Wycliffe College once housed one of the most successful sculling clubs in the country, and it seems after a brief intermission, the club is once more returning to its glory days. Wycliffe Rowing Club umbrellas two systems, Wycliffe College boat club and Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club, founded in 2017 as an opportunity for local athletes to experience high-performance athleticism and facilities without being a member of the college.
Firstly, it is vital to note that the club is historically sculling centre, with their top crew being the quad, this is a tradition carried on to this day. Wycliffe is based in Frampton, on the 32km Gloucester-Sharpness Canal which mirrors the Severn estuary, therefore facilitating them with practically interrupted training grounds which cannot flood, a particularly beneficial attribute considering the area’s proneness to lousy weather. The club itself is housed in an old RAF base, and although relatively small, I get the impression the club is packed with state-of-the-art equipment and top-quality athletes from the nearby city of Bristol. For instance, the club seems to boast a rather colourful fleet of Hudsons, in addition to two telemetry systems for their top racing quads. The squad may be small; however as there are only juniors at the club, I’m sure this is beneficial in creating a robust and supportive atmosphere in which there are great comradery and closer attention from the coaching staff. With coaches in mind, Wycliffe’s head coach is the only British Rowing Level Four coach to work with juniors in the country, so I’m sure this further benefits the group. Additionally, at the college, athletes have access to the fully equipped gym of weights and ergs to aid strength and conditioning, land training and recovery.
As mentioned, Wycliffe once housed the most successful sculling club in the country, as demonstrated when in 1998 the Championship Girls Quad event was won at national schools in record time, a time only broken by Henley over 20 years later in 2019. This success seems to be returning once more, however, when in 2019 half of all Wycliffe crews racing at NSR medalled, with standout performances from the WJ154x+ and j162X, both of which places second amongst strong fields. More recently, talent was once again shown in this year’s British Indoor Rowing Championships, wherein the Sixth Form women’s event, all three athletes entered placed in the top 15, two of which being in the top 7. Following this, the girls also managed to win the Open Women’s Senior relay the following day and the boys who placed bronze in the corresponding event. In the competitive circle, the club hosts the Wycliffe Small and Big Boats Head every winter. This infamous event draws some of the biggest junior school crews in the country, which I’m sure all have a story about their experience with the notorious bridges that line the course.
No doubt once the club is allowed to thrive post-pandemic, Wycliffe will have the opportunity to show off their talented juniors to the country (and maybe abroad, as they are known to be regular attendees at Ghent international in Belgium). With multiple athletes in the current GB trailing system, it will be interesting to see if Wycliffe will dominate the national sculling scene, much as they have been able to do in the south-west these past years.
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