Caius Boat Club

Caius Boat Club (C.B.C.) (Caius is pronounced 'keys') is the boat club for members of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

In recent years, the club has had extraordinary success, particularly in the intercollegiate bumps races which are held in eight-oared boats (VIIIs). Until the Lent Bumps 2007 the Caius 1st men's VIII had held the headship of both the Lent Bumps and the May Bumps for several years, with the 2nd men's VIII being second highest of all 2nd VIIIs in the Mays and in the Lents. The 1st women's VIII lie in 2nd place in the Lent Bumps and 5th place in the May Bumps, with the 2nd women's VIII lying in the 2nd division in both sets of races.

The dominance of C.B.C. on the River Cam since 1998 is striking. Of the last 34 Headships awarded, 4 colleges stand in equal 6th place with 1 each (Clare, Newnham, Trinity Hall and Jesus); Downing and Pembroke are 4th with 2; 1st & 3rd Trinity is 3rd with 3; Emmanuel is 2nd with 5. Caius is in the lead with 19.

Caius' run of 5 consecutive Lent headships is the 5th longest continuous spell at the top in the Lents (19 days at the top).

Prior to 1998, however, and Caius held only 4 headships in the entire history of Bumps racing in Cambridge; 1840, 1841, 1844 and in the men's May Bumps of 1987.

There also exists a club for members who have left the college called Gonville Boat Club. Although GBC is primarily a recreational club, it occasionally enters regattas, and sometimes races the current CBC 1st men's VIII. The last GBC crew to take to the water (2008) had a total of 28 Cambridge headships between them.

Recent Form

Below is a table of the performance of the men's and women's 1st VIIIs in the last decade in the Lent and May Bumps.

Lent Bumps

Men

Women

=Clocktower= With its headship in the men's 2006 Lent bumps, Caius joined an elite group of clubs finishing head in 5 consecutive years (subsequently matched in the men's 2006 May bumps). While it is a widely-held view that this entitles Caius to build a clocktower [The Caian (2006)] , there is no historical evidence linking such constructions with success on the river. Marks, Gilbert and Durack, in their definitive history of the Bumps [ Durack, John; Gilbert, George; Marks, Dr. John (2000). "The Bumps: An Account of the Cambridge University Bumping Races 1827-1999" ISBN 0-9538475-1-9] , categorically state that such performance-related building of clocktowers is a myth. It is certainly the case that LMBC added a weathervane to its boathouse when it was redeveloped in 1979, although whether this was directly attributable to the run of 5 headships in the Mays up to 1951 is moot.

According to the CBC website [http://www-stu.cai.cam.ac.uk/~cbc/news.htm] (as at July 2006):

"The Club has not forgotten the small matter of the Clocktower. Plans are currently being drawn up for the College Council's approval, always with an eye to what is likely to be accepted by the local planning authorities."

It remains to be seen whether, by adding some form of horological edifice to its boathouse, Caius effects the metastasis of myth into tradition.

References

Other references

* CUCBC (various years) - Lent and May Bumps programmes.

External links

* [http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cbc/ Caius Boat Club]
* [http://www.cucbc.org Cambridge University Combined Boat Club]