Hardy Cubasch

As with every Boat Race season the month of February is one of the toughest. The past five have brought numerous testing and selection events to gradually reduce the squad to where we are now: just 20 athletes and three coxes.

At times the journey appears endless: the countless kilometers on the waters of Ely, the indoor workouts that only get longer and tougher the fitter and stronger one gets. This is the test that has faced every trialist since 1829. However, as the saying goes, what doesn?t kill you makes you stronger, and in order for every member of the CUBC to reach their potential, some of the current physical and mental barriers will have to be broken.

A mid November’s weekend trialing in the snow at Nottingham

The Boat Race is four and a quarter miles long and is usually won in the vicinity of 17-20 minutes, depending on weather conditions, so after the two-week  pre-Michaelmas training camp the focus for the squad is twofold. The first is perfecting the ‘Cambridge style’. The sooner the range of individual technical characteristics are homogenised, the sooner we can move forward as a group. Changing a repetitive habit of any form can take significant time and effort and through this period it often feels like you take one step forward and two back. However, concentration and persistence are key, and slowly but surely changes are cemented.

The second goal is greater mileage, and the only way to increase aerobic capacity or physical strength is countless hours of exercise. At times the routine feels like  Groundhog Day, but for any highly physiological based sport like swimming, middle distance running, or cycling, countless miles are the basis for all subsequent gains. Morning ergo workouts of 16-20km combined with afternoon water sessions of 16-24km soon become the norm and usually your hands are the first physical side effect.

The wear and tear emerging

Fortunately in the period before Christmas there are a few ?novelties? thrown in. The first time the squad gets to test its speed and progress against the rest of Britain is at the Fuller?s Head of the River Fours. Held on the Thames, it is raced over the Boat Race course but in reverse direction, and is the first chance for many to experience what March 26 will be like.

Soon after that the squad is split into two and a mini Boat Race preparation is undertaken. The idea is to simulate the run up to the race, with sessions often conducted apart and which culminate in a race on the full course between the two crews the day before the Varsity match. From here another fortnight is spent training back in Cambridge, there is just over a weeks reprieve for Christmas before the squad reunites on January 1 at Lake Banyoles in Spain.

What?s a little post workout man love between friends…

Just outside Barcelona in northeastern Catalonia, the lake becomes our home and testing venue until just before we come back for Lent Term. The camp kicks off with seemingly endless racing across pairs and fours and is the perfect opportunity for the coaching team to trial all the various combinations and basically test every man against every other. Most of the guys are involved in around twenty races so that by the end there is a clear hierarchical ranking within the squad. The second part of the camp is then spent putting preliminary Blue and Goldie Boat combinations together and it’s soon back to three sessions a day, mile after mile spent seeking tiny incremental gains.

?Winter? Camp. Lake Banyoles, Spain.

At the moment we have just completed what is likely to be the toughest two week block of the season. Ahead lies the final 5km selection ergo, the last chance for people to show what they can do and put themselves forward for selection. Crews will officially be named on March 7, and a series of practice races are held over the following fortnight, before everything is put on the line, in our one and only race against the Other Place: The Boat Race.

44 days to go…