Blues squads

At Balliol College Boat Club we have many of our rowers go on to row at a ‘Blues’ level with OUBC. For the rowing neophyte, these are the men and women who battle against Cambridge in The Boat Race, The Women’s Boat Race, the reserve races (Osiris vs. Blondie, Isis vs. Goldie), the lightweight races, and the spares races.

There are various ways of getting involved with the Blues squads. Many college rowers — whether they have Blues aspirations or not — participate in the development squads run by each University club. Development squad training is designed to build upon college rowing foundations and prepare athletes for the gruelling trialing experience. While the particulars of the development squads vary by club and by year, most are more intense later in the year and over holiday periods. If you ever wanted to find out more or get involved, reach out to your captain and they will point you in the right direction!

Athletes who want to push themselves to the highest level in order to join a Blue boat will go on to trial. Trialing is a months-long process of intense training and testing that the squads use to select their varsity boats. Finally, the Blues squads compete in their respective Boat Races against Cambridge in the spring. Many squads stay together and pull in others to continue racing in the off-season.

For athletes who are students at Balliol College, there are multiple opportunities available to help defray the costs associated with Blues training and competition, including the JCR Sports Grant, and separate case-by-case funding from BCBC.

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