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Women’s crews

W1: Starting third on the river, W1 will be racing once again in a high stakes environment. With a series of external regattas and some intense land training under their belts, these women are ready for the challenge at the top of division one. The crew includes experienced oarswomen as well as two gifted rowers who learned only this year. This will be cox Daina’s final bumps campaign after an impressive tenure as a mainstay of Wolfson Boat Club. Let’s hope it will be one to remember!

W2: W2 will be defending their title as the highest women’s second boat on the river, starting 11th in Women’s Division II (23rd on the river). In the capable hands of experienced race cox Sophie, we have no doubt they will rise to the occasion. This will be the first summer eights campaign for all the rowers in this crew, but with plentiful external racing experience and months of dedicated hard work this is not a team to underestimate. 

W3: The Wolfson women’s third boat currently holds 3rd boat headship, and will be starting 9th in division 4 at position 45 on the river. Most of the crew learned to row at Wolfson this year and have thrown themselves into training both on land and water, yielding rapid progression and promising results so far. They will be taking on second and first boats with the grit, determination and agility that have got them so far in the last 9 months.

W4: Made up of wolves new, old and newly returned, Wolfson’s women’s fourth boat will be competing first at the “rowing on” qualifiers. We are confident they will speed to success and are excited to see if they can beat the +3 total of W4 in last summer eights, or match the incredible blades winning campaign of W4 in Torpids a few months ago. With a highly experienced crew backing her up, this will be an excellent introduction to racing for new cox Cris. 

Men’s crews

M1: The first men’s crew is currently situated 5th on the river before summer eights. They are motivated, fuelled and enraged by missing out on the Torpids headship by a mere canvas. Having trained hard for the past few months they are hoping to get a few bumps. The hopes are high, also after winning the college category of Bedford regatta at the beginning of May. This will be Mary’s last bumps campaign with Wolfson and she is set to make it a memorable one. The crew is made up of experienced rowers who have learned to row in the UK and abroad. This crew also includes two of this year’s men’s captains, David and Dominik.

M2: Our second crew is located in the middle of the fourth division. They won blades last year and are keen to repeat this feat. Together with M1 they participated at Wallingford and at Bedford regattas, gaining some valuable race experience and preparing them for their aspirations. This crew is made up mostly from experienced rowers, many of whom have started their rowing journey at Wolfson. They are joined by Mantas and Benjamin who started rowing with us this year. They are incredibly fast for an M2 and definitely one to watch out for.

M3: The third men’s crew is starting out at the bottom of the fifth division. Their predecessors have earned spoons in the year before and they are looking to reverse this. This crew is made up from a mix of more experienced rowers and some who joined us this year. In the stern pair we have Wolfson alumni Boldi and Ryan guiding the crew. In the coxing seat, Adam is known for his adventurous and bumps-ready steering. We also have another men’s captain in this crew with Calvin.

M4: Our fourth crew is starting in the last division, ready to gain some bumps experience. This crew is made up entirely from athletes that started rowing this year—except for James who rowed with Wolfson for many years, is an honorary committee member and is back for some action. Calvin also features here as well, this time starring in the coxing seat for his first bumps campaign as cox. 

— By our Men’s Captain Calvin Cheng

Summer 2022 The men’s rowers experienced a competitive summer Eights in 2022. Our M1 crew made two bumps and rose to the fifth position in Division I, which is our joint highest-ever position in Summer Eights. They were only mere centimeters from bumping Pembroke on the last day. The Wolfson M2 crew showed dominance in their division and proudly won blades. Unfortunately, our M3 and M4 crews weren’t lucky and lost 4 and 3 positions respectively. 

As summer came, we maintained regular training and actively participated in the city- and national-level regattas. A composite crew with four Wolfson rowers and four Univ rowers won their band at Marlow Regatta (beating many crews that pre-qualified for the Thames Challenge Cup) but missed out on qualifying for the Temple Challenge Club among many overseas entries. We also entered Henley Town & Visitor Regatta with a number of crews, though unfortunately did not bring back any pots. At Oxford City Royal Regatta, our 8+ won their division, and 4+ came second.

We were lucky to have two experienced coaches, Natasha Oughton and Rachel Cannon, joining the Men’s coaching team. Together with Rory Copus and Philipp Schaefer, the coaching team planned thorough training plans and organized more mixed training sessions during the summer. We saw huge improvements in strength and techniques in both junior and senior squads. 

Michaelmas 2022 As the summer ended and a new term came, we started to recruit novices as well as experienced rowers to join the club. For novices, we organized a couple of taster sessions which were a great success and attracted more than a hundred students from both Wolfson and St Cross colleges. Also, Experienced rowers were individually scheduled for senior training sessions with our head coach. As a result, we welcomed a handful of competitive senior rowers and more than fifty talented novices joining Mens’ team in the new term. 

In Michaelmas term, our senior crew (M1 and M2) were rewarded for their hard work over the summer by winning the ISIS Winter League IWL-A. And in the Novice Regatta (formerly Christ Church Regatta), we entered two talented novices 8+. The novice A-crew lost only in the quarter-finals to the eventual 2nd-placed crew, while Novice B-crew’s race was unfortunately cancelled after the repechage because of the weather.

Winter training and preparing for Torpids We continued training over the Christmas vacation, even though sometimes it was under -5 degrees on the river. Our coaching team also prepared a detailed Christmas training plan, including stretching, weights, and alternative cardio, like running or cycling, for people to keep fit when they were unavailable for water sessions.

The Hilary terms began with the flooding season, where high rainfall and rapid current made the river temporarily unrowable. As alternatives, we organized more land training and tank sessions, focusing on strength building and technique polishing. We went back to water outings as soon as the flag turned to Amber and started systematically preparing for Torpids. In IWL-D, our senior crew again won the race, with M1 putting down the fastest time by 16 seconds and M2 the fastest time of any M2 by 10 seconds. 

With four of the strongest crews of recent years, we are now in a very exciting position for the upcoming Torpids. We are looking forward to making history for WCBC in the bumping race.

— Calvin Cheng, Men’s Captain

Crews entered into Torpids 2023

M1: Last year’s three bumps (including two overbumps) saw M1 rise to fourth on the river, the joint-highest position of the Wolfson Men in Torpids ever. This crew is filled with Wolfson veterans, including five members of last year’s M1 and only one who has never rowed for Wolfson in a Bumps race.
The crew’s dominant performance in the IWL, in which M1 remains unbeaten, has put St Catherine’s, Christ Church, and Oriel on notice and promises some exciting racing ahead.
Get ready to cheer on this crew, which includes five returning members of last year’s M1, as they look to break the Wolfson record and finish at the highest position for a Wolfson Men’s Boat ever!

M2: This crew is a force to be reckoned with. One of the largest senior men’s squads in recent history has produced a crew whose skill, experience, and raw power is the envy of many colleges’ M1s. Currently the third-highest M2 on the river, the latest IWL races have shown this crew to be in a different league to other M2s.
Will this crew manage to clinch the coveted M2-headship, or will the vagaries of Bumps racing keep that prize just out of reach?

M3: Last year, a strong M3 on for blades tragically believed they had bumped out on the last day, leading to the crew dropping down seven places and out of the fixed divisions. This year, with a balanced blend of experienced seniors and talented novices, M3 is poised for a strong comeback.
Get ready to cheer for M3 as they strive to reclaim their deserved spot in the fixed divisions!

M4: The strength of the upper-boat squads has cascaded down to make M4 a seriously competitive boat this year. This crew has successfully rowed on and will be one of the very few fourth boats, aiming to join M3 in proving Division 6 to be fertile hunting grounds for the Wolf.

Michaelmas 2022 As the summer of racing drew to a close we looked ahead to the coming intake of novices who started arriving pre-term in September. Our taster sessions were a great success with 108 attendees including both men and women from Wolfson and St Cross. Our Novice A boat raced Nephthys Regatta where they were very narrowly knocked out by St Hilda’s novices who went on to win the event. A couple of weeks later we entered two Novice Women’s Eights in the Michaelmas Novice Regatta run by Linacre this year, named Adalwolf and Beowolf. Both crews won their first two races and then were knocked out in their third. Adalwolf won against Wadham and Linacre before losing to the eventual winners, St Anthonys. Beowulf won against Corpus Christi and Jesus College, before losing to Brasenose by half a length.

Our senior women spent Michaelmas training for Wallingford Head by going through the locks with City of Oxford women’s crews each weekend. Sadly Wallingford Head was cancelled due to extremely high stream before the 8+ got a chance to race, but the long miles of training certainly prepared them well for the coming term. We also started a coached weights program for seniors this term led by Gareth Ardon and Head women’s Coach Thomas Chapman, hosted in City of Oxford Rowing Club’s new gym. We saw huge improvements in strength and functional movement through these sessions, producing newfound power both on the water and on the ergs. Zhaoying Ma joined Anna Jones as Women’s Co-Captain after previous women’s captains stepped down.

Winter training and Quintin Head Over the Christmas vacation we continued to train and began to integrate the novices into the senior squad. We spent several weeks battle paddling matched 8+ crews of mixed novices and seniors, although this was briefly hampered by the river freezing as temperatures dropped to near minus ten celsius. Those not in Oxford kept up training off the water across the globe, including skiing, hiking, rock climbing and running.

As 2023 began, high rainfall led to rapid flow rates on the river and flooding. With the river on “red flag”, the captains rose to the challenge of finding somewhere for the women to train on the water and organised weekend outings at Dorney Lake, Upper Thames Rowing Club in Henley and Radley College’s Rowing Tank. These trips allowed us to continue our preparation for Quintin Head on the Tideway in London where we raced two matched 8+s, this time named Hati and Skoll after the Sun and Moon chasing wolves in Norse Mythology. Both crews were made up of half seniors, half novices and this was their first race on the Tideway for many of the women. Hati the Sun chasers won, with a time of 14:03 against Skoll who completed the course in 15:09.

After gathering insights from the Michaelmas battle paddling, 2k tests and Quintin Head our coaching team (Thomas Chapman, James Marsden and Philipp Schafer) have selected our Torpids crews and training is now focussed on Bumps preparation.

— Anna Jones, women’s captain

Racing Format

The Regatta shall be raced in stern-coxed eights over a side-by-side course of 500m. The regatta is a knock out competition with first round losers entering a time-trial repechage from which the fastest crews will advance to the Third Round. Racing will be scheduled to take place from 12 noon til dusk each day (11am til dusk on Saturday). The draw and schedule will be published soon after entries close. There will be very little flexibility in the draw after entries close so please tell us about any insuperable availability issues on your entry notes before the scratch deadline. The draw and schedule will be carefully developed to minimise congestion in boating areas, which is vital to running a Covid-Secure event, so late changes will probably not be possible.

Expected Dates for the 2020 Regatta

Saturday 31st October (3rd week) Event Plan and Rules published
Monday 2nd November (4th week) Entries open
Monday 16th Nov. (6th Week) Entries close (noon)
Wednesday 18th Nov. (6th Week) Coxing Briefing (7:30pm, MS Teams)
Thursday 19th Nov. (6th Week) Payments and scratch deadline
(£60/crew)
Monday 23rd Nov (7th Week) Marshalling briefing (7:30pm, MS Teams)
Wednesday 25th Nov. (7th Week) Racing from 12:00 to dusk
Thursday 26th Nov. (7th Week) Racing from 12:00 to dusk
Friday 27th Nov. (7th Week) Racing from 12:00 to dusk
Sat, 28th Nov. (7th Week) Final day of racing from 11:00 to dusk

Wolfson College Boat Club had a strong start to the year. In 2019, we celebrated two major achievements: our 50th anniversary milestone as a club and the success of years of steely determination and hard work from our women’s top boat (present and past), as they achieved the highest college rank, Head of the River!

The success of our club continued throughout the summer as we entered our crews in external regattas, such as Molesey Regatta where our men won their division and the women came second in theirs. Continuing on with incredible successes at Henley T&V and Oxford City Royal Regatta. Our women won both their 8+ event and the “super-sprints” during Oxford Royal, and at the same event saw a Wolfson – Wolfson Final with our 4+ crews. Two of our rowers also won the prestigious Mixed Pairs Head competition on the Thames, the Pennant for which is displayed alongside the Head of the River and Most Improved Members Trophy in Wolfson College.

Unfortunately, tides changed dramatically with the beginning of the academic year. It began with country-wide flooding closing our beloved river for most of Michaelmas and Hilary Terms. This was quickly followed by the global coronavirus pandemic, keeping us in lockdown in our homes.

But as the proverb goes, where there is a will there is a way! We were determined to stay sociable and active as a club throughout these trials and tribulations.

The annual Oxford-wide race for beginners, Christ Church Regatta, was cancelled by the floods and replaced by an ‘Ergatta’. We entered two women’s crews in this gruelling relay on ergometers, requiring not only strength and endurance but also agility to achieve quick changeovers between rowers. All this with bellowing encouragements from their captains. Both teams (photographed in the photo below) did extremely well in their divisions, with one losing only to Balliol.

Despite difficult river conditions our squads managed to squeeze in a few external regattas; during Michaelmas term a Womens 4+ and a Men’s 4+ attended Upper Thames Autumn Head and Fairburns Cup respectively. A W4+ then competed at Fours Head of the River Race in London, where WCBC member Miriam Stricker also raced in an Oxford Lightweights crew that won their event. Our last race was Quintin Head, which saw our women compete in two matched VIIIs.

Torpids, our end of winter regatta, was sadly cancelled, and Pembroke organised a tug of war ‘Warpids’ event in its place. During the competition, two WCBC teams of eight huffed and puffed through a couple of challenges next to our overflowing river, with one unfortunately losing to the other and the victors not quite making the finals.

That was the end of our group activities as the global pandemic was afoot only a few weeks later. However, we have not been idle. Our captains have been organising weekly virtual yoga, ballet and circuits sessions, as well as competitions in cycling, running and home sports to keep us challenged and good spirited in spite of the constraints.

During the year, with the club’s three-tier purpose of access, social and performance, my focus was also to increase accessibility for more people, reallocating funding to reduce costs and increase available support for individuals at all levels in the club. In the coming year the club is continuing its efforts in this area and has created a new sub-committee to work on improving inclusivity and diversity in the club.

I am delighted to say that this year’s sponsor, a Wolfson Boat Club alumnus, has kindly renewed his support for this coming year! To our sponsor, the incoming committee and members, I hope that the club’s successes will be plentiful.

As for each year, many of our members graduate from their courses and go on to do wonderful things, to them, I wish the very best of luck and I hope that they will return to Oxford every once in a while to cheer and support new WCBC members racing, and maybe for a Boat Club Alumni Reunion, whenever that may be.

For now, it would seem that the British Rowing is slowly re-opening rowing activities, to those who can, enjoy the river.

To all of you out there, stay safe, for you and others.