Peter Denton

Club OUBC

Year of Birth 2002

Hometown Guildford

Nationality British

College St Benet’s Hall

Undergrad/Graduate Undergraduate

What are you studying? PPE

What is the most interesting part of your course? Do you have any professional or academic plans after? I enjoy political philosophy, but have no clue about future plans.

Future ambitions? Unsure.

How do you balance rowing and academic life? I attempt to partition the day into different sections to set aside time for work, maintain good relations with tutors for leeway, and make thorough plans to catch up on missed work outside of term time.

When did you start rowing, and why? We had a rowing machine at home which I sometimes used. So when an after school indoor rowing club was set up when I was in Year 8 I decided to check it out. The person running the school club, John Noble, was a coach at our local rowing club (Guildford RC). After a couple of terms of me attending, he invited me down to try rowing out on the water. I really enjoyed it, and haven’t really looked back since.

What was your first club? Guildford Rowing Club.

What is your favourite part of rowing for Oxford? Covid means I haven’t had the opportunity to race yet, but I have really been enjoying the team atmosphere on and off the water. There’s also the steely focus on the water during training, where everything except the stroke I am currently taking seems to melt away into insignificance. I always come back feeling better.

What’s your rowing history, and what has been your biggest achievement so far? I started rowing at Guildford RC in 2015, then rowed for Radley College BC from 2018-2020. I just started training with OUBC this September. My biggest achievements have probably been racing for the Radley 1st VIII throughout the summer of 2019, racing at Coupe de la Jeunesse for GB juniors, and winning the 2016 National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships Junior Sprint Team Relay.

Have you raced in the Boat Race before? If yes, when? No.

Your favourite race so far? Marlow Regatta A-final 2019.

Do you have any race day habits or superstitions? I like to eat a banana soreen loaf probably a bit too soon before I start racing, but it’s become such a habit I feel weird if I don’t now.

Your sporting idol? Cristiano Ronaldo.

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

What gets you through a tough session? Do you have a mantra, rituals? In extremely difficult sessions I’ll sometimes zone out (ie not think about anything in particular and attempt to ignore my senses, simply focusing on being one with the movement patterns I am doing). Another thing I like to do is focus on pushing as hard as I can in a race as opposed to holding on, imagining a race is actually time limited rather than distance based, and that I’ve got to exert as much force and get as far as I can given a certain number of strokes (switch to positive action).

Any hobbies, other interests outside rowing? Running and mountain biking.

How do you motivate yourself and your teammates, especially with Covid restrictions? I aim to be process orientated personally. I try to take the chance to share training with team mates if possible. I also work on maintaining human contact with people in my household to keep a sense of reality in my daily life.