Tim Senior
27th February 2023
Timothy James Senior
1971 – 2023
It is with great sadness that we record the untimely death of Tim Senior at the age of 51. Tim collapsed and died while competing in the Henley Fours and Eights Head on 11 February 2023. A highly accomplished individual both on and off the water, for many of us our most recent memory of Tim will have been at the University Boat Race in 2022, when he was much in evidence as the new Chairman of the Boat Race Company.
Tim enjoyed an illustrious career as an oarsman on the Cam, the Isis and the Tideway and was rarely far from a boat throughout his lifetime. Here at Cygnet, we like to think we played a small but decisive part in his rowing achievements. Tim rowed in some of the most successful crews at Cygnet during the 1990s, not least an entry for the Henley Wyfold lVs in 1996 which won several heats, greatly raising the club’s profile at that time. For me, there was the added satisfaction of watching the crew power its way down the Henley course in a boat bearing my name.
Memories of that era are best told by some of the crew mates he rowed with at that time, notably Mark Davies, who was club captain, and Guy du Parc Braham. Guy was the first to break the news, which reached us on the eve of the club’s 133rd birthday, thus enabling us to take a moment to remember Tim.
Guy wrote: “I have just heard that Tim Senior, Chairman of the Boat Race Company and ex-Cygnet member, died tragically today while racing at Henley 4s and 8s. Some of you will remember Tim rowed with us in the mid-90s. I was in crews with him that raced at HRR as well as in various Heads. I think Paul (Club Historian) has previously described this period as our most successful for the club. My strongest memory of rowing with Tim was not Henley Royal but the best Cygnet race I ever had, which was the Business Houses Head of 1996. It was a perfect piece of rowing from start to finish. We won the whole event by more than 40 seconds”.
Mark Davies has since penned a more fulsome account of his memories of Tim which is reproduced in full here:
“My memories of Tim are of a highly confident and motivated individual who joined Cygnet in the mid-1990s as a civil servant fresh from Uni and with no rowing points but with plenty of ambition and rowing experience gained at Cambridge University.
His rowing status meant he was eligible to row any level including Novice and Senior 3 crews which my predecessor as Captain, Chris Shea, selected him in (as would any canny captain juggling points to construct competitive crews) but then left it to others, like me, to break the news to him knowing that the reaction would be less than ecstatic. The best way to avoid selection in those crews was to win many races, which Tim subsequently did at such Cygnet regatta favourites as St Neots.
He was always destined for better things and a few years later in 1996 with the maximum twelve rowing points accumulated Tim was in the VIII that won the Business Houses Head Race by nearly a minute, one of the finest VIIIs rows I’ve had.
He was also in the Elite 4– crew that had many successes that year and beat two crews at Henley Royal Regatta to reach the Friday, traditionally club day for Cygnet.
Shortly after that Tim moved on to London RC and latterly UTRC.
In the Cygnet elite 4- crew he was easily the most dedicated to training, achieving phenomenal ergo scores. In the run up to Henley following a relatively disappointing Metropolitan Regatta, Tim proposed an ‘alcohol ban’ as part of a ramping up of our efforts; this was initially met with incomprehension and the proposal was negotiated down to (I believe) something close to one alcohol unit/day. However, he was less than pleased when at a subsequent training outing one of the crew announced he’d already had his monthly quota the night before.
Another thing that was anathema to Tim was quiet reflection: after warming up for the HRR qualifiers we had an hour or so before going afloat so the crew decision was to leave the busy boating area, sit quietly in the car and focus, gathering thoughts conserving energy etc. Not Tim: after less than a couple of minutes he exploded with nervous energy, burst out of the car and had to pace up and down for the remaining time.
I like to think that differences of approach within a crew are part of what makes a successful crew - a bit of antagonism but pulling together when it counts. Tim helped to provide that focus for us.”
Tim’s father, Eddie, recalls with great pride “the privilege of following the Umpire’s launch several times at Henley”. The Senior family would be very pleased to hear from anybody at Cygnet who rowed with Tim. Please share your thoughts and memories in he comments below. If you would like to email Tim's father, Edward, please contact the webmaster who will forward on details
Tim is survived by his wife, Sarah, a daughter and two sons, both of whom have turned into very able oarsmen (courtesy of Radley College), as has a niece, Alice, who has taken to coxing like a duck to water. – the legacy lives on! Tim's family have also donated a trophy to Cygnet to be presented to the most promising novice.
A private funeral for close family will be held in Kent; a service and celebration of Tim’s life will be held in Henley at a later date (to be advised by the family).
Paul Rawkins, February 2023
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