30 SOMERVILLE MAGAZINE
Hey Ho And Up She Rises First year Chemist Rosie Thorogood joins us to share the nail-biting story of competing in this year’s Lightweight Boat Race – as well as the extraordinary year of lockdown training that brought her there.
We’d dug deep and clawed our way back, and now we were edging ahead in the competition’s home water.
T
he morning of May 18th 2021 dawned clear in Ely, and not too cold. Despite an early night, we’d all found it tough to sleep as the nerves kicked in. But we had each received messages the day before from the last OUWLRC rowers in our seat, and that helped. It reminded us that we weren’t alone in this – we were also racing for all the athletes who came before us. By the afternoon, our only focus was the race. From the bank, I looked round at our crew – all these women who had inspired me to believe it was possible to balance the pressures of study with long hours of training. Several of them were scientists like me, who spent their days in labs; others were finalists, their focus already on the world beyond Oxford.
was not to get cut from the squad! Once we went into lockdown, I used the training to maintain a fighting mental attitude and pushed hard through the ergs – but the Blue Boat still felt ridiculously far away.
Getting selected to join this crew had been enough of a shock. I began training with the Development Squad in the summer before I came to Oxford, then stepped up to full training in Michaelmas. At that point, my only ambition
Now here I was, getting ready to race Cambridge on their home water. It seemed unbelievable, but it also confirmed something I’ve always believed, which is that rowing is all about dedication. A lot of the athletes in
