CBC News

I am very excited to share with you what has been a very successful term. Firstly, I must introduce myself, I am Emma Radford, the new Captain of Boats. I have taken over from Joe Nash after his successes last year. We are aiming for another successful year on the Cam with quadruple Headship on the cards for the first time. I am a 3rd year reading Biological Natural Sciences. 

Success of term

This year we have welcomed a new cohort of keen novices. Taking wins on both sides this term, it bodes well for Lents when they add strength to the senior squads. NM1 narrowly missed out on the win for the first few races of term but retained the title we have held since 2017, winning Fairbairn’s.  NM2 came in strong finishing joint 2nd at Fairbairns. 

On the women’s side we saw success with NW1 winning Emma Sprints and Clare Regatta and holding 4th place at Fairbairn’s, NW2 saw an ejector blade at Clare regatta but finished a strong 3rd at Fairbairns. 

In the senior squad both the men and women’s second fours won their respective divisions at Uni Fours Regatta. W1 won Autumn head at the start of the term and at Fairbairns W1 came 3rd only 7s behind the winners, W2 finished 3rd and W3 came 1st.

M1 won Fairbairn’s for the first time in 11 years, winning by 11 seconds and M2 won  their division, beating 18 M1 crews in the process. 

Advisory Committee

I am excited to announce that we have set up a Caius Boat Club Advisory Committee. Here, members of the Junior committee will work with alumni who have a range of experience rowing and beyond to put CBC in the best possible position to excel. This aims to provide more long-term sustainable planning for our club and enable greater connection with and involvement of alumni in order to facilitate Caius to go from strength to strength on and off the water. I am delighted to announce we have David Tait (chair), George Budden (President), Fay Sandford and Melissa Wilson on board to start this adventure. David rowed at Caius 1996-1999 (Captain ’99) and at CULRC in 98 and 99.  Fay rowed Caius W1 in 2010-2013 and the CUWBC Blue Boat in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Melissa rowed at Caius Mays 2012, 2013, 2015 and rowed with CUW/CUBC 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017. She rowed GB U23 WCs 2014, 2015 and Senior WCs 2017, 2018, 2019 and qualified a boat for the Olympics. More information on George to follow!

Coaches

This term we saw Tim Schmalz leave to coach Radley School. Since his departure we have welcomed Kozzy Voudouris from Kings as W1 coach, Molly Shaw from Cantabs as W2 coach, Ella Cross as W3 coach. For the novice women we have Joe Dolphin and Rhiannon Smith as NW1 and Freya Eastwood as NW2 coach. 

On the men’s side, Ben Dyer returns to coach M1 and Felicity White joins to coach M2. For the novices our own Inigo Holman coached NM1, and NM2 has been coached by Louis Baxter from Sidney. A big thank you to all the coaches for achieving the successes of term.

New President Announcement

The CBC Junior Committee and I are delighted to announce the appointment of George Budden as our new Boat Club President. George will take over immediately following the retirement of Martin Wade earlier this year. We are fortunate that Martin will remain as Emeritus President. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Martin for over two decades of exceptional leadership as President, having overseen multiple blades and Headships in his time and our consistent growth as a club. George, our incoming President, matriculated at Caius in 1984 where he read Mathematics. He became Overall Captain at CBC in 1987 and rowed in the ’87 Headship Crew (when Caius won its first Headship since the 19th century). George writes ‘I have very fond memories of rowing at Caius and met most of my best friends there in one boat or another! I look forward to working with CBC on its next exciting adventure – towards the bicentenary of its founding 2027) for starters.’ We are all very excited to work with him and look forward to continued success on the river.

The End of an Era: Jimmy’s resignation 

The current committee would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Jimmy Altham who will step down from his role of Senior Treasurer after Mays 2023. I am sure I speak on behalf of many alumni who have rowed at the club in the last 17 years that Jimmy has guided the club financially and provided unwavering support on the bank. We owe Jimmy a lot and a special shoutout has to go to Jimmy for being Chair of the Committee that achieved construction of the new boathouse. This without debate is something that all Caians are proud of and love rowing from every day. In my unbiased opinion, it is the best boathouse on the river!

Jimmy, we all love your dedication and support to Caius Boat Club. We hope you can enjoy some peace without the CBC finances, but look forward to seeing you at future BCDs and on the bank at Bumps.

Here is Jimmy pictured with Captain Brie Stark when the ‘Jimmy Altham’ boat was launched! This boat has been used by W1, M2 and now W2 love rowing in the ‘Jimmy’. GTM!

Trialists

We have many trialists rowing this term with the University. We have Lucy Havard, Vera Kunz and Carys Earl (our novice from last year) on the women’s side. On the men’s side there is Dan Toy, George Hawkswell, Cameron Mackenzie, Tom Knell (Lightweight), and Matt Francis (another of our very own novices last year). We wish them the best in the run up to their respective boat races. 

Headship Board & Pembroke Regatta

This term we have looked back at our history and the fabulous successes with the design of the Headship Board kindly donated by Jack MacDonald. This shows 35 Headships since 1998 – truly remarkable! There is plenty of space to fill so we are hoping for a successful year! We plan to hold an opening ceremony for this combined with Pembroke Regatta on the 18th February (tbc). If you are interested in rowing at Pembroke Regatta please get in touch with Honora, our alumni officer at hav25@cam.ac.uk. She will also post this on the facebook group which you can join on this link: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/421237438504722/

Socials/ Staying in touch 

We love when alumni get in touch. Please find us on facebook and instagram and we are reigniting our twitter @caiusboatclub. If you are in Cambridge and keen to come along and bank party a session, we would love to have you and hear about your old stories from CBC. Email the men’s or women’s captains at: caius.women@cucbc.org and caius.men@cucbc.org. 

Plans for next term: Training Camp and Racing

In the new year we are excited to have 30+ people signed up to go on our first training camp since I have been here to Chester. Please all hope for good weather in Chester on the 8th January, we will need it!! CBC went to Chester in 2018 so we are excited to visit again. This will be a great opportunity to integrate the novices and focus without the usual bustle of term. With less than 12 weeks till Lent Bumps next year we are looking forward to Newnham Head, followed by Pembroke Regatta and the respective Heads of the river. I will be in touch at the start of term with the dates of these and we would love support from you on the banks.

Thank you!

A want to say a big thank you to the whole committee with the recent addition of 2 new welfare roles. It is amazing that so many people can be involved with making sure the club runs smoothly.

Silver Buttons for Blazers 

The silver buttons that once adorned every Caius May and Henley blazer have not been made for over fifty years. Now, after a collaboration between a CBC alumnus and a Norfolk jeweler, the buttons are available again.  Made from the ‘lost wax’ process, they are cast in sterling silver in two sizes, larger for the blazer body and smaller for the cuffs.  The buttons may be ordered from Lanes Jewellery, info@lanes.co.uk, Tel 01263 713738.  Speak to Josh for further information.

Merry Christmas and I wish you the best in the New Year, and hopefully see some of your faces on the Cam.

Emma Radford

Captain of Caius Boat Club 2022-23

As we enter the New Year, I am delighted to report on what the club has achieved over the past term. I firstly must thank Robin McCorkell, my predecessor as Captain of Boats and a good friend, for all his hard work last year alongside the Committee. I also ought to introduce myself: I am reading medicine, now in my 5th year, and last year was a Social Secretary on the committee (the one sending the many emails about Pembroke Regatta and BCDs- apologies!).

CBC has welcomed a new cohort of rowers, some joining the senior sides alongside an extensive novice intake, which our new boathouse attracts. Our 1st novice women’s boat (NW1) won the Queen’s Ergs competition with NM1 coming second, starting the term in the right direction. All our novice boats performed exceptionally well this term, yet it must be highlighted that NM1 won the novice Fairbairn competition as well as the Emma Sprints race earlier on in the term. NM1 went on to race the senior course the following day as well, for the opportunity of gaining longer racing experience. George Hawkswell, Joep ten Wolde, Maria Stroyakovski, Michael Westmuckett-Martin and Jack Rickard warrant special thanks for all the time they have devoted this term to coaching the novice boats.

We have welcomed new coaches for our top boats this year, with Alice White taking on W1. Alice has raced with New Zealand Junior’s, as well as representing GB in the 2015 World Championships in Bulgaria, before arriving in Cambridge where she has raced in the Boat Race in 2017 & 2018. Ed Hackett is our new M1 coach, who has rowed in the past with UCL, UL and Red Bull. Michaelmas term of course concludes with the Fairbairns Cup, where W1 had an outstanding performance, achieving 2nd place out of all the colleges. M1 also had a strong performance, being awarded 4th place. Our men’s side was sufficiently large to enter an M2 4+ into Fairbairns who also performed well.

We have a good number of Caians trialling with the University this year. Matthew Holland (former CUW cox), Calum MacRae (CUL 1st boat last year), Ben Dyer and Joe Nash are trialling with CUBC, Harry O’Loughlin with CUL, while our CUW trialists this year are Victoria Walker (CUL 1st boat last year), Catherine Walker, Catherine King and Kate McDaid. We wish them all the best, with the final months now in sight to the boat races!

We were delighted to host a Boat Naming Ceremony on 18th November for the Pippa Rogerson women’s 8+, named after our illustrious new Master. It was highly enjoyable to talk with so many alumni who returned for the event, and I would like to thank the Master and the Dean for their support with the occasion. We also organised a corporate boating event for Red Bull this term, an entertaining morning bringing in further revenue for the club.

We concluded the term with a training camp in Seville, where we rowed alongside the Spanish team and the O’Donovan brothers! As well as giving motivation to the squad, the camp integrated novices into the senior sides and gave us the opportunity to focus for a week without the distractions of Cambridge degrees. I must thank Adam Grant for assisting with the organisation of the camp, as well as Anna Samuel and Charlotte Heeley (Women’s Side Vice-Captains).

I would also like to strongly thank all the alumni who send regular subscriptions to the Club. These donations assist the club throughout the year, ensuring costs for our members are affordable, and enabled this recent training camp to be possible.

Following the camp, a very exciting partnership has formed. Humphrey Cobbold (Matriculation 1983), CEO of Pure Gym, has generously agreed to support the club over the coming years. We would like to take this opportunity to greatly thank Humphrey for his immense kindness to the club, which we are sure will enhance our performance and safeguard the club for future generations of Caians.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a joyful 2019.

Chris Gilmartin

Captain of Caius Boat Club 2018-9

This year we took full advantage of our new boathouse, with our novices training there from day 1. As someone who can remember the portacabins of 2015-16, I can say for certain that the boathouse has made a huge difference to our novice retention, dedication to training, and general boat club vibes. Having more space for boats has also borne fruit, with two single sculls joining our fleet and a Janousek 8+ replacing one of our Vespolis. One of the single sculls was a generous donation by alumnus Richard Gradwell, and will be named the “Chloe Gradwell”. Our Janousek 8+, the “Pippa Rogerson” named after the incoming Master of Caius, will be rowed by the women’s side. These boats will no doubt be extremely useful for training in the coming years!

On the river, this year has been mostly positive. Our Michaelmas crews were extremely strong, the men’s novices winning every race they entered and M1 winning in Uni IVs. Then at Pembroke Regatta, M1 won and Gonville Boat Club raced against themselves in the final of the alumni division: a boat headed by Sam Lloyd going up against one headed by Gordon Beck. Lent Bumps however was chaos, with the weather cancelling many of the divisions. Despite this, W2 bumped up one position, as did M4. M1 moved up two into 2nd on the river, but didn’t get a chance to race LMBC for the headship. The real stars of Lent Bumps were M3 however, bumping up through sandwich into division 3. With this effort, I awarded them blades since they bumped at every opportunity they could, despite the best efforts of the weather.

At Head of the River, we entered a boat for the first time since 2012. We finished 163rd, having started 285th, overtaking 7 boats over the course. We also had representation in the CUW C boat at WeHORR with women’s vice-captain Kate McDaid, who finished 42nd.

Moving into May Bumps, our top boats slipped a little but still hold strong positions on the river, 4th and 5th for M1 and W1 respectively. Being within touching distance of the headship will surely motivate next years’ squads! Our lower boats also had some great performances, both M3 and W3 narrowly missing out on blades due to unfortunate bumps in front of them (both +3).

This year was also the 20th anniversary of the 1998 crews, in which year 6 of the 7 racing crews were awarded blades! We welcomed the alumni back for our Boat Club Dinner and to our benefactors tent on Caius Meadows for the Saturday of Bumps. As anyone who has rowed May Bumps knows, the roar from the Caius tent is great motivation, and so I thank all the alumni and supporters who came down to the Meadows. Special thanks as always to Martin Wade, Tony Baker and Jimmy Altham for the support from the towpath, and of course our boatman Simon Goodbrand without whom none of this would be possible.

As for me, this was my final year in Cambridge. It has been my pleasure to serve as Captain of Boats, and I’m sure come May Bumps 2019 I’ll be on the Meadows cheering on our crews. Chris Gilmartin will be taking over as Captain of Boats into this next academic year, and I wish him the best of luck (not that he needs it!)

Go The Mighty

Robin McCorkell