Tideway, Putney to Mortlake, Monday 13th December 2004
Ali Oyston watched the Light Blues battle it out in near-perfect conditions in London for their 2004 Trial Eights.
This afternoon saw the Cambridge Boat Race squad step out into the public eye for their 2004 Trial Eights race on the Tideway. Under the watchful eye of their Oxford rivals who were coming in from a training session, the Cambridge crews went afloat ready to do battle over the famously tough four and a quarter mile Championship course. Although bitterly cold, there were near perfect weather conditions on with no wind and a slack tide. The squad chose a Maori theme for this year's race, in tribute to the fantastic trip they enjoyed to Waikato earlier this year, with the Presidents crew 'Kaha' (meaning strength) racing on Surrey and 'Whakamanawa' (meaning honour) on Middlesex. In a closely fought race, Honour triumphed over Strength to win by 1.75 lengths, in a fast time of 16 minutes 41 seconds.
The Cambridge squad is incredibly talented this year, with four Olympians and five returning blues amongst the 25 rowers fighting it out for eight seats in the Blue Boat. Coach, Robin Williams succeeded in picking 2 fairly matched crews today who provided an impressive display of oarsmanship in an exciting race where the lead changed hands 3 times.
Both crews flew off the start striking 39, but Whakamanawa, steered by American Russ Glen, strode out slightly earlier than Kaha into a strong race rhythm, and by the black buoy they were half a length up. Forceful steering by Glen gave his crew the upper hand and they extended their lead to a length coming past the Mile Post. However, Kaha were not to be beaten that easily, and pulled back level as they came under Hammersmith Bridge. They pushed away from the bridge and with Matthias Kleinz, the strokeman man looking more and more determined by the minute, and they gained a quarter of a length advantage. There was a feeling though that Heidicker and the rest of Whakamanawa were just biding their time. The crews matched each other stroke for stroke coming down the Island but then as they passed Chiswick Pier, cox Russ Glenn urged his crew to make their move. They powered away to take a one length lead and the crews passed under Barnes Bridge line a stern, then as they rounded the final bend Whakamanawa widened the gap to finish 4 seconds ahead of Kaha.
Williams was delighted by the performance of his squad describing it as "everything you could wish for in a trial eights race". Both crews were given an invaluable induction to Tideway racing, but he was particularly impressed by the determined performance of Whakamanawa, stroked by German Olympian Heidecker. "There was a lot of heart from those guys; they were in no mood to lie down today". President Andrew Shannon experienced a day of mixed emotion as he was in the losing boat and expressed frustration that despite "throwing the kitchen sink into it" his crew couldn't make the move to take a decisive lead when they edged ahead. However he has an exciting few months ahead of him at the helm of a talented squad. Attention now turns to training camp and then final selection. Competition for seats is fierce amongst both coxes and rowers, winning cox Glenn seemed to sum up the sentiments of all his team mates when he said "it would be my ultimate dream to win that seat."
Kaha:
Bow Kyle Coveny+ (Hughes Hall) 2 Mark Nicholson (Homerton) 3 Henry Adams (St. Edmund's) 4 Tom Edwards (Gonville & Caius) 5 Andrew Shannon*+ (St. Edmund's) 6 Oli de Groot+ (Gonville & Caius) 7 Tom James* (Trinity Hall) Str Matthias Kleinz* (Gonville & Cauis) Cox Pete Rudge (Hughes Hall)
Whakamanawa:
Bow Ed Sherwood+ (Jesus) 2 Colin Scott+ (Trinity Hall) 3 Jonathan Goulet (Christ's) 4 Volker Utesch (St.Edmunds) 5 Sebastian Schulte (Gonville&Caius) 6 Steffen Buschbacher*+ (St.Catherine's) 7 Luke Walton (St.Edmunds) Str Bernd Heidicker (Hughes Hall) Cox Russ Glenn (Darwin)
* denotes previous Blue
+ denotes previous Goldie
Official verdict:
Whakamanawa beat Kaha in a time of 16:41 by 1.75 lengths (4 seconds)