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Churchill rowers aiming for The 2024 Gemini Boat Race

23rd August 2023
Alumni, News and Events, People,

Help us to support the five students who are hoping to trial with CUBC this September to win the coveted Light Blue colours of Cambridge University.

Every year over 250,000 people watch The Boat Race from the banks of the Thames and fifteen million watch it on television. The Blue Boat is the name given to the top crew, and Goldie and Blondie are the names of Cambridge’s reserve crews for men and women respectively.

Thank you again to everyone who made a gift last year to support Iris Powell (U20) and Nicky Wojtania (G22) who successfully trialled for CUBC and went on to compete on the Thames in the Blondie crew. This year there are five Churchillian hopefuls, training hard and dreaming of representing Cambridge, and we are pleased to introduce them here.

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Meet the rowers

The Boat Race

Triallists are required to fund all their training costs personally and the costs are over £2,000 for each student. There is limited existing funding from the Hawks’ Club and the College to help towards this and so we are reaching out to you for your support. We would like to raise at least £2,500 to help our five triallists this year to meet more of their costs. To add your support please make a gift through our dedicated donation form. All gifts to the Boat Club, as with the College, are tax-efficient and therefore if you are a UK taxpayer your donation will increase by 25% at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

To find out more about how you can get involved in supporting the Churchill College Boat Club, please get in touch with Fran Malarée, Development Director, by emailing development@chu.cam.ac.uk.

Thomas Connor (U21)

Thomas Connor (U21) “I’m a third-year mathematics undergraduate and am trialling for the CUBC men’s openweight boat next year.
I initially never planned on rowing when I came to Cambridge, but after being approached at the first bop of term because of my height, I reluctantly said I would give it a shot. Since Lent of my novice year, I have been in the 6 seat of M1 and coached those in the first novice men’s eight – many of whom now row for M1/M2. While racing and winning silverware will always be the highlight of any of my rowing seasons, I have enjoyed how rewarding consistent training can be as well as the culture of my crew and the boat club as a whole.
In the Easter term of my first and second year, I rowed with the CUBC development programme posting some of the fastest times on the erg out of all prospective trialists.
I enjoy rowing because it provides a rare balance in sport of individual application, finesse and strong team camaraderie. I look forward to developing these at CUBC next year and (with luck) bring a men’s rowing blue back to Churchill for the first time since 1986.”

Iris Powell (U20)

Iris Powell “I studied Natural Sciences and am returning for a fourth year to study for a masters in Earth Sciences. I joined the boat club in my first year at Churchill having never considered rowing before and became part of an NW1 boat that faced some significant disruptions due to the pandemic. In my second year, I had a fantastic time rowing in W1, with highlights including racing at WeHoRR, a win at Bedford regatta, and of course Lent and May Bumps. My second year was also when I joined CUBC development squad and had a fantastic time racing for them at BUCS regatta in May, which inspired me to trial in my third year. Trialling last year was an incredibly rewarding process, and I am proud to say that I represented CUBC in the 7 seat of the winning Blondie crew in the 2023 boat races, as part of a clean sweep for Cambridge. I am incredibly excited to continue training with the squad and seeing how far the process can take me.”

Molly Cushing (U21)

Molly Cushing “I’m Molly, a third year historian from Yorkshire. I learnt to row in Michaelmas of my first year at CCBC, and am hoping to trial for the CUBC lightweight squad this September.
Rowing for Churchill has really enhanced my university experience; it has given me a great sense of structure, taught me discipline and resilience, as well as allowing me to meet some of my closest friends at Cambridge. I’d never rowed before coming to Churchill and thought that I’d give it a go once in fresher’s week… nearly 2 years later and I’m still going! I’ve loved rowing with both W2 and W1, with particular highlights so far being going up 7 in bumps with W2, and competing in WEHoRR with W1.
I was recently selected to represent the CUBC development squad at BUCS regatta in the 4+, which was really exciting as my first taste of lane racing! It really fuelled my desire to go on to trial for the main squad in September; I want to take this opportunity in what is potentially my final year at Cambridge to go for it and push myself to the next level of my rowing career.”

Seth Delap (U22)

Seth Delap “I learned to row with Churchill back in October last year. After being a tad “inactive” during sixth form it was nice to be part of a team sport once again having played football through to under 16s. Since the start of Lent term this year, I have held 5-seat in M1 and rowed with CUBC dev squad. I really enjoy training with CCBC both on and off the water. Some would say I like the UT2 sessions too much, having racked up over 700 km on the C2 since the end of January, but really, it’s just great procrastination. The highlight of Lent term 2023 was definitely bumps when we secured M1’s first bump in way too long amid the torrential rain of that week. Although most of the training has been in an eight getting ready for bumps, Tom Connor and I took the time to race in Foster Fairbairn pairs race at the Small Boat Regatta at the beginning of Easter term 2023. Training for it was fun, I was somehow given the job of steering, but we successfully navigated the course, narrowly losing to Homerton in the semi-final. Rowing in the pair has taught me the strong correlation between letting go of your blade and going for a swim. At the start of Easter term, I also had the chance to race BUCS regatta in the MB4+ category for CUBC. We trained at Ely and went with the squad to Nottingham. It was a great experience of 6-lane racing and we narrowly missed out on medalling, securing 4th place in the A final. Rowing has been a big part of my life this year and I would like to make the step up to trial for CUBC in the autumn.”

Chris Hughes (G19)

Chris Hughes “I grew up in Dublin, Ireland and like many kids there played a big variety of sports but focused on rugby and soccer until I finished secondary school, without ever being exceptional at either. I stayed in Ireland for my undergraduate studies but didn’t get involved in any organised sports, instead I just played in social 5-aside soccer leagues and went to the university’s gym and pool. I had planned on continuing with rugby in university but the insurance cost of 300 euro per year plus travel expenses put me off, the class surf trips were cheaper and I was easily persuaded. I came to Cambridge in Michaelmas 2019 as a Part III maths graduate student and had planned on reigniting my rugby career but quickly realised that the one match a week and more social than training sessions of college rugby alone wouldn’t keep me fit so wandered down to the CCBC fresher’s BBQ and was quickly whipped up in the college rowing scene.
I tend to say that I learnt to row at Churchill and this is true but it wasn’t my first experience in a rowing boat. When I was 15 I broke my collarbone playing rugby and after recovering enough to remove the sling, but not enough to return to the pitch, I tried out a bit of rowing at my friend’s club. However that was not an enjoyable experience, normally 12 or so would turn up at 08:00 in the centre of Dublin on a Saturday or Sunday and the same 8 experienced people would go out in an 8+ while me and the other newer recruits were left to fend for ourselves on some rowing machines for the morning before heading home. I was only too glad when I got the all clear to leave that behind and return to the rugby pitch.
Churchill College boat club on the other hand, I have found to be accommodating for everyone of any level and commitment. From graduate students only interested in going out for a paddle twice a month in the summer evenings to keen novices willing to commit to 10 sessions a week in the hope of moving the first boat up the bumps charts. There is a boat and a community for all. On account of my previous “experience” I somehow skipped the usual novice pathway and went straight into M2 and after a Michaelmas and Lent’s bumps campaign I was hooked. I returned after the COVID lockdowns as an LBC in the club from 2020-2021 and then men’s captain from 2021-2022.
During my time at CCBC I have not only come to appreciate the club, but also the sport. As I said above, I grew up playing team sports but threw myself into running for the year of COVID forced lockdown and enjoyed both for different reasons. People often describe rowing as the ultimate team sport – I disagree. Rowing is somewhere in between a team sport and an individual pursuit and it gets the best out of both as a result. It has the community and sense of “we are in this together” of team sports (and of course ultimately you win or lose as a team) but the training is largely individual – you are solely responsible for what your blade is doing and the erg scores are representative of the work you have done.
As I come to the conclusion of my time at Cambridge, as my PhD wraps up, it feels like a logical next step in trialling this year. I have achieved a lot in the various teams at CCBC and have simultaneously enjoyed seeing my personal development as a rower on and off the water in the years. What better way to test myself and squeeze out the last bits of development and hopefully experience some more success than by trialling for a seat in CUBC. The thought of training hard and consistently with a driven group of like-minded people determined to maximise their own potential seems exceptionally appealing to me.”