The trials and tribulations of competing in the Boat Race

So maybe you’ve worked you’re way to the top of your college boat club and are wondering what the next step toward being an Isis big dog involves, perhaps you’re looking for a new thrill, or maybe you just want to know why that guy wearing stash covered in BNY Mellon looks so tired all the time. Here are the biggest challenges Blues rowers face.

Diet

One of the most frequent fascinations with rowers is how much they eat. 5000 or so calories may sound delightful however this isn’t as fun as chomping down a ton of Mars bars or Domino’s every night and still rocking the body of an Adonis. The calories we eat are boring. It mostly boils down to a whole load of porridge, eggs, baked beans and malt loaf. The supplementary protein shakes aren’t much of a joy to chug down either.

Standard OUBC Dining practice

Schedule

Contrary to popular belief Oxford rowing blues don’t all have cushy courses, that’s our lighter blue conterparts with Land Economy at St Hughes. Our squads contain a mix including MBAs, engineers, chemists and medics all with some of the most full on academic schedules at the University. Thus university oarsmen must find a way to fit in six hours of training time each day while avoiding missing lectures, classes, tutes and labs. The minibus to training (where the majority of this story was written) is often the only 20 minutes of peace you get in the day.

Sleep

While a normal undergrad struggles to fit in the universally prescribed eight hours a night, the rigorous athletic training of uni rowers demands nine to 10 a night. An 8:30pm bed time isn’t just so we feel perky and can pay attention in lectures, with a 5.30am alarm it’s completely compulsory otherwise illness, over-training, and a full body breakdown quickly follow.

Early mornings aren’t all bad Credit: Nik Hazell

Morale

Long stressful days, constant fatigue, crap weather and no time for a social life can get pretty depressing. Terms are longer because we have to arrive four weeks before everyone else and stay behind long after they have left, and while the average Oxonian may feel a bit blue in fifth week, for the actual blue, the light is at the end of a long and damp tunnel. Social events are put on to counter this but a near permanent drinking ban combined with an early bedtime makes the frequency of spotting a uni rower in Park End comparable to that of a Merton Computer Scientist.

A rare sight

Performance

Oxford contains, and has produced, some of the best oarsmen and women in the world. Although it’s pretty awesome getting to train alongside your sport’s equivalent of Messi and Ronaldo, it comes with a catch. You may think you’re pretty good having rowed in your school’s first VIII or your college M1 or perhaps even some minor international experience, but when the time comes to compare yourself against athletes who have rowed for a living, your hard fought bump in torpids becomes completely irrelevant. To compete you must learn and drive yourself to train at a high standard required day in and day out, aided with some of the best coaching and physiological understanding in the world.

Blood, Sweat and River credit: Naomi Baker Sport Photography

Selection

To be in the Blue boat, Isis or Osiris (the men’s and women’s reserve boats), or even to simply remain in the squad, you will have to step up and prove to the coaches you are worthy of a seat. This is particularly tough as, on top of enduring the strenuous physical tests, you have to compete against the squadmates you’ve gone through it all with, and some of whom will become your crewmates in the race to come.

The Race

Finally at the end of a long gruelling campaign comes the final challenge – The Boat Race. It’s a race unlike any other, 18 minutes near flat out side by side often through grim conditions that make every inch of you burn, with a purely binary result: You win or you lose, success or a failure. Each blue must prepare themselves mentally as well as physically for this ordeal performed in front of up to 250,000 live spectators, and millions tuning in worldwide while knowing any mistake will make headlines the next day and cause derision for years to come.

Fame for a day

Yet despite all this adversity, it is one of the most amazing experiences Oxford, or any university for that manner, can offer. This is not because of the great odds at the post boat race ball, a sweet profile pic, or even the chance to be interviewed by Claire Balding (although welcome bonuses), it is the deeper satisfaction of enduring such a challenge, the bond it creates between squadmates, and the respect it garners that makes Oxford uni rowing so captivating.

Team for Life