The Boat Race Documentary: Ep 3 | “The Kettle Boils Over” – Turning The Tide (2024) Oxford Cambridge

It’s 4:30 a.m. on January the 2nd chrism has been good I think the guys have done a really good job sort of Keeping Up the Volume over the break we’re at her thr Terminal 5 and we’re about to fly to Lisbon for our training camp in

AZ if they’re not ready to go right now they’ll be ready to go once i’ had a couple of coffees yeah no it’s an early start today but yeah the guys looking forward to it it’ll uh it’s a really important part of the the year a couple

Of weeks of really good training in before they get back to the uh back to the books as well what time do you have to get up this morning uh I think I got up at like 2: 2 a.m. uh good to be back with the lads here um looking forward to

Uh tough Camp it changes scenery I think uh helps a lot I mean you know elely when you’re training twice a day every day can can get monotonous doing that camp at the tideway at the tide we yeah oh man this is also a Christmas present so you’re using it okay making your

Family thanks Andrew James got killed this morning it’s just a game that someone else had played before and so we each have yet a specific object to hand somebody in a specific place and then you pick up their cards making the most of nice conditions yeah here it’s

Raining where are they in Italy camb in Italy is raining there so jokes really on them beautiful day we had a really productive Camp uh when we were in Italy and it was just a really great time for us to not only improve our rowing but also just really

Bond as a squad it was just a really productive time I think on all fronts for us a m of the is that why to get dress we’ve spent a week now on the tideway doing our training camp getting a lot of guys who maybe aren’t so

Experienced on the tide where used to it knowing the course knowing where going to be racing in a few months Strokes on about a 32 33 and then we’ll wind down and easy after that we we’re looking through this week to yes get the miles in make sure that

We cover the right things on training camp but ultimately that’s starting a process which then builds us back into this new term starting a process which will lead from here all the up until the boat race there’s like constant pressure because obviously elemetry is always on always pieces always aware of it but

They’ll be definitely looking at everything we’re going to C you with the weekend for speak test selection is a is a huge part of the season it’s on everyone’s Minds from day one and the further and further into the year uh yeah the the more pressure is is

Vying on each performance whether it’s in on the land whether it’s on the AOS whether it’s on the water whether it’s in those racing pieces or whether it’s in the sort of the the dark mornings that we have in the in the rain through the winter we look at Ergo tests we’re

Looking at seat racing where we’re swapping people between two boats to see who makes one boat go faster or potentially slower making sure that everybody earns their place and proves that you know you want that Clarity of performance um not just for the other people in the team

But for that person as well to know that he’s earned his place every single session you’re out there you know that eventually you’re going to have to race you know your best mates for a seat in the boat that you want to be in um and you’re always kind of under scrutiny of

Course things are going to get really tense this what whatever I choose to do you just got to be the best you you got to run on the expectation you could be one just reset the watch okay I’ve got mine oh it’s the as part of this

Job you want like you know you spend a lot of time with these young people but it is Sport and there is that element always that element to it but you you know you invest yourself in them so you want the best for them saying someone’s journey is ended or that they’re maybe

Not going to get the boat that they wanted to or something is um is horrific so it’s losing We talk a lot about being comfortable by being uncomfortable people generally will up their game if they know they need to part of our selection is um done on uh the SS it’s a good test of physiology it’s a test of physiology alongside the physical test it’s a really big

Psychological challenge it’s the ability to kind of be in that pain cave and sit through it so 38 20 is probably up there in times of testing uh it’s going to be a hard one yeah it’s going to hurt it’ll be tough and you just get through it you

Just got to pull as hard as you can it’s very much a kind of individual pain contest it’s just basic numbers popping up on on the screen in front of you of how hard you can push and pull 530 on the dot let’s do it set the clocks please attention go okay let’s

Still it’s just you and the Machine there’s no hiding place from It I knew coming into this program it was going to be tough but I had no idea how tough it was going to be just rest your feet rest your Feet because the B is such a short campaign everything counts tensions are High um selection is upcoming and will be set relatively soon can’t switch off it’s always always at the back of our mind every time we sit on you know you got to be able to manage yourself um be

Mature enough to handle the pressure great job M another good step up we feel that the demands of the program and what we go through makes a boat race winner it’s not easy and that’s kind of the point even when you’re not on the water it is just in your head the whole

Time you know this is not a learn to row program this is not park run this is not finishers t-shirts and medals from the London Marathon for running 5 hours this is about an Elite Performance to win the boat race I think what sometimes is lost from

The boat race narrative is that we’re also just normal human beings sometimes the kettle boils over you be when you’re you’re working to to Really extend yourself you’re going to be moving a little bit into the unknown and that can take away a little bit of sense of stability it’s not like you’d

Even it’s never all sunshine and Roses this is a high performance sport we’ve got high performing people they’re going to blow their top now and again they’re going to get [Applause] frustrated hit quite where we wanted to be we were making are we getting on target absolutely no idea how to follow

ACC like it’s I don’t know whether I’m behind them at what point or whether I’m supposed to be ahead of them or what anything could throw it off one day I’ll feel the H and Pain you’d be a bit more worried in a lot of ways if that’s not happening it’s like are we really pushing hard enough we’re so desperate to get faster that we can be frustrated with the progress that it’s not enough or the boat’s not going

As well as we want it to be going no I don’t think we’re approaching the the zone two paddling with with the right the right mentality it’s not it’s not the LA of try there’s no trust it’s most definitely not plain sailing and preparing a crew for the boat race

And I think our year that we’re experiencing is one of those I mean this year we’ve seen a Biblical amount of rain doesn’t look like the weather’s too bad for us to goh habish the weekend expect we’re going to get here we definitely feel at times that the the

The gods aren’t on our side in January the heavens opened and so began months of land training and not being able to get on the water in the back of our minds camridge weren’t facing challenges we were Cambridge train in elely which doesn’t flood and when you only have 7 months

Every session you miss is an opportunity that you don’t have to make a change on what happened last year Wellington is fully flooded I hear there are boats under the water in the boat house so it’s um not really rollable right now so we’re on land um on the bikes on the URS

A bit more um which it’s just another kind of obstacle it’s something which we can’t control it’s something which is as ever is frustrated we can’t get out in the water as much we have to find ways to to to move Forward you know when you do a deadlift and you know you get it wrong because it’s you go onto your toes we’re doing a great job but we have to find that balance of patience versus max effort you’ve got to find what’s right for you like you’re quite strong strong

You know iris is stronger but you know Megan’s even stronger okay let’s do this Anything Can Happen injuries illness all the other things but um they’re the nine people that have stood out fairly rigorous selection policy we have a young crew two returning blues and then we’ve got um Megan Lee in the

Stroke seat who was the US under 23 gold medalist last year deadlift analogy how’s that coming along you like it new people come to the team and they just throw the body around it’s like yeah look at my momentum yes not always useful so the handle leads not the slide

It’s the great thing about the water here or the the the river uh we have a slle stock this end a slle gate pumps all the water out so we haven’t missed a Session start from Station El can be a bit Bleak but it’s just such a good place to train the water’s a bit high but it’s still absolutely fantastic conditions honestly it’s great that we can go out there knowing that Oxford can’t it’s a really big sort of motivator for us to be able to do you

Know 30 36k today knowing that Oxford haven’t done a single k out in the water like that’s just that’s just fantastic we may have got rained off for weeks and Cambridge may have been able to not miss a day on home water but it doesn’t matter the rain has

Stopped and we’re coming for Them made so much progress Lots going on uh fixtures are up next so what could go wrong what’s going on in there we call it [Applause] [Laughter] off