8 January 2026

By Tim Koch

HTBS has frequently lamented the lack of rowing coverage by what was once called “Fleet Street”and any exception to this common omission is worth noting. The historic term “Fleet Street”is still sometimes used to refer to the British national press and is from the name of the London street built over the River Fleet where print newspapers were based until the 1980s.

On 30 December, the Independent, a UK national newspaper that has been online only since 2016, published a feature piece on the Oxford and Cambridge Trial Eights.

The Independent piece is headlined, ‘It’s pretty gnarly’: Behind the scenes at Trial Eights, the battle for selection at the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The sub heading is, Behind the famous annual race is months of preparation, cold, dark mornings on the freezing water, and an internal battle for selection almost as nerve-wracking as the big day itself, as Flo Clifford finds out.

Independent sports reporter Flo Clifford got some particularly interesting quotes from the Oxford men’s coach, Mark Fangen-Hall: 

A lot of it is how they behave in the days before, how they hold themselves, how they walk around, are they their usual jovial selves, or do they go quiet and within themselves a little bit, so there’s a lot of body language observation…

We know full well that all of our crews will be underdogs against Cambridge, who are formidable this season… We’ve got a number of people where (the Trial Race) was their third race ever and their first race on the Tideway, and then you’ve got Harry Geffen, who’s won more under-23 gold medals than they’ve had races. So the difference is huge, and we have to be aware of that and respectful of that…

The full Independent article is here. 

HTBS’ coverage of the Cambridge Trials is here and the Oxford Trails here.

Readers with long memories may recall my response to a less informed 2018 Independent piece titled, The Boat Race? No thanks. I can think of better things to do than watch a bunch of poshos rowing higher up the social hierarchy.