Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club

Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club (OULRC) was the university rowing club for lightweight men at the University of Oxford which selected crews to race against Cambridge University Boat Club in the Lightweight Boat Races at the end of Hilary term. These races are usually held in late March each year.

In 2023, OULRC merged with OUBC, OUWBC and OUWLRC to form one Oxford University Boat Club.

Membership and racing

Membership of OULRC was by competitive selection drawn solely from student members of the university. OULRC commenced the selection process in September prior to the beginning of Michaelmas term, recruiting from both undergraduate and postgraduate members of the University. By the end of Michaelmas, the squad was reduced to two trial eights which competed in a Trial Eights race in London over the course used for the race against Cambridge. From this squad the club selected a first crew, known as the Lightweight Blue Boat, and a reserve crew, known as Nephthys.

The Blue Boat went on to race Cambridge. From 2000 until 2006, Nephthys also raced against a lightweight reserve crew from Cambridge, Granta. From 2007, however, Cambridge declined to field a Granta crew, and Nephthys raced in the Head of the River Race and other external races. The squad also participated in BUCS championships.

Nephthys derives its name from the Egyptian goddess of the same name who was claimed to be the sister of Isis. Isis is the name given to the heavyweight reserve crew, and is also the term used within the university for the reach of the Thames between Osney lock and Iffley lock on which the college crews row. Although the Blue Boat did not compete in regattas after racing against Cambridge, OULRC did occasionally field crews in the Henley Royal Regatta, which often compete as Nephthys.

The Blue Boat crew had the right to wear a distinctive uniform. With lightweight rowing a full blue sport at Oxford, they wore an Oxford blue blazer with the club insignia on the chest pocket. Previously a half-blue sport, this replaced a blue and white striped blazer with OULRC embroidery or a blue blazer with white piping and embroidery worn in the early years of the club. Nephthys members wore a white blazer with blue piping, with crossed blades and the word Nephthys on the chest pocket.

Organisation and history

The first Lightweight Boat Race was in 1975, and the first lightweight crew originally raced under the auspices of Oxford University Boat Club. OULRC was formed soon after. The management of the club was in the hands of an elected committee composed of students, although the day-to-day running was mainly in the hands of the president, who was elected by Blue Boat and Nephthys members each year. Like all Oxford University clubs, it also had a senior member, who is a university don.

Along with OUBC, OUWBC, and OUWLRC, OULRC was part of Oxford University Rowing Clubs which is the body that oversees all college rowing in Oxford.

1987 mutiny

In 1987, at the time of the OUBC Mutiny, a similar dispute also arose in relation to the selection of the Lightweight Blue Boat. This dispute threatened the running of the 1987 race. The President, David Whittaker, who rowed the previous year, had lost a selection race against another rower, Sean Sinclair. As president, Whittaker claimed the right to select the crew against the recommendations of the coach, and former OUBC Blue, Rob Clay. The crew, in turn, refused to row with Whittaker in the boat. The matter was finally resolved when an extraordinary meeting was called and life members from London travelled up to Oxford to elect Bob Macdonald as president. Ironically, one of the American OUBC mutineers, Dan Lyons, was called in to assist in coaching the 1987 crew after the original coach, Rob Clay, was called out of retirement to stroke Isis.

Facilities and training

For much of its history, OULRC trained outside of Oxford, variously at Radley (downstream) and at Godstow (upstream). From 2007, OULRC was based at the Fleming Boat House at Wallingford alongside OUBC.

Past Crews This is a list of the OULRC / OUBC crews who raced the Men's Lightweight Boat Race against Cambridge. Date Result Winning time Winning margin (lengths) Crew (rowers are listed left to right in boat position from bow to stroke, followed by the cox) 1975 Lost J. Simpson, C.R Birrell, M. Taylor, J. Britton, A. Ball, N.W Hunt, J.S Thompson, K.I.M Beddall, C. Darrell 1976 Won Rob Warren, Alastair Watson, Ben Heywood-Smith, Chris Jones, Sam Menefee, Pete Evans, Adrian Ball, Gordon Woods, Chris Alwright 1977 Won Mark Atkinson, Pete Smith, Mike Ridley, Dave Bean, Sam Menefee, Tim Leitzke, Mark Gleave, Gordon Woods, Jim Baker 1978 Lost 5:48 John Chadwick, Bob Maguire, Sam Menefee, Rob Johnson, Adrian Ball, Bill Baker, John Bell, Al Watson, S.W Orme 1979 Lost 5.39 Julian Bickersteth, Bob Maguire, Dan Harvey, Rod Thomas, Fergus Fleming, John Rawlinson, Christopher Ainsley, Ian Schofield, John Baker 1980 Lost 2 C. Samuel, S. Charles, R. Zeghibe, R. Porfilio, C. Marcam, N. Jordan, P. Allen, M. Tyndall, S. Higgins 1981 Lost Canvas N. Martin, J.D.F Coombe, A.P Bunting, C.R.F Tidmarsh, R.F Hamlin, N.C Robertson, N.D Powell, M.L Richards, M.G Rowan 1982 Lost A.C.M Gane, M.J Henderson, K.D Palithrope, G.J Davies, N.J Edison, B.K Thompson, D. Ornadel, C.R.F Tidmarsh, G.S Topping 1983 Lost 6:53 3 Anu Dudhia, David Foster, Simon Mills, Ian Tatchell, Paul Castle, Geraint Davies, Nick Martin, Richard Morgan, John Brann 1984 Lost A. Dudhia, A.J Bird, D.P Behan, T. Anderson, S.P Lowis, J.C Thompson, A.W Boyle, D.J Foster, L.J Clare 1985 Lost CanvasAlexander Bird, Simon Jones, David Wilson, David Whitaker, David Foster, Angus Bogle, David Boulter, Ian Robson, Juan Sabater 1986 Lost 2 J.P Varwell Rendle, Jim Hawkins, Gavin Watters, David Whitaker, Andy Booth, Andrew Tuberfield, Jim Kirwan, Angus Bogle, Neal Tebbutt 1987 Lost 6:09 Phil Hollows, James MacDonald, Brian Smith, Malachy Smith, Bob MacDonald, Graham Lidell, Jonathon Pink, Sean Sinclair, William O'Chee 1988 Lost P. Rudd, A. McJannet, J. Morris, T. Knight, D. Busvine, A.Smith, G. Crocker, J. Nimmo, P. Drew 1989 Lost 5:51 P. Nicklin, A. Smith, N. Taylor, R. Smalman-Smith, G. Crocker, S. King, P. Thomas, J. Lane, D. Horner 1990 Lost 6:40 J. Batt, T. Ceccarelli, D. Long, N. Blaydes, G. Crocker, A. Beale, P. Thomas, L. Howard, Hilary Norris 1991 Lost 6:39 S. Liddle, V. Mayadas, S. Kenyon, T. Waters, R. Bates, L. Howard, A. Ferguson, D. Neary, E. Chick 1992 Won 5:40 Paddy Gillespie, Luke Howard, Steve Grant, Steve Brown, Paul Thomas, Chris Hobbs, Dan Wood, Tim Waters, Rabin Tambyraja 1993 Lost 5:39 M. Lauder, R. Daron Smith, E. Mark Anderson, O. Kingsbury, I. Harding, S.P Brown, J. Milward, D. Emes, Hilary Norris 1994 Won 5:35 M. Giles, D. Smith, M. Lauder, O. Kingsbury, L. Howard, P. Thomas, J. Milward, R. Weeks 1995 Lost 5:29 Dave Lindgren, Alex Skinner, James Bailey, David Bridges, Christian Schoof, Pete Bance, Jonathon Hall, Will Wadsworth, Leila Hudson 1996 Won NRO disq Nathan Tamblyn, Marc Bleeze, Stephen Wooton, Pete Richens, Pete Bellenger, Jon Watkinson, Paul Bollyky, Ollie Kingsbury, Leila Hudson 1997 Won 5:49 1 Dan Brocklebank, Alistair Chirnside, Henry Byam-Cook, Ollie Kingsbury, Richard Jackson, Charlie Perkins, Alexander Van Tulleken, Christoffer Van Tulleken, Leila Hudson 1998 Lost 5:45 Neil Archibald, George Aitken-Davies, Jonathon Watkinson, Ben Grout, William Wagner, Charlie Heise, George Pounder, Piers Gatenby, Bethan Bell 1999 Won 5:31 Matt Wicks, Richard Catlin, Jon Watkinson, Richard Todd, Pete Catalino, Ben Brookes, Alexander Van Tulleken, Christoffer Van Tulleen, Ruth Holtham 2000 Lost 5:40 2 Alex Eggman, Richard Law, Hugh Wright, Richard Catlin, Raman Nanda, James Benson, Jeremy Fagan, James Backhouse, Ben Crystal 2001 Lost 6:33 4 Justin Gill, Andrew Karmy, Ben Bowles, Paul Banham, Patrick Bamber, Hugh Wright, Ashley Hulme, Nick McSloy, Meghan O'Brien 2002 Won 5:21 2 Mike Bull, Ed Biden, Dieter Dijkstra, Will Mulholland, Tankred Finke, Richard Catlin, Andrew Roberts, Ewan Davis, Nicola Gust 2003 Won 5:55 Dave Allen, Jonny Taylor, Simon Risoe, Ed Biden, Tankred Finke, Peter Ralph, Alex Hammacher, Ewan Davis, Jeni Tod 2004 Won 5:36 Justin Accomando, Mark Baillie, Alex Eggeman, Jake Goodman, Richard Godfrey, Neal West, Alex Hammacher, Ewan Davies, Jeni Tod 2005 Won 5:51 3 Bradley Hull, Aaron Espin, John Todd, Graeme Murray, Alexander Woods, Andrew Berridge, Michael Dolan, James Newman, Esther Hobson April 1, 2006 Won 5:18 Christopher Cole, Gareth Jones, Graeme Murray, James Stanier, Andrew Berridge, Hugh Mortimer, Graham Davies, Alexander Woods, Phillip Clausen-Thue April 1, 2007 Won 3:44 1 Oliver Lough, Bradley Hull, Peter Smith, Henry Sheldon, Oisin McNeela, Tom Cassidy, Louis Rooney, James Solly, Patrick Yu March 23, 2008 Won 6:15 Bradley Hull, Simon Janes, Andy McGrath, Will Canestaro, Thomas Harvey, Bodo Schulenberg, Henry Sheldon, Ben Harrop-Griffiths, Colin Groshong March 22, 2009 Lost 5:49 3 Peter Nordberg, Alex Simmons, Kevin Cunningham, Joe Sadowski, Jonny Coppel, Ben Harrop-Griffiths, Dan Harvey, Lewis Roberts, Tom Hosking March 28, 2010 Lost 5:28 2 ft Martin Henstridge, Tom Roberts, Paul Crewe, Joe Sadowski, Bodo Schulenberg, Matt Neve, Dan Harvey, Lewis Roberts, Ruth Barber March 27, 2011 Won 5:54 Canvas Paul Crewe, Jakub Kwiecinski, John Kiely, Oliver Dicks, Samuel Albanie, Bodo Schulenberg, Chris Gamble, Andrew Craig, Jack Carlson March 25, 2012 Lost 6:00 Richard Watson, Edward Lent, Jasper Warner, James Thom, Till Hackler, Till Wirth, Benjamin Walpole, Tyler Spencer, Victoria Stulgis March 24, 2013 Won 6:49 James Kirkbride, Benjamin Bronselaer, Kier Macdonald, Frederick Foster, Jasper Warner, Benjamin Walpole, Andrew Sayce, Max Dillon, Christian Proctor March 30, 2014 Lost 5:30 Dan Bowen, David Zimmer, Marcus Henglein, Robert Leonard, James Ellison, Rowan Arthur, Andrew Saul, Matt Kerin, Hannah Keenan April 5, 2015 Lost 5:55 4 feet Jack Shuttleworth, Sooraj Mahesh, Alec Trigger, Andrew Saul, Rowan Arthur, Edward Stace, Edward Rees, Robin Veale, Thomas Clode March 19, 2016 Lost 6:19 EasilyFrederick Hamilton, Alexander Pavitt, Arturo Villanueva, Alec Trigger*, Aidan Walker, Graham Baird, Henry Smith, Alexander Rowe-Jones, Joanna Brown March 26, 2017 Lost 6:07 Tom Schwantje, Henry Smith, George Watkinson, Alexander Pavitt, Rowan Arthur*, Sooraj Mahesh, Alexander Miles, Douglas Chesterton, Caroline Roden March 19, 2018 Lost 6:26 Roman Girn, Alexander Rowe-Jones, Agamemnon Crumpton, Sooraj Mahesh, Jonathon Martin, Dr Iain McGurgan, Alexander Pavitt, Dan Bowen, Dhaval Desai March 23, 2019 Won 17:44 Tom Schwantje, Dr Iain McGurgan, Jan Ole Ernst, Henry Smith, Nick Ryan, Dr Sooraj Mahesh*, Arthur Arnould, Douglas Chesterton, Frankie Satchwell March 15, 2020 Won 18:50 Agamemnon Crumpton, Arthur Arnould*, Harrison Kieffer, Ed Lamb, Jan Ole Ernst, Nick Ryan, Tom Schwantje, Matthew Hamilton, Chloe TubmanMay 23, 2021 Won 14:19 Ed Campbell, Daniel Craig-McFeely, Harrison Kieffer, Ben de Jager, Nick Ryan, Agamemnon Crumpton, Edmund Mortimer, Ed Lamb*, Cici HongMarch 20, 2022 Lost 18:01 5 Olly Featherstone, Agamemnon Crumpton, Harrison Kieffer, Matthew Hudson*, James Halsall, Nick Ryan, Ed Campbell, Alex Wythe, Rollo OrmeMarch 20, 2023 Lost18:1711Zac Abel*, Harrison Kieffer, Alec Berry, Samuel Baker, Adam Pattenden, Olly Featherstone, Matthew Hudson, Agamemnon Crumpton, Rollo OrmeMarch 29, 2024Lost20:155.5Alex Abel, Noah Pingul, Dylan Dissanayake, James Mason, Dylan John, Luca Nadig, Adam Pattenden, Isaac Throsby, Rahul Marchand (*) denotes President of the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club

Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club

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