Crew Diary
OUWBC had its last set of match races this past weekend, racing Thames RC's top two women's crews at Henley. The aim was to give us a chance to practice for the real Boat Race, and so the races were held over 2km downstream, matching the Henley race's course.
The race against the Thames 'A' Boat was the toughest challenge for the Blue Boat so far, being a strong and experienced crew including former Olympians and GB squad triallists. In the first race, the Blue Boat got a 1/4 length advantage off the start, which Thames clawed back by the 500m mark. They then went on to push away and beat Oxford by a length at the finish. In the second piece the Blue Boat was determined to redress this, by pushing harder through the second 1/4 of the race. They succeeded, reducing the final winning margin of Thames to a 1/4 of a length.
Osiris raced against the Thames 'B' crew, their toughest outside competition thus far given the GB triallists in the boat. Through the first 1000m Osiris showed power and control, holding Thames level, and were only overtaken in the last 500m to lose by a length.
These match races were very useful in helping Oxford to develop a better racing strategy. Since Thames raced Cambridge the weekend before, we had our first possible comparison-and were told by the coaches present that our performance merited confidence.
3rd Apr 2004