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 Captain, Thomas Masding, at , or our Women’s Captain, Holly Thompson, 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 4th in the Mays. W1 are 2nd in the Lents, and 6th 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 2022 – 2023 |
 Women’s Crews 2022 – 2023 |
 Men’s Crews 2021 – 2022 |
 Women’s Crews 2021 – 2022 |
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 Men’s Crews 2021 |
 Women’s Crews 2021 |
 Men’s Crews 2020 |
 Women’s Crews 2020 |
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 Men’s Crews 2019 |
 Women’s Crews 2019 |
 Men’s Crews 2018 |
 Women’s Crews 2018 |
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 Men’s Crews 2017 |
 Women’s Crews 2017 |
 Men’s Crews 2016 |
 Women’s Crews 2016 |
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 Men’s Crews 2015 |
 Women’s Crews 2015 |
 Men’s Crews 2014 |
 Women’s Crews 2014 |
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 Men’s Crews 2013 |
 Women’s Crews 2013 |
 Men’s Crews 2012 |
 Women’s Crews 2012 |
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 Men’s Crews 2011 |
 Women’s Crews 2011 |
 Men’s Crews 2010 |
 Women’s Crews 2010 (& Earlier) |
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