Description

The rowing club is one of the largest and most decorated clubs within the university with over 150 members and a rich history of success in both domestic and international competitions. We are one of the top ten rowing clubs in the country and have ambitions to break into the top 5 universites for rowing within the next few years. Regardless of whether you are an expert rower with international ambitions, or you have never set foot in a boat before, we are the club for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK6Tq9Q8eIc

 

The Sport:

Rowing is one of few sports to use almost every muscle group. This means that you get fitter and see results faster than almost any other sport. The boat bears your weight so it is also low impact with relatively little risk of injury. The sport has also been described as "the ultimate team sport" and many of our athletes have made friends for life at the club.

We compete in at least twenty events per year, including the British Universities Championships (BUCS) Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta. In recent years we have won at the European University Sports Association Games and Henley Women’s Regatta, and had some of our best ever results at the Head of the River. In the 2021/22 season we also won three gold medals at BUCS Regatta, and Robbie Prosser became a world champion and beat an U23 record set 11 years ago at the U23 World Championships. We also host our own race, UBBC Head Race, at the beginning of December each year. This event has become hugely popular with universities based in the south and is a great opportunity for winter racing.

Learn to Row

If you have never been in a boat before, then our hugely popular Learn to Row programme is where to start. Beginning with our Give It A Go sessions at the start of term, we then run a 4 week Learn to Row programme which includes 1 water session, 1 circuits session, 1 erg technique session and 1 group activity per week. Water sessions are held at Saltford Rowing Centre and most land training is held at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex. After the 4 week course, participants are given the opportunity to trial for the UBBC Novice Squad, or to compete on the regional circuit as a member of our partner club, Bristol Ariel RC. Those who earn places in the Novice Squad will then spend the rest of the year training and competing for the university, before transitioning into our senior squads at the end of the year.

Keep up to date with important details by joining

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For more information, get in touch with our Novice Captain, Emer Tesh: ii22448@bristol.ac.uk

 

The Squads

We run 5 squads: Seniors and Novices for Men and Women, that train together throughout the year, and our Crew Rowing Squad. Whether you are coming from a high performance club/school program and are wanting to carry that on, are looking for a less intense program but still get out on the water or are starting the sport for the first time, UBBC has training and racing available to everyone.

 

Novice Squad:

Our Novice Squad has a history of coaching complete beginners through to international level in their time at Bristol. The training is intense, but the results are easy to see and many novices will be training with the senior squad by the time the summer regattas begin. Alongside coaching rowers, we also coach coxes from beginners up to working with some of our top crews in the senior squads. Our novices have a strong competitive record and regularly win medals at the national BUCS events as well as the Varsity Boat Race, and many of our former novices have since gone on to row at some of the top clubs and universities after graduating from Bristol.

For more information, get in touch with our Novice Captain, Emer Tesh: ii22448@bristol.ac.uk

 

Senior Squad:

If you have experience of rowing before coming to Bristol you will be able to further your ability by joining the senior squad. Our men's and women's squads are a tightly knit group and we pride ourselves on having a strong sense of unity within the club. We have had an impressive history of wins, BUCS medals and GB representation which we aim to build on in the coming years. We are continuously expanding our fleet of boats, including multiple Hudson boats in recent years, and can also accomodate privately owned boats in our boathouse at Saltford.

For more information, get in touch with one of our Senior Captains:

Senior Women's Captain, Maisie Barnes: in20490@bristol.ac.uk

Senior Men's Captain, Joe Cunliffe: sm22159@bristol.ac.uk

 

Crew Squad:

Crew Rowing is a fun and relaxing way to enjoy the sport while at Bristol. We offer 3 optional water sessions a week, with S&C and ergs to be done in your own time (often members train together at the university's gym). It’s an amazing fit for anyone who has a packed university schedule or just wants to do the sport more leisurely. We also offer a busy race calendar, where we go to multiple local events each year to pick up some medals!

For more information, get in touch with our Crew Rowing Captains, Philly Hurst: mf21742@bristol.ac.uk, and Cam Dalrymple-Baker: cameron.dalrymple.2021@bristol.ac.uk

 

Socials:

The club has two major balls during the year, at Christmas and in the Spring/Summer, and we also host weekly socials throughout the term. Our social secretaries make sure everybody, from new novices to experienced seniors, is included. There are a mix of sober and drinking socials to make sure everyone can get involved.  

 

Facilities:

Brand new in 2018, UBBC have our very own an Ergometer Centre at the Coombe Dingle Sports Complex. Home to 32 Concept 2 rowing machines and 8 RP3 dynamic ergos, this is where the bulk of our land training takes place. The club has its own dedicated boathouse just outside of Bristol, which is home to our large fleet of boats and where all our training on the water takes place. Next to the Ergometer centre is our Olympic Weightlifting Room, newly expanded and renovated in 2019. All UBBC S&C training is facilitated by the University of Bristol, under the eye of Head S&C Coach, Will Ruscombe-King.

 

We have far more information about the club on our website (http://www.uobboatclub.co.uk), and if you'd like to get in touch, please email Ko Uchida or Tom Kuijlaars, our Club Captains, via captain.ubbc@gmail.com, or email enquiries.ubbc@gmail.com.

You can also keep up to date on what we're up to by following us on social media!

Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @uobboatclub

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UoBBoatClub

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3z7NEdpv5jvBWiL0C_CnuA