Boat Race 2023: Oxford University Boat Club’s Tom Sharrock looking to get better of city where he was raised

Having been raised in Newnham and honed his skills at Cantabrigian Rowing Club, it would be fair to assume that Tom Sharrock’s colours are firmly nailed to the Cambridge University Boat Club mast for this weekend’s Gemini Boat Race.

He started to row seriously with Cambridge’s largest club in 2016, with the River Cam quickly becoming like a second home.

However, not only will the former Comberton Village College pupil be hoping for a pair of Oxford victories, he will be part of their men’s boat aiming to make it back-to-back victories on the Tideway.

“I grew up in Cambridge but I never wanted to go to the university where I grew up,” explained Sharrock.

“When it came to choosing between the two it was never really a big decision to make. I wanted to have experiences and moving away has given me that.

“But I still enjoy going back there (Cantabs) during the holidays when I come home. I still train there over Christmas and the summer. I’ve got a good group of friends at the club.

“I joined them when I was 13 or 14, quite young. When I was in Year 10, my J15 year, I trained quite a few times a week with them and did a lot of national competitions.

“My coach at the time was Oli Fraser. He was really, really good. He put lots of time in with me.”

At the age of 20, Sharrock will be the youngest member of the Oxford crew.

Yet, despite his tender years, there is a real maturity about the way that he has handled the weeks and months leading up to crew announcements.

He said: “It’s been intense. Fighting for your seat all of the time, it definitely helps.

“You don’t have to think too far ahead, all you have to do is concentrate on performing. There’s a selection for training or fixture nearly every week, so all I think about is how I’m going to do leading up to that. That in itself has kept me going and kept me improving.

“I haven’t thought about the race too much until recently. What would have been the point? I didn’t know if I was going to make the boat two, three or four months ago. Back then it was more about what I was doing the next day or next week.”

And yet, with the big day now fast approaching, the prospect of being able to call yourself a Boat Race winner – or loser – is looming large.

“When anyone mentions that they’ve rowed in the Boat Race, the question that immediately follows is: ‘Did you win?’ You really want to be able to answer that with a ‘yes’ rather than a ‘no’,” said Sharrock.

“That will be a massive thing. I know that there are many great rowers that have done multiple Boat Races and not won – not necessarily through any fault of their own or that they don’t deserve it – just because things didn’t work on the day or many other reasons. To be one of the ones that can say they have won the race would be amazing, but also you can’t be swept away in thinking about too much.”

“One way I had it described to me at the start of the season was that you had two cars going into separate tunnels and you don’t know which one is going faster until you get to the end of the tunnel - and the end of the tunnel is on race day.

“You’re essentially doing all of the work in the dark, everything you do in preparation you do the best you can but you’re doing it without knowing how well the other team is doing.

“And then basically you come out at the end and we see who is faster.”