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Rowing for uni boat club vs college boat club?

Hi! I'm in year 11 right now and my dream would be to study at Cambridge, but this just more of a random curiosity question as I can't seem to find the answer anywhere online

How does progression from college boat club to the university boat club work? I'm guessing it's a tryout or nomination or something, but what about those who can already row before they join? I would love to row for the uni club one day, would that mean rowing for a college club and then trying to move up, or do they take freshers straight away? Sorry if this sounds weird, I'm genuinely just more really curious than anything and I can't seem to wrap my head around how the whole thing works. I'd be grateful if someone gets it and can help me out!
So, fair warning: I'm far from being an authority on Cambridge rowing, so I'll do my best to give you a pointer but there are far better sources of information around. I did do a bit of college rowing once upon a time, however.

From your post, I assume you already row and will be at a high level by the time you start university. I'm also going to assume you're a girl, going by what little evidence there is on your profile - sorry if that's wrong! In that case, the Cambridge University Women's Boat Club run erg trials at the beginning of every year for two openweight eight crews (the Blues crew and the second crew, Goldie), and one lightweight eight (<59 kg). You don't have to have rowed for a college before if you've got previous experience rowing at a high level.

There is also the development squad, which runs every summer for students who learnt to row with college boat clubs and want to prepare to continue at a higher level.

Edit: My information is out of date. As of April 2020 the women's, men's and men's lightweight club have voted to form one club, Cambridge University Boat Club. All the other details are probably more or less the same.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by silverflowers
Hi! I'm in year 11 right now and my dream would be to study at Cambridge, but this just more of a random curiosity question as I can't seem to find the answer anywhere online

How does progression from college boat club to the university boat club work? I'm guessing it's a tryout or nomination or something, but what about those who can already row before they join? I would love to row for the uni club one day, would that mean rowing for a college club and then trying to move up, or do they take freshers straight away? Sorry if this sounds weird, I'm genuinely just more really curious than anything and I can't seem to wrap my head around how the whole thing works. I'd be grateful if someone gets it and can help me out!

@SosbanFach is broadly correct in his/her edited post. I would just mention that unless you're really rather excellent at rowing, it's fairly unlikely you'd get into CUBC: first boat college rowing is where the really good (rather than superb) rowers are to be found. This isn't designed to put you off, but maybe to contextualise and 'expectations manage' :smile:
Original post by Reality Check
@SosbanFach is broadly correct in his/her edited post. I would just mention that unless you're really rather excellent at rowing, it's fairly unlikely you'd get into CUBC: first boat college rowing is where the really good (rather than superb) rowers are to be found. This isn't designed to put you off, but maybe to contextualise and 'expectations manage' :smile:

thanks! i'm people managed to understand my midnight ramblings haha, reading back on it, it doesn't really make much sense. yeah i don't think i would ever be university club status, obviously that's the dream but i was more just curious and confused about how the whole thing works. that makes loads of sense, thanks again!

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