Somerville College Boat Club (SCBC) is the rowing club of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. The club was formed in 1921 as one of the first women's clubs on the

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

, however was unable to compete in bumps until 1969. The women's team has won the title ''Head of the River'' eight times in Summer Eights and five times in Torpids, more than any other women's rowing team from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Due to fears that it might harm their reproductive abilities, women's rowing clubs were banned until 1921. A member of the club was first permitted to take part in Summer Eights in 1927, following the rejection of an earlier request in 1922. Now there are 6 women's divisions in Summer Eights and racing in the top divisions is as competitive as the men's. However, when women were first given their own division, only 12 colleges competed - Somerville, as an all women's college, was one of them. Within four years the W1 were Head of the River. Somerville College Boat Club shares the University College Boathouse with

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

, St Peter's College and Wolfson College. The building is owned by University College and won a

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

prize and has enjoyed a very favourable reception in the architectural world.

Notable alumni

Somerville College Boat Club has produced four Olympic rowers: * Fiona Freckleton, bronze medalist in the Women's Pairs at the 1991 World Rowing Championships in Vienna - Great Britain's first medal in a major World Championship women's rowing event - also competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

and 1993 World Rowing Championships. * Patricia Reid also competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, having achieved silver and bronze at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. * Luka Grubor, gold medalist at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, 2002 World Rowing Championships and 1993 Nations Cup, silver medalist at the 1999 World Rowing Championships. * Jennifer Goldsack, competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

; gold medalist at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

and silver medalist at the

2007 World Rowing Championships The 2007 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 26 August to 2 September 2007 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim near Munich, Germany. Medal summary Men's events Non-Olympic classes ...

. Other notable members of the SCBC were Lucy Sutherland and Dominica Legge.

References

External links

* * {{United Kingdom rowing clubs Somerville College, Oxford Rowing clubs of the University of Oxford Sports clubs and teams established in 1921 1921 establishments in England Rowing clubs in Oxfordshire Rowing clubs of the River Thames