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The Rowing Service's guest correspondent sees the Oxford squad battle it out between Putney and Chiswick Oxford University's 2005 Trial VIIIs on Tuesday was an exceptionally exciting contest, one crew coming from clear-water down to triumph at the finish line. Such an occurrence, contravening one of the accepted norms of the Boat Race, typified a tenacity exhibited by both crews that bodes well for the Dark Blues ahead of the 2006 Boat Race on 2nd April next year. The two crews were named Slash and Burn by Oxford President and Olympic silver medallist Barney Williams. Coach Sean Bowden had spread his considerable array of international talent slightly unevenly across the two boats. Jake Wetzel, Williams' crewmate from the Canadian coxless four in Athens, sat at seven in Slash, whilst lightweight Olympic gold medallist Stephan Molvig joined Williams in the opposing Burn. Jamie Schroeder, an American Olympian and the strongest man on the erg in either Cambridge or Oxford camps this year, was also in Slash, as was British sculler and returning Blue Colin Smith, but Burn boasted American international Andrew Brennan and world champion Paul Daniels alongside Williams and Molvig, all following a stern pair comprising British international Tom Parker and French Olympian Bastien Ripoll at stroke. To make the contest more unequal Burn won the toss and chose the Surrey station, but it was Slash, stroked by the Tideway-experienced Smith, who got the better start. As the two crews barrelled down the line of moored boats, Smith's crew began to inch ahead. And when Burn moved slightly wide round the outside of the Fulham bend, Slash needed no second invitation: enjoying the centre-stream and the inside of the turn, they went on the attack, and by the Milepost they had hammered out a length's lead. At this stage Slash looked longer and more fluid than Ripoll's crew, with Smith doing a fine job of leading his crew as he harnessed the power at his disposal behind him. Looking relatively relaxed and in a position of control, most observers considered the contest over as the vice-President's crew continued to inch away down the Milepost straight. With a third of a length's clear-water separating the two crews coming up to Harrods, Slash began to move to strokeside to take the racing line round the Surrey turn. Umpire Simon Harris had other thoughts, however, and as he repeatedly and vociferously warned the Middlesex crew back to their station, Burn behind began to get their tails up. Finding a rhythm they had been lacking in the first 2km, Ripoll and his crew clearly took heart from the warnings and it was now the leaders' turn to look more harried and under pressure. The two boats had been too far over to Surrey since the wide Fulham bend, but in response to Harris' repeated warnings the race now moved across to the Middlesex side of the centre-stream. It was thus Burn's turn to enjoy the inside of the bend, the majority of the stream and that heady, surging feeling of psychological ascendancy. As the big Surrey bend unfolded, Smith seemed unable to find the extra gear needed to keep Williams' crew in their place. Slowly but surely, the lead was first cut back, then erased, before Michiel Munneke, bowman of Burn, finally moved in front for the first time after nine minutes of racing. Come Chiswick Steps, Ripoll led by half a length. Smith's troops, however, were not done yet. As the final kick to the Surrey bend unfolded, Burn found themselves unable to increase the lead any further as Slash hung on tenaciously out on Middlesex. The attempts to break away were not helped by Harris warning the race across to Surrey at the Crossing; and so as the Bandstand swung into sight, and with the final bend in Slash's favour, it was entirely possible that the lead could change hands once more before the finish. Burn, however, seemed unconcerned at the prospect of defending their slender half-length advantage round the outside of the final turn. With the bit clearly between their teeth, they were rowing better and better behind the increasingly fluid-looking stern pairing of Ripoll and Parker. Meanwhile, across in Slash the earlier efforts were beginning to tell. Although the margin between the two boats was the same come Barnes Bridge as it had been past Chiswick Steps four minutes earlier, Slash were looking increasingly tired, and in the final few minutes their technique dissolved to leave Burn to win by a margin - two and a quarter lengths - unrepresentative of the race as a whole. The Oxford coaches were delighted with such an exciting contest. The refusal of Williams' crew to know when they where beaten was impressive, as was the aggressiveness and killer-instinct displayed off the start by the eventual losers. And both crews went the distance at 35/36 strokes per minute. Looking ahead to 2nd April, it will be interesting to hear from the Umpire how much distance he requires between two crews before he will allow the leading boat to cross over and take their opponent's water. Then again, if the on-paper calibre of Cambridge's Trial VIIIs crews is anything to go by, it is possible that Harris may get away without having to answer that question in the Boat Race itself. Gareth Clark
'Burn' Posn: Name, College (Country of origin) Bow: Michiel Munneke, Christ Church (Holland) 2: Stephan Moelvig§, St. Catherine's (Denmark) 3: Andrew Brennan#, Wadham (USA) 4: Paul Daniels§, St. Anne's (USA) 5: Robin Esjmond-Frey#, Oriel (GBR) 6: Barney Williams*§ (President), Jesus (Canada) 7: Tom Parker, Harris Manchester (GBR) Str: Bastien Ripoll, St. Catherine's (France) cox: Nick Brodie#, St. Catherine's (GBR)
'Slash' * = denotes former Blue # = denotes former Isis § = Olympic or world medallist
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