THE SPORT OF ROWING “In 1981, I was asked by Dan Topolski, OUBC chief coach, if I would help with the coaching of Oxford, and for the following decade I was a member of the coaching team which at first comprised six coaches, each of whom coached the crew for two weeks over a three month period leading up to the Boat Race. The coaches were amateur who could spend no more than two weeks of their time. A similar coaching method was employed by Cambridge. “One of the disadvantages of this six- man coaching team was that there was not an agreed uniform technique, and a coach would begin by telling the crew how badly they rowed when they arrived and how well they rowed when they left (probably where Steve got his story), a process that was repeated six times as each coach tried to leave his mark on the crew. My suggestion to Dan was that each coach play a specific role that supported a common goal after he as chief coach had selected the crew. The roles of the coaches were as follows: 1st Period, 2 weeks: George Harris, to get the newly formed crew going. 2nd Period, 3 to 4 weeks: Mike Spracklen, to coach technique. 3rd Period, 2 weeks: Steve Royle, to work the crew hard. 4th Period, 2 weeks: Don Topolski, to finish and prepare the crew for racing.6073 The system worked well, and OUBC were successful through that era.6074”6075 Baillieu and Hart Spracklen’s first international champion crew, however, was a double not from Oxford but made up of two Cambridge Boat Race teammates. Mike Hart, 6’1” 186cm 185lb. 84kg, of Peterhouse, had been a member of the 1970 Hampton Grammar School 1st VIII coached by John Langfield, a Classical Technique concurrent Schubschlag proponent. That crew won the National Schools Regatta and reached the final in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. Hart rowed in the winning Cambridge Blue Boats of 1972 and 1973. He stroked the boat in his second year. Chris Baillieu, 6’3” 190cm 187lb. 85kg, of Jesus College had learned to row at Radley College, a public school south of Oxford, and rowed in four winning Cambridge Blue Boats from 1970 to 1973. The only other four-time Cambridge winner ever6076 was Steve Fairbairn’s teammate, Stanley Duff Muttlebury in the 1880s.6077 Baillieu: “In our early experience in the double, Mike Hart and I started out sculling at Cambridge without really a coaching structure, and so we were helped by one of our Cambridge coaches, Donald Legget,6078 6073 “Harris was a boatbuilder with a brilliant eye. Royle became the first professional coach at Oxford, appointed during the 1987 Mutiny [Chapter 144] and starting as managing coach the following October.” – Chris Dodd, personal correspondence, 2011 6074 Oxford only lost once between 1981 and 1992. 6075 Spracklen, personal correspondence, 2010 6076 It is said that the explanation for more four- time winners from Oxford is that it generally takes longer to complete one’s studies at Oxford than at Cambridge. 6077 See Chapter 15. 6078 an Old Blue, losing in 1963 and winning in 1964. He joined the Cambridge coaching team in 1968 and continues today. 1700
