Reflections on our race

It's said that history is written by the winners; this year for the second year running history will be written that CUWBC lost all three of their Henley Boat Races. History, like the news articles that have been published about the race, however, do not tell the story of CUW over the last couple of years. They don't tell of the journey we're on or the real reasons we continue to trial year after year.

We lost our race two Sundays ago. We'll be the first to admit it wasn't our finest performance and the margin shouldn't have been anywhere near as big as it was. Crossing the finish line second for a second year running is crushing; you've poured your heart and soul into training all year, finally you get your chance to show your friends and family everything you've been training for all year and yet you fall short.

We live by the sword; the Boat Race requires you to put heart and soul on the line, it's a cruel experience for one crew exposing their every weakness. While the victors can be happy with their results and celebrate their win, the losers are left to analyse the race over and over again, every photo and video, picking out every little thing you could have done differently. Then you have to wait another year to race all over again. Sure there are other races and goals along the way, but in the aftermath of another defeat you can be sure we're all itching for revenge. 

However, trialling is about more than just winning the Boat Race (even though that is it's major focus, don't get us wrong), otherwise we could have finished our trialling lives a couple of years back and spent our time seeing friends, working and going out (or whatever it is that non-rowers do). Trialling gives us all a chance to get stronger, fitter and to strive to better our best performances to date. Trialling is a chance to push our limits, find places we've never been before. And trialling has given us a chance to meet some of the most amazing people. Some of the squad get awestruck when they get to meet Olympians, however these are not the amazing people we have in mind. It's the other girls in the squad, the girls who get up at 5am to train, have to have full days of lectures, essays and supervisions, before training again,  having to diet if they're a lightweight and having to try and keep some form of social life before going to bed exhausted and then having to get up to do it all again. These are the girls who keep you going when training's tough and who keep you smiling. A couple of weeks ago we were sent through some media questions; one of them was 'if you could pick one girl from the Oxford crew to be in your boat who would it be?' Our answer now, even after the result, is exactly the same as it was back then - we wouldn't want any of them, nothing personal to them, but we couldn't imagine 8 other girls we'd rather have been in a boat with. 8 other girls who have shared the highs and lows of the past 7 months/3 years, girls we've laughed with, cried with, pushed as hard as we could for and who have become some of the best friends we could ever ask for. 

8 crazy friends who have made the last year so unforgettable and fun

While you can feel disenchanted, empty and at a loss having lost the race, one thing we will never feel is regret at having had another amazing year surrounded by an awesome squad. We've got so many amazing memories to take from this year, even if it looks like we'll have to save the memories of winning again until next year.