Christ's College

Dear Blades

This is just a short note to update you on the new Boat Club committee and to remind you of the forthcoming May Bumps and the College Bumps Picnic.

The May Bumps are rapidly approaching and are taking place from 10 - 13 June. Christ's has 9 crews entered (6 Men's and 3 Women's), with the lowest 2 Men's crews and the lowest Women's crew entered into the pre-Bumps "Getting On Race". As usual all the crews will be racing on all the days and any support from friends and alumni would be greatly appreciated. Also, the College is running the traditional May Bumps Picnic on the Saturday with a prime viewing site of the main part of the course. It would be fantastic to see you there as there will be several members of the committee and various racing crews who would be interested to meet our alumni. For further information please see details on the website or e-mail the Development Office.

As always, details of the Bumps races and results will be sent out daily and further updates and reports can always be found on the boat club website at www.christsbc.co.uk. Details about the divisions and times for different crews will also be posted on the website closer to the time. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is any other information you would like or if you would like to come and watch during the week of Bumps.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the incoming Captains who have recently been elected at the Club’s AGM. They are both members of the top crews on both sides of the club and will shadow the existing Captains for the remainder of the term to help them plan for the new academic year.

I’ve asked each of them to write a short introduction to give you a feeling for their experience and ideas:

“Hi, I’m George Watson, and I’m going to be Men’s Captain and Overall Captain at Christ’s next year. I started rowing at school when I was 13, and have been addicted to the sport ever since! I went on at school to row in many national events, including Henley Royal Regatta and National Championships. I came to Christ’s three years ago to read Classics, and have been in the first boat since my first term. I have gone on to trial twice for CULRC, and row every bumps race in the last three years in Christ’s M1. Next year I will be studying for an MPhil in Classics.

I’m really excited about being captain next year. I think that by a combination of hard work in training and a continuation of the fantastic atmosphere around the boathouse, Christ’s can be tremendously successful, both in the bumps and at events off the Cam.

I hope to get the chance to meet as many of you as possible at the May Bumps picnic, where you will hopefully be enjoying some wonderful weather and plenty of bumps by CCBC boats!”

“Hello! My name is Fran Knight, and I will be the Women’s Captain next year. I’m really looking forward to my captaincy, as I’m taking over at a very exciting time for the Women’s Club, who have been celebrating a great number of successes of late. I am a first year student studying Archaeology and Anthropology and noviced in Michaelmas term last year. As a novice crew we enjoyed strong performances in our races, and this love of competition stayed with me when I moved up to W1 in Lent term. Training so far this term has been rewarding, and I’m looking forwards to an exciting (and tough) Bumps Week! As a club, Christ’s is a name to be proud of on the river, and I look forward to doing my bit to keep this going.”

The rest of the new committee can be seen on the website and as always myself (drb46@cam.ac.uk) and Penny (Women’s Captain, pt303@cam.ac.uk) can be contacted during this term if there are any comments/ideas/suggestions that you might have for the Club or if you simply want to get in touch!

Many thanks for your continued support of Christ’s Boat Club. The donations that we receive from our various friends and alumni members are crucial to the ongoing success of the club. The club has been going from strength to strength recently and this upward trend can only continue with vital financial contributions from our Old Members. I hope you are able to come and see firsthand the achievements of the club and I wish the incoming Captains the best of luck for next year!

Regards,

Duncan

Christ’s BC Captain of Boats 2008 - 2009