Newnham College Boat Club is the rowing club for members of Newnham College, Cambridge. Newnham is a college for women only. Members of Newnham have been rowing for a considerable time before the first women's bumps races. The first bumps for women started in 1974. In the Lent Bumps, the 1st VIII has finished outside the top-9 places on only one occasion, and has spent most of its time in the top-5, taking the headship in 1977, 1982 and 1983. In the May Bumps, the 1st IV and 1st VIII has never finished outside the top-10 places, taking the headship in 1975, 1976 and in 2003. In 1976 in the May Bumps, Newnham I were head on the 2nd day, and Newnham II were in 2nd position. No other women's club has managed to get a 2nd boat into 2nd place. The only men's club to have managed it was 1st Trinity, whose 2nd boat bumped its 1st boat in the 1875 races to finish in 2nd place behind Jesus. Newnham is, therefore, the only club (men or women) in the history of Cambridge bumps racing to have held the top two places simultaneously.
In 2006 Newnham won the newly inaugurated Pegasus Cup for being "the most successful college boat club competing in the Cambridge May Bumping Races".
The May races in 2007 saw Newnham go up three places. On the Wednesday, they fell behind to a fast start by Girton who closed quickly to within half-a-length of Trinity Hall. However, superb steering by coxswain Shanae Boyns around first-post corner gave Newnham a chance that they quickly seized and they managed to catch Girton at Grassy Corner. On the Thursday, Newnham started well and caught Trinity Hall just on first-post corner. Friday saw a fantastic start and Cauis became their third victim of the week with the bump occurring just on Ditton corner. The Saturday saw Newnham race well and draw to within 3/4-of-a-length of Emmanuel in a thrilling race before Emmanuel pulled away to row-over by a clear two-lengths.
In 2009/10 Newnham won the Mitchell Cup, annually awarded by the CUCBC to the Boat Club giving the best performance on the river during the course of the academic year. Newnham retained the trophy in 2010/11.
Famous quotes containing the words college, boat and/or club:
“Thirty-five years ago, when I was a college student, people wrote letters. The businessman who read, the lawyer who traveled; the dressmaker in evening school, my unhappy mother, our expectant neighbor: all conducted an often large and varied correspondence. It was the accustomed way of ordinarily educated people to occupy the world beyond their own small and immediate lives.”
—Vivian Gornick (b. 1935)
“But now, our boat climbs hesitates drops
climbs hesitates crawls back
climbs hesitates
O be swift
we have always known you wanted us.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth.”
—Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)