Bastien Ripoll, an unassuming engineering student from Toulouse, looks set to make history when the 2006 Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging, takes place at 4.35pm on Sunday 2 April.
Should Ripoll, aged 25, escape illness and injury between now and that date, he will become the first Frenchman to have rowed in The Race which takes place every year between Putney and Mortlake on the river Thames and features crews from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
What's more, the Frenchman has won the coveted "stroke" seat. He will set the rhythm for the powerhouses behind him in the Dark Blue crew.
"Bastien is so focussed and sets us up with a fantastic rhythm", said Oxford President Barney Williams who has himself become a focus of attention after becoming a father for the first time recently.
The new arrival has tested his time management skills to the full as he juggles new parenthood, rowing training, studying and his presidential duties on a daily basis. His wife, Buffy, is also studying at Oxford and is a former international rower with Canada.
"We have huge confidence in Sean (Bowden), our coach, and I'm really enjoying working in partnership with him to create a training programme which, it has to be said, is pretty tough. You would think that this would be a time to haul back on the reins a little and take it easy because of lack of sleep or whatever but I actually feel so much stronger than I did last year. There is a real sense that everyone is pushing each other within the squad which makes it a really exciting environment to train in", said Williams.
Ripoll and Williams were both named today in an Oxford crew which is bristling with international talent, reflecting the increasingly international student base at both Oxford and Cambridge.
They will be joined by GB squad members Colin Smith and Tom Parker as well as American and Canadian internationals Paul Daniels, Jake Wetzel and Jamie Schroeder as and English undergraduate Robin Ejsmond-Frey who rowed in Isis in 2005, was a junior county rugby player and is now studying theology. The Oxford Blue Boat will be coxed by Nick Brodie.
The Light Blues will race this year under the guidance of new coach Duncan Holland. A New Zealander, Holland joined Cambridge University Boat Club as Head Coach in April of last year after previous top-flight experience with Swiss, Dutch and New Zealand crews amongst others. He took over from Robin Williams who had stepped down from the position after the 2005 Race, having been at the club for over a decade.
Commenting on the challenge ahead, in which he will pit his skills against those of long-established Oxford coach Sean Bowden, Holland said: "We are focussing on boatspeed and getting it right on the day. I know it is a sporting cliche but 'control the controllable'. I can't affect what Oxford do, so worrying about them doesn't help our boat go faster. At the moment we are working on economy of movement; going fast without using excessive energy, and the psychology of peaking at the right moment. Oxford will be fast, we know that. We are intending to be faster".
Bowden meanwhile said: "Training has gone well so far with good gains in fitness and technique across the whole squad. We all recognise the challenge that Cambridge represent this year and we continue to push as hard as we can to ready ourselves for The Race"
Holland's crew will also go to the line packed with international-class oarsmen. Canadian Kip McDaniel will stroke the boat which will include Britain's 2000 Olympic champion and former Cambridge President, Kieran West, who has returned to Cambridge to study for a PhD, as well as GB Olympian and engineering undergraduate, Tom James.
Holland can equally call upon the considerable power and expertise offered by a trio of German international medallists in Sebastian Schulte, Sebastian Thormann (a qualified doctor) and Berliner Thorsten Engelmann.
Tom Edwards, Cambridge's popular Australian President, has avoided the fate of his immediate predecessor, Andrew Shannon, by winning a seat in the Blue Boat rather than having to settle for the reserves. Like American Luke Walton and British cox Peter Rudge, he is also a returning Blue.
Boat Race sponsor Xchanging can therefore rest assured that they are supporting a quality contest in the second race under their backing. Cambridge lead the series overall since 1829 by 78-72. Oxford won last year's contest. Many recent Boat Races have been packed with excitement including the 2003 Race which Oxford one by just one foot.
The 2006 Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging
CREW LISTS
CAMBRIDGE
NAME(AGE) COLLEGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN DOB
Thomas (Tom) Edwards (28) Gonville & Caius The Friends' School Hobart, Australia
26/5/77
Thorsten Englemann (24) St Edmund's Humbold Gymnasium, Berlin Berlin
20/7/81
Tom James (21) Trinity Hall King's School, Chester Wrexham
11/3/84
Kristopher (Kip) McDaniel (24) St Edmund's Shawnigan Lake School Cobble Hill, BC, Canada
27/1/82
Peter Rudge (24) Hughes Hall King's School, Chester Chester
21/10/81 (cox)
Sebastian Schulte (27) Gonville & Caius Dilthey-Schule Wiesbaden Wiesbaden, Germany
13/12/78
Sebastian (Seb) Thormann (30) Peterhouse Dietrich-Bonhoeffer Wertheim
21/2/76
Luke Walton (26) St Edmund's Poway High School
29/5/79
Kieran West (28) Pembroke Dulwich College West Byfleet, Surrey
18/9/77
OXFORD
Nicholas (Nick) Brodie (19) St Catherine's Abingdon School Oxford
6/8/86 (cox)
Paul Daniels (24) St Anne's Burlington, Wisconsin,USA
4/6/81
Robin Esjmond-Frey (19) Oriel St Paul's Hammersmith
14/3/86
Tom Parker (23) Harris Manchester Radley Winchester
24/10/82
Bastien Ripoll (25) St Catherine's Lycee Bellevue, Toulouse Toulouse, France
8/7/80
James (Jamie) Schroeder (24) Christ Church Choate Rosemary Hall Wilmette, Illinois, USA
9/9/81
Colin Smith (22) St Catherine's Prince Edward Henley-on-Thames
23/9/83
Jacob (Jake) Wetzel (29) Linacre University of British Columbia Golden, BC, Canada
26/12/76
Barney Williams (28) Jesus Upper Canada College, Toronto Victoria, BC, Canada
13/3/77
ISIS AND GOLDIE CREW LISTS
CAMBRIDGE - GOLDIE
NAME(AGE) COLLEGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN
DOB
Ian Coveny (31) Hughes Hall Warsaw Central Warsaw, New York, USA
25/12/74
Kyle Coveny (25) Hughes Hall Warsaw Central Warsaw, New York, USA
11/5/80
Russell Glenn (24) Darwin Moorpark High School Los Angeles, CA. USA
3/2/82
Jesper Hasell (24) Pembroke Wellington School, Somerset Wellington, Somerset
29/7/81
Charlie Palmer (27) Hughes Hall Launceston Church Grammar Hagley, Tasmania, AU
25/10/78
Samuel (Sam) Pearson (24)Jesus Wynberg Boys' High School Cape Town
25/5/81
Tim (Perko) Perkins (27) Jesus Wesley College, Perth Perth, Australia
4/5/78
Edward (Ed) Sherwood (21) Jesus Malbank, Cheshire Nantwich
7/5/84
Don Wyper (23) St Edmund's St John's Jesuit High School Toledo, Ohio, USA
4/5/82
OXFORD - ISIS
Andrew Brennan (23) Wadham Episcopal Academy, Merion Valley Forge, PA, USA
6/5/82
Dominic Burke (24) Lincoln Colaiste Iognaid School Galway, Ireland
18/11/81
Phillip (Phil) Killicoat (25) Magdalen Bordertown High School Bordertown, AUS
8/10/80
Terence Kooyker (22) Keble The Lawrenceville School New York City, USA
12/8/83
Bruce Magee (25) St Catherine's Southland Boys High Ivercargill, NZ
13/8/80
Jonathan (Jonny) Mathews (22) Balliol St Paul's Esher
15/7/83
Michiel Munneke (25) Christ Church Maartens College Amsterdam
7/1/81
Sebastian (Seb) Pearce (23) Pembroke The King's School, Worcester Bromsgrove
10/5/82
Andrew Wright (25) St Edmund's Nelson High, Burlington Burlington, Ontario
28/1/81
includes complete crew lineups