Is there any greater test in modern coxing than The Oxford Cambridge Boat Race? To guide a crew of eight finely tuned athletes down the twisting, turning waterway that splits open the heart of the English capital is a ritual embedded into British folklore and a rite of passage for numerous elite coxes who have gone on to secure international glory.
James Trotman only joined Cambridge in the fall of 2022 after winning world junior championship silver a few months earlier. Extensive experience racing on The Boat Race course with schoolboy club St Paul’s School meant he was in an ideal position to step into a coxing seat for the 2023 Boat Race series, choosing to allocate his expertise to the Cambridge Women’s Squad.
A stellar performance ensued, as James successfully steered his crew to success over a strong Dark Blue outfit. He spoke to us about his journey into coxing, his ambitions in the sport and the role NK has played in setting him up for success.
How did you first get into coxing?
I first got into coxing at my school, St Paul’s, in 2018. Like most people in my year group, I tried out rowing since it was a new sport that I had never done before. After sticking with it past the first few weeks, my coach suggested that I should try coxing since I was too small to make the top boats as a rower. I thoroughly enjoyed my first season, winning a Gold Medal at the National Schools’ Regatta, and have stuck with it ever since.
What really kept you involved in the very beginning and how has that evolved over the years?
In my first season a lot of my friends made the top boat as rowers, so I was keen to continue coxing as a way to keep training alongside them. I really enjoyed the camaraderie and dynamic that we had in the crew that year, the success at National Schools’ Regatta, and the fun of racing at smaller summer regattas, so continuing into my second season was a natural progression. As the work pressure of public exams began to increase, I considered quitting, until the pandemic intervened and led to a year of very stop-start coxing. Being keen to enjoy racing in the senior squad at races such as Henley, and realising that balancing coxing and academic demands is feasible, I threw myself back into coxing after the pandemic and have continued since.
What was your first club like and how important were they to your growth?
My first club, St Paul’s, benefits hugely from excellent facilities and coaching staff, which overall creates a culture of coxes being a valued member of the crew rather than a ‘nice to have’ extra. This has allowed me to receive useful feedback from coaches and rowers alike, supporting my development to become more useful in the boat and ultimately to succeed in being selected to cox at the U19 World Rowing Championships in 2022.
How would you define your coxing style?
I would define my coxing style as more technical, and I try and be as perceptive as possible to the rowing and how the boat’s moving to make the right call in both paddling and race scenarios. Although I definitely enjoy bringing hype to the crew in races, I try and stay internal and avoid targeting it at other crews.
In your opinion, what is the most important attribute a successful coxswain must imbue?
I would say that the most important attribute for a coxswain to imbue to the crew is trust and focus in on whatever the coxswain is saying, particularly when it would benefit the crew to stay internal during a race and focus on the rhythm rather than on the position against other crews. Moments like these can define the outcome of a race, and the more trust that the crew has in the coxswain, the more likely they are to be effective. For the cox, this can be created by being willing to take on feedback from the crew whilst retaining an individual identity – listen to what your crewmates are saying, but be willing to question or challenge points which don’t seem to make sense; ultimately, you’re the person that they’re trusting to put in the coxing seat.
What has been your favourite coxing memory?
My favourite coxing memory has to be crossing the Boat Race finish line ahead of Oxford in 2023. Having watched the Boat Race from the riverbank from a young age, and having worked hard to earn a place to study at Cambridge, bringing these two things together to a Boat Race win in my first year at CUBC is a moment and journey that I’ll never forget.
What was the biggest learning curve during your coxing journey and how did you tackle it?
The biggest learning curve that I found during my coxing journey is how to take on constructive feedback from rowers and coaches without feeling overwhelmed or offended. Although initially difficult, taking feedback on board helped me to both become more useful in the boat, as well as improve my relationship with the crew and coach. To tackle this, I broke down feedback into small, actionable chunks that I could bring into the next session, and made sure to check in with the crew to see if the changes I made were having a beneficial effect.
What is the one bit of advice you’d give to a new cox trying to find his or her voice?
Talk to your crew and coach and try to find out what they’re looking for in your coxing – ultimately, the role of the cox is to work with the coach and crew to make the boat go faster, and the most effective way of achieving this will vary a lot between different crews and programmes. Two-way communication between the cox and the rest of the team is crucial.
How crucial is high quality equipment (like NK) to set you up for success?
High quality equipment is crucial to allowing me to focus on the rowing and the progression of the race, rather than having to worry about whether the audio or times that I’m seeing on the CoxBox screen are accurate and reliable. I’ve used NK’s CoxBox GPS at both St Paul’s and Cambridge, with its reliability and ease of use making it particularly attractive for high-pressure race situations.
How have NK supported you on your journey to a Boat Race-winning cox?
Ultimately, the real-time, accurate splits provided by the NK devices that I use in the boat have been crucial in allowing us to monitor the benefits of technical changes that the crew made throughout the season, and see how these were translated into the race environment. By allowing us to see in real-time which focusses were effective to support the boatspeed, NK have helped us build speed and confidence in our rhythm throughout the season which ultimately translated into a Boat Race win.
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