Allan French

September saw the beginning of a fresh Boat Race campaign and, for me personally in my first year at Oxford, an exciting challenge and huge privilege; to be immersed in a campaign steeped in history and to work with student athletes focused on one united aim, to win the Boat Race.

The Boat Race campaign is significantly shorter than other programmes in the UK and around the world but is a uniquely intense process which aims to compress an elite training programme into a relatively short seven-month period. The students involved are not full-time athletes with opportunity for scheduled periods of rest and recovery around training, but instead a group of incredibly driven individuals with aspirations stretching well outside the world of rowing who must balance their athletic schedules with very busy academic ones.

It is quickly clear why this is a process our trialists are so keen to undertake, and with rowers from a huge array of backgrounds, a fun dynamic begins to emerge with our central competitive aim at the heart of it.

Rowing can be a brutally tough sport, but one which has an incredibly honest foundation that rewards hard work and training. There are no shortcuts to success or quick fixes. The confidence of a crew sat on the start line is earnt by many hours in the gym, developing an engine, then on the water, honing a technical efficiency which allows each rower to use that engine to the maximum. It’s the magic of the sport, and when combined with 4¼ miles of unpredictable Tideway water, a single determined opposition and almost 200 years of history, it produces a contest like no other; and a justifiable desire to be part of it.

The enjoyment factor of a campaign like this, and indeed any sports programme, needs to be a fundamental part of the process; it makes the 5am alarm calls to the river a little easier. The individuals who undertake this challenge are not employed to row; this isn’t a job but instead a uniquely demanding hobby that has to fit around academic commitments. For me, this makes enjoyment in the process a priority and one which, I believe, will invigorate a programme day-to-day. The individual characters who walk through the door in September, well before term starts, will produce an invigorating group dynamic that will build the strength of a team. We aren’t a group of single scullers starting out down a lonely road, but instead a squad which must develop into an unbreakable unit who are tough, resilient and better off together. A good rower will do their job well; a great one will help everyone else do theirs better.

Resilience is a key element in any race, challenge or endeavour. Our resilience has certainly been tested by this year’s weather, with the worst flooding on record in the Oxfordshire area bringing with it the need to adapt and overcome. The flooding and its associated challenges have only served to stiffen our resolve and bring the group close together as they deal with adversity.

For me, it has been an absolute privilege to work with such an exceptional group who are constantly driven to achieve at the highest level. The life and the enjoyment that this squad has brought to the process is testament to their characters.