had an extremely short break and boated again to race Radley “A”. If it hadn’t had been for the exhaustion, sunburn and dehydration, M2 very likely would’ve managed victory as in the final stretch M2 managed to gain a length and half, however it was not enough, losing with half a length. Univ M2 had bowed out in the semi-final of the Open (Band 4) 8+. In the College B 8+, having pushed themselves to the maximum twice in a row, M2 exhausted, lost to St Anne’s College in the quarter-finals. Whilst there was no silverware, M2 rowed extremely well and pushed themselves excellently. It looked very good for Eights Week.

M2 celebrate their pump on Pembroke, securing blades in the process

In the meantime, the former Vice-Captains Arthur Bird and Tom Forster successively pushed recruitment so that not only did we have a full M3 but also had an M4 full of Trinity Novices training strongly every week. And it showed. As Rowing on came around, M3 finished twelfth overall, qualifying safely, meanwhile Univ M4 managed to beat other colleges M2s and M3s to come 49th. Unfortunately, there were so many entries that M4 did not succeed in rowing on, but for four weeks of training it was so impressive to see all 8 boys row together at rate and be quicker than numerous crews.

We both look forward to seeing these rowers continue training onto Torpids as we know many of them can go very far. Taking their place in Eights was the illustrious Beer Boat. M5 confidently rowed on at rate 26 to come 23rd and took M4’s position in Division 6.

Eights week had arrived and Wednesday was incredibly successful. M2 bumped Linacre M1 before Donnington Bridge, a big bump as Linacre had held off M2 last year for 2 days. Many in M2 were very happy indeed, especially as Ciaran Moscrop had heroically subbed in 1 hour before racing due to OURC’s decision-making. M3 started their campaign incredibly strong as well. They bumped New College M3 as they headed for M3 headship. The Beer Boat had a slightly tougher time. Unfortunately, the real world existed outside of Eights and there were many last minute changes. Nevertheless many M4 rowers stepped up. However even more unfortunately, they were bumped quickly by St Hilda’s M2.

Thursday was another good day for M2 as another sub stepped up. With Will Morris subbed in, M2 bumped Christ Church M2 before the gut once again. Meanwhile M3 rowed valiantly well to fight Wolfson for M3 Headship. However, they were held off and rowed over. M4 had another tough day at the office as they were bumped by St John’s M2. Nevertheless, there was progress! They had rowed for longer, making St John’s work for the bump.

M3’s firm bump on New III on Wednesday (Photo by Lauren Hazel)

Friday made Eights seem very unlucky for M2 as their Stroke, Adam Sakabani, dislocated his knee 30 minutes before boating. Ciaran Moscrop, once more stepped up, this time in the stroke seat as M2 set off to bump a very quick Green Templeton M1. With Green Templeton rowing hard M2 entered at the back of a sandwich, however they persevered and bumped GTC at the end of Greenbanks. M3 again started well against Wolfson M3, closing to a length and pushing forward. Unluckily Jesus M2 was bumped quickly by Wolfson meaning that M3 had to row over once more. M4/the Beer Boat went -1 again as Pembroke M3 bumped them. It meant the many returners of the Saturday Beer Boat had to fight to avoid Spoons on Saturday! Saturday was a very successful day for the Men*s Lower Boats. M2 secured their blades as they bumped Pembroke M2 just outside of Univ Boathouse. Very well timed indeed! With a lot of celebrating happening there are some bizarre facts to point out.

The set crew never rowed together in their set seats. There were 3 different boat rigs, including a2- 3 bucket. As well as 3 different stroke seats. We lost one kneecap, but M2 had gained in recompense blades! M3 set their sights on Jesus M2 and succeeded. They bumped at Donny Bridge and celebrated an excellent campaign going +2. M4 had a tough job as there were quick crews either side of them. Nevertheless with many returners joining the boat including Captain of Coxes Alex Rigamonti the Beer Boat held out and avoided spoons!

M4 before Rowing On

It has been an excellent term for the Men*s lower boats. M2 now rest 4th in Division 3 (28th) and are the 2nd Highest M2 on the river, showing Univ’s brilliant squad depth. M3 finished 56th, now competing in the middle of Division 5. And most importantly rest as the second highest M3 and M4 as well survived the drop and now rest 69th on the river and in the middle pack of Division 6. A brilliant Eights Week for the Men*s side.

I know for a fact that Fred and I are very eager to help support the Men*s Lower Boats to the best of our abilities. We look forward to the year ahead!

Seb Collins
Univ Men*s Co-Vice-Captain 2025-26

The social life of UCBC has thrived this Trinity term, marked by multiple occasions for celebration. The term began on a high note with a strong performance at City Bumps, setting the tone for the weeks to come. Crew dates were particularly well attended, with a fantastic turnout that included many new rowers — a promising sign for continued engagement in the next social year.

Summer Eights was a particularly successful event for UCBC. Notable achievements include M2 securing blades, W1 taking Head of the River on Day 2, and W2 becoming headship for the second boats. The four-day racing spectacle concluded with the annual Summer Eights Boat Club Dinner — a highlight of the term. Crews gathered for a
spectacular three-course meal, the hall filled with blazers of every colour, inspiring friendly rivalry and club pride.

The evening culminated in a rousing speech from Michael Collins, delivered from the high table. His words emphasised the significance of the boat club and the enduring value of its traditions. The night ended with the customary UCBC Park End, where crews enjoyed a final celebration together. Looking ahead, we are optimistic for the coming year. We hope to see both familiar faces and new members embracing all that UCBC social life has to offer including all the regattas and crew dates to come.

Amy Welsh and  Alex Lake
Social Secretaries 2025-26

Key dates for next year

• Friday 5 December – The Fairbairn Cup (Cambridge)
• Saturday 31 January – Dinos and Cassies dinner
• Wednesday 4 March – Saturday 7 March – Torpids
• Wednesday 27 May – Saturday 30 May – Summer Eights
• Sunday 31 May – Martlet Regatta

Training camp in Spain, Paolo in four seat

After learning to row with UCBC in my first year, I thought I had nothing to lose by trialling in this, my last (undergrad) year. At the time, it was a scary decision involving the loss of a precious month of holiday and a near-certain risk of being cut. My supervisor may disagree, but in hindsight it was absolutely the right decision. My time with OUBC has been the highlight of my time in Oxford. The very start of the journey was a 6:15 am 2K erg test, where I pulled a 4 second personal best to earn the right to do my other tests at a more civilised hour. That afternoon we had our first water session. Descending the staircase into the boat bay is a special experience – the bay is enormous but is still overflowing with hulls. That was when the seriousness of the club’s mission began to hit me.

The next couple of months passed in a blur of testing, water sessions, a tideway session in a literal storm, and constant adaptation to the constraints imposed by flooding. The term built towards Trial Eights, the only opportunity that boat race crews have to row the full course under race conditions. Gromit, stroked by Nick Rusher (bronze in Paris), overcame my Wallace crew, stroked by Nic Kohl (fourth in Paris), who had given everything to be up at Hammersmith Bridge. Clearly, it must have been the difference in Olympic credentials.

After a short but well-earned break over Christmas, the entire club went on training camp in Spain. Despite being given a seat race for the Blue boat, I was not surprised to find myself in the Isis boat after the first few days. I was then extremely surprised to find myself in the stroke seat for a few sessions, including the rather epic final day when all 6 eights lined up side by side for some GMT-based racing. For Isis, the camp was transformative – it really did take a week of rowing three times a day with no distractions for the wisdom of our coach, Bodo Schulenburg, to percolate its way in but it made such a difference.

I then proceeded to acquire a rib injury which meant spending six weeks twiddling my thumbs on the stationary bike while everyone else kept cracking on. In honesty, this was the single point in the season when I thought about quitting. Fortunately, about two days before the monotony of the bike overcame me, I was put back in the boat for the fixture against London Rowing Club.

Boat race day then came inexplicably quickly. About three weeks out Luke Robinson also returned from injury and the final Isis crew was set. The rowing then started to get really, really good. After the long months of training, everything was finally clicking. We felt confident that we had what it took to shoe the Tabs.

Unfortunately, the Tabs had not been sleeping. With four ex-Blue boat rowers and the rest with international experience, Goldie moved away at roughly the same point in the race as Gromit had from Wallace, which would have given me a feeling of déjà vu had the lactic acid not been rather all-consuming, and went on to set the (unofficial) course record.

A year’s worth of work and a thesis were then delivered, in time for a Henley campaign. My Visitors 4- qualified – a first for me, after several Univ Temple entries – and we proceeded to go out on Thursday. OUBC was an amazing experience, and I look forward to trialling again next year, but it literally could not have happened without UCBC. I am extremely grateful to all those who love and support the club in being the greatest place to row in Oxford.

Paolo Cicuta

Paolo Cicuta