The Boat Race 2025: Trial Eights – Oxford Men

As the calendar year draws to a close, Oxford University Boat Club’s openweight men today wound up for their first big-ticket event of The Boat Race season. Two matched eights, named Wallace and Gromit, lined up under Putney Bridge for their only dress rehearsal of the Championship Course. Having trained through rain and storms in recent weeks, including facing ‘Storm Darragh’ during a recent Tideway weekend, Oxford’s men handled the conditions for the day’s final race with relative ease, and Gromit eventually came out victorious by two lengths.

While aligning to start, it was difficult to call which boat may claim victory. On paper, Wallace’s stern-three combination of Nicholas Kohl, Tass von Mueller, and James Doran looked like an unstoppable force, but Gromit’s Boat Race experience – including Tom Sharrock and Saxon Stacey – backing up stellar US Olympian in the stroke seat: Nick Rusher. Coming off the start, Wallace executed a punchy, aggressive step into gear, but the crews remained neck and neck, jostling for the fastest water around the first Middlesex bend, working to Gromit’s advantage with Rusher’s long, strong, and relaxed rhythm.

There was plenty to be involved with from the umpire’s launch, as previous Blues cox, Tara Slade, and former Paul’s schoolboy, Rahul Marchand, fought for the fastest water and kept to within a blade length as they fought side by side. Off the start, both coxes pushed around towards the Surrey bend – the opposite tactic seen in the women’s race just an hour earlier. Wallace hung on around the bend, and there were few strokes where Nick Kohl’s head wasn’t anxiously turning out to catch a glimpse of his teammates in Gromit.

Approaching Hammersmith Bridge, the two crews were within half a length, here beginning the ‘race within the race’ as instructed by coach Mark Fagan-Hall. Here the Surrey crew, Wallace, were able to put in an enormous push, but Gromit hung onto this, straightened themselves up, and then fought back towards Chiswick Eyot. The first time across all Trial Eights races that the two crews were still in contact, the bend advantage dwindled, and the two boats appeared markedly close once again, with Gromit gearing up for another advantage.

It looked as though Wallace may again be starting to pull away up at 33 strokes per minute, but coming around the bend towards Chiswick Pier, white horse waves began to break over the sax board and Gromit seemed to come off better from these conditions to push back before their bend round to Barnes Bridge. With washier finishes and a bowside crab from Wallace, Rahul Marchand had crucial decisions on where to place his crew.

Still sitting in a sterling rhythm under Nick Rusher, Gromit were able to sneak carefully placed pushes into the mix, and broke away to clear water before Barnes Bridge to continue extending their lead. From here on out, the result was called. Their strong Hammersmith push may have taken an ounce too much from Wallace, particularly given the subsequent dirty water and steering corrections. No matter the result, it was exciting to see two such closely matched crews, and it certainly bodes well for Mark Fagan-Hall‘s squad come the fixtures and the eventual Boat Race on Sunday, 13th April 2025.

About The Author

Lara Robinson

Having first sat in a boat aged 13 at Stratford upon Avon BC, Lara’s love for the sport has only gone from strength to strength. Now Women’s Captain at City of Oxford RC and in her second season writing for JRN, she primarily covers student and club level women’s rowing alongside her day job as a neuroscience researcher at the University of Oxford.

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