The leading student Boat Club on the Tideway, ULBC has a proven track record of performance both at a student, club and senior level. Many of the best-known faces on the track today have spent time at the Chiswick Boat House, which caters to students of the 18 University of London Colleges.
A team dense with talent, the squad at UL varies in size from 50-70 athletes per year and comprises a 50:50 split between men and women. Men and women train alongside one another as one squad, both on the water and land. As noted by Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne, “The mutual sense of respect and friendship created between the men’s and women’s squads through putting in the miles together and training as a whole squad, rather than separate groups, was of my favourite aspects of training at ULBC.”
Ex-ULBC athletes include two-time Paralympic Champion James Fox, World and Henley Champion Emily Craig, and victorious Cambridge Blue Oonagh Cousins. In addition, ULBC has had an athlete at every Olympic Games since 1960.
The team at ULBC pride themselves on a competitive atmosphere that produces outstanding results. Members can expect to train 10-12 times per week, with sessions split between outings, S&C sessions and ergos. All training – both on and off the water – occurs at UL’s Chiswick Boathouse; crews aim primarily for selection at HRR, with the eights-focussed programme preparing crews for the Temple, Island at Prince Albert Challenge Cups.
Up until the end of the 2021 season, Athletes trained under the direction of Head Coach Hugo Guliver, who left the squad to lead the women’s programme at Oxford Brookes. Hugo was supported by Senior Coach Genevieve Bailhache-Graham, and Director of Rowing David Townsend. Alex King provides the squad with S&C Support, with Glen Hill acting as the club’s ‘athlete advocate’ (welfare and safeguarding).
The UL boat bays are well stocked with a range of (primarily Empacher) shells, including carbon eights for top men’s and women’s crews. On the upper decks, athletes make use of dedicated S&C racks and a cavernous ergo hall. Athletes have access to Ludum, through which training data can be stored and analysed.
For ex-students, Tyrian Boat Club offers a way to stay in touch with the club and allows athletes past and present to connect and network. Tyrian compete across the rowing calendar and often appear at HORR, Head of the Charles, and HRR – most recently with a Taurus and Tyrian composite at the 2021 regatta.
In the 2021 season, ULBC won the Prince Albert Challenge Cup and were finalists and semi-finalists in the Island and Temple Challenge Cups, respectively, thus making them the highest represented university at the semi-final stage at HRR 2021. They won the Academic Eights, Championship Fours and Championship Pairs at Henley Women’s Regatta, and took a mixture of gold, silver and bronze medals at BUCS regatta.
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