News postings from other seasons can be found in the Squad News Archive.

The World Championships begin in Japan in just under a week, and the OUBC website hopes to carry news of the results of those events of interest to OUBC supporters. Internet access permitting, reporter Simon Flack will post updates from out in Gifu as the week's racing progresses, culminating in the Finals scheduled for 3rd & 4th Sept.

For those in the UK, the BBC is due to cover both days of Finals (13:05 onwards on Sat, 14:15 onwards on Sun) whilst Eurosport will be showing racing highlights from 9:30 to 10:30am CET every day from 1st to 3rd September and from 9:00 to 10:30am on 4th September.

Oxford oarsmen racing for their countries:

• Pete Reed & Andy Hodge (GBR 4-)
• Acer Nethercott (GBR 8+)
• Colin Smith (GBR 1x)
• Scott Frandsen & Barney Williams (CAN 8+)
• Mike Blomquist (USA 8+)

Simon Flack's Gifu updates can be found at www.oubc.rowing.org.uk/new/gifu.jsp

As the Senior World Championships in Gifu (Japan) approach ever closer, a number of OUBC athletes are training as part of their national squads and preparing to race.

Joining already annouced Blues Pete Reed, Andy Hodge and Acer Nethercott in the Great Britain Squad will be Colin Smith. Colin had been expecting to race in the double, but the illness of his crewmate that hampered their Lucerne and U23 regattas has changed things slightly, and Colin will now race in the single.

Elsewhere, Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams are back in Canada as former Oxford Coach Mike Spracklen finalises his Canadian Team; expecting to join Scott and Barney in Japan is Mike Blomquist, currently trialing for the U.S. National Team and in the frame for the 8+. America are the Olympic Champions from Athens last year, whilst Canada are the reigning World Champions. OUBC supporters will be hoping that Scott and Barney do not end up in the eight, with Oxford loyalties already looking likely to be torn if Blomquist and Nethercott come face-to-face in the regatta's blue ribband event.

Before lamenting this state of affairs too vociferously however, the dilemma will no doubt be kept in perspective by remembering that this is an unusual and rather pleasant position for the supporter of any Boat Club to be in. And with four OUBC athletes at U23s and six at Senior Worlds, it seems pretty apparent that Oxford University Boat Club continues to go from strength to strength.

On Wednesday, 10th August, a team of nine OUBC men headed out to sunny Malaga to do battle with the old enemy Cambridge and a local crew from Malaga in the city's main harbour. It was the inaugural Oxford-Cambridge-Malaga International Regatta. While Cambridge had brought out a crew of guys intent on trialling for the 2006 Boat Race including three members of their winning Ladies Plate eight, all of whom were looking to gain some pre-season racing experience and get some valuable training done as a small squad, Oxford had selected some of its finest former Isis oarsmen alongside one Old Blue, most of whom had prised themselves away from their desks to be there and who were seeking pre-season experience of a different kind...

The plan was simple: attack from the start and never say die, Iron Eagle. Naturally the Oxford boys were immensely disappointed when the course had to be shortened from 1800m to 500m having undertaken an extensive taper cycle in the bars and nightclubs of Malaga over the days before, but they stayed focused on the job in hand. Their rigorous preparation paid off in the first race, as they pipped the explosive Malaga crew to the post by two tenths of a second in a time of 1.16, beating Cambridge, who seemed to be coping badly with the enormous swell, by 7 seconds. The second race unfolded very differently, as Oxford and Cambridge - allocated adjacent stations this time - entered into a clash within the first twenty strokes, allowing the Malaga crew to sneak away on the outside station and claim the victory by a comfortable margin. Oxford crossed the line behind Cambridge but with only seven oars in tact, Andrew Keats' spoon having been snapped off near the start. Though disappointed with the loss, the Oxford boys took heart in the fact that they actually moved on Cambridge in the second half of the race, after Keats' blade had broken, to the utter disbelief of the Cambridge coaching team. Thus, on aggregate times, Malaga came first (2.29.71), Oxford second (2.36.47) and Cambridge third (2.40.62). The OUBC would like to thank all who were involved in the organisation of the regatta for a very enjoyable trip.

Oxford crew (from bow to stern):
Andrew Keats [Isis 05]; Richard Pinckney [Isis 01]; Nick Tuppen [Isis 03, 04]; Chris Reeve [Isis 01, 02, 03, 04]; Jonny Mathews [Isis 04, 05]; Nick O'Grady [Isis 00, 01, 02]; Ciaran Hayes [Isis 03]; Henry Morris [Isis 02, 05; Blue 03, 04]; Pete Hackworth (cox) [Isis 01; Blue 02].

Cambridge crew (from bow to stern):
Ed Sherwood [Goldie 04, 05]; Charlie Palmer [2006 trialist]; Sam Pearson [2006 trialist]; Don Wyner [2006 trialist]; Kyle Coveny [Goldie 04, 05]; Tom Edwards [Blue 05]; Henry Adams [Blue 05]; Oli de Groot [Goldie 04, 05]; Pete Rudge (cox) [Blue 05].

Four current OUBC members rowed in the first ever U23 World Championships, held in Amsterdam at the end of July. Dave Livingston, Robin Esjmond-Frey and Nick Brodie - 6, 5 and cox respectively of the 2005 Isis crew - rowed in those same seats in the heavyweight men's eight. Colin Smith, thhe 2005 Isis stroke, rowed in the men's double.

The men's eight had further OUBC input in the form of Jonny Singfield, Isis coach. The four of them dominated the boat from their influential positions. The crew started strongly in their three races, but struggled to keep pace with the front-runners later on. They finally finished tenth out of fifteen crews, a very creditable result considering the crew was put together just two weeks before racing started.

Colin was rowing in the double with Alex Gregory from Reading University. After reaching the final with relative ease, their times throughout the early rounds of racing made them firm favourites for gold. Unfortunately Alex suffered some form of attack to his lungs, the exact cause of which is still unknown. A similar problem had caused with double to withdraw early from the Lucerne World Cup two weeks prior. After leading the final early on, the double ended up fourth out of nineteen crews.

For four of the six British members of this year's Isis crew to represent their country at the U23 World Champs is a huge credit to coach Jonny Singfield and the entire OUBC team who manage to prepare the athletes so well even months after the Boat Race that is the main focus of the Oxford season.

The Great Britain team for the World Championships in Japan and the U23 World Championships in Amsterdam have been named, and a number of Oxford men are involved.

In the Senior Team Pete Reed and Andy Hodge are confirmed in the 4-, whilst Acer Nethercott is to cox the 8+. Colin Smith will race in Amsterdam in the 2x, with selection to the Senior Team for Japan after that an open possibility. Joining Colin in Amsterdam on the U23 Team are Dave Livingston, Robin Ejsmond-Frey and Nick Brodie - six-seat, five-seat and cox respectively of this year's Isis crew, who will take up those exact same seats in the GB U23 8+. That boat will be coached by Jonny Singfield, former GB Oarsman and Olympian, OUBC Assistant Coach. All at OUBC wish them the best of luck with their international racing.

OUBC athletes enjoyed a mixture of results in Lucerne this weekend. Pete Reed and Andy Hodge secured their third Gold of the World Cup season, and the GB 4- they form half of have now taken first place in every one of the World Cup regattas.

Elsewhere Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams placed fifth in the pair for Canada, whilst the remaining OUBC-related enteries were inflicted with illness. Colin Smith's Double had to withdraw due to the illness of Colin's stroke man, Alex Gregory, after their heat. And the British Eight, coxed by Acer Nethercott - back in the boat after racing for Oxford in the Grand at Henley - lost their bowman to a viral infection on their first day out in Switzerland, and had to fly out a last-minute sub for racing. Despite this, the young Eight made the A Final and placed fifth - astonishingly the best result for a British 8+ at Lucerne since the Sydney Gold-Medal Eight won there in 2000, two months before the Olympics. The Eights event was won this year by Oxford's Henley vanquishers, the Germans, in a time 11secs faster than that of the GB crew. That victory saw the Germans clinch the overall World Cup title in the Eights after this, the final regatta of the 2005 World Cup series.

Next up is the U23 World Championships - in Amsterdam in two weeks' time - for Colin Smith and the Double, and the World Championships in Japan which take place at the beginning of September for the rest of these men.

The third and final Bearing Point World Cup Regatta of the year takes place in Lucerne, Switzerland this week. OUBC men competing for their countries will be Pete Reed and Andy Hodge in the British Four, Acer Nethercott in the British Eight, Colin Smith in the British 2x and Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams in the Canadian pair. All at OUBC wish them the best of luck for their racing.

...Sunday 3rd July 2005...

Finals day at Henley 2005 saw two Oxford oarsmen walk away with Henley medals. Pete Reed and Andy Hodge, Boat Race winners with this year's Blue Boat, won the Stewards' Challenge Cup against the Canadian 4- they will race again in Lucerne in a week's time. Leading by a length at Fawley - just under half way through the course - their Canadian opposition then hit the booms to effectively end the race, resulting in an "easily" verdict for the British Four.

In the other race of OUBC interest, the Oxford pair of Williams and Frandsen put up a brave battle but eventually succumbed to the experienced and impressively slick pairing of Di Clemente and Cech of South Africa. The Athens bronze-medallists led off the start and always looked in control against an Oxford pairing who had had a heavy week of Henley racing and must have been feeling the lactate in their legs. There is no rest for the wicked, however, as Williams and Frandsen fly out to Switzerland for the Lucerne World Cup Regatta at 05:30 tomorrow morning. There they will represent Canada in the pair, before heading back to Canada for five weeks' training and then flying out to Japan for the World Championships.

...Saturday 2nd July 2005...

OUBC oarsmen took part in some cracking races on semi-final day at Henley today.

Kicking it all off in the Grand at 11:40 was the combined 2003/2005 crew of Acer Nethercott (cox), Barney Williams, Jason Flickinger, Mike Blomquist, Chris Liwski, Joe von Maltzahn, Scott Frandsen, Dave Livingston and Robin Bourne-Taylor. Racing on the outside station against the German boat that won World Cup gold at Dorney last month and contains six of their Athens Olympic crew, the Oxford crew of students (Flickinger's exams only finished on Thursday, for example) were always going to be up against it. But, having been bumped up from the University-level Eights event (the Ladies' Plate) to the Grand by the Stewards of Henley, the Oxford crew had embraced the challenge that represented and consistently put down times - Barrier pieces, 500ms etc. - that indicated that they had the speed to be competitive.

In a real hum-dinger of a race, the German crew triumphed by half a length in a very fast time of 6:15. Despite the headwind conditions today, that time has only been bettered by Grand winners in two of the past eight years, and it was an astounding 19secs faster than the second Grand semi-final of the day in which the British 8+ beat the Czech U23 crew. The Oxford crew were truly gutted by the loss, as they had believed that they were capable of doing something quite special and upsetting the odds; and as they traded blows with the German Eight stroke-for-stroke for the bulk of the world-famous course and then really put them under pressure in the sprint for the line, that belief was proved not unjustified. But a fast start from a German crew that tactically played it very well to maximise the advantage of their inside station superbly early on meant that the damage had been done, and there was just that little bit too much to overhaul for the Oxford crew in the final sprint for the line as they bore down upon them.

All in all however, it was a more than creditable performce for a group of students who have only been able to train once a day this term due to the academic pressures of life at the most presitigous and academically rigourous University in Britain - if not the world - against a World-class crew of dedicated, professional atheletes. As such, it was met with raptuous applause from the many Oxford supporters cheering from the enclosures, and showed for all the rowing world to see the kind of club the OUBC is today. With four victories in the last six Boat Races and consistently victorious over the likes of Leander, and now demonstrably competitive at the international level too, the OUBC is indisputibly the premier rowing club in the country.

Next up was the British 4- containing Boat Race winners Pete Reed and Andy Hodge in the Stewards' Challenge Cup. They beat a Czech four comfortably by three and a half lengths to set up a Sunday final against the Canadians. Just ten minutes later the Ladies' Plate semi-final between the Brown Alumni crew and Cambridge University resulted in the closest race of the day. Trading the lead all the way down the course, the lack of time together in a boat - or just in a boat, in many cases - told for the Brown crew oof old boys in the sprint for the line and Cambridge took the win by a mere three feet. In the final OUBC race of the day, Barney Williams and Scott Frandsen raced in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' at 18:50. Fresh from their bruising encounter with the Germans in the Grand earlier in the day, the Oxford pair were nonetheless able to do enough to see off the challenge of the Danish lightweight pair that won gold at the recent Dorney World Cup, and so to book themselves a place in tomorrow's final.

Sunday Timetable:

• OUBC in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' - 14:50.
• OUBC in the Stewards' - 15:40.

...Friday 1st July 2005...

In today's racing Oxford oarsmen faced mixed results. OUBC interest in the Visitors' Challenge Cup for coxless fours is unfortunately now over, with both Bill Feyna's boat and Robin Ejsmond-Frey and Henry Morris' boat going out today. In the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' Challenge Cup the OUBC boat of Barney Williams and Scott Frandsen beat Ciaran Hayes' pair by two and three-quarter lengths. Meanwhile, in a bizarre incident in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup one of Luke McGee's oar handles snapped clean off at the top of the Island - the big guy obviously just laying down too much crank - resulting in a "not rowed out" verdict in favour of his oppponents. Later in the day McGee slotted in to the multiple-OUBC-alumni-containing "Brown Alumni" crew and beat the Tasmanian Institute of Sport's entry in the Ladies' Plate event by two and a quarter lengths. Tomorrow that crew will face the Cambridge University Eight.

In the lunchbreak the GB 4- that's racing at Henley as an Oxford University/Leander composite did a piece off the start with the Oxford entry in the Grand. Neither crew raced today, and both thus used the piece as a warm up ahead of tomorrow. By the time the 4- wound down at 500m the Oxford Eight had established a length lead, and continued on to finish their piece at the Barrier. Tomorrow the 4- faces an Australian national team boat from Sydney Rowing Club, whilst the Oxford Eight races the German National Eight in the semi-finals of the Grand Challlenge Cup.

Saturday Timetable:

• OUBC in the Grand (8+) - 11:40.
• OUBC in the Stewards' (4-) - 15:30.
• OUBC in the Ladies' Plate (8+) - 15:40.
• OUBC in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' (2-) - 18:50.

...Thursday 30th June 2005...

The regatta began today for six of the Oxford oarsmen taking part. Robin Ejsmond-Frey (Isis '05) and Henry Morris (Isis '02, BB '03, BB '04, Isis '05) recorded an "easily" verdict in their race against Upper Thames Rowing Club in the Visitors', whilst Bill Fedyna (Isis '03) is part of the New York Athletic Club crew over from the States that beat the Yale University 4- by three lengths in the same competition. Scott Frandsen (BB '03) and Barney Williams (BB '05, President '06) were not stretched in their five length vistory in the first round of the Silver Goblets and Nickalls', whilst Ciaran Hayes (Isis '03) beat a pair from the City of Sheffiled Rowing Club. Intriguingly, Ciaran's Wallingford Rowing Club pair will now face the Oxford University pair of Frandsen and Williams in tomorrow's racing.

The Visitors' boats race again tomorrow, as does the Ladies' Plate Brown Alumni crew containing Luke McGee (BB '02), Joel Scrogin (BB '04) and Christian Albert (Isis '01). Luke "Big Bad Bubba" McGee is also racing this week in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup, and despite falling behind off the start his 2x recorded an "easily" victory today. The GB 2x containing Colin Smith (BB '04, Isis '05) that was to compete for the smae trophy has pulled out, deciding to concentrate instead on the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne next week and the U23 World Championships shortly thereafter in advance of the season-long goal that is the World Championships in Japan at the end of August.

The Stewards' 4- that contains Pete Reed (BB '04, '05) and Andy Hodge (BB '05) races on Saturday, but will go for a paddle both before racing starts and in the lunch break tomorrow. Similarly, the Oxford Eight that is to race in the Grand will do so first on Saturday, but will be going for a paddle during the lunch break tomorrow.

Oxford beat Cambridge and Leander - again.

Marlow Amateur Regatta, the traditional Henley warm-up held on the 2006 World Championships course at Dorney, celebrated 150 years this year - and the 150th regatta saw Oxford continue their winning season with a number of victories. Robin Ejsmond-Frey and Henry Morris won Elite Coxless fours, sprinting through to beat a GB U23 boat by a canvas at the line, as part of an OUBC/Oxford Brookes composite. Scott Frandsen and Barney Willaims won Elite Pairs easily, before joining up with the rest of the Oxford Grand Challenge Eight to win Elite Eights as well. The latter event saw Oxford home first, four seconds ahead of Cambridge and eleven seconds ahead of Leander (the top club crew in the country and winners of the Eights Head of the River race). That decisive victory follows on from the Boat Race drubbing of Cambridge by this year's record-breaking Blue Boat and the vertiable spanking handed out to the international star-packed Leander crew two weeks before in OUBC's final pre- Boat Race warm-up fixture. With no-one of a suitably comparable calibre to race on the domestic scene, is it any wonder the Stewards of Henley have decided to bump Oxford up from the Ladies' Plate (which Cambridge and Leander will both contest) to the international-standard Grand?

Oxford University Boat Club has a number of entries at the Henley Royal Regatta this year. Colin Smith strokes the GB 2x in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup, whilst Pete Reed and Andy Hodge race in the Stewards' Challenge Cup as part of the OUBC/Leander composite that is the GB 4-. Barney Williams (BB'05) and Scott Frandsen (BB'03) will contest the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' in the pair, whilst Robin Ejsmond-Frey and Henry Morris are in a composite crew for the Visitors' Challenge Cup.

Both Oxford and Cambridge have entered Eights this year in the University eight-oared event, the Ladies' Challenge Plate. The Oxford crew has been bumped up by the Stewards of Henley to race for the Grand Challenge Cup instead, the top event at the regatta, usually reserved for international Eights. The Oxford crew, comprising six rowers from this year's Boat Race crew supplemented by a further two from the victorious 2003 crew, will now race the German National Eight that won the first World Cup regatta of the season in Dorney, the GB National Eight that took home the bronze medal at that same regatta, and a Czech National Eight. Cambridge still race in the Ladies' Plate event.

Henley Royal Regatta takes place from 29th June to 3rd July this year.

The 2005 international season kicked off with the first World Cup regatta in Dorney, England from 26th to 28th May. It was the first full international regatta to be held on British soil since 1986, and the crowds turned out accordingly to cheer on the home team.

The support proved successful, with GB Team finishing the regatta as the top-ranked nation. An integral part of that success was the contribution of several OUBC athletes. 2005 Blue Boat oarsmen Pete Reed and Andy Hodge rowed in the GB 4- that won gold, whilst Blue Boat cox 2003-2005 Acer Nethercott coxed the British 8+ to bronze. 2004 Blue Boat strokeman Colin Smith was sculling rather than sweeping, and won the C Final in his single amongst a very strong field.

In addition to the British contingent, Oxford oarsmen were out in force elsewhere. 2005 Boat Race winners Chris Liwski and Mike Blomquist comprised the Amercan pair, and after a build up hampered by illness and, due to the Dorney crosswind, an unfavourable lane in their final, they finished ninth overall in that event. Also in the 2- field were Cambridge oarsmen Josh West and Kieron West, competing as the GB pair, and Barney Williams (BB'05) and Scott Fandsen (BB'03) representing their native Canada. Theses two crews were drawn together in the semi-final on the Friday and a gripping race ensued. The Oxford/Canadian pair led for the bulk of the piece and with the rest of the field well back, both crews were safely through to the A Final of the next day. The done thing would therefore have been to settle for a seemly and mutually energy-conserving paddle to the line. However, the latent competitiveness of the elite level athlete combined with a vestigial sense of Boat Race rivalrly to see the Cambridge boat move through and into the lead as both crews wound, and then sprinted, for the line. The boys from Canada were not to be so easily beaten however and despite giving away six inches in height and leverage to their Cambridge rivals the fiesty little Oxford pair found the extra gear required to see off their foes, rowing back through them to cross the line first. In the Final the next day the Oxford Canadian crew were never troubled by the Brits from Cambridge and came home third, a mere 0.27secs behind their compatriots in the other Canadian pair, who took silver.

The second World Cup regatta will this year be held in Munich, Germany, on 17-19 June. The series then concludes in Lucerne, Switzerland, on 8-10 July.

The Oxford Blue Boat pairing of Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed win GB Trials regatta for 2005.

Fresh from their two and a half length victory over Cambridge in the 151st Boat Race, Oxford stroke-man and three-man Andy Hodge and Pete Reed - aka "The Belly" and "The Commander" respectively - teamed up in the ol' 2- to beat the best of the rest of Britian at the GB Final Trials in Hazelwinkel, Belgium.

Off the back of the a dominant row in the final in which they comfortably beat the top squad pairing of Alex Partridge and Athens Gold Medallist Stevie Williams, Pete and Hodgey have now been named in the lead boat for the summer international racing season - the coxless four - and will now train under Jurgen Grobler in Henley as part of the British Team. All here at Oxford wish them all the best for the World Cup regattas and then the World Championships in Japan at the beginning of September.

Oxford won the 151st Boat Race by two and a half lengths on Sunday 27 March 2005.

The heaviest crew of all time led from the start in a dominant display of aggressive, tactical racing. In slow conditions, Oxford took the race by the scruff of the neck and put their Cambridge counterparts on the backfoot from the very first stroke. Forging ahead down the line of moored boats, the Dark Blue boat then weathered the storm as Cambridge attacked and used their Middlesex bend to help them get back on level terms. As that bend ran out and the two boats swung on to the Milepost straight, Oxford piled on the pressure and started to move away. A sustained period of attacking rowing from there onto and into the Surrey bend saw Oxford lead Cambridge by a length down the Chiswick Eyot; at the end of that straight a devestatingly powerful push, timed after pushing Cambridge wide and then steering away and into the start of the final third of the Surrey bend by Chiswick Steps, saw Oxford move out to a length and a half lead and thus able to send their bowside puddles down under Cambridge's shell.

Despite the lead they now enjoyed, the Oxford Blue Boat continued to push on and in the following section of the race (from Chiswick Steps to Barnes Bridge) - the only section of the course not raced into a head-wind - broke the Boat Race course record by two seconds. Cambridge however never gave up, and proved they were (as they had repeatedly claimed) the best Cambridge Blue Boat ever put out in doing well to prevent a relaxed, powerful and totally dominant Oxford crew from extending their lead much further. The final verdict at the line was two and a half lengths to Oxford, in a time (16:42) that stands second only to the 1998 race in the 176-year history of the contest.