Men's Freshman 8 2008 BUSA Regatta

The Boat Club is the most successful sports club at the University. The Club’s successes include winning the BUCS Victor Ludorum trophy every year since 2004, and 4 ex-Durham students competed at the Olympics Games in Beijing.

In 1989 the DUBC Freshman Squad was established, and since then our reputation for taking novice athletes to International standard competition has grown. Ex-Durham fresher rowers include Steve Rowbotham, Olympic bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympic Games and Emily Taylor, European silver medalist in 2008.

Now funded by Siemens, the Freshers’ programme has a nationally-recognized role in identifying and developing top-class rowing talent, which includes the provision of a full-time talent development coach who works exclusively with this group. Throughout the year, our Fresher Crews regularly compete and win medals in national competitions. The group has three main focus events during the season: the Boat Race, BUCS regatta and Henley Royal Regatta.

Each year the freshers’ squad plays an integral role in the Boat Race between Durham and Newcastle. Of the four races that count, both the freshers men’s and women’s 8s race head to head against their counterparts at Newcastle and their results bare equal weight to those of the senior 8 races.

In 2009, the freshers squad won four BUCS gold medals. (Women’s single, coxed four and eight together with men’s coxed four)

For the last two years, a fresher crew has qualified for one of the student events at Henley Royal Regatta – unheard of before and this speaks volumes for the quality of the programme at Durham. In 2009, the men’s fresher coxed four qualified for the Prince Albert and in 2010, the men’s fresher eight qualified for the Temple. In 2009, the women’s fresher 8 performed very well in the intermediate event at Henley Women’s Regatta narrowly missing out on a win to local rivals, Newcastle.

We are looking throughout the academic year for people who are:

• Athletic
• Sports orientated
• Team players

No rowing experience is necessary. We do, however, seek out motivated individuals with a proven track record of success in other disciplines.

If you are interested in the programme we would like to hear from you. Applications by email to: thepresident@dubc.co.uk

FAQ

• Do I have to have rowed before? No. We will teach you everything from scratch.

• What sort of club is it? The boat club is one of the biggest clubs in the University. We have been reigning BUSA champions since 2004, and now have 5 professional coaches on the staff.

• What does the programme involve? You will be part of the Freshers Group, who train and race together throughout the year. You will be racing mainly against beginners from other universities in eights, fours and single sculls, leading on to national competitions by the end of the year.

• What sort of coaching is there? You will have your own professional coach, as well as receiving support from several other professional coaches during the year.

• How often do we train each week? We tend to start with 1-2 sessions per week and build up to around 4-6 sessions a week by the Summer Term.

• Will there be socials? Yes, there are regular boat club socials and the Freshers always become a very close-knit group.

• When does the racing start? You will start to compete in races as soon as you are ready. This is normally around November/December in the first term.

• Are there any training camps? Yes. There is a training camp in January before the start of the Easter term, and again in April during the Easter holidays.

• Will the training be hard? Yes, but we build up gradually. We will concentrate on technique and balance in the boat to begin with.

• Where does it lead to? This is a fast-track programme for dedicated team-players who love their sport. Several of our Freshers have gone on to row for the University, and some have gone on to represent Great Britain in the Olympics after graduating.

For further information, please contact Matt Evans, the Freshmen’s Coach: matt.evans@durham.ac.uk

Men's Freshman 8 racing at the 2008 BUSA Regatta