Our LBCs are in charge of our novice intake in Michaelmas and the club’s lower boats throughout the year. If you’re looking to join the club and start rowing for the first time then do get in touch with these guys! They’ll be the face of the club at the Freshers’ fair and our taster days at the start of the year.
Alex Strauss-Jones
Hi, I’m Alex, a 2nd year PhD student in Archaeology and one of your LBCs for 2025/26!! I learnt to row at Downing during my masters and instantly fell in love with the sport and the community at DCBC. I was never particularly sporty at school, but rowing has been a great opportunity to get active in a fun and friendly environment. Rowing at Downing is great as we cater for all abilities and are definitely one of the most fun and sociable boat clubs on the river. I’ve enjoyed every second of rowing from novice term through to rowing for M2 this past year, and I’ve made some of my closest friends through the club. I look forward to meeting you in Freshers Week and getting you on the river, I’m sure you’ll love rowing and DCBC as much as we do!!!
Virginia Baldi
Hi, I’m Virginia! I’m a second-year PhD student in cancer research and started rowing with DCBC last year. I really fell in love with the sport – the friendly crew, tough but rewarding training, fun socials, and chance to race early on all made it an awesome experience. As LBC, I hope to transmit the same same of excitement and help you guys discover what makes rowing so addictive. Can’t wait to meet you all!
Lulu Moors
Hi, I am Lulu and I’m gassed to be one of your LBCs. I started coxing just this last year, and now I don’t think I could possibly stop. I look forward to helping the novices this year, but more importantly showing everyone that rowing can just be a bit of fun if you want it to be, so hopefully you don’t get sick of my poor jokes over the coxing microphone. I had so much fun in our previous bumps campaigns (+2 Dubs!), so I hope we can keep that hype going, and hopefully secure similar Ws and good vibes during our upcoming novice races. I’m looking to train some coxes too, so if I tell you you’d be good for the job, it probably means you have a good chat. Size and the coxswain is unrelated, it’s about your approach to your team and focus – so look forward to a drive on that. As long as you don’t ask me how I’m going to deal with early mornings and novice river traffic, we can make it a season to remember!
Lily Foster and Harriet Scott
Hi we’re Harriet and Lily, we’re both second year W1 rowers. We’re super excited to be Lower Boats Captains because we’re passionate about introducing new rowers to the sport and creating a welcoming, supportive environment for everyone. We are looking forward to sharing what we’ve learned, and helping novices grow in confidence both on and off the water.
Aside from events during Freshers’ week, our LBCs can be reached at please do get in touch if you have ay questions about joining or being a novice at DCBC