Already a week into the trialing season and it seems to have flown by; yet I already feel like I've been training alongside the other girls for a lot longer. Some might attribute it to the emails we sent each other over the summer or the team building assault course that we challenged ourselves with at the beginning of the week. We did have a lot of fun running around in the mud, carrying tyres, jumping into water and clambering over various obstacles (although we are hoping our coxes and coaches didn't pick up too much of the instructors' bootcamp style). However, this sense of camaraderie is something that goes back further than just this year's squad and is strength drawn from being a member of CUW.
Every trialist signs up at the beginning of the season with the same goal, all with the desire to earn their seat and the right to row with light blue blades. We all dream of the opportunity to line up at the start of a Boat Race, alongside people who (if my past three years of CUW crews are anything to go by) will become some of your closest friends.
These are the girls who are there for you through the highs and lows, the laughs and the tears. They are the only people in the world who can truly understand what you are going through and why you are trialing - a question so often asked, yet one which no single sentence can ever fully answer.
This feeling of closeness within the squad and the crews that you become part of over the year was summed up for me when I received an email from Lene Hansen (BB 1997) during the summer. 'Almost 20 years on from the catfight to get into that
boat, those women are still my Blues Sisters. We have certainly had our
ups and downs, but most of us are in contact and I am more grateful for
them every passing year... In fact, I am hoping that one of my sons
marries one of my Sister's daughters!'
Looking back at the photo of some of us as we began our trialing journey at the assault course on Monday, we are very much a group of strong minded, competitive individuals. However, over the next few months we will become a team and form friendships that will no doubt last long after we cross the finish line next April.
The 2015
Boat Races will be historic ones both for our club and for women’s rowing as a
whole. Next year will see the first women’s crew race on the Tideway, over the
same course and on the same day as the more widely known Men’s Boat Race. As
the club looks forward to this event, it also provides an opportunity to look
back at the history of CUWBC; to remember that we are just one squad in a
history of Women’s Boat Races and give us a chance to reflect on what the Boat
Race means for all those who have raced before us.
Having
been elected as CUWBC President for the 2014/15 season I knew I would be joining
a unique group of people. A group of people who have voluntarily given their
time and effort to make the club what it is today; all the while having to
balance their own academic and rowing commitments. This was a group of people I wanted to get a
chance to know more about.
Over the
summer I wrote to all the past Presidents of the club asking if they would like
to contribute to a blog filled with stories of past crews and words of advice
to the current squad. The responses I have received have been amazing (so thank
you to everyone who has been in touch). I’ve
had messages to the squad, stories of trialling and races, newspaper cuttings
and photos sent to me. Over the next seven months I look forward to sharing their
contributions with you, as well as the 2015 squad’s journey. If anyone else has
any contributions they would like to pass on, I would be only too happy to
receive them – president@cuwbc.org.uk
Today
marks the start of our official trialling period, 209 days until the Henley
Boat Races and 215 days until the Tideway races. The start of trialling is
always a whirlwind of emotions, especially for those experiencing it for the
first time; excitement and nervousness at the challenges of the months ahead, as
well as a sense of going into the unknown, it is a comfort however to know that
whatever emotions you may be feeling, in all likelihood there will have been a
girl before you having the same thoughts.
In my
first post I would like to share with you all a message to the 2015 squad as
they start their trialling adventure. It
is based on Mary Schmich’s article which was later adapted into a
song by Baz Luhrmann (attached below). This advice comes courtesy of Lizzie Polgreen, the 2011
President.
Ladies
and Coxes of CUWBC 2015. Wear a bike helmet.
If I
could offer you only one tip for the season, a bike helmet would be it. The
benefits of wearing a bike helmet in bike accidents have been proved by
statistics, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my
own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy
your season. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and strength of
your body until it has faded. You will not understand the beauty of dedicating
everything of yourself to one race until the opportunity has passed. But trust
me, in a few years’ time, you’ll look back at photos and race results and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much potential lay before you. Life is
not as stressful as you imagine.
Don't
worry about the opposition. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as
trying to complete your supervision work by checking your emails. The real
progress in your season will come from being the best YOU can be, not from
competing with an unknown girl wearing dark blue one hundred miles away.
Do one
thing better every day.
Stretch.
Don’t
waste other people’s time. Don’t put up with people that waste yours.
Eat properly.
Don't
waste your effort on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.
The season is long and, in the end, the competition is only with
yourself.
Take
confidence from the races you win. Take greater confidence from the lessons learned
in the races you lose. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your
old training diaries. Throw away your old train tickets.
Core.
Don't
feel guilty if sometimes you aren't sure if you are capable of doing this. The
best athletes I know have moments of doubt in their training. It is dealing
with your self-doubt that matters.
Get as
much sleep as possible.
Maybe
you’ll win your seat race, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll be a blue, maybe you
won’t. Maybe you’ll be the spare, maybe you’ll race in the heavyweight reserves
boat. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself
either. Fulfil your potential, everything else is down to chance.
Dance,
even if you have nowhere to do it but the gym.
Accept
certain inalienable truths: Ely will be cold. Training will be hard. You, too,
will sometimes wonder why you are doing this. And when you do, you'll fantasize
about what you could be doing if you weren't out rowing, if you were living a
"normal" student life. Hold out, it is worth it.
Enjoy
your body. Use it every way you can. It is as strong and fast as it has ever
been. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Listen to
advice from your coaches, follow it.
Listen to
advice from your alumni, even if you don’t follow it.
Understand
that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard
to bridge the gaps in your crew, because the tougher the race, the more you
need to rely on each other.
Respect
your opposition. They understand the things you are doing.
Don’t
expect to rely on anything except boat speed. Maybe you have a 7 minute ergo,
maybe you have a 100kg deadlift. You never know when your seat race will be.
Be
careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice
is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the
disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more
than it's worth.
