At Durham University Boat Club, we are proud of our alumni community, and on this page we share some stories sent to us by alumni of the club about the time they enjoyed with us. Please get in touch with either the current DUBC Media Officer or DUBC Alumni Officer whose email addresses can be found here with further stories and photos of your years with us.
HENRY CHIN
DUBC 2005-2008
I was a member of DUBC from 2005-2008, and after that spent 9 years in the Royal Navy as a submarine engineer. Surprisingly my basic training for the Navy involved sleeping in a bunk room, getting up early and doing a bunch of exercise while also trying to study for exams and write essays. Fortunately I was well practiced at this after all those DUBC training camps, which involved exactly the same thing.
I remember one night at Banyoles we had completed seat racing and it was also my birthday, so we went into town for a few drinks. We were a bit rowdy when we came back and found Wade in the doorway to the hostel who explained that if there was any more noise he would re-run all the seat racing. Everyone went silently to bed!
emily marshall
I remember the 2009 Boat Race (which probably shouldn’t have happened). We completely filled our racing boat with water and were drifting well on the way to the sea when the safety launch came and asked us to all pass them our blades before they could rescue us. Safe to say we lost to Newcastle who were rowing in a massive tub!
Lloyd Seaman
DUBC 2012-2015
My experience at first was a bit daunting. As an Irish lad, rowing with all these English lads, I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. But I can honestly say, I made great friends for life in these few years. One of my best memories was the post Olympics regatta at Durham, cracking cans of beer open on the starting line, but still getting the win! Although I think Lewis Weaver got us disqualified in the end!
patrick thomas
‘You find me a Lycra, I’ll find you a bowman’. Someone helped us win the VL in 2004 last race of the weekend - not sure how we got away with that one!
PIP
DUBC 2001-2005
In the early 2000s I will never forget boating on the Tyne in the freezing cold...and Wade using the tin fish as an ice breaker up at the first bridge...certainly helped develop an attitude of committing to training whatever happens! Makes it easier later in life when training on top of work and so on.
Northern Sculling Series in South Shields I think (wherever the University of Sunderland Boat House is)...we arrived to see a burnt out car on the opposite bank still smoking and to be told we needed to wait until the tide had risen…
Unlike the college boat clubs who tended to have all manner of alcohol bans etc, Wade sensibly put the onus on us: do what you want but if you cannot perform you are out the squad. I always thought that was a good way to inculcate a sense of responsibility.
DAVID COPUS
September 2001 on the Tyne. Fresher’s coach is doing drills with the crew upstream from the boathouse. In pairs they are asked to take a stroke and rise out of their seat and see how long they can hold their body weight throughout the stroke before landing back in their seat. Seats 3&4 do this once and although praised for their display are asked to do it again. They immediately informed the coach that they had both heard cracking noises when they were doing the exercise. That said the coach reliably informed them they would never be able to break it and to get on with it which they both did. It is the only time I have seen an eight sunk by its rowers putting their feet through the hull of a boat. Thank god the bill heads worked. Life lessons: however confident you may be as a coach or leader always listen to feedback.
Charlotte gater
My favourite racing memories comes from BUSA 2005. We were in a coxed four up against Oxford and Cambridge. We’d put in solid performances in the heats, but both our rivals had posted faster times.
We paddled to the start feeling pumped after a pep talk from Emma Hall-Craggs and my sister was cycling along side as she was helping with coaching. Our preparations were slightly hindered when we got to the start and realised one of the oars was loose and we had no screwdriver. Enter Wade stage left, driving the trusty Landover where he shouldn’t be, with a new oar! We were back on track.
We sat at the start with out usual ‘don’t mess with us’ steely stare and then we were off. Tom Hill, our cox, took us through the start which ended with the following shocked words ‘and we’re, uhm we’re in the LEAD!’ Tom insists to this day that he was not surprised at all, but we’ll agree to disagree.
To cut a long story short we went ahead and through determination, hundreds of hours of training and the pure grit Emma, Wade, and Peter had instilled in us, we won. I love the picture of the finish line, elation and tiredness in the boat, utter dismay by a rival supporter on the bank.
Being part of DUBC taught me so much, working as a team, problem solving, fundraising, time management; striving for things you never thought you were capable; failing and getting on with the next challenge and how to make friends for life!
I honestly can’t thank Emma and Wade enough for everything they did for me when I was at Durham and since. They went above and beyond as coaches, inviting us around for dinner, taking us on dog walks, randomly getting last minute tickets to Elton John and even letting me stay for 6 weeks when I got my first job!
Uni didn’t set me up for life, DUBC did!