- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Icon Books Ltd (5 Mar 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1848310455
- ISBN-13: 978-1848310452
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
267,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Water Sports > Boating > Rowing
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
He gives intelligent and thoughtful voice to the essentials that make up the 180-year-old Boat Race experience. --Daniel Topolski, The Guardian, August 2008
Review
Sports journalism of the highest order
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating inside look at the preparation by the 2007 winning Cambridge Boat Race crew by a sociologist who more or less lived with the squad throughout the period and who appears to have played a crucial role at some moments - for instance in helping sort out some disputes within one of the crews.
It comes close to Daniel Topolski's 'Boat Race', the story of the Oxford revival from 1973 to 1984 and for me one of the best books on rowing ever written. It is miles ahead of Topolski's account of the 1987 mutiny - for me far over rated.
I was once captain of the rowing club (Jesus College) right next to the Goldie Boathouse (the CUBC headquarters) and have known some Boat Race oarsmen quite well - e.g rowed in races with them. And yet it is a very closed world, not open to the uninitiated. I had no idea what went on in there and this book really does open the doors. I found it extremely interesting.
Some fasinating insights included the detailed description by an (anonymous) squad member of how legally to raise testosterone levels before a race (the lengths these men would go to!). And then quick advice on how best to lower them again. The selection battles for the crew are well described and left me with the uneasy feeling that there might well have been people who had good grounds for feeling unhappy about not being in the crew.
The account of the replacement of Russ Glenn as cox just before the race is very sympathetic but, by contrast, leaves one in little doubt that the decision was hard but fair.
I was left with a great deal of sympathy - even liking - for the crew and for the Head Coach Duncan Holland, who left his position as Head Coach when his contract was not renewed after losing the Boat Race in 2008. And yet it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the crew, while winning, had significantly underperformed.
A couple of minor black spots: The book frustratingly does not examine the controversy over strokeman Thorsten Engelmann, the heavist man in Boat Race history at over 110 kg. He is the only person to have a Blue withdrawn when he left the University without completing his degree - but he comes across as a very sympathetic figure.
The photos are a disappointment - almost none of the crew as a crew, or of the race itself. Given that some of the people who play a key part in the story did not make the crew, it was a shame that none of them (other than Glenn) feature in the pictures. I would also have liked the statistics - the crew lists (both races) and times etc at the end.
I have worked in the organisational development field over recent years and the story is as relevant to team building as much as it is to rowing aficionados. I do recommend it.
It comes close to Daniel Topolski's 'Boat Race', the story of the Oxford revival from 1973 to 1984 and for me one of the best books on rowing ever written. It is miles ahead of Topolski's account of the 1987 mutiny - for me far over rated.
I was once captain of the rowing club (Jesus College) right next to the Goldie Boathouse (the CUBC headquarters) and have known some Boat Race oarsmen quite well - e.g rowed in races with them. And yet it is a very closed world, not open to the uninitiated. I had no idea what went on in there and this book really does open the doors. I found it extremely interesting.
Some fasinating insights included the detailed description by an (anonymous) squad member of how legally to raise testosterone levels before a race (the lengths these men would go to!). And then quick advice on how best to lower them again. The selection battles for the crew are well described and left me with the uneasy feeling that there might well have been people who had good grounds for feeling unhappy about not being in the crew.
The account of the replacement of Russ Glenn as cox just before the race is very sympathetic but, by contrast, leaves one in little doubt that the decision was hard but fair.
I was left with a great deal of sympathy - even liking - for the crew and for the Head Coach Duncan Holland, who left his position as Head Coach when his contract was not renewed after losing the Boat Race in 2008. And yet it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the crew, while winning, had significantly underperformed.
A couple of minor black spots: The book frustratingly does not examine the controversy over strokeman Thorsten Engelmann, the heavist man in Boat Race history at over 110 kg. He is the only person to have a Blue withdrawn when he left the University without completing his degree - but he comes across as a very sympathetic figure.
The photos are a disappointment - almost none of the crew as a crew, or of the race itself. Given that some of the people who play a key part in the story did not make the crew, it was a shame that none of them (other than Glenn) feature in the pictures. I would also have liked the statistics - the crew lists (both races) and times etc at the end.
I have worked in the organisational development field over recent years and the story is as relevant to team building as much as it is to rowing aficionados. I do recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was really keen on knowing what the blues boat did in training. There was good detail into this. DeRond included himself a little too much in some of the chapters. I would have liked more detail post race to understand how they reacted after.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An account of the 2007 Cambridge Boat Race crew selection and formation.. A quest to find the 'best 8' and not the '8 best' rowers... fascinating stuff..
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
fantastic read
As an avid 'fixed seat' sweep rower I was looking forward to reading this book.
I was not dissappointed - it keeps you hooked from start to finish, immersing you in the trials... Read more
I was not dissappointed - it keeps you hooked from start to finish, immersing you in the trials... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Christopher J. Haines
OK but not as good as Topolski
Bought it to go on holiday with and because of a flight delay, I ended up reading the whole thing before I actually left Blighty! But that's enough about me....or is it? Read more
Published 24 months ago by Stanley Ash
Balanced, weighted, engrossing and perfectly measured - just like...
This really is an excellent book. The author's insight into what goes on - not just in the boat itself, but in getting into that boat in the first place - is unparalleled. Read more
Published on 30 April 2009 by readinck
Like Michael Lewis' Moneyball, only about a UK sport
I read this originally in hardback when it came out just after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and I thought it was fascinating. Read more
Published on 29 April 2009 by NKP
Too much about the author; not enough about the rowing!
Despite being a Cambridge graduate, I didn't so much as sit in a boat during my time there - that said, the Boat Race is the one sporting fixture to which I am glued every year,... Read more
Published on 20 April 2009 by S. P. Long
good but not great
de Rond's book is initially compelling and I had to finish it the day I started. Despite this, it was ultimately unsatisfying. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2009 by 13
Review by Allan Fowlie
This book provides a fantastic insight into the emotion and psychology of competitive team sports. Even though the result of the race is known, Mark du Rond's wonderful pacing of... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2008 by S. MCANDREW
Interesting Insights into a unique sporting event
Mark de Rond's book is a fascinating look into the often mis-understood world of Cambridge rowing. Written in a diary format from when the crew hopefuls assemble in September... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2008 by NeilC
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