Homerton College Boat Club

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The blade colours of Homerton College Boat Club

Homerton College Boat Club (or HCBC as it is often abbreviated) is the rowing club for members of Homerton College, Cambridge. Their blade colors are white with a single royal blue band.

Homerton College Men's 1st VIII are rapidly gaining status on the River Cam, turning in consistently good performances in the bi-annual bumping races. Their recent highpoint was the winning of 'blades' in Lent Bumps 2004, going up 6 places, after over-bumping Girton II, and bumping 1st & 3rd Trinity III, Selwyn II and Clare II. They also hold the Oxbridge record for the most places advanced during one series of bumps (either Mays, Lents, or Torpids/Eights for Oxford), advancing 13 places in the 2001 Mays, where the crew moved up a division to division 3 and also won blades.

This crew included such notables as:

Alex Shaw; Adam Marsh; John Evans; David Pearce; Devin-Paul O'Brian; Richard Kimber; Bondi MacFarlane (Capt.) and Dan McSherry, the University blue and successful actor; all of them coxed by the incomparable Ruth Pidgeon. ("Chunder" Evans' personal lager regimen was supervised by one George Igler, a Hungarian)

Nevertheless the greatest hero, or rather heroine, of HCBC remains "The Lady Hilary": the single fibreglass boat available to the Men's 1st VIII for the majority of the club's history. Held together by little more than hope and epoxy resin, Hilary has been the site of many a shivering eighteen year old's transition into manhood. For longer than anyone can remember, this one boat has continued to emerge triumphant over the boats of older, richer and more populous clubs.

The Lady Hilary steers as nimbly as a swallow on a summer's eve and she has curves as luscious as a fine buxom wench. When the Lady Hilary is in the hands of a fine cox and a sturdy crew, she truly is a force to be reckoned with, as history has demonstrated.

1 The Energy Chant
2 Recent Form
- 2.1 Lent Bumps
  - 2.1.1 Men
  - 2.1.2 Women
- 2.2 May Bumps
  - 2.2.1 Men
  - 2.2.2 Women
3 External links

[edit] The Energy Chant

HCBC has achieved a certain degree of notoriety as of late, at least amongst the rowers of neighbouring club houses, due to the men's club's "energy chant". The chant is performed in a tight "huddle" of rowers, cox and coaches, usually in the lower area of the boathouse just before the crew pushes off. Ordinarily, the captain of the crew will lead the chant, which is performed as follows:

"E - E - E,N,E R - R - R G,Y E,N,E - R,G,Y ENERGY!"

This short chant is repeated with a gradual crescendo and accelerando until the huddle breaks and the crew are screaming at each other.

[edit] Recent Form

[edit] Lent Bumps

[edit] Men

A table showing the position of the men's 1st VIII since 1999

Year	Finish position	1st day	2nd day	3rd day	4th Day
1999	51st	rowed-over	rowed-over	bumped by Queens' III	bumped Queens' III
2000	50th	bumped Hughes Hall	bumped Corpus Christi II	bumped by Corpus Christi II	bumped by Sidney Sussex II
2001	51st ¤	rowed-over	bumped by Hughes Hall
2002	47th	rowed-over	double over-bumped Peterhouse II	rowed-over	rowed-over
2003	46th	rowed-over	rowed-over	rowed-over	bumped Downing III
2004	40th	over-bumped Girton II	bumped 1st & 3rd Trinity III	bumped Selwyn II	bumped Clare II
2005	37th	bumped St. Catharine's II	bumped Christ's II	rowed-over	bumped Lady Margaret III
2006	38th	bumped Robinson II	bumped by Robinson II	bumped by Selwyn II	rowed-over
2007	34th	rowed-over	bumped Robinson II	bumped Trinity Hall II	bumped Selwyn II and Queens' II

¤ Racing was cancelled on the Friday and Saturday of this week due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease which forced the closure of the towpath.

[edit] Women

A table showing the position of the women's 1st VIII for 2006

Year	Finish position	1st day	2nd day	3rd day	4th Day
2006	36th	bumped by Corpus Christi	rowed-over	bumped New Hall II	bumped St. Catharine's II
2007	33rd	bumped Queens' II and Corpus Christi	rowed-over	rowed-over	bumped Newnham II

[edit] May Bumps

[edit] Men

A table showing the position of the men's 1st VIII since 2000

Year	Finish position	1st day	2nd day	3rd day	4th Day
2000	53rd	double over-bumped Churchill III	bumped 1st & 3rd Trinity IV	bumped Pembroke III	bumped 1st & 3rd Trinity IV
2001	40th	bumped Lady Margaret III & Corpus Christi II ^‡	over-bumped Sidney Sussex II	triple over-bumped 1st & 3rd Trinity III	bumped Selwyn II
2002	37th	bumped Robinson II	bumped Darwin	rowed-over	bumped Pembroke II
2003	37th	rowed-over	bumped Christ's II	rowed-over	bumped by Darwin
2004	40th	bumped Robinson II	rowed-over	bumped by St Edmund's	bumped by Selwyn II
2005	39th	bumped by Girton II	rowed-over	bumped St Edmund's	bumped Clare II
2006	38th	bumped Trinity Hall II	bumped Girton II	rowed-over	bumped by Magdalene II