The (un)reasonable effectiveness of college rowing in cambridge

Today I am using rowing to get my daily writing practice in.

I tried rowing only at the end of my 4th year at Cambridge, and I’ve been regular at it since my PhD started last October. To my greatest surprise, I love it.

In undergrad, I used to wake up at 5am to study and once claimed “I’d never wake up at 5am to go rowing”. I was well aware of rowers’ early mornings in the freezing river Cam. Little did I know about the hand damage and the permanent need to eat that rowers experience. Why do we volunteer for sleep deprivation and hypothermia just to move faster in a boat?

I believe the things making rowing, so seemingly terrible are key to the Cambridge rowing experience. Of course, I would never wake up at 5:30am on a cold, dark, rainy winter morning to get blisters. But, in my opinion, the essence of College rowing at Cambridge is that it is a *team* sport. Because you get in a boat with 8 other people who, no matter their year or degree, experience the same things as you, it’s very easy to bond with your crew. And that’s fun even for a one-off outing, but it gets even better when you train with them five days a week.

Not only is rowing a team sport, but it is also the local sport. I don’t know the actual numbers, but many students here row. I’ve always been one for niche sports, so I had no idea of what it feels like to practice a popular sport. When you meet someone at Cambridge, there’s a decent chance they row. It gives you an excuse to stay in touch, and maybe you’ll ask them to fill in for someone in your boat.

It’s not only a cross-college activity; it’s also cross-generation. Some of our coaches rowed with our college club when they were students. I supervise some undergraduate students who row, and my own supervisor used to cox. If my students need to rearrange a supervision because of rowing, I’m sympathetic to them, and it gives you something to do small talk.

It’s a great form of exercise (low impact cardio and uses every body part), and the need for eight rowers in a boat ensures that you won’t skip a session unless you really need it. It’s easy to improve, even if you are short and weren’t very sporty. And you can also practice by yourself on the ergs (indoor rowing machines). My favourite part about them is that you can see how fast you’re going at each stroke: I very much like the constant feedback.

A final note worth mentioning is the excellent job that college boat clubs (run by students) do to ensure that college rowing goes smoothly. Cambridge during term-time is quite chaotic, and rowing is no exception, but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that outings happen. The organisation of (most) races -some of which are run by individual Colleges- is also admirable. Yet nothing compares to the bumps, taking place twice a year at the end of Lent and Easter term; they’re the biggest college rowing competition, and it’s even broadcasted live on a student radio.

As with anything, there are some problems with rowing, and for some students, it can be an excessive time commitment. It’s certainly not for everyone, but for me, it’s forever changed my university experience.