The Segreants’ Club
The Segreants’ Club is the Downing Boat Club alumni association. Its aim is to support the boat club, and to run social events, including occasional alumni rowing events. All Downing rowers, whether they rowed one day, one term, or many years, are invited to join.
The Segreants has grown rapidly, and now has nearly 200 supporters, ranging from 1930s matriculants, to the most recent graduates.
The Club offers a discount and payment holiday for recent graduates – the annual membership rate of £50 can be paid in the March following your graduation, thus making the first 9 months free.
If you would like to join the Segreants, or have any questions about membership, please contact the college Development Office: .
Social Events
The highlight of the Segreants’ calendar is the annual Race and Dinner held on the first Saturday of Easter Term. All Boat Club members are welcome to attend, whether they rowed once in the summer Rugby boat, or devoted every morning to 1st boat training. This well-attended event offers an opportunity to establish links between past and present Boat Club members, or simply reunite long-lost friends.
In the morning, the current college crews race Head of the Cam, and then various Segreants’ boats race in the afternoon, usually with excellent results. After racing, there is an informal reception in the boathouse. The Segreants’ dinner is held in the hall in the evening, the biggest dinner of the year, with alumni and current students all attending, which makes for a fantastic evening.
Segreants’ Regatta and Dinner
The date of the most recent Segreants’ Day was Saturday, 26th April 2025. If you would like to row in one of the alumni crews on the day at Head of the Cam, please get in touch with the Secretary of the Segreants’ Club to express your interest so that race crews can be organised. All alumni, younger or less young, are welcome! And whether you rowed 1 year ago or 10 years ago, no recent experience is necessary! It’s set to be a great reunion!
Please get in touch with us via the contact form on our website if you have any questions.
Keeping alumni updated
The Segreants’ Trust sends out an annual newsletter, (The Segreant). This includes a summary of the year’s events and reports from the departing captains. In addition, it highlights any important dates for the coming year and includes articles about former DCBC members. Please contact the editor if you have any questions or input for the magazine. The editor is Holly Hill, (2013) who is currently training with GB Rowing.
In addition to this, the club has an email list to which we regularly send out updates, including crew lists, progress reports, and daily Bumps reports. If you would like to be added to this, please email the Captains.
Supporting current student members
The Segreants’ can often ensure that capital projects, sometimes out of the reach of the Club, can be funded, providing immediate benefit to the Boat Club.
The most recent of these fundraising endeavours was a new men’s Filippi F29, which arrived in time for Segreants’ day in 2024, where it was named “Spirit of the Griffin” by the Master of Downing College and President of DCBC, Graham Virgo. This is an international standard shell which was an incredible addition to the club’s fleet, and saw many successes throughout its maiden season most notably a +2 result in the Mays. The shell was named to encapsulate the many generations of DCBC athletes who contributed towards the new boat, and we hope to carry this energy forward into many bumping campaigns of the future.
It is intended that, in the coming years, the Segreants will increase the financial support it offers to DCBC, and in doing so, support the club in returning both the men and women to the Lents and Mays Headships.
Rowing for the Segreants
In recent years, past members have re-discovered the enjoyment of rowing. The Segreants often enter a crew into the Fairbairn’s competition in Michaelmas term, and the Head of the Cam in the Easter Term. If you are interested in racing for the Segreants at any time, please email Mike, and see the current updates for information regarding this year’s racing. In 2018, the Segreants entered two crews at the Head of the Charles race. The video from the trip can be watched below.
Enquiries?
If you wish to support the work the Segreants Trust does, attend any of the events, or have any other queries, please contact Mike, Secretary of the Segreants Club.
