Current Members

This page should contain everything you need to know about becoming and being a member of the Linacre Boat Club. Please get in touch with any member of the committee if you have any questions.

Committee for the 2025/26 season

President	Emily Stone	lbc.president@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Secretary	Benji McMaster	lbc.secretary@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Treasurer	Fergus Cooper	lbc.treasurer@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Women’s side captains	Dominika Majorova & Lilly Wilcox	lbc.womenscaptains@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Open side captains	Manny Djanga & Carl Hentges	lbc.menscaptains@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Captain of coxes	Christine Ahrends	lbc.captainofcoxes@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Safety and equipment officer	Elias Drost	lbc.safetyequipment@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Welfare officer	Daniel Wilkinson	lbc.welfare@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Social secretary	Sophie Kubik	lbc.social@linacre.ox.ac.uk
Kit secretary	Claire Guimond

Joining Linacre Boat Club

You can always try out rowing before you become a member and pay the subscription fee, so you are free to try and see if rowing is the sport for you without any strings attached.

Once you have attended three or more sessions, or have passed the swim test, we will count you as a member of the club, and you will be eligible to pay subscription fee.

Sign-up to the mail list during the Freshers’ Fair at Linacre, or by emailing one of the captains at any time. You will be added to our WhatsApp community where you will be asked to sign-up for trainings for the week after. These sign-up sheets contain detailed information on how sign-ups work.

Swim tests

Rowers (and coxes) can only go out five times on the water without having passed the swim test. The swim test is taken at the Rosenblatt Pool on Iffley Road, and you must swim 50m including 5m underwater, and tread water for 2 minutes.

The swim test is done with clothes on, so you need to bring a t-shirt and shorts or leggings as well as dry clothes, towel, and your bod card or other identification. Please ask your captains for details on available swim test times: Please show up for your time slot!

If you aren’t confident that you will pass the swim test, please talk to the captains as soon as possible, as swimming lessons are available.

Coxing registrations

Our boat club requires all members to obtain a coxing license after having rowed for one term, but we strongly recommend going to a coxing registration as soon as possible. The session includes detailed explanation about rowing, river rules and terminology, so it is very relevant for rowers as well as coxes.

You should bring two passport-sized photos (photocopies or prints are fine if they are clear) for your coxing license card. A payment (currently £2.00) is required on the day, but this can be reimbursed by the club as long as you get a receipt. The Captain of Coxes will keep you updated about the dates of these registrations as soon as they are known.

If you are an experienced cox, you still need to register with OURCs and attend a registration meeting. Please get in touch with your captains.

Training sessions

The rowing training schedule typically consisted of four types of trainings:

water outings – on the water with a cox and usually a coach on the bank
ergometer (erg) sessions – usually held at the Linacre College gym (check the schedule for details)
tank sessions – at the Iffley Rowing Gym and are sessions where rowing in a boat is simulated using a water tank
gym sessions – at the Linacre Gym and typically include weights training and/or circuits.

Subscription fees

If you attend three or more sessions during a term (water, tank, or coached land-training session), you are required to pay the subscription fee for that term. This subscription fee will be added to your college battels, or an invoice will be sent directly to you by email. The fees for 2025/26 are:

Michaelmas Term: £50
Hilary Term: £50
Trinity Term: £50
Summer: £35

A 10% discount is available if you commit to either the full year (all four terms) or for the academic year (the first three terms).

Hardship fund

LBC operates a hardship fund which aims to ensure that, wherever possible, participation in boat club activities is not dependent on the financial circumstances of any member.

The boat club is not permitted to give grants, but, instead, can waive up to 100% of the subscription fees that may have been payable by a member. The following are three non-exhaustive examples of how the hardship fund may apply:

A member applies to the fund because they cannot afford to pay their full termly subs. In this case, they may be charged a discounted or zero rate at the end of the term.
A member intends to pay full subs, but requires financial assistance to attend the boat club dinner. In this case, up to the full cost of the dinner may be deducted from their termly subs.
A member has already paid full subs in Michaelmas, and intends to for the rest of the academic year, but requires financial assistance to attend a training camp. In this case, they may be charged a discounted or zero rate for all future subs payments this year, and, if necessary, may have some or all of their Michaelmas subs payment credited back to their battels account.

This fund is administered by our senior member, David Seale, to ensure that details of members’ financial circumstances are not shared with other members of the club. The boat club treasurer will be made aware of successful applications only in order to verify club membership and to ensure appropriate amendments are made to payments, but will not know the reasons for the request.

The hardship fund is intended for genuine financial hardship. To apply, please email David Seale making it clear in the subject line that you are applying to the boat club hardship fund. Your email should briefly set out why you need support, but need not be detailed.

Branded kit

At the start of Hilary term, it is possible to place a team order for kit. This is the only time during the year where we can place a kit order as a team, so it is crucial that you order your kit before the deadline. All in-ones (unisuits) are required for racing in external British Rowing events: everybody who wants to race at external races needs one, although we do have several it is possible to borrow for specific events. Other kit is optional. The product prices will be based on overall numbers from both the Linacre and Nuffield pages, so it does not matter which you order from.

Training camp

Usually, we organise a training camp to every year in Spring. In the past, we have been to France, Spain, Greece, and the River Dee in Chester! You will receive further information about this closer to the camp. Volunteers to help organise the camp are always needed, so if you are interested, please let one of the committee members know!

Welfare

Our Boat Club welfare officer (lbc.welfare@linacre.ox.ac.uk) is available for welfare issues within the Boat Club. Linacre Boat Club strives to create a supportive and inclusive environment for all members. There are absolutely no ‘initiation’ or similar events under any circumstances and all club socials have attractive non-alcoholic options available where alcohol is served. You can also get support from college and learn more about the college welfare team on the Linacre Welfare webpage

OURCs rules

The boat club abides by the code of conduct as well as rules regarding safety, restrictions, flag status, coxing and racing as set by OURCs.

Small boats

Our water outings are usually in larger boats (4+ or 8+) until Summer VIIIs in Trinity Term. Over the long vacation, many of our rowers spend some time in smaller boats. The club owns some single sculls, a double, and a pair. If you want to learn how to row in these boats, you must pass a capsize drill and get coached sessions. Talk to your captains for more information and familiarise yourself with the Club’s small boat rules here.

British Rowing

As a British Rowing-affiliated club, we abide by the Code of Conduct of British Rowing. A full version hereof can be found in this PDF document (Updated April 2025).