Tim Koch writes:

Side-by-side, one-on-one racing for 4 1/4 miles on the Thames Tideway in December can be a very testing experience – and it is exactly for this reason that the ‘Trial Eights’ for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and for the Women’s Boat Race are usually held on the Putney to Mortlake course at this time. Thursday, 10 December saw the women’s races take place, but these were not Dark Blue against Light Blue contests, they were intra-university races, Oxford v Oxford and Cambridge v Cambridge, each pair of opposing crews made up of what may be the last eighteen who are in line for the nine coveted seats in their university’s Blue Boat for ‘The Big Race’ on 27 March 2016.

While the contenders for a Blue are thoroughly tested in the gym, on the ergo and on the water at Ely or Wallingford, it is only on the Thames Tideway itself that the coaches can see what their rowers and coxswains are really made of, how they cope with nerves and mistakes and also how they react to whatever the most famous and possibly the most unpredictable rowing course in the world throws at them. Old Father Thames may have been playing host to rowing crews for hundreds of years – but he can still take them by surprise.

It is often said that the coaches put out ‘theoretically matched’ crews for the trials but this is not always the case. They sometimes put out two boats, one of which contains more ‘probables’ than the other and, in reality, only one or two seats may be up for grabs. The final line up for the 2015 Oxford Women’s Boat contained five from the winning trial crew, two from the losing trial crew and two who were not in the trials (one of whom was the double Olympic gold medalist, Caryn Davies, who was surely assured of a place). Similarly, the 2015 Cambridge Women’s Crew that raced Oxford was made up of five from the winning trial boat, three from the boat that they beat and one who did not take part in the trials. Perhaps the people most under scrutiny are the coxes. There is only one way to test the ability of a noisy deadweight to navigate the ’S’ shaped course, implement the race plan and to deal with the unexpected – and that is to steer in a race over the 6,779 metres from Putney to Mortlake.

Cambridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twickenham, the yellow boat on Surrey, winner by four lengths.
Bow Dorottya Nagy
2 Imogen Grant
3 Ashton Brown (Blue)
4 Sarah Carlotti
5 Hannah Roberts
6 Fiona Macklin
7 Caroline Habjan
Stroke Myriam Goudet
Cox Rosemary Ostfeld (Blue)

Tideway, the white boat on Middlesex.
Bow Kate Baker
2 Evelyn Boettcher
3 Rachel Elwood
4 Alice Jackson
5 Lucy Pike
6 Alexandra Wood
7 Thea Zabell
Stroke Daphne Martschenko (Blue)
Cox Olivia Godwin

Oxford

Oxford’s race was a contest of two halves and it was also a perfect illustration of the value of the Thames trial eights and also of why match racing on the Putney to Mortlake course is so special.

The First Half

 

 

 

The Second Half

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oxford Trial was a remarkable demonstration of the old rowing adage that a boat race is an event in which two crews race each other until one of them decides that they cannot win. Despite the apparent initial evidence to the contrary, Charybdis would not make that decision and showed exactly the sort of grit that is required to race over the stretch of river that is traditionally and appropriately called ‘The Championship Course’.

Charybdis, the yellow boat on Surrey, winner by three lengths.
Bow Georgie Daniel
2 Christina Fleischer
3 Lara Pysden
4 Emma Spruce
5 Ruth Siddorn
6 Elo Luik
7 Kate Ericsson
Stroke Maddy Badcott (Blue)
Cox Morgan Baynham-Williams

Scylla, the white boat on Middlesex.
Bow Issy Dodds
2 Merel Lefferts
3 Elettra Ardissino
4 Rebecca Te Water Naude
5 Anastasia Chitty (Blue)
6 Joanne Jansen
7 Lauren Kedar (Blue)
Stroke Emma Lukasiewicz
Cox Antonia Stutter

* Bluestocking – an educated, intellectual woman.