Fifteen years ago everyone, with the exception of numerical pedants, was preparing to celebrate the new millennium, and/or stocking-up in anticipation of chaos ensuing from the 'Y2K' bug - days when computer software writers rather than bankers were blamed for all society's woes. Ominously, students returning to Oxford at the start of Michaelmas Term found the iconic OUBC boathouse burnt down, but at least any impending apocalypse would put an end to the ritual humiliation being inflicted annually by Cambridge in both the men's and women's Boat Races. Well, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know that the perils of the Y2K bug were vastly overrated and, as for continued Light Blue domination, a couple of our students set about fixing that.

Back in the present, there is an update our current standing relative to the 35 other College Boat Clubs, news of major alterations to the format of the 2015 Boat Races, and a message from the chairman about changes to the Rowing Society finances.

Andy Hodge (M.04) rounded off an unbeaten season with a comfortable win in the men's fours. As the top GB men's boat, that now looks like a set crew for the Rio Olympics. Zoe de Toledo (M.10), cox of the GB women's VIII, would have been disappointed to have finished 6th, having achieved bronze medals in the previous two World Cup events.

Overall, and I hope our international readers will excuse a little national focus here, Great Britain achieved 3 golds, 2 silvers and a bronze in the 14 Olympic-class events. This was better than last year (2G, 3B) but down on the 4 years ago, at the same stage of the Olympic cycle (4G, 3S, 1B). Perhaps more significantly, 4 years ago British crews qualified for the A-finals in 13 events, but this year only in 7.

Catz Crews: Current Positions
(& highest-lowest positions, 2005-2014)
	Men		Women
	2014	Range	2014	Range
1st Torpid	5th	(4-13)	8th	(1-13)
2nd Torpid	41st	(41-61)	51st	(47-57)
3rd Torpid	-	(62-68)	-	(50-55)
1st Eight	9th	(5-10)	20th	(11-20)
2nd Eight	46th	(38-46)	51st	(39-57)
3rd Eight	-	(73-84)

The old OUBC boathouse (1882-1999)

Michaelmas Term 1999 opened with the smouldering remains of the OUBC boathouse (on the site of the present Univ boathouse). Fortunately Catz had relocated to Longbridges a couple of years previously.

RS Newsletter, 7th November, 1999

Welcome back to the Isis. A significantly changed Isis for once, following the burning down of the OUBC boathouse during the early hours of Saturday, 25th September. All that remains are a few brick walls and a lot of rubble, surrounded by a wire fence with 'Keep Out' signs. In fact, marginally less inviting than the days when Catz had to boat from there.

Torpids 2000 was cancelled due to a high stream.

Cambridge had dominated the Boat Races during 1990s, so that in 2000 CUBC and CUWBC were on runs of 7 and 8 consecutive wins respectively. Two Catz undergraduates had the unenviable task of putting a stop to that.

Matt Smith, 2000 OUBC

Four weeks before the Race we adequately disposed of a Molesey crew but concluded that we were still, however, slower than Cambridge. We threw ourselves back into training to prepare for our race a fortnight later against the best oarsmen in the world, in the form of Redgrave, Pinsent and friends. We rowed well in one piece against them and beat them round the inside of a bend, however we lost out by substantial margins in the other two. We would have to row to our full potential to beat Cambridge.

The last two weeks' rowing went well, we were building in confidence and speed. By the time we reached the day of the race we were confident of victory. The day itself was nothing special in many ways as we had been through the routine many times before. We were just racing another crew with a few people watching. We were our normal rowdy selves in the race, yelling abuse at the other crew etc. The victory was especially sweet because of the way we did it.

Oxford won by 3 lengths and, at 18 years and 8 months, Matt also became the youngest person ever to win a Boat Race.

Emily Woodeson, 2000 OUWBC

On race day, we had a short paddle in the morning which went really well and got rid of a lot of nerves. We had our pre-race chat away from Upper Thames and it was relaxed but focused. We all knew what we had to do, and we all felt we were going to do it. Walking back to the club we watched Osiris go by and seeing them lose was really difficult, but it stiffened our resolve to go out there and nail Cambridge.

Sitting on the stake boat I felt a bit tense, but I tried to relax as we were taking our kit off. It seemed like ages before the Umpire said go, and the first stroke of our start wasn't the best we had ever done! However we pulled it back straight away and started to move through them. We had decided that our cox wasn't going to tell us where they were until we were at the 500m mark and when he called it he was sitting on their bow canvas and was asking us for clear water - that was a fantastic feeling. Going past Remenham and Upper Thames the crowd was amazing, it was so loud and sounded so excited. We were able to settle into our cruise pace, and as the race went on it got better and better. Crossing the finish line 2 lengths up, I was absolutely knackered but at the same time I wanted to jump into the air. It was a very special moment which made all the blood, sweat and tears of the previous 6 months very worth it!'

In Eights, the Men's 1st VIII were bumped by Lincoln, finishing 12th, but the Women's 1st VIII gained their first bump since 1996 and finished 4th on the river.

At the end of the summer of 2000, on the other side of the world, one of our alumni was involved in an event which was to have a profound effect on the public perception of rowing in this country.

RS Newsletter, 29th October, 2000

So where were you in the small hours of Saturday morning, September 23rd? Chances are that you were sat in front of a telly along with 7 million other Britons watching a certain rowing race unfold in Sydney.

The British coxless four won the Olympic final, bringing Matt Pinsent his 3rd gold medal and Steve Redgrave his 5th.

More recently it has also been decided to move the Osiris-Blondie Race to the Tideway but (presumably due to constraints of time and tide) racing 24 hrs earlier. While it makes obvious sense for the reserve crews to train, and race, for the the same distance as the Blue Boats, and provides the Boat Race organisers with a welcome opportunity for a full rehearsal, it's going to lack the sense of occasion that they've had from racing in front of several thousand supporters at Henley. And if one of the Blue Boats wakes up on the morning of their race with a high-temperature, they'd be substituted by someone who'd had to race over the full course the day before.

To my knowledge, the only Catz triallist this year is Lucy Roberts, training with the women's lightweights. But former Catz oarswoman (and Oxford lightweight), Emma Clifton, is now trialling for the Cambridge lightweights.

The Committee has negotiated with the College for the establishment of a Rowing Fund within the College endowment. The main benefit of this is that eligible donations to the Rowing Fund will attract tax relief under the charities Gift Aid scheme. Although donations to the new Fund will formally belong to the College, it has been agreed that the Rowing Society Committee will decide how the funds are used. So in that respect, nothing will change.

Both the men's and women's 1st VIIIs have lost many of last summer's crew, which makes training up novices even more important than usual. Fortunately the weather, and river, have been kind so far, with just one morning's rowing lost, and that due to fog.

For those who haven't yet seen it, I recommend the Boat Club recruitment video produced by Rosemary Bridson [YouTube], which elicited enthusiastic responses (e.g., 'sign me up right now!') from several alumni when I forwarded it via the RS email list at the start of term.

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