25 July 2025

By Tim Koch

Tim Koch and AI abridges an abridged report. 

At the beginning of May, I posted a piece titled OUBC: Finding A Way To Get Back To Winning which reported that the Oxford University Boat Club Committee was establishing an alumni-led independent review panel to look at OUBC’s “underperformance” in recent Boat Races and how to change this. The Oxford men have only won one race, 2022, out of the last seven while the Oxford women have not won since 2016. 

The Review Panel consisted of Constantine Louloudis (four Blues, 2011 – 2015), Anastasia Posner, neé Chitty, (five Blues, 2013 – 2022), Matt Smith (four Blues, 2000 – 2003) and Harriet Keane (three Blues, 2009 – 2013). They had to deliver their written report to the Committee not more than three weeks after the Review process started. I suggested at the time that this was maybe a rather rushed report by four people of similar ages and experiences.

The original announcement said that the report would be confidential but the review panel would produce an abridged version that the Committee would make public.

That abridged report has now been published. Unfortunately but understandably, the interesting bits, the apparent reasons why Oxford has not been winning, have been redacted, presumably on the grounds that Cambridge probably has access to the internet. 

What is left may well be the magic formula that turns Oxford’s fortunes around, but it is, perhaps of necessity, dull, bureaucratic and written in “committee-speak.” I kept falling asleep trying to summarise the most important points so I have broken my own rule and used a slightly edited version of ChatGBT’s work:  

The 2025 Performance Review of Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC) was commissioned to understand the causes behind recent underperformance and to guide the Club back to consistent Boat Race success. Over 60 structured interviews with athletes, staff, coaches, committee members, and alumni were conducted, alongside a review of governance, finances, and operations.

Leadership & Governance
The Review recommends restructuring the Committee into a strategic Board comprising key stakeholders, including both Head Coaches, to focus on high-level oversight. It should be more diverse so as to represent the breadth of the Club.

Staffing & Operations
Avoid hiring a Director of Rowing for now due to opportunity cost of funds and risk to coach autonomy, but consider this in future.

Culture & Performance
A high-performance framework should be defined, outlining mission, values, and expectations, while maintaining inclusivity. 

Embed performance expectations that preserve recent progress in inclusivity and enjoyment, while raising standards across training, development, and accountability.

Improve squad integration, reduce divides between Blue Boats and reserves, align coaching models within squads, and coordinate squad calendars.

Fundraising & Financial Strategy
To fund staffing and secure long-term sustainability, an additional £100k is needed short-term, building to a £300k annual uplift.

Recruitment & Development
Recruitment should be coach-led, supported by a 3–5 year plan focused on schools, colleges, and undergraduates. 

Structured athlete development pathways with clear progression and year-round training expectations were recommended including: summer training and racing (e.g. HRR participation as the norm); domestic benchmarks (BUCS, Wallingford etc) as development milestones; greater clarity and visibility on progression routes for athletes below Blue Boat standard.

Alumni Engagement
A formal Alumni Association should be created to support fundraising and outreach.

Renew alumni culture, recognising both men’s and women’s club histories and improving inclusion of less recent OUWBC alumnae.

Although one of the universities unwisely rejected me when I applied to it many years ago, I have no bias for or against either Oxford or Cambridge. My very unscientific and anecdotal advice to Oxford would be to try and have more fun. I have hung around the fringes of the Boat Race for many years now and I get the idea that both the Cambridge men and women enjoy the experience more and that this has a positive effect on their performance.

The review panel conducted over 60 structured interviews with athletes, staff, coaches, committee members, and alumni. Perhaps they should have been less insular and even (hear me out) talked to someone from Cambridge. After the 2024 Boat Race, Cath Bishop (CUBC 1993) wrote a piece in The Guardian titled Cambridge’s Boat Race win a reward for ditching ruthless winning culture. 

Writing on HTBS, Chris Dodd said of Bishop’s article:

This season (CUBC women’s coach) Ryan set his athletes a goal of care as the guiding principle of everything they do. He nurtured confidence and courage every day. There was no heroic psyching up for the pain of racing, no ‘win at any cost’ in Ryan’s (pre-race) briefing, according to Bishop…

(Bishop) opined that Saturday’s race showed that a caring environment does not damage performance. Cambridge were not soft, but quite the opposite in psychological safety that discouraged the notion that performance must be difficult, even miserable. 

Ryan’s squad released themselves from outdated restraints, describing how coaches encouraged them to make mistakes and take risks without incurring recrimination. Selection was portrayed by coaches and senior athletes as rivalry in the sense of not lessening others while pushing forward with one another, building and cherishing friendships, giving each other courage and confidence. 

There was only a small hint of adopting this way of coaching in the abridged report (it briefly mentioned “recent progress in inclusivity and enjoyment”) which is linked to my cruder suggestion, “to have more fun.” Though this is fun that includes 5k ergo tests. 

Of course, possibly changing long used coaching methods should be on everyone’s minds following the recent problems at Brookes – though such issues are not exclusive to them or to the sport of rowing. 

At the time of the announcement of the formation of the review panel I noted: Famously, a camel is a horse designed by a committee. However, we will only find out if Oxford has produced a thoroughbred steed or an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus on Boat Race Day 2026.