On the Saturday of Henley Royal Regatta, over 130 UBBC alumni and friends gathered together for our annual alumni drinks event. Spanning over six decades of UBBC members, it was the largest and most extended gathering of Bristol rowers at Henley in living memory.
For the first time ever, we had our very own caterers serving up wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. Despite the downpour, spirits were high as people caught up over the traditional Pimm’s.
We also celebrated the success of the latest cohort of rowers to race for Nonesuch in Henley Royal Regatta, all of whom were awarded Nonesuch blazer buttons. In addition, Robbie Prosser was awarded blazer buttons for receiving a Bristol Red, and Arnav Jain for completing his extremely successful tenure as Club Captain. Arnav was also welcomed as the latest member of the UBBC Alumni & Friends Committee.
We're looking forward to welcoming you all back next year, hopefully with better weather!
Introducing the UBBC Alumni and Friends Committee 2021-2023
After two years of outstanding commitment, it's time to say thank you and goodbye to our outgoing committee members, and hello to our new committee members. Our new committee will continue to promote the growth of our community and shape the future of UBBC alongside our Nonesuch Rowing Foundation trustees.
Our new committee:
Adam Rushton
Anna Roe
Caroline Welsh
Flo Ward
Jen Cocke
John Allden
Peter Jones
Tom Clark (Chair)
Will Stoner
Celebrating the Achievements of Piers Robinson
On 4th December 2021, at the end of a cold day of fierce racing at UBBC Head, over 100 students, alumni, and friends of UBBC huddled together in the UBBC boathouse to celebrate the achievements of Piers Robinson; UBBC Club Captain 1990-1991 and Henley Royal Regatta winner, and to formally name the club’s new men’s eight in his memory. We were pleased to welcome Piers’ wife Ingrid and their children Rory, Heidi, and Fergus.
We had the pleasure of hearing from Piers’ Henley-winning crewmates, Mark Langdale and Ashley Whittaker. Assisted by a ‘volunteer’ model from UBBC’s Novice squad, Mark gave us an exceptionally entertaining recollection of Piers’ design of the now-iconic Bristol Quarters, followed by Ashley sharing an inspirational insight into Piers’ determined mindset which led to UBBC’s first Henley Royal Regatta win in 1991.
Rory Robinson uncovered the bow of the new men’s eight to reveal the name Piers Robinson, before it was enthusiastically sprayed with champagne.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a very special afternoon. Read more about how the UBBC Alumni & Friends raised the funds for the new eight here.
Introducing The Nonesuch Rowing Foundation
After a long period of hard work by the UBBC Alumni & Friends Committee and our new Trustees (not helped by a large pandemic-shaped speed bump encountered along the way), we are very pleased to be able to introduce you to The Nonesuch Rowing Foundation; an independent UK-registered charity with the purpose of encouraging participation in rowing for students at the University of Bristol and Bristol’s community.
Beginning the 2021/22 Season
UBBC reopened its shutters on the 6th September 2021 to begin the 21/22 season. After a hugely successful Henley campaign, and with an influx of talented rowers into our Senior Squad, we are keen to keep our momentum going and build on the strong results we set last year. Training for the Senior Squad over pre-season and the first few weeks of term has gone well, with up to four Men’s and Women’s VIIIs and further athletes in small boats all training at Saltford and Coombe Dingle together.
We recently welcomed another Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar at the Boat Club, Ben Knowles (1st Year Economics). Ben becomes the fourth current Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar at UBBC and represents both the growing strength of our performance and also the on-going support of our sport by the University.
I am pleased to welcome Thomas Selby to the UBBC coaching team, appointed for our third coach position entitled ‘Novice Co-ordinator’. Tom previously coached at Hartpury College and will be overseeing the development of our novice squad when he arrives over the coming weeks. We are hugely grateful to The Fernside Trust and the SEH for funding this project, and we are excited to see the results Tom will bring in the future.
On the 25th September, UBBC took to Cleveland Lakes to row at the Open Day, showing our support for British Rowing to develop an 8-Lane 1500m Lake in the area. The day was hugely successful and provided a great experience of side-by-side training and racing, something which our stretch of the Avon isn’t particularly suited to. We’re hoping that the site will be developed over the coming year, and UBBC can make use of the lake on a regular basis.
All in all, a promising start to the season for UBBC. On behalf of the club I want to say a huge thank you to the UBBC Alumni & Friends. It means so much to have the generous support of such a large and welcoming community. It’s been amazing to see the growth of our equipment and facilities over the last few years, all down to the incredible generosity of our supporters, and I’m very excited for what’s to come!
Arnav Jain, UBBC Club Captain 2021/22
3rd Year Mechanical Engineering
A Double Henley Royal Regatta Win for UBBC Alumna Alice Davies
Without doubt the standout moment(s) of this regatta was Alice Davies (Leander) picking up not one, but two Red Boxes for wins in the Town and Remenham Challenge Cups.
Alice first picked up an oar on UBBC's Novice Program in 2015/16. She played a lead role in the successes of UBBC's Women's Squad in subsequent seasons, stroking the 1st 8+ to a 4th place finish in BUCS Championship 8's in 2018 (Bristol being the only non GB Rowing funded program to make this final) and earning a GB U23 vest in 2019. Since her rowing career has taken her to UL and more recently Leander Club, under whose guidance she progressed to representing GB at Senior Level.
Ed Bloomfield (UBBC Head Coach), who guided Alice's early development recalls:
"Alice, like many other accomplished UBBC oarsmen and women, was full of potential and just needed the slightest amount of guidance to go on and achieve great things. So, it comes as no surprise to see her win two red boxes in one day.
Teaching Alice to row was easy, anyone could have done it. Rarely do people pick up and oar and take to it so quickly. However due to a desire to work as hard as possible at every given moment it was often her body that let her down. Teaching Alice to look after herself was the challenge!
A great rower, but an even better person. You’d be hard pressed to find someone at the club who didn’t love ‘Slice’. My favourite moments with her were always in-between sessions, always smiling, always making you laugh. To see her pick up her red boxes in her Bristol blazer is very special for all of us"
(Photo credits: hrr.co.uk)
UBBC Alumni Buy New Eight for UBBC
UBBC Alumni take on their own (Not) Bristol Half Marathon
With the Bristol Half Marathon being cancelled earlier this year, some University of Bristol Boat Club Alumni members took it upon themselves to train for and complete the race anyway. The ‘(Not) Bristol Half Marathon’ took place on September 27th 2020 at Dorney Lake with 11 Nonesuch members making it to the start line.
There were several energy gels involved, a water station (that you had to run a small 50m loop around in order to return your bottle) and 4 waves of runners. There was even a support team, courtesy of Jonny Gorner's parents.
Four-and-a-half laps of the lake later (or until your watch told you could stop), we had 7 PBs and 11 hungry participants. Marcus Smith (UBBC 2016-19) took the top spot in a brisk 1:27:08, with James Foster (UBBC 2015-18) and Jonny Gorner (UBBC 2013-16) hot on his heels to round off the podium. It just goes to show, even in a global pandemic, that rowers will always find a way to hurt themselves on Dorney lake.
Enjoy a photo of the runners and rest assured they nursed themselves back to full health in the local pub afterwards.
UBBC supporters get together virtually for a 2020 Henley Royal Regatta drinks event
Every year for the past 36 years, UBBC Alumni and friends have assembled in Lion Meadow during the Saturday afternoon tea break at Henley Royal Regatta. Few miss the opportunity to reunite with old friends, and catch up over a glass of Pimm’s– and this year was no exception!
Despite the cancellation of the regatta due to COVID-19, the UBBC Alumni Committee found a new way to continue our annual tradition...
Over 55 members joined our virtual meet-up via Zoom, timed to coincide with what would have been the Saturday tea break at the regatta– a remarkable turnout given members had to supply their own Pimm’s this year.
As everyone’s computer screens lit up with a sea of University of Bristol Boat Club blazers, participants were greeted with an opening message from Chris Hartley (UBBC Alumni Chairman), beamed all the way from Sydney, Australia.
Chris very generously gifted a prize of a Leander Bicentenary Grand Champagne Vintage Cognac as the prize for our prize draw. Entrants into the draw were encouraged to donate in support of our fundraising efforts for UBBC. The lucky winner was student Novice squad coach Francis Stanford (UBBC 2017-present). Congratulations Francis!
Given there was no racing this year, we were further treated to a montage of racing highlights from UBBC and Nonesuch BC crews from the last five years.
The main event was a quiz based (extremely loosely!) on the markers of the Henley Royal Regatta course. Participants “raced” to answer questions on legendary Nonesuch crews, UBBC history and knowledge, UBBC boat names, club trivia and plenty more. Competitors’ performances were judged on both the accuracy of their answers and the speed of completion. The winning competitor was Lily Donovan (UBBC 2016-2019), who won the grand prize of a Nonesuch diagonal striped vest. Well done Lily!
Thanks to everyone who joined us for the afternoon. We hope we’ll be able to see everyone in person at Henley Royal Regatta next year, and hopefully even sooner!
The 2019/20 Season - An Update from UBBC Head Coach, Ed Bloomfield
Competition is always light over the winter months, but no one could have predicted the events of this winter!
With January exams and assignments to manage, the period following the Christmas break can prove difficult for UBBC athletes- trying to squeeze in as much training as possible for the season ahead. Quintin Head provided some much-needed competition after the assessment period, and the club came through this tricky period relatively unscathed: no injuries, minimal sickness and some satisfactory work being done.
Unfortunately, Quintin Head proved to be our final race of the season. Stormy weather and flooding saw that Henley 4’s and 8’s Head, Reading University Head and Fixtures with OULRC and OULWRC were all cancelled.
Frustrated but optimistic for what was to come, the athletes quickly moved focus to the Women’s and Men’s Eights Head of the River. High rainfall soon put paid to the women’s event, and the organisers of the Men’s made the difficult decision to delay due to Covid-19.
The rest is history- the 2020 season was over before it really began.
With UBBC athletes now safely back home, it felt important to take some well-earned time off to reflect on the events of our (admittedly short) season, and assimilate the changes. Gladly, our athletes are now back training once again and getting ready for the next season. Training at home has its challenges but we’re certainly up to it- check out our social media to see what our squads are getting up to!
Looking Forward, My Vision for UBBC
UBBC Head Race is always one of the highlights of the season, particularly the opportunity to showcase all the work done in the winter months in front of Alumni. As a coach, it’s always great to catch up with past athletes to hear how they are getting on, and to discuss how the club is changing and the direction of its growth.
Thanks to the generous support of the UBBC Alumni, UBBC is a very different club to the one I joined back in October 2015. At Coombe Dingle, the addition of the ergo room has transformed the way we train, complete with 32 Concept2 rowing machines, 4 RP3s and 5 Watt Bikes. Obviously, we are lucky to have such a fantastic facility at the Saltford Rowing Centre, but when I arrived the fleet inside was starting to show its age. Now, we have a top racing boat in each class for both squads, a change which has boosted our performance and potential enormously.
Last season, we were able to make the Part-Time Assistant Coach role into a full-time position- which has dramatically improved the level of support we can offer our student athletes on a day-to-day basis. With a culture that trains hard together, pushes together, celebrates together and bounces back together, UBBC has achieved results greater than the sum of its parts in recent years.
I am very confident in our training programme to achieve great results at UBBC, and am excited to work even closer with UBBC Alumni to refine our plans to continue club development.
UBBC Vision and Goals
In terms of strategic development, the priorities are as follows:
To invest in the UBBC Novice Programme: developing beginners to succeed in our high-performance programme, creating athletes capable of national and international representation.
Open Club: welcoming non-students into UBBC for increased community engagement, benefiting all athletes by fostering a strong performance environment on and off the water.
The Nonesuch Rowing Foundation: a registered charity to support and widen access to rowing in the South West. More information to follow from your UBBC Alumni Committee.
I have been a part of the UBBC Alumni community for some years now, and I am looking forward to continuing this work in the coming years. Collaborating with such hard working, knowledgeable and enthusiastic individuals on the alumni committee gives me the confidence that we will achieve our goals... it is simply a matter of time.
There is no doubt that club’s recent improvements on the water are the product of the generosity of UBBC Alumni and friends. Your monthly contributions continue to transform our training facilities, coaching resources and equipment, and your time, energy and support makes an enormous impact on the life of every athlete rowing at the club.
I’d like to extend a thank you from the whole of UBBC for everything that you do for us.
If you have any questions, wish to chat further about UBBC plans for the future, or would like to arrange a visit to the club (once lockdown is over), please drop me a line at edward.bloomfield@bristol.ac.uk. I’d love to hear from you!
Ed Bloomfield
UBBC Head Coach
