It is always an honour to support the GB Team when it competes at the World Championships or the Olympics.

We have perhaps come to expect victory from the particular crew we were supporting - the four, which included Steve Williams and Alex Partridge. They had won over 20 races in succession in the last two or three seasons, so it came as a great blow to everyone when they failed to win this important event.

It is a well-established custom that when Monkton crews come off the water after a race, win or lose, they remain under the coach's direction for a while so that initial reactions to the race can be made calmly and quietly by the crew and coach. Only after that routine has been completed are supporters encouraged to congratulate or commiserate.

The Internationals do not have that luxury. Microphones are thrust towards them very soon after the race is over, with commentators wanting to draw out comments which have to be given under great strain. This time, after coming fourth, the crew sensibly vanished from the scene for a while. Steve later wrote an article for The Times, and the crew came to join the supporters in the grandstand. They were still upset, but resolve to do better was apparent during conversations with them.

We wish them and the whole GB team well as they prepare for Beijing.

We were delighted to welcome OM oarsmen from the 1950s and the 1970s to the river last June. Some of the bodies creaked a bit during a training outing, but it was interesting to watch them back in a boat doing the same actions with the same idiosyncrasies that they had decades ago. The experience emphasised in the coach's mind how important it is to ingrain good habits early, because once ingrained they are not easy to change. Crew friendships as well as habits both good and bad last a long time too.