First and Third Trinity Boat Club
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The First and Third Trinity Boat Club is the rowing club of Trinity College in Cambridge, England. The club formally came into existence in 1946 when the First Trinity Boat Club and the Third Trinity Boat Club merged, although the 2 clubs had been rowing together for several years before that date. The first boat club associated with Trinity was formed in 1825 and came to be known as First Trinity in 1833 when the Third Trinity Boat Club was formed (a Second Trinity Boat Club was formed in 1831 but did not have a continuous existence until 1840). Membership of Third Trinity was originally confined to Old Etonians and Old Westminsters. Members of Third Trinity were allowed to also be members of First or Second Trinity and often were.
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[edit] History
In the nineteenth century the various Trinity boat clubs were very strong and regularly won events in Cambridge, at various regattas around the country, notably the Henley Royal Regatta, and regularly contributed rowers to the Cambridge boat for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Indeed in the 1849 Boat Race, all members of the crew were from Trinity, seven from Third Trinity and two, the cox included, from First Trinity. Boats from the three clubs could often be found at, or near, the top of the Bumps and they sometimes combined their resources in races against the rest of the University.
In 1876 Second Trinity was disbanded due to insufficient members. However, a legend claims that during the Bumps in that year, the rowers of Trinity's arch-rivals, the St. John's College Boat Club, attached a sword to the front of one of their boats in such a way that if they would bump the boat in front of them, which turned out to be one of Second Trinity's, it would be punctured and sink for dramatic effect. The plan supposedly worked in the sense that the boat did sink, but in the process the sword also hit and killed Second Trinity's cox, which of course wasn't intended. So the legend claims that this is the reason why Second Trinity Boat Club was dissolved and why St. John's College no longer has a boat club under its own name. Though a wonderful legend it is nothing more. Such an unfortunate incident did occur in 1888 but between boats from Trinity Hall and Clare colleges, not Trinity and St. Johns. A more prosaic explanation for 2nd Trinity's demise is that membership was restricted to Theology scholars, which over time proved to be an unreliable source of oarsmen.
In the twentieth century the clubs remained competitive and continued to achieve success in various events. The 2nd World War forced the 2 clubs to combine resources and after the war they formally merged in order to remain competitive with the now larger boat clubs of other colleges. In the same year First and Third won the Visitors' Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta and the following year won the Ladies Plate. They repeated this feat by winning the Ladies Plate again in 1954 and 1967 which was the last year that a college crew from either Cambridge or Oxford has won the event. The difference in the standard of rowing between Oxbridge colleges and non-University clubs has changed greatly over the twentieth century, possibly due to standards within college clubs falling or to the quality of rowing in other clubs improving, but probably a combination of the two. For example First and Third, like all other Oxbridge college crews, now have difficulty achieving a standard of rowing to even qualify for events at the Henley Royal Regatta, let alone to win these events. In spite of this, rowing within Cambridge remains popular and the Bumps, the main inter-college event, see well over a thousand students competing, typically around a hundred from Trinity.
[edit] See also
[edit] Recent Form
Below are tables showing the performance of the men's and women's 1st VIIIs over the last decade in the Lent and May Bumps.
[edit] Lent Bumps
[edit] Men
| Year | Finish position | 1st day | 2nd day | 3rd day | 4th Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Head | bumped Downing | rowed-over head | rowed-over head | rowed-over head |
| 1999 | 3rd | rowed-over head | rowed-over head | bumped by Caius | bumped by Lady Margaret |
| 2000 | Head | bumped Lady Margaret | bumped Caius | rowed-over head | rowed-over head |
| 2001 | 2nd | rowed-over head | bumped by Emmanuel | (cancelled) | (cancelled) |
| 2002 | 3rd | bumped by Caius | bumped by Lady Margaret | rowed-over | bumped Emmanuel |
| 2003 | 2nd | rowed-over | bumped Lady Margaret | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2004 | 2nd | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2005 | 2nd | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2006 | 2nd | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2007 | Head | bumped Caius | rowed-over head | rowed-over head | rowed-over head |
[edit] Women
| Year | Finish position | 1st day | 2nd day | 3rd day | 4th Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 10th | overbumped Girton | bumped Caius | bumped New Hall | bumped Churchill |
| 1999 | 10th | bumped St. Catharine's | rowed-over | bumped by Churchill | rowed-over |
| 2000 | 14th | bumped by Caius | bumped by Downing | bumped by New Hall | bumped by Clare |
| 2001 | 14th | rowed-over | (not completed)¤ | (cancelled) | (cancelled) |
| 2002 | 15th | rowed-over | bumped Churchill | bumped by Churchill | bumped by Girton |
| 2003 | 14th | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | bumped New Hall |
| 2004 | 13th | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | bumped Queens' |
| 2005 | 7th | bumped Christ's | bumped Churchill | overbumped Girton | bumped Newnham |
| 2006 | 4th | bumped Lady Margaret | bumped Jesus | rowed-over | bumped Downing |
| 2007 | Head | bumped Emmanuel | bumped Caius | bumped Clare | rowed-over head |
¤ Girton, 1st & 3rd Trinity and Churchill were scheduled to re-row their race after a dispute, but the Lent Bumps were cancelled due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease before the race could take place. In the 2002 Lent Bumps, Girton , 1st & 3rd Trinity and Churchill started in the same position as they had following the first day's racing in 2001, namely 13th, 14th and 15th positions respectively.
[edit] May Bumps
[edit] Men
| Year | Finish position | 1st day | 2nd day | 3rd day | 4th Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 6th | bumped Emmanuel | bumped Churchill | bumped Lady Margaret | bumped Magdalene |
| 1998 | 3rd | bumped Trinity Hall | rowed-over | bumped Queens' | bumped Downing |
| 1999 | 3rd | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2000 | 5th | rowed-over | bumped by Emmanuel | bumped by Downing | rowed-over |
| 2001 | 9th | bumped by Lady Margaret | bumped by Trinity Hall | bumped by Christ's | bumped by Robinson |
| 2002 | 9th | rowed-over | bumped Christ's | rowed-over | bumped by St. Catharine's |
| 2003 | 7th | rowed-over | rowed-over | bumped Jesus | bumped Emmanuel |
| 2004 | 7th | rowed-over | bumped by Queens' | bumped Queens' | rowed-over |
| 2005 | 7th | bumped Robinson | rowed-over | bumped by Queens' | rowed-over |
| 2006 | 5th | bumped Downing | rowed-over | bumped Trinity Hall | rowed-over |
[edit] Women
| Year | Finish position | 1st day | 2nd day | 3rd day | 4th Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 19th | bumped Peterhouse | bumped Girton | bumped Jesus II | bumped Corpus Christi |
| 1998 | 19th | rowed-over | bumped by Robinson | rowed-over | bumped Sidney Sussex |
| 1999 | 19th | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over | rowed-over |
| 2000 | 17th | rowed-over | bumped Magdalene | bumped Homerton | rowed-over |
| 2001 | 21st | bumped by Girton | bumped by CCAT | bumped by Peterhouse | bumped by Magdalene |
| 2002 | 20th | bumped Magdalene | bumped by Magdalene | rowed-over | bumped Robinson |
| 2003 | 20th | rowed-over | bumped by Darwin | rowed over | bumped CCAT |
| 2004 | 18th | rowed-over | bumped Peterhouse | bumped Queens' | rowed-over |
| 2005 | 15th | bumped Darwin | rowed-over | bumped St. Catharine's | bumped New Hall |
| 2006 | 12th | bumped Selwyn | rowed-over | bumped Christ's | bumped Magdalene |
[edit] References
- 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
- CUCBC (various years) - Lent and May Bumps programmes.
