Ollie Boyne

Club CUBC Men

Year of Birth 1998

Undergrad/Graduate PhD

Year 1st

What are you studying? Computer Vision

What is the most interesting part of your course? Do you have any professional or academic plans after? I’m working on developing new methods of reconstructing foot shape and position from videos and images taken on mobile phones. I’m looking to pursue Computer Vision as a career after my degree.

Future ambitions? I want to put myself in a position that means when my degree finishes in three years time I can look back and say that I couldn’t have done any better (both in academics and rowing).

How do you balance rowing and academic life? I take advantage of free time to get a headstart on academics, so that I am more prepared to deal with the weeks where the rowing and academics both get quite intense.

When did you start rowing, and why? I started coxing in October 2016. I joined my college boat club to try out both rowing and coxing, and very quickly found out I wasn’t particularly good at one of them.

What was your first club? Downing College Boat Club.

What is your favourite part of rowing for Cambridge? My favourite part of CUBC has got to be training with the guys - growing together over the season, and developing a terrible shared sense of humour.

What’s your rowing history, and what has been your biggest achievement so far? I noviced at Downing in 2016, coxing their second men’s boat in my first year. I then coxed the Downing first eight in 2018 and 2019. I was Downing men’s captain in the 2018-19 season, and in the summer of 2019 I joined the CUBC development squad. I then trialled with CUBC in my final undergrad year, and was selected for the third eight. My biggest achievement is probably the growth and work I have put in over the course of the 18 months since I joined CUBC.

Have you raced in the Boat Race before? If yes, when? No. I was selected for the third eight race in 2020 before it was cancelled.

Your favourite race so far? I think it would be our trial fours race last year. It was a really close and well fought race in the first 10 minutes, even if it was a bit of a slog when the stream essentially ran out past St Paul’s. Although we went on to lose by a fair margin, our crew put in good pushes at the right times, and I was proud of what we achieved.

Do you have any race day habits or superstitions? After waking up, I’ll have another look over race plans and any safety or organisational information. Then I make sure to spend a bit of time focusing on something unrelated to rowing to clear my head before heading off to the boathouse.

Your sporting idol? Will Legge.

If you could have any sportsperson in your crew, who would it be? Will Legge.

What gets you through a tough session? Do you have a mantra, rituals? Think back to the last time a session was this tough. It’s only when looking back you really take away what you learned from it. I also think it is really important to use others in the boat when you are struggling in a session. A session is often going to be tough for some and a bit easier for others, so motivating each other and keeping spirits high when you’re feeling good makes a huge difference.

Any hobbies, other interests outside rowing? I don’t tend to have much free time outside of rowing and academics. I tend to fill some of the extra time working on projects related to my academic work.

How do you motivate yourself and your teammates, especially with Covid restrictions? Making sure to chat to others in the squad as regularly as possible is definitely important - when stuck at home it’s easy to lose sight of the goal otherwise. I think it is also important to make sure to get outside for some fresh air at least once a day in a lockdown situation.