A note from the Honorary Secretary:

At the Pre-Michaelmas Term Captains Meeting, two rule changes which will affect rowing this term were ratified:

The first is a change to early mornings. At the Captain’s Meeting, it was agreed that there would be specified Novice—and Senior-only mornings. In brief, Monday and Wednesday mornings will only be for Novices before 9 a.m., and Tuesday and Thursday mornings will only be for senior crews before 9 a.m.

The exact rule can be found here.

This rule is being trialled for Michaelmas Term 2024 and will be reviewed after Term. It will come into force from Monday 14th of October and remain in place until Fairbairns on the 5th of December.

Adherence to this rule will be enforced by the Early Morning Marshals. For clarity, a novice Cox with a senior crew can boat on senior mornings if they are able to get to the Railway Bridge without intervention from the bank (in compliance with early morning noise). On senior mornings, crews must maintain a minimum of half-crew, full slide rowing to the P&E to keep traffic flowing.

The second change is to the location of Early Morning Marshals. This is in response to concerns regarding antisocial behaviour on the towpath and aims to make EMMs less vulnerable. Marshal 1 starts their shift outside the Combined Colleges boathouse, Marshal 2 at the Footbridge near Pembroke and Emma before joining Marshal 1 at Combined, and both patrol together. The rest of the role remains unchanged.

The website is being updated with these changes.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email committee[at]cucbc.org.

The Lent Bumps 2025 will occur from 11th-15th March 2025 to avoid WeHORR on Sat 8th, with the GoR on Friday 7th March.
Entries open after Lent Captains Meeting
 

The May Bumps 2025 will occur from 18th-21th June 2025, with the GoR Friday on 13th June
Entries open after May Captains Meeting

We have had to cancel the Getting On Race for Lent Bumps 2024. 

A message from the safety advisor:

"The river level and stream are such that we do not feel we can safely run the getting on race this afternoon; it is therefore cancelled. All crews entered will receive a full refund.

Following discussion between the Chief Umpires we have decided that only crews who currently have permanent places will be able to race next week. Crews who competed last year and who were taken off the start order and put into the GoR will not regain their places. We will therefore have, at maximum, two full divisions and one part division on each side. Further curtailment to racing may be required depending on conditions next week."

A one-off side-by-side Regatta held on the Long reach, to replace the cancelled 2021 May Bumps.

The June Eights Regatta ran from Monday 21st June to Thursday 24th June.

• Final Results
• Notes & Fines
• Times from the Getting-on Race

Further information is available on the June Eights' Regatta page.

In light of British Rowing's move to Phase E of their guidance on the return to rowing, CUCBC’s advice to college clubs remains the same - please do not rush into any changes, and make sure you’re working with boathouse staff and college authorities to develop plans which implement the British Rowing advice, as well as incorporating any extra measures required by your college or specific to your boathouse.

Please do not proceed with the implementation of any plans until your college authorities have been consulted and signed off on them.

British Rowing continue to update their advice on rowing in England. They have recently updated their detailed guidance to assist rowing clubs in planning their re-opening and this has been accompanied by a move to "Phase C" of their advice. This does not significantly change anything with regards to on-water activities, apart from allowing groups of singles to go out together.

Many CRA Rowing Clubs (Town Clubs) have now implemented plans to allow for limited access to the river, so there are more single scullers (or doubles / pairs if there are multiple people from the same household) on the river. Please note that they will be there in accordance with both Government and British Rowing advice, and should be maintaining social distancing at all times. Any college boatclubs wishing to put similar plans in place should refer to the advice sent to their CUCBC emails back in May before creating those plans, and must ensure they've been signed off by the relevant college authorities.

In light of updated Government Advice, British Rowing have begun to relax the restrictions on rowing in England. They have since published detailed guidance to assist rowing clubs in planning their re-opening (British Rowing are currently in "Phase B" of their advice).

College Boatclub Captains should read the advice sent to their CUCBC emails before creating any plans.

Some CRA Rowing Clubs (Town Clubs) have already implemented plans to allow for limited access to the river. As college boatclubs put plans in place (once they've been signed off by the relevant college authorities) and more of the town clubs implement their own plans, there may be more single scullers (or doubles / pairs if there are multiple people from the same household) on the river. Please note that they will be there in accordance with both Government and British Rowing advice, and should be maintaining social distancing at all times.

Wednesday 8th April 2020:

Dear friends,

This is to officially confirm that the 2020 May Bumps scheduled for 10-13 June are cancelled. This is in line with the general transfer of the University to a virtual existence, and with BR and government advice.

We look forward to reconvening in happier times, and will be in touch again as soon as appropriate.

With all our best wishes,
David Munday on behalf of the CUCBC committees.
--
Dr David Munday, Chairman, Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs

Tuesday 17th March 2020:

Dear friends,

I regret to have to let you know the following, taken in the light of advice from the University and BR and the government:

• The Small Boat Regatta is cancelled - refunds will be arranged for those who have entered, in due course.
• The Easter term captains' meetings will not be held.
• We have not yet been instructed directly to cancel large events, but we will monitor evolving government, BR and University advice over the coming weeks and update you when we have a clearer picture as to the Mays.

You will probably have received information via your Colleges about the overall emergency planning in the University, which it is not my business to repeat here, but the CUCBC aims to follow this advice closely, and to be consistent with it: one statement is at https://www.cam.ac.uk/coronavirus

We would like to stress that we're all volunteers and none of us are experts in public health. Clubs must continue to exercise their own judgement and common sense. However, with that said, we have the following thoughts:

1. Our interpretation of the statement by the Prime Minister yesterday evening (specifically that 'now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others') is that we would discourage crew outings at the moment. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-coronavirus-16-march-2020.
   
   We have also noted the British Rowing guidance issued prior to the government statement, which can be found at https://www.britishrowing.org/2020/03/ceo-update-on-coronavirus-covid-19/ - all BR events are suspended until at least the end of April.
2. There are a few races scheduled in the coming weeks organised by CRA clubs. They will each make their own assessment of whether it is appropriate to postpone or cancel - at the present time the decision as to whether or not to enter is left to individual crews. We understand from informal contacts that many of these races will not run.

We will be in touch as and when we have more to say, in the meantime please do what you can to look after yourselves.

With all best wishes,
David Munday.
--
Dr David Munday, Chairman, Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs

The CUCBC Captains' Meeting for Lent 2020 was held at 17:00 on Sunday 19th Jan. Minutes have been emailed to Captains and will be uploaded soon.