The Hot Seat

I have been meaning to write this post for a while, or at least since Sunday, where I watched the replay of the Boat Race on TV.

Spoiler Alert: Oxford, despite being favourites in both the men’s AND women’s, lost to the Tabs.

This piece is going to be less about the race, but more about the growing pressure on the Oxford Head Coach, Sean Bowden. Full disclosure, I have met Sean before, and while training (extremely briefly) with the squad, was even coached by him. His advice, “try and find more length at the front end” is something I have been aware of and working on since around 2008, so it wasn’t exactly a revelatory experience. Regardless, still cool.

Mr Bowden has been chief coach since 1997, prior to that, he coached Great Britain and Cambridge. In terms of experience, he has it all, but questions are starting to be asked, particularly in the true hotbed of critical thinking and analysis, the YouTube comments section.

Since 2016, Oxford has won only twice, once in 2017, and again in 2022 with a squad that was absolutely stacked. In that year, five of the athletes had been to the Olympics, and of the three non-Olympians, two are almost certain to go to Paris this year. Only Tobias Schroeder, the stroke, is outside that elite group, although he did win the under-23 World Championships in 2019. With such a packed group, victory seemed somewhat inevitable, and it was no surprise they finished in the third fastest time ever.

This year, they had a strong, strong team. Five internationals, albeit some in junior competitions, made them clear favourites. But despite the talent, it wasn’t to be. First, lets knock back the criticisms.

1. The Flooding influenced Oxford’s preparations far more than Cambridge: It has been the wettest 18 months in British history, or at least since records began in 1836. 1695.9mm fell during this period; 107mm of which fell in March. Not all rain impacts the same and due to flooding, the Oxford team lost far more time on the water than the Cambridge team. While the day of the race was glorious, missing those sessions due to the weather certainly didn’t confer any advantage
2. The Shit: The Thames has always been a murky brown, even in Roman times, but the flooding, along with the absolute debacle at Thames Water, means that sewerage is increasingly flowing into the river. Traditionally, the winning crew tosses their cox into the river, but this year they didn’t due to high levels of E.Coli detected in the water. Experts warn of swimming in inland rivers with rates higher than 1000 Colony Forming Units (CFU) per 100ml; in the lead up to the race, the average score was 2863 CFU, with a high point of 9801 CFU! After the race, at least one Oxford athlete claimed to have fallen ill, and while able to compete, was going “at both ends” prior to the event. Suboptimal at least!

These two factors are important, and probably made up most of the race. But I wanted to focus the rest of the piece on the style. Be warned, the rest of this becomes rather technical.

Oxford have a very aggressive stroke. At the catch, they really dig the oar into the water, and a huge amount of power is expended at the back end. There are some advantages to this; it is well suited rough water, which the Tideway often is, and can create real speed when executed correctly. The inside arm for the Oxonians is slightly higher than the Light Blues, a technique I personally prefer, as it creates more lever, but it’s unusual and unpopular. But above all, their stroke is ever so slightly more vertical than Cambridge’s.

Let me explain. Consider the rowing stroke as a box: the oar goes in the water, is pulled through the water, is removed from the water, and then is returned to the start of the stroke. Repeat ad infinitum. At Oxford, that box is slightly narrower, and slightly taller. The Back End, when the oar goes into the water, is slightly larger, and to get the oar in, needs to be put in faster. While Oxford puts a massive amount of pressure into the oar in the second half of the stroke as it goes through the water, extracting it requires a bit more muscle to extract. Both of these require energy, the most precious resource.

Cambridge, on the other hand, have developed a beautiful techique under Chief Coach Rob Baker. It’s far more lucid and smooth, with the catch using little more than gravity. The backend, however, is where they really win. As all eight athletes bring their oars out of the water, they wait ever so slightly with their body while their hands move away, allowing the boat to maximise its speed before the weight transfers forward. This is an efficient, fast, and ultimately winning technique.

So, what next. Sean Bowden is clearly a legend, and has won more than 20 races. Next year could bring a ton of talent into the clubhouse; and with the Olympics happening in a few months, canny recruitment might allow the Dark Blues to stack their eight again with athletes. But while there are eight seats in a boat, the hottest one must be the coach’s.