86 | pembroke college
COLLEGE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES BOAT CLUB 2020–2021 Captain of Boats:Tom Sharp Women’s Captain: Abby Robinson Men’s Captain: Toby Chesser
2021–2022 Captain of Boats: István Bence Kovács Women’s Captain: Molly Foxwell Men’s Captain: Hamish Elder
Throughout this bizarre year, PCBC has remained a vibrant community with great successes on and off the water. Easter term saw ten full Pembroke crews training, racing, and having fun in the sun on the river but it was no smooth ride to get there! I had never seen PCBC train as much over the summer vacation as we did last summer – Toby and Abby’s ‘Panvalencian Games’ gave rowers and coxes a chance to get fit and have fun while competing in teams for points. This got all our members ready and keenly anticipating a return to rowing in Michaelmas. We were proud to be the first college boat club to get eights back on the Cam after summer when we started our pre-season training in September. It quickly became clear that we would have plenty of strength and depth to the crews on both sides this year and soon we were planning to enter six senior eights into Fairbairn’s. New arrivals with previous rowing experience at their schools, previous clubs and even GB junior programmes joined our PCBC returners to produce some truly rapid senior crews for so early in the year. It was a real shame not to be able to race in the Fairbairn’s Cup but nonetheless it was a real joy simply to be back on the Cam and going fast. PCBC’s head coach, Seb Matthews, has probably been up and down the towpath more than anyone else in Cambridge this year. Seb’s friendly and relaxed coaching style pairs well with a determination to see rowers of all levels in the club dig deep to find every last bit of speed they can muster. A quick, dynamic catch and a smaller tap-down to have blades closer to the water on the recovery are now distinctive hallmarks of the Pembroke rowing stroke that Seb has introduced to the club. Seb’s coaching is well supplemented by the return of PCBC alumni to coach crews throughout the year which not only makes our crews faster but really maintains the sense of community and longevity in the club that we all love so much. Without swaps this year, members found new and safe ways to have fun together. Our new social secretary, Ben, did an awesome job of arranging activities in whatever formats were possible at any given time. In addition, group cycle rides brought members of different crews together and were made all the snazzier by PCBC’s brand new cycling kit. Once Fairbairn’s had officially been cancelled and the boathouse closed for lockdown, focus naturally turned towards Lent term and so our senior rowers started making good use of the outdoor ergs in the gazebo (fondly known as the Gazergbo) on the Red Buildings’ lawn. Slowly but surely, it became clear that no rowing would be possible in Lent term. PCBC members kept busy with the Panvalencian Games II, Bewl Bridge Virtual Erg Regatta and, of course, the Pembroke Regatta which was held as a virtual running competition this year. It was especially good fun to have a good number of PCBC
