- City of Cambridge Rowing Club
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City of Cambridge Rowing Club 
Location Cambridge, United Kingdom Coordinates 52°12′41.7″N 0°7′48″E / 52.211583°N 0.13°ECoordinates: 52°12′41.7″N 0°7′48″E / 52.211583°N 0.13°E Founded 1844 Home Water River Cam Membership 300 (approx) Website cityrc.co.uk Affiliations CRA, ARA Events CRA Winter League
Christmas Head
Winter & Spring Head to Head
City SprintsDistinctions Current Town Bumps Womens Headship
Current John Jenner Trophy Holder
Ten Successive Town Bumps Headships
Winners at 2010 Henley WomensCity of Cambridge Rowing Club (CCRC) or "city" is the oldest[1] 'town' (or CRA) rowing and sculling club in Cambridge, UK, and with about 300 members, it has one of the largest active rowing memberships in the region. The club's colours are dark blue, with a band of claret sandwiched between two bands of 'old gold'.
The club has one of the most successful historic records in town rowing as the only club to hold the men's headship for ten successive years[2] (between 1951 and 1961), and its recent record includes winning the John Jenner trophy as the most successful club in Town Bumps for four successive years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), with its women having reached "Head of the River" in 2008. The club also won the Lester Trophy (for Intermediate Club Coxed Fours) at Henley Women's Regatta in 2010[3].
The club has the largest novice rowing squad of any Cambridge town club - thriving on its social atmosphere - and this is reflected in results, with the club boasting the fastest mens and novice women's crews in most local races for the past few years, and holding various local records for fastest novice race times.Contents
Facilities
The club was the first Cambridge town rowing club to build its own boathouse on the banks of the river Cam, and it is still based at the same site, in the main row of boathouses opposite Midsummer Common. The boathouse is currently being refurbished in several stages, starting with new changing room facilities in 2008. Many local CRA races are run from this clubhouse, and with a licensed bar, it is a popular venue for post race celebrations for many local races.
The club boasts a large fleet of racing shells and training boats, consisting of seven VIIIs, nine IVs/4xs, and over a dozen smaller boats (double sculls, pairs and single sculls). A modern fleet, with all the top racing boats less than four years old, is maintained by a regular buying schedule. The club's boats have ARA alphanumeric registration codes starting with the letters "CAM" followed by three digits.
Racing
The club competes all year round at local CRA races on the River Cam, at regional regattas and head races such as those at Peterborough, Bedford and Norwich, and at major national events including Men's and Women's Tideway Head of the River Races, Henley Women's Regatta, Henley Royal Regatta[4] and the National Championships. Club crews also occasionally compete at international events such as the Head of the Charles[5], the Galway Head and FISA Masters[6].
The biggest race in the local calendar is the CRA Bumps (or "town bumps") in which almost all club members participate. In 2008, the women's squad reached first position ("Head") in this race. The club has won the John Jenner trophy (for the most successful club in CRA bumps) for the past three years.
CCRC Events
The club hosts and runs several local rowing races on the River Cam, including the CRA Winter League (a "league" event run over the Cam Head Course over three successive months), the Head 2 Head races (where the standard Head Course is rowed twice in quick succession; first downstream and then, minutes later, in the more usual upstream direction) in spring and winter, the CCRC Sprint Regatta (a short ~400 m side-by-side sprint regatta outside the bothouses along Midsummer Common) and the Christmas Head (an upstream race past most of the boathouses).
History
City boathouse. Its not exactly glamorous, but the bar is cheap.
City of Cambridge is the oldest town rowing club on the Cam. Early records show the existence of the 'Cambridge Boat Racing Club' in 1844, the largest contingent of which went on to become the 'Cambridge Town Rowing Club' in 1863[1]. The Town club was formed by John Harvey in the working men's club that used to be located on Market Hill; this formed the core of what became CCRC in 1932. The club's colours are dark blue, Claret and Old Gold.
Records are patchy for the first part of the twentieth century but it seems that City began to record excellent results in both the Bumps and the Eight's Head on the Thames from the late '40's onwards. In 1953 the first eight finished 53rd on the Thames and held the headship in the Town Bumps (see below for more Bumps detail). In the same year (the club's official 90th anniversary) the first Town regatta was run on the Cam. The course ran from the Pike and Eel (now the Penny Ferry) all the way down the long reach and round to the Plough. The Cambridge Daily News reported that R. Evans of St Neots was disqualified for knocking M. Clay of Nottingham and Union into the river during their singles race. Clay appeared to collect the trophy 'soaked to the skin, his hair on end and in bare feet'. The City Sprints are now held in front of the boat houses over a shorter course, and often produce similar drama!
At a meeting with City members at the Pitt Club in 1955 H.A. Ives of the ARA reported that due to financial constraints no GB 8 would be sent to the olympics that year, remarking bitterly that "'our friends from behind the Iron Curtain are in every event'". He also controversially commented 'I think you are all too parochial. You should discover that Bumps are not the be-all and end-all of rowing'". It was a theme that was revisited by City honorary member Dennis Baker in 1964 when he commented on the 'insularity of Cambridge town clubs' and it has been a cause for discussion amongst the Cam rowing community ever since.
City took a big step towards financial security in 1959 when the club purchased the freehold to the boathouse and in 1963 celebrated its official centenary by opening its new boathouse.
Bumps Racing
The traditional boat burning in celebration of the women's headship in 2008University Bumps races had been held from the 1820s onwards but the town bumps only really took shape with the formation of the CRA (Cambridgeshire Rowing Association) in 1868. It seems that City were head of the river in the Town Bumps in 1875 but suffered something of a low-ebb until 1914 when they rowed themselves up to 3rd. In 1949 the 1st boat won their blades and in 1951 they were head of the river for the first time since the headship was lost in the 1870s. They retained the headship for the next 6 years and in 1958 had the chance to equal Rob Roy's record of 8 consecutive headships (set from 1904 to 1911).
In the build up to the 1958 Bumps, Robs and City posted identical times in the 'Timed Race'. On the first night of the Bumps proper Robs caught 99's to go second and leave themselves three nights to catch City. But for all their endeavour Robs could not bump a determined City crew and the record was equalled. City went on to retain the headship for a further two years and a new record of 10 consecutive years of Headship[2] was thus set by City before they were eventually toppled in 1962 by 99's. This ten year record makes CCRC the only club with a formal right to both a weather vane (for five years of successive headship) and a clock tower on its boathouse. Ironically, its neighbouring club has a clock tower but the CCRC boathouse does not.
As of 2010, CCRC hold the women's headship, having first secured it in 2008, and retained it for three successive years.
References
- ^ a b "Rowing: Going for Gold: 3". Cambridgeshire County Council. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/online/goingforgold/goingforgold4.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- ^ a b "Historic Data - Bumps Head of River". Cambridgeshire Rowing Association. http://www.cra-online.net/bumps/results/historic/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- ^ "Cambridgeshire rowers' success at Henley". Living Sport, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sport Partnership. http://www.livingsport.co.uk/news/5026/cambs-rowers-success-at-henley-regatta. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Mike, Rosewell (2006-06-29). "Rowing: Cambridge claw way back from unsettling setbacks". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article1095195.ece. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- ^ Mark de Rond, "The Last Amateurs", Icon Books UK, Chapter 7 - an account of CCRC's Head of the Charles Race in 2007
- ^ "Golden days for Brown and Halifax". Cambridge News. 2008-09-13. http://www.mk-news.co.uk/cn_sport/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=348709. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
External links
Categories:- Cambridge town rowing clubs
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