Emmanuel Boat Club Association Newsletter June 2025

Dear Member,

Welcome to the 2025 newsletter, which has returned to its usual time of year. This is appropriate as we have various members competing at Henley this year although unfortunately not under the guise of Emmanuel as they are representing CUBC. This is in the form of Luke Beever stroking the Temple eight (which is the equivalent of the old Ladies Plate) and Carina Graf with Ellie Sillar rowing a coxless Pair. Freya Clarkson, who was EBC Captain a couple of years ago, rowed in a lightweight pair at Women’s Henley last weekend having survived the time trial. This follows having an unprecedented six members of the EBC representing the University in the various Boat races.

The Club continues to perform well both on and off the Cam as you will read below. The Captains also say that a lot of this success is down to the support given to the Club by the EBCA. That both first eights finished fourth in their respective divisions of the Mays would seem to indicate a balanced Club which is performing well.

As well as the usual support requested from, and given by, the EBCA, we received an unusual query this year. The makers of the Club blazers had run out of Emmanuel cloth and were not prepared to buy more. After some discussion it was decided that it was appropriate for the EBCA to buy and retain ownership of, a bolt of cloth as long as the cost could be recouped over the next ten to fifteen years, which is how long it’s expected to last. We are grateful for a donation from Richard Wilson, which has paid for part of this. We had hoped to repeat the EBCA dinner of a couple of years ago, however the College is now so popular that it proved impossible to find a suitable date! Rest assured however that it will be back, hopefully next year but if not certainly the year after which is the two hundredth anniversary of the Emmanuel Boat Club.

David Sprague, Chairman

The Club continues to be in a very healthy position with 7 boats taking part in the May Bumping Races. The First crews are both 4th on the River and stay within striking distance of the Headship. Our Fellows VIII continues to train and race and will be entering the Town Bumps in July. This year we had a record number of 6 students competing in the Boat Races.

We are fortunate to continue being supported by College – notably the Master and the Bursar – in everything we do as a Boat Club. Our Captains this year Amilie and Thomas have maintained the importance of the Boat Club ‘Family’ supporting each other both on and off the water. We plan to try to take as many students as possible to Henley Regatta again this year so would welcome any spare Stewards or Leander Tickets any Old Members may have.

Please do get in touch with anything rowing related from a simple tour of the Boathouse, a row on the river or a reunion dinner – this Mays we had a 30th Reunion of the Women’s First Boat who had a double Headship in 1995 – pt318@cam.ac.uk 07990572848.

All EBCA supporters should now donate via the internal fund at:
https://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/supporting/how/boatclub/
Anyone wishing to donate using a paper form should contact the development office.

As always, the Association is very grateful to Dr Sarah Bendall, Fellow and Development Director, and to her staff for their continued help and to Mr Robert Brackley, the College Accountant, for his practical assistance and advice.

This will take place at 5.00pm on Saturday 15th November in College; all members are welcome to attend. This will be followed by dinner at High Table which needs to be booked at least a week in advance.

The Committee of the Emmanuel Boat Club Association 2024/2025

D B Sprague (Captain EBC 1974): Chairman, T Reed (Captain EBC 2004): Honorary Secretary, A P Walker (Captain EBC 1984): Honorary Treasurer, Doug Chalmers: President EBC, Lord Wilson of Dinton: Life President EBC, Dame Fiona Reynolds: Life President EBC, Dr F Leeper (Fellow, Emmanuel College): Senior Treasurer, M B Mennie (Captain EBC 1958), M A Edgar (Captain EBC 1959), H Edwards (EBC 1975), C.T.Winslade (EBC 1979), Mrs Louise Tunbridge (EBC 1980), R Robinson (EBC CULRC 1980), D Hampton (EBC 1981), Ms S M Church (Captain EBC 1988), Ms M Hunter (Captain 1992), D Rogers (Captain EBC 1994 and 1996), T Killick (EBC 1996), Ms B Gordon (Captain EBC 1997), H Dullage (Captain EBC 1998), R Hopkirk (Captain EBC 2000), H Haboubi (EBC 2001), Mrs M Twitchett (EBC, CUWBC 2002), D Barnes (Captain 2005), Ms R Dowbiggin (EBC, CUBC 2007-2009), Ms S Warrillow (Captain EBC 2007, CUWBC 2008-2009), C.Jones (Captain 2009), Ms Isabel Nimmo (EBC 2012) Ms M Beadles (Captain 2014),C Mantell (Captain EBC, 2016, CULRC 2014), Ms Z Maikovsky (Captain 2017), F J Davidson (CUBC 2017-20), C W Powell (Captain 2020), T Eveson (Captain 2019), P C Twitchett (Boathouse Manager).

Amelie McKenna Women’s Captain & Overall Captain

On account of bad weather in Michaelmas, Emma Sprints was sadly cancelled despite Alex Chilton’s hard work. Luckily, our novices were not deterred and thanks to EBCA’s funding for the novice’s Michaelmas Boat Club Dinner, we recruited 27 novices overall into the following terms. This is in large part due to the hard work of our LBCs, Norah Rouffaert, Daniel Maroto-Andresen, Jessica Romils and Olivia Wright.

Whilst we are looking at losing a few of our more senior talents this year, I am confident that with the strong talent in the novice cohort and the returning triallistst next year we will maintain the strong positions on the river that we have fought for this year.

May term began with successful boat camp where everyone was excited to get back on the water after a long holiday of rest, rejuvenation and training.

W1’s campaign was particularly hard fought for: On day one we were bumped by Trinity Hall on their blades crusade just before we caught Maggie, but we didn’t let that get us down, and the next day we put in a fierce row over chased by Churchill. On the third day we fought it out with Maggie, pushing for every inch we had, and with a killer ‘kill move’, we got that bump on Maggie we wanted so badly. On the Saturday we put in yet another huge row over that lead us straight to Boat Club Dinner.

The women’s side has seen a lot of turbulence this term but we have maintained very high positions on the river: W3 the fourth highest W3, W2 the third highest W2 and W1 in fourth position. For yet another year, Emmanuel College Boat Club women have continued to punch well above their weight, which I am extremely proud to have facilitated this year.

In terms of the numbers of boats, we have been a boat short for most of the year, with only 1 in Michaelmas and 3 in Lent and Mays when the novices joined the senior boats. With another big novice intake next year, we should hope to return to the pre-COVID size of the club soon.

Thanks must go to the hard work of the boatman, Pete, who has seen us through this good progress and to the coaches who have continued to give up their time to teach students valuable lessons on and off the water. Also to Doug Chalmers, our president, and the EBCA for their valued support. I have made great friends on the women’s side this year and I am certain that they will carry on their great work next year under the leadership of Ira Dubey, their new Captain. I wish all the best to Ira and the women’s side for their headship campaign!

Thomas Caskey Men’s Captain

The men’s side went on to put out a top IV and a second VIII for the duration of Michaelmas, with many members rowing at a higher level than they had in previous years. In Fairbairns, the IV finished 9th amongst a strong field, and the VIII finished fourth amongst the second boats.

We also had a strong recruitment of novices right from the beginning of term, and although the initial raw numbers weren’t quite as high as previous years, I’m pleased to report that the good weather and excellent work of our LBCs Jess and Daniel meant that we retained almost all of our novices for the duration of term, with many of them showing strong potential. We had three novice boats for all of the term’s races, with NM1 reaching the final of Q-ergs and finishing in the top half of crews at Fairbairns.

Forty-two rowers and coxes on the men's side returned for Lent camp, many of whom were novices the previous term, and so showed a very rapid rate of improvement. After selection, M1 was formed of a mix of old and new faces, and I’m especially happy to report that we had 2 members of the crew who hadn’t done bumps before. This presence of new members at the top of the club bodes very well for years to come! We put out three boats for the bumps campaign, with not quite enough men for a fourth.

We continued to pick up speed as term went on, and benefited from some expert coaching which meant we were well prepared for bumps by the end of term. M1 held off Pembroke on three occasions, and also managed a quick bump on Tit Hall, to finish up one overall, leaving us 7th on the river, which is the highest M1 has been in the Lents since 2007. M2 had a difficult week starting third amongst the M2s, and unfortunately went down three, but rowed bravely every day and finished the term eager for more in the Mays. M3 rowed well in the getting on race, and again finished the term excited for what was to come.

After term came to a close, M1 travelled to London to compete in the Head of the River race, which is fast becoming a tradition for Emma. Despite half of the crew never having rowed on the tideway before, we were keen to put on a good performance. Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with our cox box on the water, which meant that Polly had no way of communicating with bow four. Despite this setback, we had a strong row, and placed 170th, beating many Oxbridge crews in the process.

After an Easter vacation in which we trained harder than ever, we had a very productive training camp in good weather, with two trips out to Peterborough to make use of the long river and racing lake. The number of returners was sufficient for us to put out four boats on the men’s side once again.

We had high expectations right from the beginning of term, with five returning trialists, and Luke Beever, Simon Nunayon and Ben Isherwood each recently victorious in the boat race. However, even before they returned to train with us, we had success in the term’s early races. After just 3.5 practice outings, George Winder and Joel Robinson won the Foster Fairburn pairs, which is EBC’s first victory in the small boat’s regatta for many years. Building on this momentum, we entered a four into Head-to-Head, and then into two divisions of the Nottingham regatta, winning every race even despite disruptions due to injury.

In the bumps, M3 and M4 both had strong campaigns, and both now are the highest placed third and fourth boats on the river. M4 did especially well on the Saturday to retake M4 headship from Jesus having lost it in 2023. M2 was extremely fast this year, and did brilliantly to go up two by bumping Homerton and Corpus’ M1s. They now sit above many clubs’ first boats. M1 also went up two by bumping Kings on the Wednesday, and then Magdalene on the Friday. We now sit fourth on the river, which is our highest position since 2002, and we have aspirations to go even higher next year.

Much of the success of the men's side both this year and over the last few years owes itself to Charles Powell - as a giant of the club and excellent advice-giver, and to Elena Williams - as a knowledgeable and committed head coach. I was very fortunate to be able to rely on their excellent council this year whenever I was unsure of a decision. What we do also wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the EBCA and of Pete and May, who are brilliant advocates for the club, and who play a huge role in keeping everything running smoothly for us.

To be captain this year has been a huge honour for me, and I’m incredibly proud of everything we achieved both on and off the water. However, none of this would have been possible without my fellow rowers, committee members, and social attendees who give their all to this club and who make it what it is. I am delighted that we have elected a good friend and well-qualified rower in Tahmid Azam as next year’s captain, and I am confident that under his leadership the club will continue to go from strength to strength.