Under the leadership of former British Olympian Wade Hall-Craggs, DUBC notably won the BUCS Victor Ludorum for ten consecutive years (2004-2013), and has produced a number of athletes that have competed internationally at European and World Championship level.

[3][4][5] Based at the Robert Gillespie Boat House on the River Wear, the club also operates facilities from the adjacent Graham Sports Centre at Maiden Castle, including a powered indoor rowing tank (one of only three in the country at the time it opened) and a gallery of 28 ergometers.

[8] In common with other university sides, the team's colour is Palatinate, said to derive from that worn by the armies of the medieval Prince-Bishop of Durham.

[11] When the Grand Challenge Cup (for coxed Fours) was introduced in 1854 it was won seven times by crews from University College before 1862, with teams from rival Hatfield Hall typically coming up short.

[b] However, the founding of Durham Amateur Rowing Club and increased entries from further afield would eventually bring an end to University College's dominance.

[13] Entries for competitive races around this time could be fairly casual, and often formed by scratch teams rowing under the name of the boat and not the collegiate body to which they belonged, making it somewhat difficult to successfully identify college crews in the early records.

The sharp bend of the river, in combination with the bridge, makes Durham one of the hardest courses in the country to steer.

[15] In 1888, in the aftermath of the Senate Challenge Cup (essentially the University Regatta), which was won by Hatfield, rowers celebrated the finale of the event with a torchlight procession through Durham – headed by the Durham Town Band, 60 students marched through the streets, each man carrying a flaming torch as they made their way to Market Place, twice rounded the monument to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and then went up to Palace Green, where the torches were extinguished.

[11] In 1904, with attempts to stage an annual event with Trinity College Dublin unsuccessful, an inter-Varsity race for Fours against Edinburgh University, intended to be held every June, was instituted instead; by 1924 this had been competed for 14 times.

[19] For many years after its foundation, being unable to swim was not considered a disqualifier for membership of the club, with the oars strung in the rowlocks thought to provide 'sufficient buoyancy to keep a boat afloat' even with a crew clinging on.

[20] This was only changed in the aftermath of a rowing accident on 24 February 1911 in which a crew from St Chad's Hall began to take on a bit of water during poor weather (not regarded by the club as a reason to panic in itself) but became increasingly submerged – and soon 'completely swamped' – after the nervous crew, while trying to 'get her out of it', swerved the boat with badly timed strokes.

Michelsen was rescued by the coach of a nearby Hatfield crew, while Parsons died in the incident, with other students either swimming to shore or picked up in the water by a passing St John's boat.

[21] In June 1914, not long before the outbreak of the First World War, a correspondent from The Times visited Durham for its annual June Week – essentially a week of activities, including a rowing regatta (capped off with fireworks and a torchlight procession) and the coxed fours race against Edinburgh, to mark the end of Summer term, and, for some participants, the end of their student days in Durham.

[22] The correspondent noted the growing ambitions of the boat club, with Durham University hoping to send a crew to Henley and win 'more than local laurels' in the near future.

Earlier that year, 5 rowers from Newcastle (3 from King's College Boat Club and 2 from the Medics) were part of the crew of the VIII that won the Ortner Trophy for top University at the Head of the River Race for the first time, coming 17th overall.

[34] In 1990 DUBC alumni Roger Brown (who had graduated the previous year) and cox Russell Slatford took Gold in the Men's Eight at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships, then known as the Nations Cup.

[47] The return to form continued with the club winning both the Bernard Churcher Trophy (for the top university from anywhere in the world) and the Senior II pennant in 2008, coming 6th overall – Durham's best ever position.

[56] Durham won gold again in the women's cockles four at the 8th games in 2013, as part of a UK team that came second in the medal take and third in the points table.

In recent years, Durham representation had included Wade Hall-Craggs, Roger Brown, Kim Thomas and Philippa Cross (1992); Roger Brown (M8+), Philippa Cross (W2-) and Suzie Ellis (W8+) (1996); Ian Lawson (M1x) and Tracy Langlands (LW2x) (2004); Steve Rowbotham (bronze; M2x), James Clarke (LM4- ) Alice Freeman (W8+) and Louisa Reeve (W8+ and W2-) (2008);[1][71] and Sophie Hosking (gold; LW2x) and Louisa Reeve (W8+) (2012).

In 2005 Durham won The Prince Albert Challenge Cup (formerly Men's Student Coxed Fours) at HRR and both the Remenham Challenge Cup (Women's Senior Coxless Fours), in a composite with Nottingham University BC, and the Senior Single Scull at HWR.