The Boat Races crew announcements take place today. That is a key point of the year for Cambridge University Boat Club triallists, but selection is just one of the reasons why rowers test themselves in the elite sport environment. Read the thoughts of the nine Gonville & Caius College students (five women, four men) who have been trialling with CUBC in 2023-24.
Women’s crew triallists
Carys Earl (Medicine 2021)
Trialling is slightly easier than last year, when I had four to six hours of contact a day and was newer to the CUBC squad. This year I’m intercalating in Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and I’m doing a dissertation, which means I’ve got a bit more flexibility time-wise to fit rowing around academic commitments. It’s nice that both the rowing and medicine are very structured so it gives me a timetable to follow.
In terms of training, Michaelmas Term was very individual focused, and we had a training camp in Italy for 10 days in January, training three times a day, where we did work in smaller boats, as well as eights. It was a really useful training time. It was a lot warmer than the UK. Now the season moves more towards a whole crew focus with lots of fixtures in Lent Term and it getting busier closer to the Boat Race. It’s exciting.
I had only been rowing for eight months before I started trialling last year. But now with an extra year’s experience, I’ve got a better shot at selection this season, but nothing is certain yet. Ultimately the selectors will pick the fastest boat, and your job is to work as hard as you can to make the boat you’re selected for go as fast as possible.
Before I started last year, I thought CUBC would be highly competitive, with everyone at each other’s throats. However, that is not the case at all, everyone supports each other to make everyone better – it’s a great atmosphere and makes the bonds stronger as we all seek to bring each other up together. We have seat races going one-on-one, but it regardless of if you win or lose, everyone is pushing to make the boat go faster from whatever position you end up in the squad. The squad culture is really lovely and even if you don’t get into the final boat, everyone is part of big goals of the club.
At CUBC, each athlete is treated individually with specific coaching and training focuses, which is incredible. I’ve learnt not only from coaches but also from other more experienced athletes by watching and training alongside them. There are so many technical changes to work on, but by picking one or two to focus on in a training session enables you to make improvements that will step by step bring you closer towards your final goals.
I’m in the final year of my pre-clinical studies and hope to continue trialling at CUBC in future years. We have a few clinical medics who are trialling this year, and they have given useful advice about how to make placements work with the training. The main thing is to focus on training and communicating with the coaches.
Coming through the process with fellow Caians is really nice. We can support each other through the ups and downs of trialling as we work towards representing Caius in the Boat Race this year.
Read an interview with Carys from October 2022
Lucy Havard (History PhD 2022)
It’s my second year trialling. Last year took a lot of getting used to and this year I wanted to build on what I’d learnt. Starting trialling was a bit of a shock: not just the intensity of the training programme and the early mornings, but a new weights programme, and laser focus on on-the-water technique. I think a big part of trialling is learning about the process, knowing what’s important to the coaches, and having a general sense of how the season runs – Fours Head, Trial Eights, camp, with seat-racing interspersed between all of these, and then the Boat Race. Part of it is managing to pace yourself through all of that.
I try to take one day at the time, make the best of that day, of that training session, given everything else that’s going on. Undoubtedly everyone who trials wants to be in a boat, wants to have a seat, that’s the nature of it. But there are only so many seats available. It’s about giving yourself the best chance, but in striving for that you’re also influencing your team-mates because we’re all trying to be as good as we can. That will make all our boats as fast as possible.
Being the oldest triallist, I like to think I bring some “life-experience” to the squad! I’ve done plenty of competitive sport before, though I’m inexperienced in terms of rowing. We have people of all different ages at CUBC – there’s 14, 15 years difference between myself and some of the more junior athletes – and we’re all from different backgrounds and studying different subjects. That adds a real richness and variety to the squad. I feel very privileged to be part of it.
I’m happiest when I’m busy and the busier I am, the more efficient I tend to be! If I have little windows of opportunity to get work done, I make the most of them. I’ve got brilliant colleagues at Addenbrooke’s who have swapped shifts and I’ve cut my clinical hours at the hospital from January to the end of March in the lead up to the Boat Races.
The career I want to have is somewhat atypical. If I’m going to make it work, I’ve got to put 100 per cent into every aspect. I want to make the most of my PhD in History and use it as a springboard for the future; ideally, I’d like to be able to lecture and teach part-time. In terms of my career as a doctor, I genuinely look forward to going to work – it’s something I really enjoy. And with rowing, I want to grab the opportunity with both hands. I really can’t do any more degrees after this (!), so it’s my last chance. I feel incredibly lucky to be training with such an amazing group of women, and being coached by such an incredible team. I’m very excited for what the next couple of months will bring.
For an interview with Lucy, from July 2023, visit the College website.
Charley Craig (Natural Sciences (Physical) 2020)
I learnt to row at Caius in my first year, which was the Covid year. It was only two outings on the water in Michaelmas, none in Lent, because we were all at home, and in Easter Term I made it into NW1. We went to BUCS National Regatta and came third in the Beginners category. We went on to win the Novice June Eights Regatta (the replacement of May Bumps) that year. In terms of novice rowing at Cambridge it was a huge fun and made me catch the rowing bug.
Michaelmas of the following year I was W2, then pushed really hard in Lent to get into W1, and we won Blades in Lent Bumps that term, with Tim Schmalz coaching us! I love rowing. I really enjoy the community. The feeling of everyone pushing to go fast is so exciting. It’s very much a sport that however much you put in you get out.
I played handball at school and for Essex and you are reliant on the team. But in rowing you have complete control of your individual input for success. Last year I was co-women’s captain at Caius and that was quite a commitment, but a huge joy and privilege too!! And then this year I felt in a position where I was physically able to trial.
The biggest difference with trialling is that everything else needs to be structured around training: food, sleep, social activities, studies. When you have two sessions a day most days, you’re constantly either fuelling or recovering for the next session as best you can. With my degree and the rowing, the sleep schedule has to be rigorous – up at 5am, so I need to be in bed at 9pm to maximise recovery. This is a sacrifice I am willing to make in my final year at Cambridge. Trialling has offered me so many new experiences and friendships.
I would definitely recommend trialling, but there are lots of highs and lows – it’s a big decision as it shapes your university year very differently. But if you want to push yourself in the rowing world and train alongside lots of hugely inspirational athletes, then go for it!
Margaux and Charley
Margaux Riley (History 2021)
I’ve rowed throughout my degree, for two years at Caius boat club and this year at CUBC. Overall, trialling has been more demanding, but it is exciting to take on a new challenge. You train more – 12 times a week – and then there is the time spent travelling to and from Ely, so it is more time consuming. But it hasn’t affected my work in the way I expected it to – it’s actually a really nice break and you learn to be more efficient with your time. My history degree has very few contact hours, so rowing helps me manage my time better by giving structure to my day. I am doing a dissertation and it has been nice to have an enforced break from that.
There isn’t much time for socialising between my third-year studies and trialling, but thankfully rowing is sociable and fills this gap. It can be daunting joining a new squad, but everyone at CUBC is very welcoming and for me, knowing some Caius rowers who were already trialling was reassuring.
I started rowing at Lea Rowing Club aged 13 and did it for roughly two years before stopping with a back injury, and then there was Covid. I didn’t start again until I joined Caius. I was encouraged to try rowing because I’m tall. I played netball and tennis at the time, but I immediately preferred rowing. I instantly clicked with the people at Lea, and I have found this to be the case at Caius and CUBC as well. Because of this, the idea of meeting more people at Cambridge drew me to join the CUBC squad. My dad was at Downing and did the Lightweight Boat Race. Speaking to him about his experience and his fond memories of trialling made me consider lightweight rowing.
The team element is the most important thing for me. I’ve met great people through rowing – everyone is driven and ambitious. It is a demanding sport, both mentally and physically, and so there is a lot of mutual respect within the crew. You also learn a lot from your teammates. A unique element of this sport is that everyone is as important as each other, there’s no star player, and it requires everyone to be pushing themselves and the other rowers around them to make the boat go fast. There’s also something special about rowing at sunrise or sunset on a still stretch of water. Making the boat move smoothly and powerfully is quite an addictive feeling.
Charlotte Heeley (Architecture 2017)
I went to the freshers’ barbecue and thought ‘this is the best thing ever’. I’ve always been really competitive and wanted to be involved in sport, but I’ve always been really bad at sport. I tried to be on the hockey team, the netball team, but then discovered coxing meant I didn’t need to be athletic but could still competitive. I loved it.
I started in 2017 and left in 2020, rejoining in 2023 at the start of my Masters. To be an architect you have to have at least one year out. Unfortunately it was Covid, so I worked in a vaccination centre, then got a job at an architects’ firm.
Coxing’s not that hard to be OK at, and then it’s taken me quite a few years to realise there’s a lot more to be good at it. I wouldn’t say I was serious about rowing until when I was working and was part of a town club, Cambridge 99. I got to go to Henley Royal and other events and you realise there’s a lot more to it than Cambridge Bumps.
As much as the architecture course is why I’m here, it’s mostly the rowing! It feels like I’m spending a lot of my time rowing! It’s been one of the most competitive years they’ve had for coxing. The men’s side started with 11 or 12 coxes and we started with 10 or 11, which is kind of unheard of. We’ve had all three returning coxes on the women’s side, one from the Syracuse top boat in the United States. It’s challenging!
You’re trying to translate what the coach on the bank is saying to something simple for the crew. The way you do that can have a big impact on the rowers. Figuring out that communication is exciting. When you get it right, it’s amazing. You can feel so much as a cox with how the boat is moving. Knowing the exact words to say to find those marginal improvements is so exciting. Architecture, working with a team, is similar – figuring out communication is what I like in both parts of my life. Some athletes count, others want you to use their name and be aggressive. Others want you to be a calmer presence to keep them on the path.
Tactics are discussed before races, and we have a really good relationship with our umpires. We’re able to ask ‘what-if’ scenarios, about blade clashes, for example, and any disruption. We know exactly what to expect, when we’ll restart and how. Portraying to them we are competent and professional is important. We need to prove that in the lead-up. Whilst the Boat Race is fun for a cox, because you can have an impact on the result, the fastest line we can steer is a clean line.
We’re the coxes cycling club, because we sit on the back of the weights sessions on the bikes. If they’re erging, then we need to record scores or do some coaching.
Men’s crew triallists
Matt Francis (Engineering 2021)
Caius has a history of sending people to CUBC and for me it felt like a natural step. Ben Dyer, a winning Blue in 2021, taught me to row and learnt himself at Caius. Going from a novice to the College first boat, it felt like the next step, and I thought ‘what have I got to lose?’ This is my second year as a triallist.
Once your life is set up for college rowing, the slightly earlier start isn’t that bad – 5.30 instead of 6.30. Having got used to it for a year, then it’s been really helpful to understanding the rhythm of the year.
I’m the least sporty in my family. I’ve got poor hand-eye coordination, but played football, rugby and cricket at school. When Covid happened and I was in sixth form I went running quite a lot. I haven’t got a rowing background, but I got quite fit and arrived at Caius being relatively fit.
My mum asks me a lot what I enjoy about rowing… it’s not easy to explain. But there are a lot of things. There’s a feeling when you all are starting to get going and the pace starts to pick up that’s quite addictive. It’s very easy to see how you can get better, especially on the erg and the telemetry on the boat. There’s a lot of numerical data, and that feedback is helpful. You keep trying to make those incremental improvements which you can see happening and it keeps you coming back.
With trialling the squad atmosphere’s really good. You put the hammer down on the water and then have a social on a Sunday evening to let some steam off. Everyone knows what they’ve signed up for – to make the Boat Race crew, or make the crew as fast as it can go. Everything’s for that purpose. You know selection’s going to be tough, seat races can be won or lost, and you’re pushing the person in front of you and being pushed by someone behind you. There are no surprises.
I’m the social secretary this year, and having a mix of socials has helped people become friends off the water. In pre-season we went to Shanghai, which was great for group bonding. When selection gets tough, you can separate the rowing from the friendship.
You have a clear sense of where you are from the boat you’re in and your position. I was always borderline second or third eight, and I’ve got a rib injury, so I think the third eight may be more likely. Although it’s always changing, you have a rough idea where you’re at.
Trialling next year would be more challenging with placements, but I’d like to, if it works out.
Will, in hat, and Matt in the seat behind him
Will Wauchope (Philosophy 2022)
I went to the freshers’ fair and I had one big main intent which was not to row. Then what happened is someone walked away from the stall to come to speak to me and said ‘you’re tall, give it a go’. I tried to decline, then I went to the freshers’ barbecue they run at the Caius Boat House. I got on an erg and was quite good at it. I thought it would be a good way of meeting more people at Caius and to force myself to get out of bed in the morning, because philosophy doesn’t have that many lectures. I loved the people and enjoyed the friendships I made. As I got better and better, the boats went faster and faster, you do more distance, I got to love the sport more.
I was a reasonable fencer and in the second University team last year; Cambridge has a really good team. I’ve had to stop doing that now because I don’t have time, which is a shame. The longest you’ll fence in a row is a three-minute match with breaks between points, so it’s not completely transferrable as it’s explosive. I like the cardio feeling where you have lung burn and the fatigue is building up, but it’s sustainable.
I had a quick progression at Caius. I was put into the first boat probably before I was ready. Then I managed by the skin of my teeth to cling on to my place for Mays. I was in the same boat as quite a few triallists and, looking at them, I thought it was really cool. They would tell me stories and I thought, if I want to get better I have to trial. It wasn’t a decision made at once – I gave myself many ‘outs’.
The people who row are generally lovely, quite driven. I’ve always liked the idea of doing competitive sport at a higher level and I’m built for the sport as I’m tall. Before Trial Eights we had a lecture on the history of the Boat Race from an alumnus who has been giving the lecture for 40 years. There’s such incredible history behind it and when you think of the people who have come before, it’s quite a cool thing to attempt to be part of it.
Selection is always happening. The coaches’ job is to win the races. They give the most coaching to those who are going to be in the crews. It’s understandable. You have to keep trying to be in that group to keep getting better. It’s a bit of a cycle.
I’m enjoying trialling and think I will do it again next year. It’s not interfering with my work. Post-Olympic year the standards are likely to rise – it will be a cool experience to row with people who have potentially just come out of the Olympics.
Cameron, Matt and Will rowing a four on training camp
Jamie Maxen (Engineering 2022)
I cycled for seven years before university and it’s somewhat interchangeable with rowing. I began as a novice at Caius and rowed into the senior boat. And that’s when I started to think about trialling. Initially I thought I’d stay in college rowing for another year and improve with Caius, and in my third year maybe take a shot at trialling. I was talking about that and one of the captains at Caius said ‘why wait?’. And I thought ‘true’. I was getting good enough scores on the erg to trial and my technique was good enough.
I’m lighter than a lightweight and knew that was the way I would go. I signed up for summer training, which was straightforward for me because I had an internship. I was a little bit naïve to the process; some others knew a bit more about what it would be like. I was used to doing quite a lot of training for cycling already, but then you begin trialling with double sessions in a day in August, chucking you into a schedule of about 12 sessions a week. It sounds quite daunting, but you adjust quickly.
The average week I felt like I could get by, with getting to bed early and being in earlier routines. Some Tideway weekends, where you’re away for three days, can be quite intense and it can be hard to find the time to get settled down to do some work. You have to get more efficient.
I took a step back from trialling in January so I’m a bit more relaxed. I was on the cusp of the crew, but wasn’t getting the rewards despite all the effort. It’s easier to rejoin the College Boat Club at the start of term. With Caius there are set crews, so it would be disruptive mid-term.
I’m still thinking about trialling next year, but I don’t want a repeat of this year. I feel confident about my chances if I go back. But that’s only part of it. The rest of it is the whole experience and if I’m not going to enjoy all the months of training, even if I make the boat, I don’t think it’ll be worth it. I have to enjoy it.
I could go back to cycling, which is a fun option for me. Being an engineer you meet quite a lot of the cyclists! But I’ve only just stopped rowing, so I’m going to take some time before deciding.
Cameron Mackenzie (Engineering 2020)
I grew up in Cambridge and I started rowing when I was 11, initially at Lady Margaret Boat Club with St John’s College School. I joined Nines (Cambridge ’99) to take it a bit more seriously. It had me hooked.
Having grown up on The Cam, I knew which colleges were quick and which weren’t. Having a college which was good at rowing was important for me when choosing a college. The moment I understood the structure of the colleges and the trialling system, I knew I wanted to trial.
I only trialled in my first year with the intention of getting to know the process. I didn’t think I’d end up in a crew. I was in the lightweight crew for two years, the first year at Ely, last year was Goldie and I’m hoping for Goldie this year. It’s a strong year, so the Blue boat is unlikely.
The 2021 lightweight race, at Ely, was influential on the next year’s race. We lost by being slow off the start, so the next year we went really hard off the start and put a five-length lead in by the mile. Last year they won by 11 lengths. I moved to open weight because I thought there was a reasonable chance I could make a crew. As a lightweight I was fine making the limit – I’ve never been a big snacker – but I carried a low bodyfat percentage and risked falling ill. I got Covid after my first year and it lingered.
I’m known in the team for someone who can sleep anywhere – usually a nap on the bus.
I’m not sure if I’ll keep rowing after I graduate. I used to swim and I like cycling, so I may try triathlon. I’ll have to do some running though.
