First and Third Trinity Boat Club

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The blade colours of 1st & 3rd Trinity Boat Club
The blade colours of 1st & 3rd Trinity Boat Club

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, St John's College, attached a sword to the front of one of their boats such that if they successfully bumped the boat in front (which turned out to be one of Second Trinity's), it would be holed and sink. The plan supposedly worked in the sense that the Trinity 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 is no longer allowed a boat club under its own name. Though a wonderful legend, it is not entirely true. The unfortunate incident did in fact occur - but between boats from Trinity Hall and Clare colleges, in 1888, 12 years after the dissolution of Second Trinity. The 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' Challenge 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] 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
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
2008 Head rowed-over head rowed-over head rowed-over head rowed-over head

[edit] Women

Year Finish position 1st day 2nd day 3rd day 4th Day
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
2008 Head rowed-over head rowed-over head rowed-over head 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
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
2007 2nd bumped Queens' bumped St. Catharine's bumped Lady Margaret rowed-over

[edit] Women

Year Finish position 1st day 2nd day 3rd day 4th Day
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
2007 7th bumped Churchill rowed-over overbumped Clare bumped Trinity Hall

[edit] See also

[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.

[edit] External links