SJC Boat Club Alumni e-Newsletter - Hilary 2026
I hope you are all well and have managed to stay dry in what has been an extremely rain-soaked Hilary term here in Oxford. I’m sure everyone can remember a time in their SJCBC careers where the river and weather weren’t playing ball, and you want nothing more than to get out on the water, and this has been that term for us. Despite the limited water time, we have still kept busy with a full schedule of land training to keep us sharp for what promises to be a busy and exciting racing calendar of the next few months.
The dedication shown by the members this term has been incredible, and it has been lovely to see such effort during a period in which the boats have been securely locked in the boathouse, but this will pay dividends later on. The coaching team, led by Kieran Storer, and the rowing captains have done an exceptional job in organising training and motivating participation this term, and that has shown in the club’s test scores, and in the satisfaction of the rowers, who have all been seeing excellent progress that will surely translate into bumps in the coming campaigns.
At the peak of this technical excellence, we have had 3 club members trialling for Boat Race spots in the past months. Louisa Kotzee, Hugh Lohan, and Jonny Gondzic all competed in trial eights in December, and have been training at Wallingford with OUBC. Such a strong John’s presence in the OUBC squad has been great to see, and demonstrates the strength of the club moving into Trinity, as they return to rowing with the college group. Well done to them!
Through your generous alumni contributions, we are hosting a training camp in the vacation to make up some of this lost water time, with an extremely healthy turnout of over 50 rowers. I’m certain this will really show on the water when Summer VIIIs rolls around in 2 month’s time, and it is a real testament to the clubs continued combination of a dedicated and technical training program, and close-knit community bonds, facilitated and enriched by our alumni network. I look forward to seeing some of you in the coming months, and invite you all to come and join the festivities at the boat house during Summer Eights.
Best wishes,
Joe Dunn
Captain of Boats
Men’s Captain – Jamie Warren
It’s been a frustrating term not being able to get on the water at all, but we haven’t let that get to us. We have been hard at work doing land training and the ergs, gym and in the tank and the work is really paying off. Just this term, we have taken a collective 2 minutes off our 2ks across the men’s side, with PBs for almost all novices and seniors. The commitment has been great to see, and we can approach Summer VIIIs with a lot of confidence.
Despite not being able to get on the Isis, we did manage a trip to row on the Cam to prepare for TorpHeads (thanks to the Cambridge 99s for hosting us!). It was a really good day out, and great to get back on the water.
Coming up, we are looking forward to Head of the River on the 28th of March. We are looking to continue the last few years of success as we start in position 232, having moved up 89 places over the last 2 years.
I’m very pleased with how well we’ve been able to adapt and progress this term - I can’t wait to see it pay off next term!
Women’s Captains – Elsa Reid and Julia Marshall
This term has featured the longest continuous red flag since 2014 - from Saturday W0 right up until (at least) Sunday W7! This term-long flag status has meant we weren’t able to train on the Isis at all.
However, all has not been lost.
On the women’s side, retention rates have been high, and we’ve been immensely pleased with the girls’ commitment to land training sessions. This term, we’ve begun regular weights sessions, and we’ve introduced personalised target splits, thanks to the hard work and number crunching of head coach Kieran Storer. This, combined with the sheer number of ergs we’ve done (totalling over 2.8 million metres across the club) has meant there have been unprecedented numbers of PBs amongst both novices and seniors.
We were able to spend one Saturday training in Cambridge, hosted by Cambridge ‘99s club. Alumnus Petar (2024, Maths) made a very welcome come-back, coxing W1 through a successful first (and last) training session of term.
We were able to race W1 in “TorpHeads” (the non-bumps Saturday-only head race replacement of Torpids) on Saturday. This crew put in a great shift, coming 22nd out of 34 boats (all from the top divisions).
Looking forward to the future, we are entering a crew into Wehorr 2026, on 14th March. This promises to be an exciting race and provide invaluable experience for the crew.
As always, the support of alumni has been greatly appreciated this year and we hope to see many of you supporting at Wehorr and Summer Eights!
Alumni Showcase - Christopher D’Urso (2018, DPhil in Public Policy)
Originally hailing from the great state of New Jersey, I matriculated at John’s in 2018 and read for a DPhil in Public Policy. My dissertation focused on how the United States brings international cybercriminals to justice. Despite the growing threat of cybercrime, less than 0.003% of cyber attacks ever result in arrests. That’s in part because so many of the most prolific offenders are located in countries like China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea that will not cooperate in international investigations or extradite the perpetrators. So the United States has turned to a number of alternatives to extradition, including luring cybercriminals to travel to the United States or to friendly third countries that will then extradite them. I conducted interviews with over 80 current and former U.S. federal prosecutors and agents as well as law-enforcement officials from around the world to explore the unique challenges of prosecuting transnational cybercrime and how alternatives to extradition, like lure operations, can be used to overcome these obstacles. I have presented my research to the U.S. Secret Service, and Oxford University Press will soon be publishing my dissertation as a book, tentatively titled Lured to Justice: How the United States Arrests and Prosecutes International Cybercriminals. While at John’s, I also served as MCR President from 2019 until 2021.
One of the highlights of my time in Oxford was being a member of the St John’s College Boat Club. I was never a particularly athletic person, so before arriving at John’s, I had not really participated in competitive sport, let alone rowed. I can still distinctly remember the queasy feeling I had in my stomach for my first few outings, worried that I would mess up or—even worse—catch a crab. Fortunately, the senior rowers encouraged me to continue, and I soon fell in love with the sport. Even though I’m not a morning person, those dawn outings on the river brought a sense of clarity and focus. But more importantly, I cherished the team spirit and camaraderie I built with the other members of the boat club. After my novice term, I graduated to M1 and rowed in both Torpids and Summer Eights. Unfortunately, rowing was largely disrupted during my second and third years by poor river conditions and COVID. But we still managed to come up with creative solutions, replacing Torpids with a Tug-of-Warpids, holding a virtual Summer Eights dinner, and donning face masks when we could finally return to the river. And luckily, we were able to compete in Summer Eights 2021—a fitting last hurrah!
After finishing at John’s, I completed my law degree at Yale Law School. During my time in law school, I interned at the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, assisting federal prosecutors with cybercrime, terrorism, and drug-trafficking cases. I also served as an Executive Editor of The Yale Law Journal and worked on cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as a member of Yale’s Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic. I graduated in 2024 and then served as a Law Clerk to Judge Richard J. Sullivan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. I am now working as a Law Clerk to Judge Amul R. Thapar on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. And next year, I will clerk for Justice Neil M. Gorsuch on the U.S. Supreme Court. Ultimately, my goal is to become a federal prosecutor in New York City.
Although I am no longer rowing, the memories and friendships that I built as a proud SJCBC member will always remain with me!
John Dart Memorial Blade
John Dart (1959, BA Theology) got headship with the Men’s First Torpid in 1961. His son, Peter Dart, got in contact to ask for information on the crew as unfortunately John’s blade got lost in a fire, and it was a prized possession. Peter commissioned a new blade to be painted and it was recently presented to John!
Reunion on the River - Dr Chris Roseblade (1975, BA Physics)
In 1977 the crew of the 2nd 8 and the 1978 2nd torpid were almost identical. The 2nd eight achieved 3 bumps and just missed out on blades. The second torpid achieved 13 bumps - a record we believe has never been beaten in Oxford.
Great camaraderie developed and on this foundation a number of reunions to row on the Isis took place in 1988, 1998, 2006 and 2023.
In 2025, a gaudy for the matriculation years 1975/6 was hinted at in the email from the alumni office and plans were hatched to have another reunion on the day of the gaudy.
Months of preparation and help from the Boat Club and the alumni team (who were all fantastically helpful with the support they gave) and the reunion came to pass.
We met at midday in the alumni common room (apologies if you tried to visit on 20th March as it was closed for the reunion). After coffee and snacks and meeting with current boat club captain and members we strolled down to the boat house (no running due to advanced years and conserving energy for the rowing).
The first crew out was the 1977 2nd eight, a nice gentle paddle trying to focus on style over power. The second outing was the 1978 2nd torpid with again a focus on style although we did build the power along the green bank.
We all had a great time and retired to the Bear on Blue Boat street for a beer on the way to the Lamb and Flag for a second beer before prep for the gaudy.
A fabulous dinner and wines and much conversation followed by a subdued breakfast.
All agreed we had had a fabulous time and planned a joint donation to help, in a small way, the SJC boat club update their equipment which is oh so different to 1977/78 vintage. We all felt so privileged to be a part of the St John’s College community.
The Alumni Office would like to thank the Rowing Reunion March 20th 2026 - 1977 2nd eight and 1978 2nd Torpid for their kind donation towards the boat club, and are incredibly grateful to Cameron, Joe, Brad and Jamie for their time and support with this special reunion!
Summer VIIIs Dinner Sign Up
Summer VIIIs is taking place between Wednesday 27th and Saturday 30th May this year, culminating in the Dinner on the Saturday evening. Alumni are warmly welcome to this celebration of the team’s successes both down at the boathouse and at the dinner, and we would love it if you could join us. Attached is a link to a form which can be filled in to express interest in attending the dinner. This isn’t a signup, so if you are unsure, you can still pop your name down, and decide later on when we ask for more firm numbers.
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If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, please email boatclubalumni@sjc.ox.ac.uk.
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