At the turn of the new millennium, three prominent Cambridge boaties published The Bumps: An Account of the Cambridge University Bumping Races 1827-1999 (George Gilbert, Clare College Cambridge, 2000). A visiting Martian reading this comprehensive account of Cambridge College rowing could be forgiven for placing Caius at the less interesting end of a list of things that go bump on the Cam. Only in the final section of the book does an unfamiliar Caius start to appear on the bar-charts, and even then behind proud Downing. Our women do not feature at all.
All that has changed now. The 19th Century saw three Headships for Caius. There then followed a gap of a century and a half before the men took the May Headship 1987, before losing it the next year. But in the late 1990s an astonishing run began:
1998: Men's May Headship
1999: Men's Lent Headship ; Men's May Headship
2000: Men's and Women's May Headships (the first ever Mays Double in the University's history)
2001: Women's May Headship
2002: Men's Lent Headship ; Men's and Women's May Headships
2003: Men's and Women's Lent Headships (the first ever Lents Double in the University's history) ; Men's May Headship
2004: Men's Lent Headship ; Men's May Headship
2005: Men's Lent Headship ; Men's May Headship
2006: Men's Lent Headship (5th in a row) ; Men's May Headship (5th in a row)
Our bar on the chart now stretches up beyond the top of Gilbert's book. The informal student websites have in recent years pitted Caius Boat Club against The Rest of the River in bumping tables and predictions!
Why has this happened? What is the Reason? Why?
The simplest and best answer is that Caius Boat Club has flourished because Caius is flourishing globally. The College aims to stimulate the widest and deepest possible experience of life amongst its Junior and Senior Members. And our students respond keenly to the challenge to combine intellectual endeavour with athletic, cultural, aesthetic and charitable pursuits.
Which propels me from these lofty parsonical sentiments to the raw reality of Caius Boat Club's success: the people. I cannot overstate the determination, effort, maturity and grace of the students of Caius. For the decade that I have been here, they have provided the Fellowship not just with our raison d'être but also with limitless conversation and fascination.
The base conditions provided by the College and by Caians being right, it is the students who have constructed a sporting club which is a hive of activity, energy and care.
Caius Boat Club is not least a training ground for leadership and friendship. To all my Captains of Boats - Alistair Flett, Paul Rutkowski, Dr Tom Fardon, David Tait, Paul Steen, Harry Pim, Dr David Stokes, Sarah Holliday, Richard Bamford, Katie Davidson, Richard Jones and Tom Gray - Thank you from my heart for all that you have given and shown us.
Revd Dr Jack McDonald (1995)
(formerly Fellow, Dean and Senior Treasurer of Caius Boat Club)
For a detailed history of the club, please see the archives here.
