Tideway Boat Races, 29th March
Men's Reserves	Isis	bt	Goldie	4 L	17:24
Men's Blue Boat	OUBC	bt	CUBC	3 ½ L	17:00
Colin Groshong coxed OUBC
Ante Kusurin (M.06, now at Kellogg) stroked OUBC
Colin Smith rowed 2 in OUBC
Martin Walsh stroked Isis

London Marathon, 29th April
Tim Monger-Godfrey (M.06)	3:38.24	4766th man
Jana Bakunina (M.99)	3:59:22	1831st woman

The Boat Race was the most surreal experience of my life. For me, the race was the last and final piece of what I consider the Boat Race to be about. The Boat Race is not just 17 minutes, but rather a six month long process during which time each crew member is tested and prepared for the show down against Cambridge on the day.

When the time came to take our boat down to the water, I do not think I have ever been prepared for anything so well in my life. To be honest, I do not remember the people or the cameras, all I was focusing on was each task that I had tirelessly rehearsed day in day out and making sure that I executed everything to perfection.

OUBC Crews 2000-2009
Colleges ranked by no. seats
1.	St Catherine's	14
2.	Oriel	12
3.	Christ Church	11
4.	Pembroke	8
5.	University	5
=6.	Brasenose	4
=6.	Kellogg	4
=6.	Lincoln	4
=9.	Jesus	3
=9.	Keble	3
=9.	St Edmund Hall	3

Arriving on the starting line (we were on the Middlesex station as Cambridge chose the Surrey station), everyone was ready. Nothing had to be said. Although it is often claimed that at major sporting events it is impossible to prepare for how you will feel immediately before the competition begins, I have to say that our coach, Sean Bowden, helped the crew be prepared for anything, and specifically how to prepare our minds in the seconds before the race in order to not waste any strokes on the Attention, Go!

When that moment came, we were off in a hurry. I had no idea how fast Cambridge were going to be, so I was just focused on executing our race plan for the first minute, like we had done countless times in the weeks before the race. In that minute we were able to gain up to a three seat advantage passing all the Putney boathouses up to the Black Buoy. We had the advantage of the first bend, so I was pleased to have a lead at this point because I knew that we would gain some more advantage as we passed the Fulham Football Club. We moved out to a half length lead coming up to the Mile Post, but Cambridge began pulling us back as we approached Harrods, and even took a few seats advantage.

Once we passed Harrods, we made some technical changes, began to be a bit more patient, and our boat started to move a bit better. Unfortunately, Cambridge was also moving well and our change of speed barely made a dent into their lead, which approaching Hammersmith Bridge was roughly half a length.

I consider the following events the period in which the race was decided. Still trailing Cambridge by three quarters of a length, perhaps coming up to a full length, we began to inch slowly back on the outside of the bend. I do remember at this point that Cambridge were being warned and I felt comfortable with my position on the river and could not stay wide in this instance. As such, I kept to my line and there was some clashing between Colin Smith in two seat and the seven man from Cambridge. Having experienced a good amount of clashing in our previous fixture against the University of Washington, we were prepared to respond. I called a clash ten, calling on the stern four, whose blades were not in danger of clashing, to push on and help move our boat out of danger. We came out of this clash will a vengeance.

Colin Groshong, rowing for Catz II last summer.

The next thirty strokes I felt as if I were in a rocket ship. Down three seats after moving a bit after the clash, we took a large push and motored down the Chiswick Eyot gaining roughly two lengths. Although the race was still six minutes from being finished, it was a good feeling to have open water as we passed the Chiswick Steps because we had the advantage of the final bend towards the finish line.

In the last three minutes of the race, after we passed through Barnes Bridge, I think for the first time in my coxing career I just didn't know what to say. I have watched the race via my cox camera and I do not remember saying what I did say. The boat was moving well and I was getting fired up and really wanted the guys to keep pushing hard all the way to the line. The last twenty strokes were maybe some of the best feeling strokes in the race. Although I know they were in pain, the boys just pushed on and we crossed the line 12 seconds ahead of Cambridge.

Writing about this again brings back some very good memories. Coxing and winning the Boat Race was a dream of mine for 7 years and I still cannot believe really that I did what I set out to do. It was not a smooth ride to say the least, but all the hardship has made this experience truly inspiring to myself. I know that after pushing through adversity I am a better person for it. I really want to thank St Catherine's for all the support over the past two years. The Rowing Society and Master, Roger Ainsworth, have really been there for the OUBC, and for that I am truly grateful.

Well, it was an interesting year not least because for only I think the second (or possibly third?) time in the history of Catz rowing there were two Captains of Boats in the one year.

I was elected Captain of Boats following Eights week in 1973 in the customary manner but resigned in January 1974 and Graham Bell kindly agreed to take over as Captain. The reasons behind my resignation require a little background filling in.

The previous year's crew under (sadly now the late) Roger Bricknell's captaincy was stacked with leavers , including Roger himself: in fact I was the only fresher in the 1st VIII and I don't recall there being any second years' either. So it was, as Roger told me in his inimitable direct style, that I had been elected Captain of Boats 'because there's nobody else'.

Roger was a fiercely competitive sportsman, whether at rowing or rugby, and his ambition had influenced his selection for the boat. It so nearly succeeded: the Monday before Eights, our final outing, we broke the all time college record for a 'pinker' [footnote:I believe this means from Haystacks Corner to a pink post formerly sited at the top of the Green Bank - AD] (it was truly the best piece of rowing I experienced at school, college or subsequently).

So it was with some surprise that in our first race we were bumped, the boat feeling it was like a six cylinder engine trying to run on 4 or even 3 cylinders! Our bowman virtually collapsed at the end of it and I believe spent the next 3 days in hospital for treatment. So we borrowed the bowman from the 2nd Eight and so on ... not a happy time, practising with a new crew member each morning, racing in the afternoon and getting bumped each day ... until the final day, when right in front of the packed crowds at boathouses and the second boat in a closing group of four, crews 3 and 4 bumped out and we rowed over.

But back to 1973/4: I had already agreed to be captain of the College rugby club when I (foolishly?) agreed to be Captain of Boats. I was also studying jurisprudence with a correspondingly heavy workload (even College collections were taken seriously as I was about to find out). Summer of 1973 also saw me punting for Oxford against Cambridge (we won!) as well as rowing 1st VIII, and with no exams to worry about.

So it was that with a resoundingly bad set of October collections, Sir Alan Bullock (as he then still was) summoned me and threatened me with rustication. To the rescue came the Boat Club secretary, Richard 'Boots' Barraclough (now QC). With a very small squad of experienced rowers available, training freshers took on an additional importance and much of the successful medium term development of the Club can be credited to Richard.

But disaster struck in the form of a serious shoulder injury on the rugby pitch that put me out of either sport for many months. Coupled with the potential academic disaster threatening me, and unfit to row for the foreseeable future (and it was not my style to Captain from outside the boat), I resigned January 1974 and tried to get my academic performance back on track (which I did). [The next Captain] Graham did a marvellous job in very difficult circumstances.

Catz (left) and Wadham (right) barges in 1972. Photo from Ian Martin (M.71).

There is one last twist to the story: my injury recovered sufficiently to allow me to row at about 1/2 power by second week of Trinity term. Encouraged by friends, I put together a rugby VIII, virtually all of whom were novices. With only three weeks training we completed the 'Getting On' races most successfully, and then (not something to be proud about in hindsight) won a pinker challenge thrown down by the 1st VIII just before Eights week. The rugby boat, seemingly so certain of blades, got 4 bumps, but two of them were the bank off the start, Graham manfully trying to pole us out in the absence of a College boatman: the two true bumps we did get were each within 10 strokes!

That rugby crew was the birth place of a number of first VIII rowers and indeed captains of boats of the future, including Rowland Hill and Steve Thompson.

A long story: even after 35 years it hurts me to recount it and it shames me to acknowledge that I did not at the time realise how much I could in fact have contributed to the Club from outside the Boat without resigning: or what a smudge of history on the honours board I left behind!