Boat Club News

The London Olympics of 2012 saw some very remarkable performances by the athletes of “Team GB” with rowing by no means the least area of overall success. However, the bronze medal in the Men’s Fours was won by the crew from the USA – and thus another Olympian enters the annals of the ChChBC...

The House had a good Eights Week with excellent performances across the board and some truly outstanding results, somewhat mitigated by the effects of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune which took something of the shine from the overall victories. However, the sun shone brilliantly throughout and the House crews continued the upward trend of the last several years.

Summer Eights took place on the Isis last week, May 23 - 26th 2012, and culminated in a tremendous day down at the river on Saturday, with record numbers of supporters outside the boathouses, encouraged by the wonderful weather. 

Torpids tooks place in February 2012. Please click through for a full report and standings.

An unusually dry winter meant that Torpids, for once, faced little likelihood of cancellation, and resulted in a somewhat higher standard of racing across the divisions than has sometimes proved the case.

Oxford's Summer Eight boat races came to a joyful end for Christ Church on Saturday 29th of May, and the sun broke through the clouds as Christ Church's Men's First Eight raced to an easy victory, to retain the position of Head of the River. There were remarkable performances at all levels throughout the four days of racing which were a credit to all the crews taking part.

Click 'read more' for a full report by Jon Carley (1980).

Once again a very good year for the Club; the men retained the Headship won last year and, while the ladies’ 1st Boat lost a couple of places, other crews rose, gaining valuable experience. Just how valuable this experience can prove to be was amply demonstrated by the performance of the men’s 1st Torpid. In 2009 there were four members of the 2008 2nd Summer Eight aboard when the Headship was won with bumps on Oriel and Pembroke; this year only one man from last year’s 1st Summer Eight was available. Thus the Torpid was made up once again largely of men who had come through the novice programme at Christ Church and who had learned their bumps racing in Lower Boats.

Some pictures of Christ Church Men's and Women's First Eights on the final day of Torpids 2010. For a full report on the week's racing, read the next news item by Jon Carley.

Sir William Gladstone has made a most generous donation to the Boat Club. This had been used to purchase a new four and to finance in part the purchase of the eight in which the House went Head of the River last summer. The Gladstone family has played an important part in the history of the Boat Club. Sir William himself stroked the 1st Torpid to the Headship of the River in 1948 and served as President of the Boat Club in 1949. His great grandfather was W. E. Gladstone (also of course a House man) who, so far as is known, never pulled an oar in anger.

There can be no doubt that 2008-9 has been a vintage year for the ChChBC, culminating as it did in victories at pretty well every level of the Club, most notably the Men's1st Eight's capture of the Headship of the River, both in Torpids and in Eights - a feat unmatched in some years.