“If you had told me when I was 16 that I would be the second female president ever of the Boat Club, that I would’ve trialled for Team GB, I never would’ve believed you.”
Meet this week’s Human of York, Georgiana, a third-year Environment, Economics and Ecology student, President of the University of York Boat Club and upcoming Roses athlete.
With 2025 marking the 60th anniversary of the fierce sports rivalry, we sat down with several of our student athletes to find out more about what their sport - and Roses - means to them.
Georgiana said: “There’s a huge amount of time and effort that goes into the Boat Club, it has such a sense of community. It's a group of people who aren't perfect, but they try really hard. We all give up our time and our energy; my committee tends to give about 20 hours of their time a week.
“It's been a really safe space for me over the time I've been at university, and while it's not always easy, my most rewarding moments have also come from there as well.
“York isn’t a place where people typically arrive already knowing how to row. What our boat club excels at is teaching people to love rowing. That’s something I’ve really focused on as President - creating and fostering a culture where people love the sport. Because if you love it, everything else follows naturally.
“Roses is something we are heavily involved in, with our annual boat races against Lancaster. All the men’s squads, all the women’s squads, the development teams, the novices, and even a staff eight take part. It’s quite a wholesome event.
“Because there are quite a lot of races, you get to see more action compared to the Oxford and Cambridge race, which is a long-distance event. Our races are only a kilometre, lasting about three to four minutes.
“We get the local community involved, everyone comes down, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s just a nice afternoon activity to see some racing, it’s special.”
