A member of the OUBC has a lifestyle that is arguably not representative of your average student. Of course this is not anything new as every year the run into the boat race makes it clear how stressful it is to be part of this system and how busy the lives of the athletes are.

In previous years I have always taken this with a pinch of salt, knowing how hard they train I have presumed that the work must be kept on the back foot a tiny bit. I had the impression that special concessions were made for over tired athletes. I had images of the odd sympathetic nod from an interested tutor if you were to wearily shake your head amid murmurings of unhelpful tide tables or long morning ergo sessions. This, however, is far from the case, If one was to warm up the voice box in preparation for a spasm of bleating as to why this weeks essay is so dire you will be met with little sympathy.

It does make for hard work though!! If the organisation slips off a tiny bit then the academic productivity for that week is most likely doomed! I learnt this the hard way in first week when I found myself staring at a wall of white on my computer screen that I had to fill with 2-3000 words concerning the Mesianic Secret in St Marks Gospel. It was 10 at night and had to be e-mail in at 9am the following day. By one in the morning I sent in my miserable offering to my tutor and got a quick five hours sleep before heading to the gym for circuits. Thursday mornings are fairly tough as it is the only session when an ex-military Physical Training Instructor is unleashed upon us. He addresses these mornings it is with enthusiasm that is uncharacteristic of 7am and it is with a hail of Welsh commands that we take to the running track for our ‘beasting’. His new thing is the ‘military press’ which is a normal press-up except you are not pushing down into the floor, no-no that would be too easy.

We are lifting a bench upwards upon which a cox is sat trying to get some reading done, despite the constant changes I altitude. Actually it is quite good fun if you had some sleep and you are confident that your chat is adequate for that mornings tutorial.. It is far from fun when you have the sickening realisation that this is not the case and your meeting will be punctuated by lengthy silences coupled with an ever dampening brow as you attempt to clutch straws in the prevention of an overt display of ignorance dominating your tutorial.

Its not all hard work, last night we had a crew date with the Netball Girls. After the high pressure time of getting the Blue boat finally selected it was a good opportunity to let off some steam. Beer was drunk, banter had by all and women were pursued. I think the success is low on this one but I will undoubtedly hear all in Vinnies for lunch in …….five minutes!! It appears I will be late again, and it’s only Monday!!

Editorial by Tom Parker OUBC