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Exeter College Boat Club

Coordinates: 51°44′37″N 1°15′00″W / 51.7435°N 1.2499°W / 51.7435; -1.2499
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Exeter College Boat Club
Exeter College Boathouse (left half) and blade colours
Coordinates51°44′37″N 1°15′00″W / 51.7435°N 1.2499°W / 51.7435; -1.2499
Home waterThe Isis
Founded1823 (formally)
Key people
  • Maisie Gilbert (President)[1]
  • William Bidwell (Men's Captain)[1]
  • Georgia Stonadge (Women's Captain)[1]
Head of the River
  • Men: 1824, 1838, 1857, 1858, 1882-84
UniversityUniversity of Oxford
Colours     
AffiliationsBritish Rowing (boat code EXC)
Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Sister college)
Websitehttps://ecbc.web.ox.ac.uk/
AcronymECBC

Exeter College Boat Club (ECBC) is the boat club of Exeter College, Oxford, England. The club trains on the Thames on the Isis stretch in Oxford and at Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

The Boat Club competes primarily in Torpids and Summer Eights bumps races in Oxford. However, it also races at various external events, such as Wallingford Regatta.[2]

The college has a boathouse on Christ Church Meadow which it shares with Brasenose College Boat Club.[1]

History

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There is no record of Exeter College putting a crew on the river before 1823. The Exeter College Boat Club would appear to have been founded in 1823 or 1824 under the impetus of Henry Bulteel. Bulteel had been an undergraduate at Brasenose College, and stroked Brasenose to the headship in 1821 and 1822. Bulteel became a Fellow of Exeter College in 1823, and the Boat Club seemes to have been formed at that time.[3]

Exeter College Boat Club first took part in Summer Eights in 1824, with Bulteel stroking. That year they rowed in the famous "White Boat", which had been built in the Plymouth dockyard, and brought to Oxford by Brasenose College boatman, Stephen Davis. Being a coastal boat, it was found to sit too high out of the water to be rowed effectively on the Isis. The boat was therefore cut down to reduce the height of the gunwales, and it was in this boat that the College won its first headship in 1824.[3]

From 1827-30 there was no Exeter eight on the river.[4] The colours of the club, adopted around 1837 were red and black, the colours of the college arms. It was presumably these colours which were used for racing kerchiefs, recorded in the Exeter College Boat Club Treasurer's Book as being purchased in 1844. These were to be "kept peculiar to the racing crew" as opposed to other members of the College Boat Club.[5]

In 1856 Exeter used the first keel-less boat on the river and in this they went head from 1857 until 1859. From twelfth place in 1879 they rose to fourth in 1881 and to Head in 1882. They kept the headship from 1882 to 1884 inclusive.[6]

In 1882 Exeter won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.[7]

Uniform

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Exeter College Boat Club depicted in Vanity Fair in the 1840s

Exeter is associated with the colour red, which features prominently on its crest. The colour is used in racing kits, blazers, ties and blades.

The first known use of a tie in club colours was by members of Exeter College eight. In 1880, they took the ribbons off their boaters and tied them around their necks as a way to identify with their college.[8]

Members who have raced in the first crews in Torpids are granted the right to wear this tie. Members who have raced in the first boats in Summer Eights are permitted to wear the club blazer. The blazer is peony red, with black trim. Captains are entitled to an extra stripe on the sleeve.

Results

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Torpids

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Headship

  • Men: 1846-47, 1854-57, 1859-60, 1863-65, 1867-68[9]

Summer Eights

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Headship

  • Men:1824, 1838, 1857-58, 1882-84

Henley Royal Regatta

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Event Year
Grand Challenge Cup 1882
Ladies Challenge Plate 1857
Silver Goblets 1851

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Oxford University Rowing Clubs: Exeter". Oxford University Rowing Clubs (OURCs). Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Exeter College Boat Club". Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b O'Chee, W.G. "Brasenose College and the Origins of Oxford rowing". Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  4. ^ Stride, p.228
  5. ^ Sherwood, W.E. (1900). Oxford Rowing: A History of Boat-Racing at Oxford from the Earliest Times. Henry Frowde. p. 19.
  6. ^ Stride, p.233-235
  7. ^ Stride, p.235
  8. ^ "History of ties". Patrick McMurray. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Oxford rowing; a history of boat-racing at Oxford from the earliest times, with a record of the races; compiled principally from official sources". archive.org. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
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