The 1st VIII coach told me sometime during the year that on returning from a very long day at a regatta (probably 0600 to 2200), the first remark that greeted him as he drove wearily into the Farm Yard was - to paraphrase - Why do you bother?• - and, implied at least - because you lose too often•.

It is a fact of rowing that to win an event a crew has to beat not just one other team (as in, say, Rugby) but typically eight or more opposing crews, so it is hardly surprising that rowing victories are less common. A school hockey team expects on average to win roughly half its matches, and if it wins a noticeably greater proportion, either the team is very talented or the opposition is too weak; winning too few matches is of course demoralising. There are good years and bad years, and coaches are tied by an established calendar more than rowing coaches are.

Of course crews usually lose; a good and lucky crew wins perhaps two or three times in the Summer Term after picking up one or two division wins in Head races. A weaker or less fortunate crew - (and I remember a recent 1st VIII that lost three finals by less than ¼ length having won its way through several earlier rounds) - they may win no final during a whole season.

If the winning of finals were the only aim that kept crews afloat through weeks and months of training, there would be little rowing and no regattas with large numbers of competitors. Luckily, the skills, thrills and sometimes spills of training and racing together bring enthusiasm, achievement and recreation of value. Of course we want to win, and we are delighted when we do so, but our ambitions as we work together in a crew or in a club are not confined to the narrow objective of winning gold.