Crews from Cambridge and Oxford Universities lined up earlier today for their respective trial eights races over the Championship course on the Tideway. Only the second time that both universities have held trial eights on the same day, the Cambridge crews “Shake” and “Bake” took to the water first, racing at 13:10, while Oxford’s “Nature” and “Nurture” went off on the full Boat Race tide at 14:25.

This is the first year that Cambridge have been coached by Olympian Steve Trapmore, who stroked the GB eight to gold at Sydney in 2000. Steve, who was previously head coach at Imperial College at Putney (where he coached a couple of the current OUBC squad), seems to be settling well into his new role with full support from the CUBC camp, while Oxford’s head coach Sean Bowden can practically do it with his eyes closed, after 17 years and numerous wins.

With the late timing of the 2010 World Championships, both squads are showing a marked reduction in their usual quota of “international treasures”, leading to a much heavier British & undergraduate representation across the crews than in recent years. CUBC have a slight edge in terms of experience, as they retain four blues from the 2010 race (and one from 2009), to Oxford’s lone blue – Ben Myers, the current OUBC president.

Results at the Head of the River Fours last month were similar for both universities, so the trial eights races promised an interesting insight into the respective talents of the squads.

Conditions were average for the time of year: the temperature a bracing 2 degrees above freezing; the northerly wind against the incoming tide, causing rough conditions from Putney to Hammersmith; and a strong stream in evidence, due to the 7m high tide.

The light blues boated in their published line-ups, with Shake on Surrey and Bake on Middlesex – clearly well matched crews, as few people in the CUBC team were willing to venture a result in advance. The familiar tones of Empacher yellow were noticeable by their absence, as the crews tried out a Hudson (the same hull used by the ‘Great eight’ in the HORR last year) and a Filippi, hoping to find out how both vessels coped with rough Tideway conditions.

As predicted there was little between the crews initially, though “Shake” settled into a long, smooth, easy rhythm almost immediately, while “Bake” just looked like they were trying a little bit too hard – good strong finishes in evidence but tense around the shoulders. Passing Barn Elms, the crews briefly clashed, giving referee Rob Clegg his only real activity of the day. After which Shake, their smooth rhythm still very much in evidence, started to edge ahead, making a decisive move at Harrods which extended their lead out to a length.

Stroke ratings were similar throughout the course, Shake slightly over-rating Bake by ½ pip but looking considerably lower.

Bake kept pushing back, but having taken the lead Shake cox Tom Fieldman took what the ref later referred to as a “very traditional course – wide and curvy”. Fieldman, who knows the Tideway well, having coxed at Laytmer Upper School and IC, read the river conditions well and successfully boxed Bake cox Liz Box from the best water as the crews came through Hammersmith. As she fell in behind, Shake extended their lead to two lengths by Chiswick Ait and continued to push ahead, finally winning by four lengths.

"It was great to see them perform under the pressure of racing, and we got a lot out of it", said Trapmore afterwards. "It was nice to watch 'Shake', and they will have gained a lot of confidence from it, but hats off to 'Bake' who, although a lighter crew, kept pushing and coming back and showing a real fighting spirit."

As for testing out the new boats? The on-board pumps remained turned off throughout, as neither boat took on any water, leaving the coaches with the unenviable challenge of finding suitably rough water elsewhere on which to make their comparisons.

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Boating just over an hour after Cambridge, the Oxford crews found the higher tide a tough place to compete, as conditions from Putney to Hammersmith worsened noticeably. Each crew had two late changes to their published orders and Nature, the preferred crew on paper, lined up on Surrey, whilst Nurture had Middlesex.

Following some quality faffing at the start, when the referee finally started the race Nurture were more prepared for it that Nature, and settled earlier as a result. They showed a cleaner, punchier rhythm than their opposition, who looked unsettled by the conditions and were not locking on at the catch as well as they could have.

Nurture exploited their early advantage to secure a 1/3 length lead by the time the crews passed London Rowing Club; by Fulham football ground they had moved out to a length and looked unstoppable.

Nurture’s cox Hannah Leadbetter then moved her crew wide into slower water by the Fulham flats – possibly looking for less rough conditions - but Nature failed to take advantage as they were still having issues in the rough conditions and had dropped another length by Hammersmith.

The distance between the crews remained the same until they moved passed Chiswick Ait into smoother water. When Nature (to their credit), finally settled into a better rhythm, and fighting for every stroke started to close the gap. Lifting their rate to 36 by Duke’s meadows they pulled it back to a length, but Nurture dug in deep, holding onto their lead and crossing the finish line about three seconds ahead.

"There was either some good tactics against bad tactics, or bad execution, I'm not sure which", commented Oxford coach Sean Bowden. "I thought they showed lots of fight and good gutsiness: once the second crew started to row long their speed came back.

'Nurture' had the better rhythm, particularly for the rougher water, and I think that told in the early stages."

Both squads seemed happy with the day’s events, confident that their athletes had learnt important lessons. Of course, with over three months until race day, plenty can still change, but the 2011 race is certainly shaping up to be an exciting one.

CAMBRIDGE
“SHAKE”
Seat	Name	Nationality	Age	College
Bow	Jamie Logie	British	20	Downing
2	Andrew Viquerat	Australian	27	King's
3	James Strawson	British	22	Trinity
4	Ben Evans	British	24	Clare
5	Dan Rix-Standing	British	20	St Catharine's
6	Hardy Cubasch	Australian/German	30	St. Edmund's
7	George Nash	British	21	St Catharine's
Stroke	Joel Jennings	British	23	Clare
Cox	Tom Fieldman	British	19	St John's
“BAKE”
Seat	Name	Nationality	Age	College
Bow	Nick Edelman	Australian	25	Hughes Hall
2	Charlie Pitt-Ford	British	25	Pembroke
3	Josh Pendry	British	19	St Catharine's
4	Alex Ross	New Zealander	21	Gonville & Caius College
5	Geoff Roth	Canadian	23	St. Edmund's
6	Derek Rasmussen	American	23	Hughes Hall
7	David Nelson	Australian	27	Hughes Hall
Stroke	Mike Thorp	British	20	Homerton
Cox	Liz Box	British / Australian	22	Hughes Hall
OXFORD
“NATURE”
Seat	Name	Nationality	Age	College
Bow	Charlie Auer	British	19	Keble
2	Tom Watson	Canadian	22	Brasenose
3	Dan Harvey	British	23	Mansfield
4	David Whiffin	British	23	New College
5	Karl Hudspith	British	22	St Peter's
6	Moritz Hafner	German	26	Oriel
7	Ben Myers	British	21	Exeter
Stroke	Constantine Louloudis	British	19	Trinity
Cox	Zoë De Toledo	British	23	St Catherine's
“NURTURE”
Seat	Name	Nationality	Age	College
Bow	George Blessley	British/Australian	24	Pembroke
2	Matt Pointing	British	22	St Anne's
3	Alex Woods	British	25	Pembroke
4	Alec Dent	British	21	Keble
5	Ben Ellison	British	22	St. Anne's
6	Simon Hislop	British	26	Oriel
7	George Whittaker	British	29	Oriel
Stroke	Ben Snodin	British	21	Exeter
Cox	Hannah Leadbetter	British	23	Merton