Last year, fresh from my success coxing for Homerton College, Cambridge, I decided that I would like to have a go at the next 'step up.' Having been in the 1st VIII at school, and now the college 1st crew and with encouragement from those around me, I decided that I would investigate becoming a cox for Cambridge University and gaining the status of being a 'blue.' After much deliberation I convinced myself that it was now or never. I had got first year out of the way and found my feet but also would not have the pressure of finals that comes with third year. It seemed the perfect time to see how far I could go as a cox. The prospect was very appealing. Racing for the university would be the highest level I could possibly get to at my chosen sport. CUBC is a club packed with history and tradition and the Boat Race itself is an event that still captures the nation. It is estimated that a quarter of a million people watch from the river banks in London and seven to nine million watch on television in the UK alone. I had raced on the Thames at school and I knew that coxing on it is much more than simply keeping the boat straight. I also knew that, if I ever made it to the Blue boat, it would give me the chance to test my nerve by training with a very high calibre of oarsmen and coaches.
With all this in mind I had convinced myself to go for it. I decided to e-mail their coach, letting him know that I was interested and asking for a training plan to give me an idea of what it would require. It was with his reply that I stopped in my tracks. The training plan he sent back to me meant I could count on one hand the times I would not be doing something rowing related. Some might say I was naïve for not expecting this. However, although I really had grasped the fact that it would push me further and demand more time and energy than anything I had ever done before, it was still too much. At university I hold my social life very highly and also recognise (most of the time!) that I am there to get a degree. Although sacrifices obviously have to be made if I'm going reach the top of my sport, giving up on those important aspects of life did not seem worth it.
The training required early mornings on every day apart from two with one of those days having an afternoon training session anyway. I am by no means one of the most capable students at Cambridge and sometimes I find I struggle enough to get everything done as it is, without my free time being reduced to what seemed like a matter of hours. And as far as my social life goes, although this might mean that I would have gained a whole new social life with my crew mates, what would happen to my already good friends? Therefore I simply could not see how I would manage to get a degree (and stay sane!) if I were to take on that much.
The next argument some might throw at me is that this is the whole point of Cambridge University and its Boat Club: that it finds the best of the best and allows them to be pushed in all areas of life that they are interested in and have a talent in. If this was truly the case then the current Boat Race crews fail to be an example of this. The CUBC website claims that the club retains its 'amateur spirit' where all full time students, undergraduate or postgraduate, 'inexperienced oarsmen' or 'established internationals' can work together and reach the top level of rowing. However this year's Oxford crew had 5 oarsmen who had already competed in the Beijing Olympics. The average age for the Oxford boat was 25. In the Cambridge crew this year, nearly all members were at a mature students' college. Four of them were postgraduates and the rest are doing undergraduate degrees that last for only two years. There is constant speculation about the universities allowing people in just for their sporting talents and it would appear that these people have had this treatment. My degree requires three years of study, why is theirs different? It means that even if I decided that I could fit in the training whilst doing a degree, I would be up against people who either had more time (the postgraduates) or who were clearly getting different treatment from the university.
This leads me to conclude that Oxbridge rowing has been reduced to which can get the better people into the university to row for them. It is not the students of the universities competing in the Boat Race, it is those who run them and manage to seek out the best athletes and make it possible for them to race. People like me who would like to go to the next level firstly have to make sacrifices that would hugely compromise their degrees, and then compete against people who are at the university simply to row. University sport obviously will demand the best of the best but I believe this should happen without the elitest situation that we are faced with at the moment. Those who race for the university should represent the students in it. Being a student, and especially at a university like Cambridge, means more than being able to row. The degree should come first, and the rowing after that. Those who apply to the university and are accepted because of their rowing talent make a mockery of the system for someone who applies but does not have this special talent. Searching around the Cambridge University website, nowhere does it suggest that sporting ability will help you get in. It is all about academic standards. Yet it seems to me that the students who row for the university are bypassing this. Therefore they are not a representation of the students. In reality am I eligible to earn a Cambridge Blue? I have not come to the university solely for the purpose of rowing and therefore it seems to me that I am unable to be a representative of the university's students. Instead CUBC looks more like an elite club, such as Leander, where the best rowers are brought in because they are the most talented at their chosen sport. CUBC is not just an elite rowing club, it is also part of a university.
I have been wondering wondering once again if I could make the sacrifices and go for it this year. However, with the exam term showing me just how tough achieving a degree is, combined with a realisation of the quality of the atheletes I would be up against made my decision easy.
Having said all this, I am lucky enough to get a lot out of college rowing and although trialling is not possible, I am looking forward to later on in the year when I will be back wearing blue and white, lined up and waiting for the gun, ready to bump!
Jessie Dewes