St Hilda's College Boat Club

St Hilda's College Boat Club, Oxford (SHCBC) is a rowing club part of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded between 1893 and 1896, and competes primarily in the Torpids and Summer Eights bumps races in Oxford.[1]

St Hilda's College Boat Club
St Hilda’s Blade colours
St Hilda's College Boat Club crest, Longbridges Boathouse, and the club blade colours
LocationLongbridges Boathouse
Coordinates51°44′19.3″N 1°14′47.0″W / 51.738694°N 1.246389°W / 51.738694; -1.246389
Home waterThe Isis
Founded1890s
Key people
  • Josiah Shields (President)
  • Shea Heaney (Men's Captain)
  • Eleanor Prince (Women's Captain)
  • Jack Davies (Captain of Coxes)
  • Chris Wood (Senior Member)
UniversityUniversity of Oxford
Colours   
AffiliationsBritish Rowing (boat code SHI)
Peterhouse BC (Sister college)
Websitehildasrowing.co.uk

Pioneers of women's rowing

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St Hilda's College was one of the first Oxford colleges to have women rowing on the Thames and the first to field a women's 8+ boat. Its boat club was founded soon after the college's creation, between 1893-96, and its members first rowed in an 8+ in 1911.[1][2] It was St Hilda's student H.G. Wanklyn who formed OUWBC and coxed in the inaugural Women's Boat Race of 1927, with five Hilda's rowers. In 1969, the St Hilda's Eight made Oxford history when they became the first ever female crew to row in the Summer Eights.[3]

In the 1980s, Hilda's rowers Alison Gill and Pauline Janson were Olympians.[4]

Recent years

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After 1976, the Women's 1st VIII consistently competed in the first division of both the Torpids and Summer Eights competitions, placing second on the river in 1981. After the admittance of men to the college in 2008, performance declined and the crew is currently placed in division three of both competitions.[5]

Since 2009 the men's boat has steadily climbed the Torpids and Summer Eights leagues, most recently reaching division three of Torpids in 2022 and remaining in division four of Summer Eights.[6]

'Blades' have recently been achieved by the women's team in 2016 and 2019, and by the men's team in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022. In 2016, the men's first boat was bumped in their 28th Summer Eights race, for the first time.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Abdy, ed. (March 1897). "The Fritillary: March 1897". digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. p. 182. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  2. ^ Boardman, Elizabeth (2016). "The beginning of women's rowing at St Hilda's and in the University". Archived from the original on 20 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Eights 1969 Bumps Charts and Commentary". eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk. 31 May 1969. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Oxonian Olympians". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  5. ^ "SHCBC Women's Results".
  6. ^ "SHCBC Men's Results".
  7. ^ "SHCBC Men Receive First Bump".