Martin Bristow was educated at Dulwich College before going to Pembroke College, Cambridge, from where he qualified as a doctor. He worked originally at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London before later moving to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Bristow became a rowing Blue in 1935, when he was bow in the winning Cambridge Boat Race crew. He rowed at Henley every year from 1933-38 and twice won the Grand Challenge Cup, with Pembroke College in 1935 and with the London Rowing Club (LRC) in 1938. He was also a member of the LRC eight that lost to the Thames Rowing Club in the 1936 Head of the River Race, which ended LRC’s 10-year dominance of the race. After nearly 25 years on the committee of the Reading Regatta, Bristow was appointed president in 1971. His son Robin started his rowing career with Reading before becoming captain of the University of London Boat Club. Martin Bristow spent his later years living in southern Spain, and died at his home in Estepona at the age of 93.
Great Britain