On the 29th March 2008 Oxford defeated both Goldie and Cambridge in the 154th Boat Race. Cambridge won the toss (the only thing they did win that day!) and chose the Surrey station. Again we had two Catz boys in the boat but, unlike last year when we were both in the stern, this year we were sitting at opposite ends. Jan Herzog sat in the bow seat whilst I coxed.

We had a strong start, and had 3/4 of a length coming past the Boathouses. Off the Middlesex bend Cambridge did well not to let us break out to clear water. They then put a large effort in down the Mile Post straight, clawing back their advantage. After they pushed, we pushed, taking our advantage back out to 3/4 just before the long Surrey bend. This gave us some sliding room as we were positioned on the outside of their long bend. Coming through Hammersmith they again pushed in what was their final effort; they almost took it out to 3/4 of a length. However, by St Paul's, the first part of their bend was ending and they had thrown everything at us. Conditions were turning into a headwind (our favourite) and we found a far stronger rhythm than we had established up to this point in the race. We rapidly began taking seats and I am sure that by this point Cambridge knew their time leading this race would soon be at an end. By Chiswick steps we had moved through them and moved over in front. From then on we covered their steering moves and aimed to put as much distance as possible in to them. In the end we won by 22 seconds in a time of 20mins 53 seconds.

Half an hour earlier the Isis Goldie race took place. This also had two Catz men in: Englishman, Anthony Mullin and Irishman, Martin Walsh. Isis won their toss and chose the Surrey station, due to predictions of poor weather. From all accounts they had a strong start but were almost a length down on Goldie by the Mile Post (who had the advantage of the first Middlesex bend). Isis got on to a strong rhythm coming down the Mile Post straight and started to move through Goldie, this was looking very good at this point with the long Surrey bend approaching. Isis then put in a decisive move coming on to their bend and by Hammersmith Bridge were in a position to take the race. Isis cleared Goldie by St Paul's School and from then on extended the lead to four lengths by the finish. Isis crossed the finish line in a time of 20mins 43 seconds, Goldie followed 11 seconds later.

As this is my final year at Catz, I would like to thank both the St Catherine's College Rowing Society and The SCCBC as well as all our members for the help and support you have provided to the resident Blues trialists over the years. It was a great honour for me this year as President not only to represent and win this for Oxford, but for Catz also. I do hope to see several more Catz men participating in the race in years to come!

While we may have given up the stroke seat, this year's two Blues mean that Catz now tops the list of Colleges providing members of the OUBC crew over the past 10 years.

I believe that Nick Brodie was the first Oxford President to take up the cox's seat and Jan Herzog became the oldest oarsman ever to cross the Boat Race finishing line - a record which he held for about 1 second.

While the crowds were still arriving, Nephthys (the Oxford men's lightweight reserves) went through the formalities of rowing over, Cambridge once again declining to boat a Granta crew on the grounds of insufficient resources.

The next slot in the programme is usually the women's reserves' race but, with conditions forecast to deteriorate during the afternoon (as it turned out, they didn't) the women's Blue Boats decided to grab that slot for themselves. The Oxford crew, having won the Women's Head of the River Race a couple of weeks earlier, were hot favourites but they never broke clear of a very determined Cambridge crew and won by just half a length.

The women's lightweights were next with Cambridge marginal favourites, again based on their Head results. This was the tightest race of the day, with Cambridge winning by one third of a length.

The Osiris and Blondie crews, enjoying their moment in the 'prime-time' of the afternoon, provided a close race for the first couple minutes. But then one of the Blondie crew caught a crab which stopped them in their tracks (not a blade clash, just very rough water) and Osiris romped home to their 8th successive win, the longest winning streak in any of the current Boat Races.

The Oxford Men's Lightweights about to break clear of Cambridge in this year's Henley Boat Races. Compared to conditions at the start, it was relatively calm at this point on the course.

Last off were the men's lightweights. As ever, there's usually very little evidence on which to judge the relative form of these two crews beforehand. So while the outcome is theoretically less predictable than the women's races, Oxford have had the upper hand in recent years, and this year they made it seven in a row with a 2½ length victory. The only Catz competitor on the day was also the last Oxford person across the finish line: Colin Groshong, coxing the men's lightweights.

Women's Captain, Lucy Rowland, probably one of the least appropriate people to christen an 85kg boat named One of the Fiercer Animals.

The boat was officially christened last Sunday. So far only the Boat Club President, Mal Spencer, has dared go out in it and, given his reputation for instability, may by now even have been in in it.

This is a good opportunity to acquaint you all with the current fleet.

Current SCCBC Boats
Hostile Intent	M18	Sims 2005
Alan Bullock	W18	Sims 2005
Catz 22	M28	Janousek 2005
Catz Me If You Can	W28	Janousek 2005
Tony Hancox	M38	Janousek 2005
Sir Glyn Jones	W38	Janousek 2005
*Harmonny	Nov8	198?
*Tom Agutter	M4	Sims 200?
Heffalump	W4	Janousek 1996
Tiddley Pom	2x/2-	Janousek 1997
One of the Fiercer Animals	M1x	Janousek 2008
*Very Little Brain	W1x	Burgashell 1986
*boats acquired second-hand

The Women's 1st Eight adjusting the rig on their boat, the Alan Bullock.

With all colleges being single sex, and there being just 5 women's colleges, bumps racing was strictly a man's sport. Yet the number of divisions in Torpids and Eights was similar to the number of men's divisions nowadays. These figures probably just reflect the general enlargement of the Oxford student body as a whole rather than an increase in the proportion of students rowing.

A major sporting event of 1958 was the 'British Empire and Commonwealth Games', held in Wales. The rowing competition was held on Llyn Padarn, near Snowdon. England were represented by a Thames RC crew which featured our former President, Tony Hancox (M.49), who can therefore lay claim to being St Catherine's first international.

Eights 2008: Wednesday Start Times
Crew	DivIsion	Bungline	Time
Men's 1st Eight	I	8	6.45pm
Women's 1st Eight	II	5	5.15pm
Men's 2nd Eight	IV	4	3.30pm
Women's 2nd Eight*	V	2	1.45pm
Men's 3rd Eight*	VII	7	12.00pm
*subject to qualifying in Rowing on
NB: on Saturday all divisions race 1 hour earlier

The Men's 2nd Eight in one of their many variations.

The Women's 3rd Eight who prefer to style themselves the Cocktail VIII because it sounds more sophisticated than Beer VIII (even though the intentions are the same).

The Women's Boat Club has rapidly distilled itself into 3 crews, the 1st Eight largely resembling the Torpids Headship crew and they'll be racing at Bedford Regatta on 10th May.

The Men's Boat Club is rather less settled due to some uncertainty over which of their three OUBC & Isis oarsmen are available on any given day. They're also boating an equally-fluid 2nd Eight, but the Captain thought that a 3rd and even a 4th Eight may appear by Rowing On.

Anu Dudhia (email: dudhia@atm.ox.ac.uk )