Boat Club Makes a Splash at the Start of a New Term

Building on the huge success of the Boat Club throughout the last academic year, Lucy Cavendish College Boat Club - LCCBC - have welcomed their first intake of new rowers both from Freshers who have just arrived at Lucy and from those now further on in their studies.

Beginning with a crash-course on the rowing machines in the Lucy gym, the new novices quickly picked up basic rowing technique before joining us for our first water sessions of the year. With a few 7am starts during the week, and a weekend extravaganza, we enjoyed lovely weather as the whole Boat Club came together to help teach and coach these first novice outings. In addition, our Senior women have enjoyed welcoming some fresh experience into their boat this Term already, and our Senior men have teamed up with Hughes Hall’s Senior men for Michaelmas to put together an experienced crew.

This is a promising start to the 2022-23 academic year as LCCBC begins to build on its competitive success last year, as well as increasing the opportunities it can offer to its rowers.

Equipped with our first ever men’s boat Colonel Rennie - for which we are ever-grateful to Emmanuel College for donating to the Boat Club - and a wealth of experience amongst our Senior rowers, LCCBC is looking ahead to more formally-coached sessions and more trips outside of Cambridge such as our successful ‘regatta’ against an Oxford college last year. We are also looking to boost the competitiveness of our top crews, especially as our Women’s First boat sit tantalisingly close to Division 1 - the highest division - in May Bumps!

The Boat Club wishes to thank our Boatman Pete Twitchett, Cambridge 99s Boat Club who facilitated our first ever Men’s crew, and all of our rowers, coaches, coxes, and committee members from last year who brought LCCBC to where it is this Michaelmas term. We look forward to seeing the hard-earned decorative Trophy blades for our top crews out on display!

I would also like to congratulate this year’s Committee - in particular our Lower Boat Captains Vittoria Torri, Josh Ripley, Tom Carr, and Olivia Thomas-Neher - who have done a fantastic job welcoming and organising our new sign-ups.

Tom Carr, 2nd year PBS student and Lower Boat Captain, said:

“Last year I learnt to row for the first time, and it was also the first time I had ever felt passionate and engrossed in a sport. It was such a great feeling to finally find a physical activity that I could call my own, and I'm beyond excited to be passing that on to our new rowers this year.”

Vittoria Torri, 3rd year Medicine student and Lower Boat Captain, said:

“Being part of LCCBC has really made my experience at Lucy special. I am so grateful to have been able to take up a new sport from scratch, with the help of the wonderful boat club committee. As an LBC I have gained leadership, team work and communication skills. These transferable skills have been invaluable to my degree and professional development.”

Hannah Millar, 1st year Geography student and new novice rower, said:

“I signed up for the rowing because I felt that I couldn’t go to Cambridge and not experience the rush and fun of University Rowing! The taster session was very exciting and all of the team were very kind and helpful; it was a lovely experience.”

Boat Club - slideshow by Lucy Cavendish