College Record 2014
and after a massage from the women’s first eight we got into the boat and were told: ‘You stay on the river now until you win or are knocked out.’ I have to admit it crossed my mind that the former would be preferable, as it would be a shorter route to the warmth of the Head of the River pub. Waiting on the bank for the start, Lars was greeted by the opposition coach who asked him whom we had beaten to get here. He replied: ‘Well, we have beaten Merton ‘A’, Mansfield ‘A’ and Exeter ‘A’, but Good Luck anyway.’ As we sat in the Gut, waiting to be marshalled forwards, we were asked by a steward: ‘Are you in this next race, Wolfson?’ Our cox Jo replied, in that cut-glass accent of hers: ‘NO, WE’RE WAITING FOR JESUS.’ In the race itself, we left them for dead at the start, and the rest was a cruise. That is all I remember of the semi-final too, which brought us up against Christchurch ‘A’ in the final. The host college in its own regatta: surely we would not be able to beat them? Off we went, frenetic as usual, a gallon of water in my lap, but this time also soaking my oar. Christ Church stayed with us. This was new territory; how would we cope? Then we hit OUBC and the roar was incredible, we surged ahead and by the end of the boathouses we were a length in front. We had broken them. Three strokes before the finish, I had a heart-stopping moment as my oar slipped out of my hand. However, it just glided forward and I grabbed it and took the catch with everybody else. I guess it was our day. Wolfson had won Christchurch Novice Regatta for the first (and still the only) time in our history. Recriminations soon began at an upstart graduate college winning such a prestigious event. Surely it could not be legal for graduates to train before the start of term? It was. The stroke had been seen rowing in the Oxford City Regatta the previous summer, which would disqualify him … He hadn’t. But they had photographic evidence ... They didn’t; they had mistaken him for someone else. Not surprisingly, the Christ Church ‘A’ crew we had beaten dwelt on the injustice of it all. What was temporarily forgotten was that the said ‘advantage’ had been present every year, and this was the first time a Wolfson crew had won. I suspect the other graduate colleges were equally unsuccessful, but I don’t have the figures to hand. In the end, though, our victory had no impact on the rule-makers. There was no change the next year, and the same rules apply today. 120
This was pretty much the pinnacle of my rowing career. I almost quit after that, but was tempted back to row in the Torpids first eight. We went down eight places. I spent the next three years, including one as Captain of Boats, trying to recapture the magic of that victory. There were many good times and some great crew spirit, but my final record in bumps was something like 2 for and 13 against. Probably I should have quit while I was ahead and gone back to squash and cricket, but as anybody knows who truly gets the rowing bug, that would have been impossible. 121
- Page 73 and 74: Safar, Ahmed (Master of Public Poli
- Page 75 and 76: Elected members of the Governing Bo
- Page 77 and 78: Special thanks should go to Jan Scr
- Page 79 and 80: In the New Year we held an exhibiti
- Page 81 and 82: Boat Club Wolfson College Boat Club
- Page 83 and 84: Elo Luik rowed with the Oxford Univ
- Page 85 and 86: Croquet Wolfson / St Cross Cricket
- Page 87 and 88: The egg-hunt was held outside, and
- Page 89 and 90: The LWA hosted an eclectic series o
- Page 91 and 92: Old Wolves Lunch In last year’s R
- Page 93 and 94: Remarque. The Group with its varied
- Page 95 and 96: Wine Society The Wine Society has h
- Page 97 and 98: of the human belief that is investe
- Page 99 and 100: present. ‘Juxtapose’, its gradu
- Page 101 and 102: culture in life writings by the Dar
- Page 103 and 104: The President’s Seminars The Semi
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- Page 107 and 108: ‘Girl band’, Salvador But the i
- Page 109 and 110: Font Matters: a surprising conversa
- Page 111 and 112: The Canteen of Creativity by John D
- Page 113 and 114: The year in brief In Michaelmas Ter
- Page 115 and 116: A fossil Bible by Liz Baird, Assist
- Page 117 and 118: Wolfson’s book, therefore, is a c
- Page 119 and 120: Cupboards and Crypts: chasing after
- Page 121 and 122: Scientists, I know, regard it as na
- Page 123: cry of frustration at our failure t
- Page 127 and 128: Brock Michael George (GBF 1967-76,
- Page 129 and 130: Hawker, Nancy (GS 2006 -11) Awarded
- Page 131 and 132: Sallam, Hesham (GS 2006-09) Directo
- Page 133 and 134: Daher, Aurélie (RMCR 2010-11) Le H
- Page 135 and 136: Mora, Francisco T Pickering, Willia
and after a massage from the women’s first eight we got into the boat and were<br />
told: ‘You stay on the river now until you win or are knocked out.’ I have to admit it<br />
crossed my mind that the former would be preferable, as it would be a shorter route<br />
to the warmth of the Head of the River pub. Waiting on the bank for the start, Lars<br />
was greeted by the opposition coach who asked him whom we had beaten to get<br />
here. He replied: ‘Well, we have beaten Merton ‘A’, Mansfield ‘A’ and Exeter ‘A’, but<br />
Good Luck anyway.’ As we sat in the Gut, waiting to be marshalled forwards, we<br />
were asked by a steward: ‘Are you in this next race, Wolfson?’ Our cox Jo replied, in<br />
that cut-glass accent of hers: ‘NO, WE’RE WAITING FOR JESUS.’<br />
In the race itself, we left them for dead at the start, and the rest was a cruise. That<br />
is all I remember of the semi-final too, which brought us up against Christchurch<br />
‘A’ in the final. The host college in its own regatta: surely we would not be able to<br />
beat them? Off we went, frenetic as usual, a gallon of water in my lap, but this time<br />
also soaking my oar. Christ Church stayed with us. This was new territory; how<br />
would we cope? Then we hit OUBC and the roar was incredible, we surged ahead<br />
and by the end of the boathouses we were a length in front. We had broken them.<br />
Three strokes before the finish, I had a heart-stopping moment as my oar slipped<br />
out of my hand. However, it just glided forward and I grabbed it and took the catch<br />
with everybody else. I guess it was our day. Wolfson had won Christchurch Novice<br />
Regatta for the first (and still the only) time in our history.<br />
Recriminations soon began at an upstart graduate college winning such a prestigious<br />
event. Surely it could not be legal for graduates to train before the start of term?<br />
It was. The stroke had been seen rowing in the Oxford City Regatta the previous<br />
summer, which would disqualify him … He hadn’t. But they had photographic<br />
evidence ... They didn’t; they had mistaken him for someone else. Not surprisingly,<br />
the Christ Church ‘A’ crew we had beaten dwelt on the injustice of it all. What was<br />
temporarily forgotten was that the said ‘advantage’ had been present every year,<br />
and this was the first time a Wolfson crew had won. I suspect the other graduate<br />
colleges were equally unsuccessful, but I don’t have the figures to hand. In the end,<br />
though, our victory had no impact on the rule-makers. There was no change the<br />
next year, and the same rules apply today.<br />
120
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