Durham University Boat Club (DUBC) is the rowing club of Durham University. In recent years, DUBC has cemented itself as one of the strongest university boat clubs in Great Britain. Under the leadership of former British Olympian Wade Hall-Craggs, DUBC notably won the BUCS Victor Ludorum for ten consecutive years (2004-2013), and has produced a number of athletes that have competed internationally at European and World Championship level.

Based at the Robert Gillespie Boat House on the River Wear, the club also operates facilities from the adjacent Graham Sports Centre at Maiden Castle, including a powered indoor rowing tank (one of only three in the country at the time it opened) and a gallery of 28 ergometers. It competes annually at all major British rowing events, including the Head of the River Race, Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Women's Regatta, and contests the Boat Race of the North with Newcastle University Boat Club.

Rowing at Durham University is divided into the college boat clubs and the more advanced university crews arranged by DUBC, with intercollegiate events overseen by Durham College Rowing. In common with other university sides, the team's colour is Palatinate, said to derive from that worn by the armies of the medieval Prince-Bishop of Durham.

History

19th century Rowing in Durham was said to be 'practically contemporaneous with the founding of the University', with boat crews competing in the Durham Regatta since its foundation in 1834. When the Grand Challenge Cup (for coxed Fours) was introduced in 1854 it was won seven times by crews from University College before 1862, with teams from rival Hatfield Hall typically coming up short. However, the founding of Durham Amateur Rowing Club and increased entries from further afield would eventually bring an end to University College's dominance. Entries for competitive races around this time could be fairly casual, and often formed by scratch teams rowing under the name of the boat and not the collegiate body to which they belonged, making it somewhat difficult to successfully identify college crews in the early records.

Although the University College Boat Club (1834) and Hatfield College Boat Club (1846) had been established soon after the founding of their respective colleges, Durham University Boat Club (DUBC) was only formally founded in 1877 'to produce representative student crews and to act as the controlling body' for various clubs already active.

The course that Durham has always used for competitive racing is unusual. The 15th century Elvet Bridge, which has rather narrow arches for rowing, is half way down the long course. The sharp bend of the river, in combination with the bridge, makes Durham one of the hardest courses in the country to steer.Moyes, 2007, p. 57

From 1887–1893, the University held a Regatta separately from the Durham Regatta, which it declined to enter. At this time rowing, as the oldest sport in the university, was regarded as 'first in order of precedence' largely because of the weight of tradition behind it. In 1888, in the aftermath of the Senate Challenge Cup (essentially the University Regatta), which was won by Hatfield, rowers celebrated the finale of the event with a torchlight procession through Durham – headed by the Durham Town Band, 60 students marched through the streets, each man carrying a flaming torch as they made their way to Market Place, twice rounded the monument to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and then went up to Palace Green, where the torches were extinguished.Kirk, 2019, p. 72 The university soon returned to success at the Durham Regatta, again winning the Grand Challenge Cup in 1895 and 1898.

1900 to 1963

In 1904, with attempts to stage an annual event with Trinity College Dublin unsuccessful, an inter-Varsity race for Fours against Edinburgh University, intended to be held every June, was instituted instead; by 1924 this had been competed for 14 times.Fowler, 1904, p. 264 Torpids were also held home and away against Edinburgh in December, and a race against Leeds University Boat Club is recorded in 1924. Rowing spread to the Newcastle division of the University in 1911 with the foundation of the Armstrong College Boat Club.

For many years after its foundation, being unable to swim was not considered a disqualifier for membership of the club, with the oars strung in the rowlocks thought to provide 'sufficient buoyancy to keep a boat afloat' even with a crew clinging on. This was only changed in the aftermath of a rowing accident on 24 February 1911 in which a crew from St Chad's Hall began to take on a bit of water during poor weather (not regarded by the club as a reason to panic in itself) but became increasingly submerged – and soon 'completely swamped' – after the nervous crew, while trying to 'get her out of it', swerved the boat with badly timed strokes. Two students, Lionel Michelsen and Jesse Parsons (neither of whom could properly swim), got into difficulties after trying to swim to the shore at Pelaw Wood. Michelsen was rescued by the coach of a nearby Hatfield crew, while Parsons died in the incident, with other students either swimming to shore or picked up in the water by a passing St John's boat.

In June 1914, not long before the outbreak of the First World War, a correspondent from The Times visited Durham for its annual June Week – essentially a week of activities, including a rowing regatta (capped off with fireworks and a torchlight procession) and the coxed fours race against Edinburgh, to mark the end of Summer term, and, for some participants, the end of their student days in Durham. Canon Greenwell, 95 years old at the time, recalled witnessing the first regatta held in Durham in 1834. The correspondent noted the growing ambitions of the boat club, with Durham University hoping to send a crew to Henley and win 'more than local laurels' in the near future.

After a period of fundraising it was confirmed in the Durham University Journal that same month that DUBC would be sending a single crew to Henley, which it was also hoped would help raise the profile of the university in the South of England.

1924 saw the creation of the Armstrong College Women's Boat Club in Newcastle, followed in Durham in 1926 by the formation of a boat club by the Durham Women Students Association. In 1938 the Durham Colleges Women's Boat Club was established, and raced against teams from York and Newcastle.

DUBC competed in the Head of the River Race for the first time in 1949, finishing 41st in a time of 20 minutes 57 seconds with a crew drawn from the Durham Colleges and King's College in Newcastle.Watson, 2007, p. 58

1952 saw Sam Hobbs selected as spare man for the British Olympic team slated to compete in Helsinki. This made him the first DUBC athlete to become an Olympian.

1963 to 1999

1963 saw King's College in Newcastle separate from Durham to become Newcastle University. Earlier that year, 5 rowers from Newcastle (3 from King's College Boat Club and 2 from the Medics) were part of the crew of the VIII that won the Ortner Trophy for top University at the Head of the River Race for the first time, coming 17th overall. This was the last Durham crew to feature Rowers from Newcastle.

In 1964, Eric Halladay came to Durham as a lecturer in history and senior tutor of Grey College. This proved to be a key appointment that would lead to sustained success for DUBC in the years ahead. Halliday coached the Boat Club for over 30 years, winning the Ortner Shield 18 times in 1966–76 and 1978–84.Watson, 2007, p. 90 After his death in 1997, DUBC launched a memorial trust fund with the aim of appointing a professional coach.

In November 1973, DUBC organised the first Northern Universities' Regatta, with sponsorship from Harp Lager. This ran annually until 1997. Also in 1973, DUBC bought the first Boat ever built with carbon-fibre ribs at a cost of £1,100. The Eight, "Prince Bishop" was 17 m (56 ft) in length and weighed 20 kg (45 lbs) less than any other Eight in Britain.

In 1977 the club celebrated its centenary in April and hosted races for eights on both the Tyne and Wear, with visiting crews from Newcastle, Cambridge University, Edinburgh, and the University of Groningen – the latter intending to celebrate its own centenary the following year. In 1978, they secured their first win at the Henley Royal Regatta, the first club from the northeast to win there for over a century.

In 1989 the DUBC Fresher's Squad was established. Alumni of this programme include Olympic bronze medallist Steve Rowbotham and Emily Taylor, a silver medallist at the 2008 European Championships. In 1990 DUBC alumni Roger Brown (who had graduated the previous year) and cox Russell Slatford took Gold in the Men's Eight at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships, then known as the Nations Cup.

In 1992 DUBC won the Visitors Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. 1992 also saw the first DUBC/DUWBC alumni selected as Olympic rowers since Newcastle's independence: Wade Hall-Craggs (men's single sculls, 14th), Roger Brown (men's quad sculls, 13th), Kim Thomas (women's coxless four, 8th) and Philippa Cross (women's eight, 7th).

21st century

In 2000, Hall-Craggs was appointed head coach. For a while he was the only professional coach in the northeast, but by the 2004 Boat Race against Newcastle both teams had professional coaches, with Newcastle having recruited Callum MacDonald and Peter Lee now working under Hall-Craggs as coach of the Senior men's and women's teams.

In 2001, Durham University Women's Boat Club merged with Durham University Boat Club (previously exclusively male), with the combined club continuing as DUBC.

In 2007 the University awarded a grant of £127,000 to the newly refounded Tyne United Rowing Club to develop its facilities for use by DUBC and Durham College Rowing. These opened in 2009 on the south side of the Tyne, and include on-site cooking facilities, 18 Ergos and a rowing tank. The University has sole use of two boat sheds at Tyne United: one for DUBC and one for Durham College Rowing.

In 2008 Steve Rowbotham, who had come through the Freshers Program, won Bronze at the Beijing Olympics.

In 2008-9 an exhibition on "175 Years of Durham University Rowing" was held at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley on Thames, highlighting "the inspiring story behind one of the most successful university boat clubs in Britain".

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, DUBC alumna Sophie Hosking won a Gold medal, followed by another Gold for current student Lily van den Broeck in the 2012 Paralympics.

In 2012 a powered indoor rowing tank was opened at the University's Maiden Castle sports facility, one of only three on the country. The facility also included a new boathouse (the Robert Gillespie Boathouse) for DUBC and a 28 station Ergo gallery. In November 2012 the rowing tank was named the Sophie Hosking Rowing Tank in honour of Olympic gold medallist and DUBC Alumna Sophie Hosking.

Head of the River Race

In 2005, DUBC won the Ortner Shield at the men's Head of the River Race for the first time in two decades, coming 10th overall. The return to form continued with the club winning both the Bernard Churcher Trophy (for the top university from anywhere in the world) and the Senior II pennant in 2008, coming 6th overall – Durham's best ever position. They retained the Senior II pennant in 2009 (10th overall). In 2012 the 1st VIII won the Bernard Churcher Trophy again (18th overall) and in 2015 (after the race was not run in 2013 and was abandoned in 2014), DUBC won the Halladay Trophy (for British universities with crews at Intermediate 1 status or below and no crews entered with Elite or Senior status), coming 32nd overall. DUBC won the Halladay Trophy again in 2016, coming 23rd overall.