Two New Rowing Blogs

Lucy Pocock, the 1912 Women's Sculling Champion of the Thames. Photo: River & Rowing Museum.

While we wait for Tim Koch to arrange all his photographs that he took at Henley Royal Regatta and of which some will be posted on HTBS, we would like to push for two new rowing blogs. The first one is the River & Rowing Museum's blog celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, a war that took many young men's lives; amongst them some of the young oarsmen who had rowed in the Boat Race and at Henley prior to the War. Not only is this blog telling stories of the fallen oarsmen, but also about the Home Front in Henley-on-Thames. Go to the blog here.

The second new rowing blog is The Rowlup, written by sports journalist Martin Gough, who not only writes about sports but also about rowing (Martin is a rowing coach in London). He now and then writes pieces about the history of rowing on his blog. Go to his blog here.

Henley Thursday: Hotting Up

The most exciting race of Thursday was between Molesey Boat Club and Seeclub Zürich, Switzerland, in the Visitors’ Challenge Cup (Men’s Intermediate Coxless Fours). It ended in a dead heat in a time of 7 minutes 14 seconds. (It was re-rowed on Friday with a victory for Seeclub Zürich by 3/4 length.)

Tim Koch’s writes:

There are many differences between a proper journalist and a rotten old blogger, one of which is that the professional spends most of his or her time at Henley tapping away at a computer, drinking mineral water and meeting deadlines. Those who write for a blog tend to spend their time meeting friends, supporting the bars and restaurants – and sometimes watching rowing. They get home late, do some cooking, feed the cat, search for a clean shirt for the next day and only then start writing – or not. Deciding it’s far too late for that sort of thing, they put up links to anything written by the Telegraph’s Rachel Quarrell and to the results page on the Regatta website. They also make sneering references to the Daily Mail, but still link to the paper’s extensive picture coverage. Some egotists refer readers to articles in which they are mentioned. The really bad ones just reproduce the press release written by the Regatta’s Caroline Searle. They do it like this:

The world’s top rowers made their first appearance with Australia’s Nick Purnell getting the better of Danny Fridman in the Diamond Challenge Sculls for single scullers. Fridman is the first Israeli to have competed at the Regatta. In the opposite side of the draw in this event Dutch Champion, Roel Braas, had a comfortable win over Mark Mitchell.

Meanwhile a series of superb finishing sprints in close races saw Hampton School, the University of London and the University of Western Ontario all move past their opponents in dramatic style in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, the Visitors Challenge Cup and the Temple Challenge Cup.

Manchester University lost a scull during their race with Rudern, Tennis Und Hockey Club Bayer Leverkusen and Ruderverein Berlin V.1878, Germany. The commentator would probably have preferred that the Germans did not race again.

Weather forecasters predict that the current sunny weather will persist. Friday will see World Junior Single Scull Champion Jess Leyden from Hollingworth Lake make her first appearance at this Regatta and GB Rowing Team squad members Scott Durant and Alan Sinclair will begin their challenge in the Silver Goblets for men’s pairs.

The sensational French double of Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou will race for the first time in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup for men. New Zealander Mahe Drysdale and George Bridwater will go head to head in the Diamond Challenge Sculls. Drysdale is the Olympic champion in this event and his compatriot is making a comeback after winning Olympic bronze in another boat class at the 2008 Olympic Games.

I, of course, would never be so lazy. They say that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’. If that is true, here are 16,000 of them.

In the Diamonds (Men’s Open Single Sculls), AP English of Nottingham RC (weighing 11st 13lb / 76kg) beat LAJ Wells of Thames (weighing 14st 1lb / 89kg) ‘easily’.

Photographers zoom in on Sydney RC, Australia, who beat Nottingham RC and Loughborough Students’ RC in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (Men’s Intermediate Quadruple Sculls) by 3 3/4 lengths.

Two different modes of river transport, both elegant in their own way. JT Linke of Australia, in the foreground, has just beaten EA Hazine of Kingston RC, ‘easily’ in a heat of the Diamonds.

Some spectators demonstrate a form of rowing, which does not involve ergo tests or abstinence from alcohol. It could catch on.

A cox from Star Club contemplates the meaning of defeat having lost to Upper Thames RC in the Britannia Challenge Cup (Men’s Club Coxed Fours).

HT Playfair of Sydney University, Australia, leads HJ Bradbury of Jesus College, Cambridge, in a heat of the Diamond Sculls, eventually winning by 3 3/4 lengths.

The wonderfully named Ratsgymnasium Osnabruck, Germany, recover after losing to Radley in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Eights).

The all-conquering Abingdon School show some muscle in their race against Monmouth School in the Princess Elizabeth.

Abingdon rather cheekily finish their race against Monmouth by going to ‘easy and balance’ as they cross the finish line, winning by 1 1/2 lengths...

... Monmouth, on the other hand, finish less elegantly and collapse in front of the press box, a bit of overacting that losing schoolboy crews seem keen on these days.

Kings College School, Wimbledon, fail to impress the wildlife in their heat of the Princess Elizabeth.

Part of the Temple Challenge Cup, on display in the trophy tent.

The new base to the Grand Challenge Cup (Men's Open Eights) is displayed on the right, next to the old cup and base. The original cup and base dates from 1839 and over the years extensions were made to add new winners’ names. When the Harvard 1914 winners returned to row over the course in 1964, they presented the Regatta with an identical new trophy as the original was becoming very delicate. This year some Harvard oarsmen have given this new base with space for 140 future winners. It is in memory of Harry Parker, Harvard’s coach for 51 years, who died in 2013. Harry’s Henley blazer can be seen on the right. Wonderful evidence of Harvards 1964 50th anniversary row is on the British Path site.

Yesterdays ‘drink of the day’ was the ‘Bengal Tiger’. Today it is the splendid iced coffee that is served in the Stewards' Enclosure. When I was younger and more tolerant to alcohol, I would add a brandy to it. These days I have it ‘neat’.

P.S. I met up with Martin Gough, former BBC Sports Reporter and now a professional coach (and a new dad). His nice take on Henley aimed at the non-rowing public recently appeared in the West London Journal. Excitingly, he is also the man behind a new rowing blog, The Rowlup. It not only contains Martin’s informed and perceptive analysis of the rowing scene but also some nice bits on rowing history. HTBS approves.

The 2012 Pre Christmas Trial VIIIs

Oxford approaching Hammersmith Bridge. Spirfire on the left and Hurricane on the right.

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from London,

In my piece for HTBS on 28 November I gave an historical perspective to the Boat Race Trials. I suggested that, with modern scientific selection methods, they are not as important as they perhaps were in choosing the final crew. However, I omitted to say that, as far as selecting the cox goes, these inter-club races can still be vital deciders. There is simply no test that is a substitute for steering the simple yet difficult ‘S shaped course other than doing it in a side by side race – as the coxes found in the pre Christmas trials held in good conditions over the full Boat Race Course on 13 December.

Two Boat Race legends, Umpire Boris Rankov (a six times Boat Race winner) and Dan Topolski (who coached Oxford to twelve victories). Sir Matthew Pinsent will umpire the main race for the first time on 31 March.

The Trials are not Oxford v Cambridge races. CUBC and OUBC each race their final 16 oarsmen and two coxes against each other, not against the other place’. This year the Dark Blues raced first in boats named Spitfire and Hurricane for the occasion. Just over an hour later, the Light Blues put out Bangers and Mash. Former BBC sports reporter Martin Gough got one of the much sought after seats in the press launch and later gave me his impressions of the races.

The Oxford Race
Hurricane (Surrey Station)
Bow: James Stephenson (GB)
2: Oliver Bristowe (GB)
3: Joseph Dawson (GB)
4: Benjamin French (USA)
5: Karl Hudspith
(GB)
6: Constantine Louloudis (GB)
7: Dr. Alex Woods (GB)
Stroke: William Zeng
(USA)
Cox: Katie Apfelbaum (USA)

Spitfire (Middlesex Station)

Bow: James Mountain
(GB)
2: Maurus Wuethrich 
(Switzerland)
3: Nicholas Hazell
(GB)
4: Iain Mandale
(GB)
5: Tom Watson
(Canada)
6: Samuel O’Connor
(NZ)
7: Alexander Davidson
(GB)
Stroke: Malcolm Howard
(Canada)
Cox: Laurence Harvey (GB)

Oxford's Spitfire goes afloat.

Martin Gough: (In the Oxford Race) it was fairly marginal off the start, both went off quite high... If anything, Spitfire took advantage of the Fulham Bend and were half a length up by Barn Elms. Their cox, Laurence Harvey, was warned quite severely by umpire Boris Rankov early on. Spitfire were 3/4 of a length up at the Mile but as the bend came back in Hurricane’s favour they put their move in. They looked longer and looked as if they had a better rhythm throughout, Hudspith
and Louloudis in the middle playing a really important part. As they came around the Hammersmith Bend, Hurricane were perhaps half a length up. Just before Chiswick Eyot, very close to where the race was stopped last year, there was a clash of blades. Alex Wood in the seven seat lost his blade and lost it again as he tried to regain it. In the time it took Hurricane to get going again, Spitfire were a length up. Even then, even with Spitfire about to have the bend in their favour, I wondered whether Hurricane might come back. They looked looser, they looked like they were getting more length per stroke. (Tim Koch: Some have suggested that, if the Trial were the real thing, cox Harvey’s crew would have been disqualified, even though he otherwise took a better course than Apfelbaum). Both crews put pushes in and Hurricane got back to perhaps 1/4 of a length down. They both put in a great sprint finish, Hurricane taking it up to over 38 strokes per minute and Spitfire to 40, an absolute nail biter, a really good race.

Time: 17 minutes 45 seconds, Spitfire won by 1/4 length.

Cambridge going to the start. Mash is nearest Putney Bridge and Bangers is in the foreground.

The Cambridge Race
Bangers (Surrey Station)
Bow: Chris Snowden
 (GB)
2: Mike Thorp (GB)
3: Josh Hooper 
(Australia)
4: Alexander Leichter 
(Austria)
5: Ty Otto (USA)
6: Stephen Dudek 
(USA)
7: Milan Bruncvik
 (Czech)
Stroke: Niles Garratt
 (USA)
Cox: Henry Fieldman 

(GB)

Mash 
(Middlesex Station)
Bow: Rowan Lawson (GB)
2: Alex Ross (NZ)
3: Jack Lindeman (USA)
4: Helge Gruetjen (Germany)
5: George Nash (GB)
6: Grant Wilson (USA)
7: Alexander Scharp (Australia)
Stroke: Alexander Fleming (Australia)
Cox: Sam Ojserkis 
(USA)


Cambridge going away from Hammersmith Bridge. Bangers lead Mash. Both have Four and Five on bowside (starboard) with tandem rigs.

Martin said this of the less exciting Cambridge Race: Mash took an early lead and were half a length up at the Mile Post. Bangers... took a while to hit their stride but started to claw back... and were level by Harrods. It was a decent move. To spite some minor clashing and some errant steering they came through to gain the lead by Hammersmith, a length by St Paul’s, they just moved on from there. There was some interesting steering after this, Henry Fieldman, the Bangers cox, went really tight at the Bandstand. The cox who is missing that the moment is Ed Bossom (who steered Cambridge last year and who is still around)... It could end up that he gets the Cambridge seat after all this... Fieldman was the better of the two coxes on display but it may prove that there are better ones available...

Time: 17 minutes 46 seconds, Mash won by four lengths.

On their return, Cambridge found the Putney Embankment flooded by a spring tide.

Read what The Daily Telegraph writes about the Trial Eights here.

Martin's Words On Mark

Mark Hunter

On 12 May, 2012, HTBS wrote about editor Wendy Kewley’s glorious May issue of Rowing & Regatta, mentioning among other interesting articles, Martin Gough’s interview with Mark Hunter. As we have witnessed before, Martin is a man of many (good) words, but luckily he is running his own sport blog which means that what he cannot fit in his R&R article about Hunter, Martin can post in a blog post. This is exactly what he has done. Read the article’s “out-takes” here.

Chris Dodd

Talking about articles, yesterday the Henley Standard had a long article about Chris Dodd’s book Pieces of Eight. Read that article here.

Getting Ready For The Boat Race

The good fellow Martin Gough posted some interesting things about The Boat Race on his blog earlier today. Among other things, he mentions that for the first time ever there will be a live text commentary on the official Boat Race website this year. Martin also posted the video above from a visit he did some weeks ago to the Oxford squad’s Fleming Boathouse. Read his entire blog entry here.

Tim Koch: The Boat Race Is Near

The Crews

Here is HTBS's Tim Koch report from the official weigh-in and announcement of the crews for the upcoming Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge on 7 April. Tim writes:

The official weigh-in and crew announcement for the 158th Oxford – Cambridge Boat Race took place on Monday 5 March. It was held in view of the 2012 Olympic Stadium, a reminder of one of the few events that will draw a bigger audience than the ‘Battle of the Blues’.

The names, facts, and numbers are as follows:

Cambridge
Bow: Moritz Schramm (Germany) 91.8 kg
2: Jack Lindeman (USA) 94.6 kg
3: Mike Thorp (UK) President, Blue 91.8 kg
4: David Nelson (Australia) Blue 92.8 kg
5: Alexander Scharp (Australia) 95.6 kg
6: Steve Dudek (USA) 109.6 kg
7: Alex Ross (New Zealand) 102 kg
Stroke: Niles Garratt (USA) 92.2 kg
Cox: Ed Bosson (UK) 55.6 kg



Oxford
Bow: Alexander Woods (UK) 77.8 kg
2: William Zeng (USA) 82.4 kg
3: Kevin Baum (USA) 91.6 kg
4: Hanno Wienhausen (Germany) 93.6 kg
5: Karl Hudspith (UK) President, Blue 91.2 kg
6: Alex Davidson (UK) 94.6 kg
7: Dan Harvey (UK) 79.6 kg
Stroke: Roel Haen (Netherlands) 96.8 kg
Cox: Zoe De Toledo (UK) 49.6 kg








Oxford cox Zoe De Toledo

Excluding the cox, Cambridge averages 96.3 kg / 211.9 lbs while Oxford averages nearly 8 kg / 17.5 lbs a man lighter at 88.4 kg / 194.5 lbs. The Light Blues are helped in the battle to gain the psychological advantage of being the heavier crew by their six man, the 109.6 kg / 241.1 lbs American Steve Dudek. There are always stories that crews will drink large amounts of water before stepping on the scales in an effort to appear heavier. Some thought that Dudek’s beard was also an attempt to weigh more than Thorsten Engelmann, who is the heaviest man ever to take part in the race at 110.8 kg / 243.8 lbs. Of course, Cambridge was the heaviest crew last year – and lost. A crew racing over four miles on the Thames Tideway needs a lot more than a few extra pies inside them.

The two stroke men, Haen and Garrett.

Following interviews with the crews and coaches, I asked former BBC journalist Martin Gough for his initial impression of the proceedings.

It was interesting to see the difference in demeanour of the two coaches in interviews, even though Cambridge weighed in with a significant advantage. Oxford’s Sean Bowden - aiming this year to secure his 11th win in 18 attempts - was all smiles, clearly enjoying the sparring, while his counterpart Steve Trapmore was clearly very nervous. Perhaps the media attention played a part but Trapmore was also very honest about the size of the task ahead, admitting, “I think we’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”

In Britain there is often criticism over the lack of British students in Boat Race crews, usually from people who have little or nothing to do with rowing. It is perhaps understandable that they are protective of a much loved ‘national institution’ but I do not have a problem with this. It is the ‘Oxford – Cambridge’ Boat Race and the participants are genuine students at those establishments. There are no lower entrance requirements or academic standards for international oarsmen. Indeed, it has been proven that Blues get slightly better than average degrees, probably because of the high level of time management required to balance training and studying. There are also those who do not like the increasing ‘professionalism’ of this amateur race but they may gain some compensation from the fact that four of this years rowers only learned to row at university (Alex Woods and Dan Harvey for Oxford, and Alex Ross and Moritz Schramm for Cambridge). One criticism of the race that has come more from inside the sport than out is the exclusion of women from the Tideway race. As Martin Gough reported a few weeks ago, this is set to change – eventually. Martin comments:

Many asked why the decision to move the Women’s Boat Race to take place alongside the men’s on the tidal Thames was not made sooner; now they are asking why we have to wait for three years after the announcement for the move to actually take place but there is a lot of work to do before then. Results from Saturday’s Women's Eights Head - where Cambridge finished ninth and Oxford 21st - confirmed they are among the best crews in the UK but not (like the men) the best in the world, and hence the need for further investment and improvement in infrastructure. Then there are the logistics of staging a third race, along with TV coverage and a following flotilla, alongside the men’s blue-boat race and reserve race in a limited tidal spot. More details are bound to emerge as plans take shape over the next few months.

Cambridge coach Steve Trapmore interviewed by Martin Gough.

When I asked Martin what he though the peculiar aspects of this year’s race were, he very interestingly extended his answer to cover the future of the Boat Race and its historic relationship with British international rowing.

A big part of the 'engine room', the two '6' men, Davidson and Dudek.

The strength of the Boat Race squads is always diminished in an Olympic year - although Bowden believes president Karl Hudspith and six-man Alex Davidson could both be in the Great Britain squad in future - but it will be interesting to see whether current internationals take part in 2013, as they have previously at the start of each four year run up to the next Olympics. The GB team is one that likes to keep its rowers based at a central HQ and there have been arguments in the past with oarsmen training at Oxford and Cambridge. Also American universities seem to be recruiting British oarsmen more heavily, with many offering full scholarships, which may cut down the numbers applying to these two institutions.

It would be ironic if, just as the women receive sponsorship to enable some of them to pursue an international rowing career via participation in the Boat Race, this route to representing one’s country becomes one less used by the men.

The Trophy with the Olympic Stadium in the background.

The Race, which is sponsored by Xchanging for the last time, will take place at 14:15 on Saturday, 7 April.

Twitter: @martingough22

Blog: martingough22.com

Read Grainger’s “out-takes”

This month I am really looking forward to receive my copy of the Rowing & Regatta. On his blog Martin Gough, who on occasions has graced HTBS with his well-written articles, writes that he has a long, 1,600-word piece about Katherine Grainger in British Rowing’s magazine. Martin was first commissioned to write an 800-word long piece, but he had to ask for an extension to be able to fit some of Katherine’s stories. He still did not manage to get them all in the magazine. On his blog he offers the readers the “out-takes”. Read his brilliant blog here.

Martin Gough: Women’s Boat Race: Worth The Wait

From London, Martin Gough*, who sometimes writes for HTBS, has an exacting report about the Women's Boat Race. Martin writes:

The only criticism being levelled at organisers of the University Boat Race, after it was announced earlier today, Wednesday, that the women’s race would have parity with the men’s event from 2015, was that it will not come sooner. As part of a new five-year sponsorship deal with asset management company BNY Mellon, women will have the same funding, support and coverage as their male counterparts in three years’ time, racing on the same day, over the same course, in front of the same 250,000-strong crowds and watched by the same TV audience of 7 million.

But while officials batted away detailed questions over the logistics of racing in 2015, it was clear how much work still needs to be done to raise the infrastructure and levels of performance of the women’s squads from their current standard – among the top crews in the country – to those in the men’s race – among the top crews in the world. Sir Matthew Pinsent took part in three Boat Races for Oxford – winning in 1990 and 1991 and losing in 1993, either side of winning his first Olympic title. He also coached the women’s reserve crew for two years while a student and is now on the event umpires’ committee.

“To this day one of the big attributes of someone in the squad is that they have their own car,” he said of the women’s race. Pinsent continued, “The reason Oxford’s women train at Radley [while the men are half an hour away in Wallingford] is that they cycle there. The men’s boat club has vans to take them to training. The boats they had, the coaching they had, the logistical support; a huge amount fell on the boat club officers. Every year they would have to create it again. Finally we’ve found a solution to that.”

Race organisers expect an increase in applications from international rowers and graduates from the US – where undergrad rowing is strong but post-grads are ineligible to compete for their universities – to study at the two institutions and compete in the women’s event, although no sports scholarships are available.

Pinsent cited two examples of successful female rowers making different choices than men would in the same situation, because of the stature of the women’s race at the time. Anna Watkins (on the right), who, along with Katherine Grainger, has won back-to-back world titles in the double scull and is heavily favoured for Olympic gold this summer, rowed at Newnham College a decade ago, but never went for Cambridge squad selection. Watkins decided she wanted to go to the Olympics but realised the most obvious route into the GB squad was through sculling, which is not on offer at university level.

“We’ve got to make sure there is more of a pathway from the women’s boat club to international rowing. At the moment it happens accidentally. Hopefully in 2020 there will be three or four women in the Olympic team who have come through the Boat Race,” said Pinsent.

Watkins said on Twitter that she was “thrilled” by the news, adding, “Looking forward to seeing a viable pathway from CUWBC and OUWBC to British Rowing re-established.”

Pinsent’s God-daughter is Natalie Redgrave, daughter of his former rowing partner Sir Steve, who was part of Oxford’s winning crew last year, in her second year at the university. However, she is not going for a second victory this year. Pinsent added: “I doubt even as a medic that she’s still going to be studying in 2015. There’s a case in point of someone who obviously loves the sport and loves racing but once you’ve done it once, you think: I’ve done that now. In the men’s boat club you would seldom have a guy who won a Blue in his first year of uni decide not to do it anymore. Of course you’re going to do it again, aim to win two or three. But it’s much harder work [currently] on the women’s side to give a two or three-year commitment.”

The commitment has been made, the fanfare is over. Now the work begins on turning the Women’s Boat Race into the same captivating spectacle that the men’s event often is.

*Martin Gough is a freelance writer on Olympic and Paralympic sport. You can follow him on Twitter and read his regular blogs.

Photo of Anna Watkins by Dr. Robert Treharne Jones, Leander Club.

The Trial Eights

Water boiling aft for Cambridge’s Cloak.

Earlier this week both Oxford and Cambridge had their Trail Eights races on the Thames in London. HTBS’s Tim Koch was there, of course, and luckily also his friend Martin Gough, who also has had contributions published on HTBS. Here is Tim’s report:

The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race ‘Trial Eights’ took place in London on Tuesday 12 December. This event consisted of two races, Cambridge v Cambridge and Oxford v Oxford. Each race was between the last sixteen rowers and last two coxes on each side, each boat in theory ‘matched’. It was over the full Putney to Mortlake course followed by the race umpires and a flotilla of press and coaches’ launches. The Trials provide the coaches with a unique chance to see how people respond to the peculiar conditions of the long ‘Championship Course’. Measuring a man on the ergo does not tell you how he will respond when he is a length down with three miles to go, racing on a fast tide into a headwind on a river seemingly determined to swallow him. For the coxes too, the only way to show that you can steer a side by side race on the Tideway is to go out and do it.

The first Trial Eights race was staged by Oxford in 1859 and Cambridge followed in 1862. In recent years, with typical undergraduate humour, each university names their trial boats after well known pairings. This year, Cambridge had Cloak and Dagger and Oxford had Hell and High Water.

Cambridge - Cloak.
Bow: Felix Wood 2: Peter Dewhurst 3: Sam Lloyd 4: Josh Pendry 5: Joel Jennings 6: Moritz Schramm 7: Jack Lindemann Stroke: Alexander Scharp Cox: Sarah Smart

Cambridge - Dagger
Bow: Rowan Lawson 2: Phil Williams 3: Nicolas Kernick 4: Alex Ross 5: Mike Thorp 6: Niles Garratt 7: David Nelson Stroke: Stephen Dudek Cox: Ed Bosson

Oxford - Hell
Bow: Thomas Hilton 2: Chris Fairweather 3: Charlie Auer 4: Ben Snodin 5: Karl Hudspith 6: William Zeng 7: Dan Harvey Stroke: Roel Haen Cox: Oskar Zorrilla

Oxford - High Water
Bow: Julian Bubb-Humfryes 2: Geordie Macleod 3: Justin Webb 4: Hanno Wienhausen 5: Kevin Baum 6: Alexander Davidson 7: Alexander Woods Stroke: Tom Watson Cox: Zoe De Toledo

The 2012 race is wide open as Oxford, last year's winners, has only one returning Blue (Hudspith) and Cambridge has only three men who raced last year (Jennings, Thorp, and Nelson). Also, the race is in an Olympic year so ‘Internationals’ are thin on the ground.

The press launch that I was in for the Cambridge race had engine trouble from the start with the result that, frustratingly, we were about 200 metres behind one of the best trial races for many years. Abandoning the ailing craft for the Oxford race, I positioned myself on Hammersmith Bridge – where I bumped into Ben Hunt Davis who just happened to be passing. It seems that British gold medal winning Olympians are everywhere these days!

Fortunately, the launch containing former BBC sports reporter Martin Gough was working properly and his fresh off the water summery of the races are recorded below. For those not familiar with the course, there is a map here.

Cambridge: Dagger leads Cloak near the finish.

The Cambridge race was into a pretty stiff west, south-west wind which meant that the water got very rough once through Hammersmith Bridge. It was an exciting race in which the lead changed hands three times. Cloak was on Surrey and Dagger was on Middlesex. It was fairly level until the Black Buoy when Dagger went ahead and was half a length up by Barn Elms, and a length up by the Mile Post. By Hammersmith Bridge however, Cloak had pulled back. Dagger’s cox, Ed Bosson, was aggressive in his steering and pushed the other crew over. But the opposing cox, Sarah Smart, fought back well, held her line, and there was a clash by Hammersmith Bridge from which she came out best, going a length up by St Paul’s School. However, the Dagger crew held on and as the bend moved back in their favour, they went through, drawing level at the bandstand. They were a length up at Barnes Bridge and moved away from there to perhaps a three length lead at the finish.

Unexpectedly, the Oxford race was on better water as the wind had dropped. There was some aggressive coxing from Oskar Zorrilla in Hell and Zoe De Toledo in High Water and they were fairly level until a small clash before the Mile Post when Hell went a third of a length up. The increased this to 1 ½ lengths at Hammersmith. High Water pushed repeatedly, but could not get back and Hell won by 1 ¾ lengths. Although it was a closer race than Cambridge’s, it was far less challenging with less back and forth. Cambridge will feel that they got more from their race but both squads showed that they had strength and depth. In some years you see trail eights that have decent oarsmen in the stern and some not so good in the bow but these were much more evenly matched. It’s debatable if this is a good thing - sixteen strong men do not necessarily produce eight strong men.

Oxford at Hammersmith Bridge, Hell leads High Water.

Many thanks to Martin for his informed view of the racing. You can follow his thoughts on rowing and other sports at http://martingough22.wordpress.com/

The 158th Boat Race is on 7th April 2012 at 2.15.

Martin Has A Hunch: It's Cambridge!

Martin Gough, Assistant Editor of the BBC Sport Website, spent a lot of time on the Tideway today. He gives HTBS a report:

I spent almost 10 hours on the Tideway between Putney and Chiswick today, trying to work out who has the edge for Saturday’s Boat Race. I have little more proof than I had this morning, but my hunch remains.

With two days to go, the crews kept their outings light, covering less than half the course in their morning trips out, then practising starts off the stake-boats neat Putney Bridge for the first time on a sunny, clear afternoon with the light easterly wind that is expected on race day.
Of the six Tideway Weeks I’ve attended, going back seven years, Cambridge have usually looked better technically and that has not changed this year. Coached now by Steve Trapmore, who stroked a wonderfully drilled Great Britain eight to Olympic gold in Sydney 11 years ago, the light blues are in that mould: sitting tall, balancing beautifully through the second part of the recovery, catching crisply and sending powerfully, although there is a little lugging here and there.

Canadian Geoff Roth stands out in the six-seat, while Aussie Hardy Cubasch backs him well from four and there are no surrounding loose ends. Derek Rasmussen and George Nash, who sit either side of Roth, are fellow Blues – Boat Race veterans. Cambridge lack the lean-back that Trapmore’s predecessors Chris Nilsson and Duncan Holland instilled but they look powerful through that shorter drive phase.

Oxford, out on the water an hour later, took over two miles before they were rowing all eight, concentrating on outside-arm exercises rowing in fours and sixes. In contrast to Cambridge, they look scrappy, until the work goes on, at which point it clearly goes on. Of the six Boat Races I’ve attended, Oxford have won four in a manner much like this.

Oxford on the water.

Oxford’s stern pair may lack international experience but Simon Hislop and George Whittaker are Tideway veterans, having rowed under Trapmore at Putney-based Imperial College, and their experience shows. They are backed by Constantine Louloudis and Karl Huspith – the duo who beat world silver medallists Greg Searle and Tom Broadway in GB pairs trials recently. Former Eton College stroke Louloudis looks perfectly at home in the six-seat while Huspith appears awkward with every stroke, although his results prove his style is effective. Huspith and Ben Ellison sit in a dual rig on bow side at four and five – observers reckon this is the first time that arrangement has been used in a Boat Race since Dan Toploski’s winning crew of 1975.

Oxford's dual rigging.

The dark blues put in some powerful but messy practice starts in the morning and I was keen to see whether they would be able to add length later in the day, but I was disappointed as their longest piece in three off the Boat Race start lasted just 30 strokes. Their time over the first 15 was very similar to that of Cambridge – I reckon about a 10th of a second either way, using a manual stopwatch – although Cambridge had found a nice rhythm by stroke 20 while Oxford were still piling along rating 42.

Which leaves me with my hunch. The only time I’ve seen the full Oxford Blue Boat in action was in a fixture against Molesey Boat Club a month ago, when their rhythm looked good but their punch later in the piece seemed lacking (and one race ended with a boat-stopping clash just after Barnes Bridge). Use too much energy early and your opponent will find you out later, my theory goes. (See article here.)

Cambridge raced Molesey a fortnight later, with the margins in two pieces apparently pretty similar. One other factor adds to that gut feeling that Oxford will come up short: coach Sean Bowden lacks his usual air, one of confidence that just skirts the borders of arrogance. He could win his 10th race in his 17th attempt – four of which came with Cambridge in the 1990s – but his demeanour at the ceremonial weigh-in (when Oxford were marginally lighter) was not confident.

Race umpire Rob Clegg conceded he has not seen a huge amount of either crew but the evidence of those matches against Molesey was enough for him to say: “From seeing both crews against the same crew and their relative speeds I would say they've evenly matched.” Asked where clashes were most likely, he replied: “The hardest part is before and through Barnes Bridge – it’s a tight corner and a narrow bridge. If the two crews are neck-and-neck, there will be some work to do for the umpire.”

I’ll put my neck on the line: I expect Cambridge to win, making their mark just before that third bridge on the course, either by coming through or opening an unbridgeable gap. By then the crews will have been side by side for around 14 minutes, and it will be the last six months of hard work, rather than this last week of fine-tuning, that will really count.

Martin Gough: Andy Holmes, Responsible For British Rowings Success Today

Martin Gough, who is assistant editor of the BBC Sport website, writes here exclusively for HTBS about the memorial service on last Saturday for Olympian Andy Holmes, who died on 24 October from what is believed to be Weil’s disease.

In August 2008, Hammersmith and Fulham Council invited representatives of local sports clubs to drinks at the Town Hall to celebrate the achievements of local athletes at the Beijing Olympics. Two Olympic rowers brought their new bronze medals, a fencer who hopes to compete at London 2012 was introduced to the audience, as was a member of the Sydney 2000 gold-medal rowing eight, resplendent in his Great Britain blazer.

The coach of Furnivall Sculling Club was part of the crowd, lurking in a corner, wearing a lounge suit, chatting to friends. Andy Holmes – the most decorated Olympian in the room, with two gold medals and a bronze too – wouldn’t have minded not being introduced, and probably didn’t expect to be. However, as his former pairs’ partner Sir Steve Redgrave pointed out during a recent BBC television tribute, Holmes was one of those responsible for the situation British rowing finds itself in today: one of the country’s most successful - and consequently best funded - Olympic sports.

As Martin Cross, a third member of their coxed four – which won Britain’s first rowing gold for 46 years at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 – said on Saturday: “His dedication and hard work ethic, along with the belief that he, and other British rowers, could beat the seemingly-invincible East German crews and one day dominate their discipline, is part of the legacy that he has left.”

Cross was speaking at a memorial for Holmes, who died last month aged 51, at his alma mater, Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. The school’s main hall was packed and the atmosphere celebratory for the life of a man whose energy enthused others, but occasionally cracked with emotion, with his absence keenly felt. Family members, including his mother and two brothers, spoke of his love of fun, and habit of getting into scrapes.

Holmes’ first wife, Pam, read a poem about their 20 years together – from their first meeting at a disco, being chauffeured around in his black Cadillac, the birth of their four children and his “mid-life crisis”, when they split up in 1999. Members of the Latymer 1st VIII of 1978, the junior national champions whose recent reunion, with Holmes back in the five seat, saw a group of 50-year-olds beat their current counterparts – one of the strongest school crews in the country – recalled his inspiring influence on their group on the water, and his anarchic side of it.

Those present had no doubt that it was Holmes, rather than actor Hugh Grant, who was the more prestigious graduate of their school in 1978.

Cross spoke of the ruthless drive and dedication that saw Holmes – in the days before central funding and plentiful sponsorship – work on a building site, carrying huge hods of bricks to improve his endurance, in the hours between his morning and evening training sessions.

Richard Phelps, himself a Latymer old boy who made the Great Britain squad, spoke of his awe and fear when Holmes asked to join him in a pair on training camp. “Andy was the hard man of British rowing. He did not sit behind Steve Redgrave, he drove Steve Redgrave,” he said.

Now a teacher, journalist and TV commentator, Cross also read the transcript of an interview he held with Holmes about his “lost years” – the period between leaving rowing in 1989 and resurfacing, thanks to the entreaties of a school friend, as a coach three years ago.

Holmes was setting up a removals business in south London but threw himself into his second passion, drumming, with the same dedication he had once put into rowing – two hours in the morning on the legs, an hour in the afternoon on the fingers. Holmes was no friend of authority. A job as ambassador with the French Rowing Federation ended shortly after he undermined coaches by giving an unregarded duo a training programme that saw them beat the rest of the squad.

He refused to brag about his Olympic success. A cousin was disappointed when Holmes forgot to bring his gold medal to a dinner he had organised, but both were pleasantly surprised when the oarsman discovered the medal in his suit pocket. When Holmes retired, the trophies and medals were consigned to a suitcase in the attic, and daughter Amy only found out about her father’s past life when she saw him featured in a book at school.

The family, including Holmes’ second wife Gabrielle, have attempted to record many of the tributes that have been received over the last weeks, in part to show to his daughter Parker, who was four weeks old when her father died.

Cross said: “One day Parker is going to ask about her Dad and she is going to have the same journey of discovery that Amy did and learn about what a remarkable Dad she had.”

Many, many thanks to Martin Gough for his nice contribution!