After five years of rowing at Monkton it was a chance that I wasn't going to miss... this last year in the Brasenose College 1st VIII has been great fun and has delivered some of the most exhilarating racing that I have ever experienced. Michaelmas Term gave us a solid base at the beginning of the season to build up our VIII and we were able to get some racing experience in the Isis Winter League (the 'Isis' is Oxford's stretch of the Thames), a series of races put on for all the Oxford colleges to blow out the cob-webs in preparation for the two Bumps races of the year; Torpids take place in February and Summer VIIIs in May. We made our mark with a win in our VIII, followed by the stern four coming out top of the Autumn fours regatta in an old boat that provided us with regular excitement on the water with equipment failure and loose riggers. Things just aren't the same without Mike and Carl!
It took some time getting used to sharing the Isis with 35 other college boathouses and a couple of local town clubs. This proved to be very beneficial to our training as we were always able to challenge other colleges to some informal racing, giving the bitterly cold early mornings some focus. It also fuelled the blazing fire of competition between us and our closest rivals each day of the week in the lead up to the pinnacle of collegiate rowing in Oxford - Summer VIIIs.
Throughout Hilary Term, the Spring term in Oxford, we had bedded down as a crew with the Men's 2nd VIII close on our heels. Torpids take place at the end of term but as with much of the country at the beginning of 2007, we were really disrupted with the extensive flooding. Many of the other 1st VIIIs decided to seek rowable stretches of water as far afield as Dorney Lake but we managed to train out of the Reading Blue Coat School BC to keep us sharp technically on the water, coupled with many long ergs and weights circuits. A massive disappointment swept across the Oxford Boat houses when we heard that Torpids had been cancelled because of the hazardous conditions. It seemed like a long term of hard outings and fitness sessions was lost but we were still able to keep the prime focus of Summer VIIIs in sight, aiding our individual efforts over the Easter holiday to build on where we had left off.
Trinity Term was kicked off with a successful training camp on the Isis, but our spirits were really raised by Michal Plotkowiak, an Polish ex-international who had raced against Cambridge in the Boat Race in March who is studying at Brasenose for his PhD, offering his services (and sub 6min ergo!) to our VIII! The five weeks in the lead up to our end of season bumps passed very quickly. Training was shaken up by a new coach who has had some very successful crews in his time and we formed a formidable racing machine, eager for the starting cannon on the first day of racing.
Summer VIIIs is a four day series of bumps races between all of the Oxford colleges. The idea is to catch up with the boat in front of you and crash into their stern before you are caught by your chasing boat. Each day the starting order is adjusted by the previous day's results. We are started from staggered positions along the bank with 12 boats all aiming to crash into each other - yes, as you can imagine it is carnage but has proved to be the most exciting racing I have ever been part of. Over 150 boats enter the regatta and each afternoon on the river is watched by up to 10,000 spectators from the various colleges and other supporters or interested punters, enjoying the close racing, Pimms and warm summer sun. The ultimate reward for any crew that manages a winning bump on each of the four days of the regatta is to earn their college blades.
As we hustle our glimmering boat through the crowds to get to our pontoon, push off to start our warm up and row down towards the starting positions we slowly leave the confines of our flag flying boat house to battle our closest rivals. Once attached to the bank at the appropriate position, 1.5 boat lengths apart, held by a complicated arrangement of a rope and wooden pole we all sit chilled by nerves, waiting for the next explosion in the adjacent field of the cannon-led starting sequence; each shot agitates the butterflies in our stomachs that much more.
Finally the 10 second count down from our boat man on the bank was abruptly ended with the thump of the cannon alongside us. All crews roar into life, desperately making use of the clean water before entering the churned up mess from the crew you are winding in. As ever, the first 40 strokes are all guns blazing before we settle into our strong rhythm rating at 36. After the first 500m it starts to blur and as our bodies cry out to stop, we know to push on and continue to pile on the pressure, for us today it is on Lincoln College. Our front loading tactic begins to pay off as we hear the encouraging call from our coach on his bike that we have closed to within length. Not knowing how much longer the race will be as we cannot see the fear on their faces, seeing their puddles on the water alongside us is a great encouragement. A 10 stroke rate build as we head in for the kill takes us to within a canvas, at which point we hear the ear piercing whistle above the distant crowds on Boat House Island towards the end of the course, signalling the time to let loose and deal the final blow. Before we know it I feel the thudder down the shell and hear the satisfying crunch of fibreglass as we ride up on their stern. Our elation is hard to conceal as we try to separate the boats, but the feelings of every single early morning, erg, run, swim and weights circuit, pay off in the brutal crunch - something I cannot attempt to describe!
[I am surprised that the practice is to cause severe damage to expensive boats. A competent cox knows the length of the boat within inches, and should be able to give the opposition a harmless glancing blow. - JMB]The golden flag of BNCBC flies proudly above our boat house as we paddle past to the cheers of our friends from college. We were stripped of our chance this year for blades on the Wednesday of racing: after another quick start on a crew seeded for blades, we closed over a length to take us to a slim length behind St Anne's; then the crew they were following collapsed resulting in them conceding to St Anne's; once St Anne's and their victim pulled out of the race, we just failed over the remaining part of the course to close the 4 length gap on the boat initially three in front of us. Another bump the following day resulted in Brasenose moving up two places in the bumps table, making 2007 the most successful year for BNCBC in the last 12 years. This was a great year, building on the experience I gained from MCSBC; next year we'll destroy St John's!