Boat Club News

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.

04 Mar 2009

In 2009, ChChBC crowned the spectacular results of the previous year with another set of excellent results - in particular the capture of the men's Headship. This year we were particularly reliant on a strong novice intake; their achievements are testament to all the hard training they put in, and the expert coaching they enjoyed.

On 28th November 2008 a special dinner was held at Christ Church to mark the retirement of Boatman John Wade. The after dinner speeches included the presentation of a Boat Club blazer to John by the current Boat Club. After a wonderful dinner, Jon Carley gave a speech making it clear (just in case any of us were not already aware!) how fortunate Christ Church was to have John as Boatman and how his dedication to the Boat Club really was above and beyond the call of duty.

May 2008

Christ Church Boat Club picked up two wins at Bedford Regatta last weekend coming out on top in College VIIIs and Senior 1 VIIIs.

May 2008

Christ Church oarsman Richard Fergie won Gold in the Novice Single Sculls category at the BUSA Regatta at Strathclyde.

Richard won his final by a clear margin of 17 seconds in a time of 8:12 to finish victorious amongst the field of 19 competitors.

Christ Church Boat Club offers Richard many congratulations for his success and hopes it will be the first of many such victories.

The House had a truly excellent Torpids on both sides of the Boat Club- the best in some years. A great deal of effort had gone into preparing the crews from October – including the appointment of two professional coaches, long outings at Wallingford and a January training camp on the Tideway in London. This delivered spectacularly.