Downing College Boat Club

Anyone at Downing is encouraged to give rowing a try with DCBC. Each term, we usually field roughly six senior crews: three men’s and three women’s. This means that there should be a level of skill and commitment to suit everyone. Whilst our top crews train hard to compete at the highest level within the University, and at large races across the UK, there is also opportunity to row in the more relaxed lower boats. Whatever level of rowing you want to do, though, everyone enjoys being part of DCBC.

In Michaelmas, we normally field roughly six Novice crews, three men’s and three women’s, in addition to the senior crews. In these crews, everyone is learning from scratch – the majority of people who join DCBC have never rowed before! If you are interested in joining as a novice, please see our Joining Page, or contact our Lower Boats Captain’s at . If you have previous rowing experience and are interested in joining our senior squad, please contact our Men’s Captains, James Nash and Joe Stell, at , or our Women’s Captain, Natasha Larsen, at .

The top Downing crews regularly compete further afield. For the last couple of seasons, M1 and W1 have raced in the Head of the River Race on the Tideway, and at Bedford. In the 2016/17 season, M1 sent a crew to Amsterdam to race the Head of the Amstel. M1 and W1 have also previously competed at Henley, and W1 at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts.

For any college rower in Cambridge, the highlights of the year will be the Lent and May Bumps. In the past decade, Downing M1 and W1 have been continually at, or near, the top of the division in both the Lent and May Bumps. The Crews for the Lent and May Bumps can be found below. M1 are currently 4th in the Lents, and 7th in the Mays. W1 are 4th in the Lents, and 11th in the Mays. You can find the results for the previous seasons of races here, or, if the race has taken place this season, please check our race calendar for the latest results. If you would like to see our current crews for the 2022 season, please take a look at our men’s and women’s crews – these will be updated as the season goes on!

It should be noted that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, May Bumps 2020 and Lent Bumps 2021, (along with most other small races, including Fairbairn’s) could not go ahead, due to restrictions. Also, even though some restrictions were beginning to lift, CUCBC made the decision to not go ahead with May Bumps 2021, instead replacing it with the June’s Eights Regatta, or JER. JER took the format of a side-by-side knockout race, where every crew raced each day, for a total of four races.

Men’s Crews 2023 – 2024	Women’s Crews 2023 – 2024	Men’s Crews 2022 – 2023	Women’s Crews 2022 – 2023
Men’s Crews 2021 – 2022	Women’s Crews 2021 – 2022	Men’s Crews 2021	Women’s Crews 2021
Men’s Crews 2020	Women’s Crews 2020	Men’s Crews 2019	Women’s Crews 2019
Men’s Crews 2018	Women’s Crews 2018	Men’s Crews 2017	Women’s Crews 2017
Men’s Crews 2016	Women’s Crews 2016	Men’s Crews 2015	Women’s Crews 2015
Men’s Crews 2014	Women’s Crews 2014	Men’s Crews 2013	Women’s Crews 2013
Men’s Crews 2012	Women’s Crews 2012	Men’s Crews 2011	Women’s Crews 2011
Men’s Crews 2010	Women’s Crews 2010 (& Earlier)