Pembroke College Boat Club (Oxford)
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Pembroke College Boat Club (PCBC) is the rowing club for members of Pembroke College, Oxford, and is one of the top boat clubs in Oxford with regular success for both men and women. In 2003, Pembroke achieved an historic victory in the Oxford Summer Eights competition by becoming the first college to win the 'Double Headship' - having both men's and women's first boats end the week at the 'Head of the River'. Double Headship has yet to be repeated by any college in the Summer Eights competition, although 2006-2007 sees both men's and women's boats within striking distance of the Head of the River in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Lower down in the club, Pembroke's development program is one of the most successful in Oxford College Rowing, and has produced more Blues in the last 10 years than any other college. As such, PCBC boasts the best performing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th men's boats on the river, and in 2007 their women's 2nd VIII bumped Wadham II to become the highest women's 2nd VIII. PCBC is sponsored by Deloitte.
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[edit] Equipment
The club has a reputation for good equipment and coaching. The men's side of the club has two Empacher VIIIs (2003, 1994), two Janouseks (2000, 1990) and a Simms. They will be receiving a new Eight in 2008 as part of the 4 year replacement program. The top women had a Stampfli VIII (2005) which was written off at the Women's Eights Head of the River Race 2007 after being crashed into Putney Bridge. This has now been replaced and was used by the Women's 1st VIII to gain blades from the bottom of Division I in Torpids 2008. They also have an Eton Phoenix (1996), a Janousek and an Aylings. In small boats the club maintains a fleet of three Janousek coxed-fours, a Janousek coxless-pair and a single scull. In addition there are two Eton coaching launches for the men's and women's 1st VIIIs. In general the top boats are replaced every 4 years, with purchases alternating between men and women every 2 years.
Pembroke is also lucky to have a well stocked gym at the boat house, and is one of a very limited number of clubs to possess a fleet of Concept C ergos, conveniently adjacent to the weights gym.
[edit] Coaching
Pembroke benefits not only from good equipment but also good coaching. Recent coaches have included Ben Lewis, GB athlete and Leander coach and Wallingford RC high-performance GB coach Rob Dauncy. The current coach is GB Lightweight Chris Bartley.
[edit] Training Locations
Novice and development crews train on the local Isis river by the boathouse but senior crews train further afield. The men use the facilities generously provided to them at Abingdon School's unique boat house, whilst the women have been known to train at St Edwards, Abingdon town and Wallingford.
[edit] Eights Headships
- Men: 1872, 1995, 2003
- Women: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
[edit] Torpids Headships
- Men: 1999
[edit] Rivalries
Whilst tensions have decreased in the last two years, Pembroke and Oriel, historically two of the best performing crews of the past 30 years, have had a strong and at times heated rivalry. Over the last couple of years a rivalry with Magdalen has been steadily developing, as the two colleges now occupy the top two spots in both Torpids and Eights. St Edmund Hall, whose boat house is adjacent to that of Pembroke, are also rivals for the boat club, while the traditional Pembroke rivalry with Christ Church permeates to rowing as well.
