St Hilda's College Boat Club
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox rowing club
| name = St Hilda's College Boat Club
| emblem = {{scarf|{{cell|navy}}{{cell|white}}{{cell2|navy}}{{cell|white}}{{cell2|navy}}{{cell|white}}{{cell|navy}}}}
| image = 300px
| blade_image = File:St Hilda's Rowing Blade.svg
| caption = St Hilda's College Boat Club colours, Longbridges Boathouse, and the club's blade pattern
| motto =
| location = Longbridges Boathouse
| coordinates = {{coord|51|44|19.3|N|1|14|47.0|W|type:landmark}}
| home_water = The Isis
| founded = 1890s
| key_people = {{Unbulleted list|Josiah Shields (President)|Shea Heaney (Men's Captain)|Eleanor Prince (Women's Captain)|Jack Davies (Captain of Coxes)|Chris Wood (Senior Member)}}
| champs_label = Head of the River
| champs =
| colours = {{color box|navy}} {{color box|white}}
| university = University of Oxford
| affiliations = British Rowing (boat code SHI)
Peterhouse BC (Sister college)
| website = {{URL|https://hildasrowing.co.uk}}
}}
St Hilda's College Boat Club (SHCBC) is the rowing club for members of St Hilda's College, Oxford. It is based at Longbridges Boathouse and trains on the Isis stretch of the River Thames. The club competes primarily in the Torpids and Summer Eights bumps races in Oxford.{{Cite web |date=March 1897 |editor-last=Abdy |title=The Fritillary: March 1897 |url=https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/c4adee96-a05d-479f-a219-2c7b0c23ec57/ |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk |page=182 |language=en}}
Pioneers of women's rowing
St Hilda's College was one of the first Oxford colleges to have women rowing on the Thames and the first to field a women's 8+ boat. Its boat club was founded soon after the college's creation, between 1893-96, and its members first rowed in an 8+ in 1911.{{Cite news |last=Boardman |first=Elizabeth |date=2016 |title=The beginning of women's rowing at St Hilda's and in the University |url=http://www.sthildasboatclub.co.uk/history/1900.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120005023/http://www.sthildasboatclub.co.uk/history/1900.html |archive-date=2016-11-20}} It was St Hilda's student H.G. Wanklyn who formed OUWBC and coxed in the inaugural Women's Boat Race of 1927, with five Hilda's rowers. In 1969, the St Hilda's Eight made Oxford history when they became the first ever female crew to row in the Summer Eights.{{Cite web |date=1969-05-31 |title=Eights 1969 Bumps Charts and Commentary |url=http://eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/dudhia/rowing/bumps/e1969/ |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk}}
In the 1980s, Hilda's rowers Alison Gill and Pauline Janson were Olympians.{{cite web|title=Oxonian Olympians |publisher=University of Oxford |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/oxford_people/famous_oxonians/oxonian_olympians/index.html |access-date=20 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920083635/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/oxford_people/famous_oxonians/oxonian_olympians/index.html |archive-date=20 September 2012 }}
Recent years
After 1976, the Women's 1st VIII consistently competed in the first division of both the Torpids and Summer Eights competitions, placing second on the river in 1981. After the admittance of men to the college in 2008, performance declined and the crew is currently placed in division three of both competitions.{{cite web | url=http://eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/dudhia/rowing/bumps/shil/shil_wea.html | title=SHCBC Women's Results }}
Since 2009 the men's boat has steadily climbed the Torpids and Summer Eights leagues, most recently reaching division three of Torpids in 2022 and remaining in division four of Summer Eights.{{cite web | url=https://bumps.live/torpids/2022 | title=SHCBC Men's Results }}
'Blades' have recently been achieved by the women's team in 2016 and 2019, and by the men's team in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022. In 2016, the men's first boat was bumped in their 28th Summer Eights race, for the first time.{{cite web | url=https://bumps.live/eights/2016 | title=SHCBC Men Receive First Bump }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Oxford University Rowing Clubs}}
{{United Kingdom rowing clubs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Hildas College Boat Club}}
Category:Rowing clubs of the University of Oxford
Category:1911 establishments in England
Category:Sports clubs and teams established in 1911