Two undergraduate students from Sidney Sussex College have been selected to cox at The Gemini Boat Race 2023.

James Trotman (1st Year, Economics) will cox the Women’s Blue Boat in the 77th Women’s Boat Race. Kate Crowley (2nd Year, History) will be in the Cambridge Reserve Boat, Blondie, for the Women’s Reserve Race.

Portrait shots of a young man and a young woman.

James, from London, learned to row on the same stretch of the Thames Tideway as plays host to The Boat Race. Looking ahead to the Women’s Race, which will be televised live to an audience of 15 million people, he said: “I'm really excited. The Boat Race is kind of a bucket list item for most rowers. A lot of them will go through their national team, they might do the Olympics or the World Championships, but then they still want to come and do The Boat Race.

“A lot of it is the prestige, but it's also because the race is 6.8 kilometres. It's probably one of the hardest rowing races that you can do, physically and technically.”

Kate, who represented South Australia at the 2021 Australian Nationals, admitted to mixed emotions.

“I think I'm equal parts nervous and really, really excited because it is such a cool thing to be part of.

“We’ve spent the whole season building to this pinnacle moment, this one race.

“My mum is flying over from Australia, to watch in person - she's very much a ‘rowing mom’, so that’s pretty cool!”

Kate Crowley

As coxes, the students have a vital role to play.

James, who picked up a silver medal with the Team GB men’s eight at last year’s U19 World Rowing Championships, started rowing at school, aged 13: “Yes, the Championship Course is actually kind of a subset of the bit we used to row on at school.

“Particularly as a cox, there’s an advantage to knowing the waters, and in The Boat Race there's a really big advantage to steering where the fastest stream is.

“I heard someone say the Championship Course is the hardest place in the world to cox because the tide can go in both directions. The river can halve in width when the tide goes out and the stream can be very strong sometimes. Conditions can get pretty bad. So, it's pretty challenging.”

James Trotman

Kate, who grew up in Adelaide, Australia, had a very different experience: “The Boat Race course is like no other course I have raced on. I learned to row on a two kilometre, Olympic-style course - so dead straight, no bend, no stream.

“The first time I got on the Tideway was last November. You hear so much about it. It's like this beast of a river, the stream is crazy – it’s always shifting, always changing and it's very narrow. There's this unique element of challenge to it.

“The Boat Race gets called ‘The Coxes’ Race’ because the line is so complicated and the stream is so important, but it’s also because the coxes have a really big part to play in deciding how the race goes.”

Both coxes were attracted to rowing as a team sport.

James: “Achieving something as a team's pretty powerful, and I’m really excited about this race because I know the crew so well.

“I’m feeling confident. We've been developing and refining the race plan, discussing different scenarios that might play out during the race and how we'd respond to them. I feel like it's all starting to come together.”

Kate: “There's something really cool about eights - you feel like you're really part of a team. It adds another level, that squad feeling and camaraderie.

“I am in awe of them. I get so tired with all the morning outings… and I'm not the one putting a blade in the water for 14K!

“As a cox, you contribute in a different way, but I do recognise that - physically speaking - they're putting in a lot more work.”

The Gemini Boat Race 2023 will take place on Sunday 26 March. The 77th Women’s Boat Race will start at 4pm. The 48th Women’s Reserve Race, with the Oxford reserve boat Osiris racing against the Kate Crowley-coxed Blondie, will start at 4.15pm.


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