Row, Row, Row Your Boat

We have now come to the end of 5th week of Michaelmas term, and time here in Oxford is flying by! Since I’ve been tending to spend more time at my desk than out exploring Oxford over the past few weeks, I figured this would be a great chance to introduce you all to the classic, age-old Oxford pastime which is a must for all new Oxonians: rowing.

Eager to get back into the sports world (and preemptively knowing that I couldn’t count on myself getting to the gym. Ever.), I had already decided I wanted to try rowing before I arrived at Mansfield. In contrast to the intense recruiting process for athletics common to most American universities, the signup process here was quite simple: those of us new to the college who were interested in participating just had to show up to the Mansfield College Boat Club (MCBC) table at the college’s fresher’s fair during 0th week, and sign our name – that was it. Over the next week or so, we each got a chance to spend some time in the water in groups of 6, joined by two veteran rowers and an experienced coxswain (cox). As I’ve probably said before, I quickly fell in love – rowing is probably one of, if not the, most peaceful, calming forms of exercise I’ve ever tried. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very energetically taxing, as it works just about every muscle group in your body: from your legs, to your core, to your arms and back. And yet (not surprisingly), I’ve found the rhythmic movement across the water a welcome replacement to being peppered by hockey pucks travelling at high speed (oh, the woes of being a goalie… Though I can’t say I didn’t love it!).

Now that we’re over halfway through the term, our rowing schedule has picked up a bit: most of us have two outings on the water a week, along with circuits on Mondays, an erg session on Wednesday or Friday, and a tank session (essentially an indoor pool where you can row in place) thrown in here or there. We’ve officially been put into our boats for the Christ Church Regatta that will be taking place in 7th week (only two weeks away!), and have been rowing in those groups for a few weeks now. I am a proud member of Boat Salacia, rowing in the first of the eight seats in the boat, which is called the “stroke” (I sit facing the cox). So, you ask: why “Boat Salacia?” This year, MCBC decided to name all the novice crews competing in the regatta after Roman river/sea/water gods and goddesses. Our’s – Salacia  – (according to Wikipedia) was the female divinity of the sea, worshipped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean, and was the wife and queen of Neptune, god of the sea and water. So, pretty much, we’re river goddesses (or at least that’s what I’m going with…).

Last weekend we got the chance to watch Mansfield’s women veteran rowers race in the IWL A time trial – essentially a taster for crews across the University who are just getting back on the water with the start of the new academic year. They did great! Even better, we couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather; I think it may have been the only day in the last two weeks where it hasn’t been cloudy and rainy…

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Check back in the next few weeks for more details about the end of term and the Christ Church Regatta!

Cheers,

HRH

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New Words of the Week

1. chuffed adj. (informal) – very pleased, i.e. “I’m dead chuffed to have won”

2. bac•cy n. (informal) – tobacco

3. bra•ces n. – equivalent to “suspenders” in American English

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2015 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

1. Mary Anne says:

   November 13, 2015 at 4:07 pm

   Just read “Boys in the Boat” about the Univ. Of Washington’s rowing team that won the gold medal in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. This will be a must read for you at some point in your future. It’s a great story and you will learn more about rowing than you could even imagine. Congrats on being First Seat…perhaps the most important position but it truly is a team sport.

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