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. 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. The university soon returned to success at the Durham Regatta, again winning the Grand Challenge Cup in 1895 and 1898.
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. 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.
Canon Greenwell, 95 years old at the time, recalled witnessing the first regatta held in Durham in 1834. 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. 1952 saw Sam Hobbs selected as spare man for the British Olympic team slated to compete in
Helsinki. 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. 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 1978, they secured their first win at the
Henley Royal Regatta, the first club from the northeast to win there for over a century.
21st century In 2000, Hall-Craggs was appointed head coach. In 2001, Durham University Women's Boat Club merged with Durham University Boat Club (previously exclusively male), with the combined club continuing as DUBC. 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 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. At the
Women's Eights Head of the River Race, Durham won the Senior II pennant in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and again in 2008, coming third overall. They won the University pennant in 2010, again coming third overall. In 2012 they won the Intermediate I pennant. They have finished in the top three universities a number of times in recent years, following victory in 2010 with third place in 2011, 2012 and 2015 and second in 2013 and 2014.
BUCS Regatta The club won the Victor Ludorum at the
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)
Championships every year from 2004 to 2013. 2014 broke the 10 year hold on the top position, with Durham coming second to
ULBC. That year also saw the addition of separate Women's and Men's trophies, with Durham taking the Women's VL and coming 5th in the Men's. 2015 saw DUBC regain top spot, taking both the overall and Women's Victor Ludorum and ranking 5th in the Men's.
European Universities Rowing Championships The
European Universities Rowing Championships is organised by
EUSA, with boats qualifying to be part of their national team by performances in national university competitions (i.e.
BUCS for British universities). Durham's first recorded success (only winners names are available for the 2005 and 2006 championships) came in the third championship in 2007, with gold in the women's pair, the lightweight women's quad scull, and the lightweight men's coxless four, and bronze in the lightweight men's double scull and the lightweight men's quad scull. Durham won gold again in the women's cockles four at the 8th games in 2013, as part of a UK team that came second in the medal take and third in the points table. In the 9th regatta in 2015, DUBC won gold in the lightweight women's scull, silver in the lightweight women's coxed four, bronze in the lightweight men's coxless four. == Boat Race of the North==