Merton College Boat Club (MCBC) is a rowing club for members of Merton College, Oxford. It was established in 1838 and competes every year in Torpids and Summer Eights, the intercollegiate bumps races at the University of Oxford, as well as external regattas.
The club shares a boat house with Worcester College Boat Club on Boathouse Island, on the northern bank of the Isis.
The Club Merton College Boat Club is run by a junior committee of current students at Merton who are guided by a Senior Member who is a current fellow of Merton. The committee reports to The Friends of Merton College Boat Club, a group of ex-rowers and alumni helping and supporting the boat club. Old members race every now and then on an ad-hoc basis as Merton Gannets, an alumni boat club that was founded in the 1950s.
History According to the Club archives, the boathouse, which is still in use today, was finished in 1949 and is the last in the row of college boathouses built in the distinctive brick style mirroring the first boathouse built on the Isis stretch by Christ Church in the 1920s. Currently plans are under way to extend the boathouse and funds are being raised for the project.
Merton competed successfully at Henley, winning two events, the Visitor's Challenge Cup, for coxless fours at the time, in 1920 and 1956. Additionally, Merton reached the final in the Ladies Challenge Plate in 1920. One member, Mr J L Bland, rowed in the Grand Challenge Cup winning OUBC/Thames Tradesmen's Rowing Club crew of 1981.
Merton College Boat Club has fielded numerous ‘Blues’. Between 2005 and 2014 Merton produced more female crew members representing the university than any other college. Members of the club have also taken on the presidency of both the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club and the Oxford University Women's Lightweight Rowing Club multiple times.
Honours Henley Royal Regatta YearWinning crew 1920 Visitors' Challenge Cup 1956 Visitors' Challenge Cup
Boat Race representatives The following rowers were part of the rowing club at the time of their participation in The Boat Race.
Men's boat race
YearName 1839 Berdmore Compton 1840 Jacob G. Mountain 1841 I. J. J. Pocock 1845 W. C. Stapylton 1846 W. U. Heygate 1846 W. C. Stapylton 1865 R. T. Raikes 1866 R. T. Raikes 1866 W. Freeman 1867 R. G. Mardsen 1868 R. G. Mardsen 1874 A. R. Harding 1892 F. E. Robeson 1904 R. W. Somers-Smith 1905 R. W. Somers-Smith 1905 H. C. Bucknall 1905 L. P. Stedall (cox) 1906 H. C. Bucknall 1906 L. P. Stedall (cox) 1907 H. C. Bucknall 1920 D. T. Raikes 1921 D. T. Raikes 1922 A. C. Irvine 1922 D. T. Raikes
YearName 1922 G. Milling 1923 A. C. Irvine 1948 R. L. Arundel 1949 R. L. Arundel 1952 N. W. Sanders 1952 C. D. Milling 1952 H. M. C. Quick 1953 A. J. Smith 1953 H. M. C. Quick 1954 R. D. T. Raikes 1954 H. M. C. Quick 1955 R. D. T. Raikes 1956 B. S. Mawer 1957 A. H. Stearns 1958 R. Rubin 1972 E. Yalouris (cox) 1973 E. Yalouris (cox) 1980 J. L. Bland 1981 J. L. Bland 1983 J. L. Bland 1986 G. R. Screaton 2025 Daniel Orton (cox)
References
External links Merton College Boat Club website Oxford Torpids and Summer Eights bumps charts