Oxford Brookes University Boat Club (known as Brookes especially verbally and as OBUBC in formal print) is the rowing club of Oxford Brookes University, England. Its large base is on the longest reach of the non-tidal parts of the Thames,[2] at Wallingford, in Oxfordshire – about 6 miles (10 km) of easily rowable, little-congested river. The club has been very successful at pre-training and co-training many Olympic competitors including those for Great Britain who won 6 golds at Olympics spread across three consecutive games, starting with the games of 2000.[3]
From 1995 into 2007, inclusive, Brookes won its record 13 consecutive British Universities Sport Association (annual BUSA games) men's eight wins.[4]
History
The club was founded in 1978 as the Oxford Polytechnic Boat Club (OPBC) where it was given its first home with Oxford Falcon Rowing and Canoeing Club and begun to enter competitions as a composite Polytechnic/Falcon crew.[5] In the 2020 work The Umpires' Handbook the blade colours of the club are: burgundy, navy & cream, as is the kit.[6] Due to the rarity of two of these colours the cream is in some kit and/or blades left as white and the burgundy (13% blue, 50% red) made up as maroon.
Path to a 1993 Henley Royal Regatta cup
In 1981, OPBC made its first qualification to Henley Royal Regatta (HRR). The crew was knocked out in the first round of The Ladies Challenge Plate [5] In 1990, the Henley Regatta Stewards offered a new event for students of single colleges and schools, the Henley Prize. OPBC had a talented crew who had taken the bronze medal in the Senior A eights at Ghent, and lost the final of the Marlow Regatta Open 8's to Imperial by a few feet after OPBC were impeded by Walton RC rowing in a front-loader 8. At Henley, OPBC met Imperial in the Semi-final. Imperial led by nearly a length at the Barrier but OPBC began to pull back through. At Fawley OPBC pushed, closing the gap to a canvas when one of the crew caught a crab. Imperial jumped to a 2 1/2 length lead with the OPBC crew giving chase. Down the enclosures the lead was reduced to 1/2 length but IC held on to win. The 2 man of the IC boat Pete Riley was utterly exhausted in the race and had to be removed from the boat by the emergency launch. IC raced the final with a substitute as Riley was judged un-fit to row. IC won the final comfortably with the Stewards awarding Riley an extra medal as he "had rowed in the real final." In 1991 with 6 of the 1990 boat returning OPBC fell at the quarter-final stage to Nipon University. In 1992, the Henley Prize had been renamed the Temple Challenge Cup and OPBC returned with a new crew. Disaster hit OPBC A in the second round when the stroke's seat jammed on the first stroke. The crew battled down the course with 7 men but were eliminated. By 1993 Oxford Polytechnic had become Oxford Brookes University, but the boat club still raced in "Poly Blue." In the final, Brookes met Trinity College Dublin, winning a glorious race by 3 1/4 lengths.
London 2012 saw further success with the Chambers brothers of Peter and Richard gaining two silver medals in the LM4-. Partridge gained a bronze in the M8+.
In 2014, Brookes brought HRR's Temple back to Britain for the first time since 2006, winning against the freshmen crew from Brown. They repeated this two years later – atoning their narrow quarter-final loss in 2015 (deemed 'the Temple final on the Friday') to eventual winners A.S.R. Nereus (of the Netherlands) – by beating the 2V crew from Harvard.
In 2017, Brookes went one step further again – after setting a new course record in Ghent, as well as a domestic national record of 5:30 at Eton Dorney. They won the Temple with an entirely new crew. Thus they won for the third year in four, and snatched the Ladies' Challenge Plate (for men) with the 2016 crew. This particular double at HRR was a first for any university boat club.
The Oxford Brookes New Boat House sits on a 10 km stretch of the River Thames that is classed as one of the best non-tidal stretches of water in the country. This length, width and quality of the water has been a key factor in Brookes' success, allowing both men's and women's crews to train together, in an enjoyable but highly competitive environment.
In June 2013 marked the opening of the new boat house on the thames designed by architects Spratley Studios. The vision was to expand and update an outgrown, outdated building to produce a state-of-the-art facility, fit to support the demands of World and Olympic medallists and create an environment in which top-class athletes can shine. The contemporary interpretation of local agricultural buildings, compliant with stringent environmental and ecological benchmarks, underpins the concept. The simplistic gable form echoes a resplendent Tithe Barn on the banks of the Thames, a discreet silhouette within the landscape.[8]
The new facilities include land-based training areas, extra boat storage and large changing rooms.[9]
Taurus Boat Club
Taurus Boat Club is the Alumni club of Oxford Brookes University. The Taurus Boat Club is for past oarsmen and oarswomen that were former alumni of Oxford Polytechnic & Oxford Brookes University with the allowance of current Brookes welcomed to join. Taurus won the Britannia Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2013.[10]
