Oxford University’s Alex Woods has chosen Henley Royal Regatta as the scene for a return to top-level competitive rowing for the first time since April’s dramatic Boat Race, which saw a swimmer stop the crews, a restart, a clash that broke an Oxford blade and then Woods’ collapse after his crew were defeated.
A now fit Woods, who had expected to retire after that eventually dramatic 2012 race, will compete in a coxless four in the Stewards’ Challenge Cup at Henley, with three of his crew-mates from the 2012 Blue Boat, including last year’s president Karl Hudspith, his successor Alex Davidson and American William Zeng.
In the final year of a medical degree Woods, 27, will decide in September whether to make a Boat Race return in 2013.
“Part of the reason for rowing this summer was so that if work [on the degree] is a bigger strain this year I’ll be physiologically more advanced,” he said. “And part of the motivation is to be able to look forward rather than seeing the Boat Race as a last swansong.
“For those of us who have found it difficult, it is good to be able to move on and put the Boat Race in its box.”
Woods, who was admitted to hospital after he collapsed in the Oxford boat on 7 April, continued: “I don’t remember much of the race and I haven’t quite had the courage to watch the race again in full.
“I still don’t understand what happened but there was a white flag at the end [from the umpire, to signify a fair race], we lost and that’s the difficult thing to come to terms with.
“Now we have to look at the next Boat Race and at what we can do to win it.”
Woods spent some time competing in Summer Eights racing with Pembroke College before making up his mind whether to continue seriously.
“The Boat Race was supposed to be my last big thing,” he said. “One reaction is that you don’t want to row again – it was a mixture of feelings.
“I couldn’t do exercise for several weeks; it took time to recover and I had to have more tests in hospital.
“I was lucky that I got into college rowing – it made a nice stepping stone back and let me remind myself of why I enjoy crew boats.”
Oxford had considered the possibility of entering their Boat Race crew to race in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley but work commitments prevented some members of the squad from continuing.
“After the race we gave people a bit of time to make their minds up. It came down to four guys who were keen to push on,” said Woods, who will steer the crew from the three seat.
“We could have got the Blue Boat back together but not at the level we would want. I don’t think being in the four is about proving ourselves and it might have been the case in the eight.
“We rowed in this crew a lot during the winter. It has never quite fired quite as well this summer as it did then but we’ve tried some different combinations.”
Oxford University face a strong Norwegian crew from Norske Studenters Roklub in Friday’s first round and the Australian Under-23 crew if they make it to Saturday’s semi-final.
“The crews we’re racing are clearly good guys and it will be tough but there’s no way of making a final without beating tough crews,” Woods added.
Several other 2012 Boat Race competitors, from both universities, were knocked out of the Regatta on Thursday morning.
Dan Harvey was in an Oxford University / Isis composite that hit the wooden booms at the top of the island and went on to lose to Durham University by 4 1/2 lengths in the Visitors Challenge Cup.
A Cambridge University / Leander crew featuring light blues Mike Thorp and Alex Ross was also knocked out of the same event, by Dutch crew ASD Nereus.
Fred Gill, Cambridge University’s winning Boat Race stroke in 2010, is part of a strong Molesey composite coxless four with Oxford Brookes University in the Visitors’ Challenge Cup. Drawn on the Buckinghamshire station, they face a tough challenge from Imperial College and University of London in their opener.
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