25 years on – CUBC Men’s Blue Boat Reunion
We are grateful to Brad Crombie and his crew for his recollections and quotes on both his crew and their coming together for their 25 year reunion.
In coming together at the Duke’s Head, the crew discussed their winning campaign, where they became the second fastest Boat Race crew ever, and what racing for Cambridge meant and showed that the experience of racing for Cambridge is different for every crew. For the returning Blues and new ‘internationals’, selection was less of a focus for them, let alone the Oxford challenge. Their focus was “thinking about what Harry, Donald, Robin or Tim would say about our technical flaws. I didn’t start thinking about beating Oxford until late in the campaign”.
For Crombie, the most interesting stories were those such as Kieran West, who rose meteotically from Goldie to the Blue Boat to Olympic Champion in two years, or Toby Wallace who in spite of his newcomer status to the sport made a huge contribution to the Club.
Brad paid tribute to the “forgotten stories of triallists who put in the hard work, pushed the group to get better, but did not make a crew” and who by striving for success drove the group on. He noted especially the role of the “strong bench beneath the two boats – two excellent spare men (“Terry” McSherry & Bruce). Behind them we had guys who missed selection but played a part in making both crews win. For this reason, we saw ourselves as one crew, and less as a Blue and Goldie Boat.”
Following the record breaking crew of 1998, several Blues decided not to trial and the smaller group had to adapt and modify their approach to racing and training. Fortunately, although they may not have believed it at the time, the crew in their President’s words “turned out to be one of the most talented of the 90’s (in my humble opinion) but we didn’t know it at the time. Kieran went on to win an Olympic gold medal the following year, while Josh and Tom won silver medals at future Olympics. Guys like Ronan, Colin, Gideon, Richard and Tim all went on to row in future Blue Boats. And the ‘99ers had their fair share of future CUBC presidents. By the end of the campaign, we knew we had a great mix of talents but only a whiff of our true potential. As Harry used to say: ‘Everyone has to bring something to the party, and it can’t always be the same thing.’ “
The 99 crew recognised the significant contribution to the campaign of both the Club’s coaches and its volunteer committee, with Roger Stephens described as “the architect and general contractor of CUBC’s victories in the 90s, which is saying a lot. No one questioned his total support – always 100%, all the way, win or lose.” Stephens had set up the coaching team, which the 99 crew still regard with some disbelief, “It’s hard to believe we had so much talent in one club. Robin Williams, Ian Dryden, Adrian Cassidy, Donald Legget, Harry Mahon, Tim McLaren, Chris Drury, Alan Inns and Heidi Richardon (our physiotherapist) were an exceptional team, and all of them went on to achieve great things outside the club”
The team – athletes, coaches, and volunteers – set up the 1999 crew to become dominant and “the fastest Boat Race Crew ever at rate 28” and they knew that what they could do was to trust themselves, trust the system, and control the controllables.
That bond remains – although their number is less by 2 in the fondly remembered Harry Mahon and Toby Wallace – the 1999 crew come together for their crew anniversaries, and remember both the struggle and the success.