St Catherine's College Boat Club
St Catherine's College Boat Club (SCCBC) is the rowing club of St Catherine's College, Oxford. Established in 1875 as St. Catharine's Boat Club, the club first took part in Torpids and Summer Eights in 1876.
![]() Boat Club shield with motto | |
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![]() Boathouse and rowing blade colours | |
Coordinates | 51.742171°N 1.24961°W |
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Home water | The Isis |
Founded | 1875 |
Key people |
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University | University of Oxford |
Colours | |
Affiliations | British Rowing (boat code SCO) Robinson College, Cambridge (Sister college) |
Website | www |
Notable people associated with the club include British Olympic gold medallists Matthew Pinsent and Andrew Triggs Hodge and silver medallist Colin Smith.
History
In 1868 the University established a society for non-Collegiate students, members of which in 1874 founded St. Catharine's Club; from this sprang St. Catharine's Boat Club (SCBC) in 1875.
In 1919 the Boat Club changed the spelling to St. Catherine, and the precursor to the college became St. Catherine's Society. The Boat Club thus has the distinction of having given its name to both the old Society and the modern College, after which it became the SCCBC.
Results
In Oxford, SCCBC first took part in Torpids and Summer Eights in 1876, and produced the first crew to make 7 bumps in the then 6 days of Eights.
Fortunes have fluctuated over the years; highlights include 3 crews each making 6 bumps in Eights (1949), and the Women's 1st VIII achieving headship in Torpids in 2007.
In Torpids 2012, the men's first boat was fourth on the river and then were bumped three times, ending seventh. The first boat was then ninth on the river after being bumped in the Summer Eight's.
In Torpids 2017, the men's first boat bumped three times to end fourth on the river. Following this, in Eights 2017, both the men's first and second boats won blades, finishing 10th in Division 1 and 3rd in Division 4 respectively.
Notable members
The club achieved its first Blue in 1967 and first women Blues in 1976.
Crews have participated in numerous regattas on the Thames and elsewhere, starting with an entry for the Wyfold Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 1883.
International representation began with the Commonwealth Games in 1958, and since 1986 SCCBC men and women have regularly filled places in national crews. Matthew Pinsent was the first Olympic Gold associated with the club, winning at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Since then, British Olympic gold medallist Andrew Triggs Hodge, and silver medallist Colin Smith have all rowed for the college.