“My job is simple – pull hard!”

Congratulations to Hughes Boat Race 2023 rower, Thomas Lynch, confirmed today in the Blue Men’s Boat.

Thomas, 25, is in his second year of a PhD in engineering; and this is his second year rowing for the University. Last year he made the Goldie boat – this year’s he was determined to make the first boat. He will be joined by fellow Hughesian Noam Mouelle, on The Tideway on 26th March.

We spoke to him about coming to Cambridge, Hughes Hall and of course rowing.

Tell us about yourself, and life before Hughes.

I was born in Dublin, Ireland, but I lived in Vancouver, Canada for most of my life. In my last two years of high school I started rowing around once a week in the single, but I wasn’t too serious about the sport. In my first year at the University of British Columbia (UBC) I tried out varsity rowing in bigger boats for the first time. The intense training schedule at UBC was a shock, and I ended up quitting after a month!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have gotten Hughes Hall. I lived on-campus in Fenner’s last year, and the location is ideal for getting to rowing training and to the engineering buildings.

But, at the start of my third year at UBC I went back to the sport. I toughed it out through a pre-season camp, got used to the training schedule, and then started to enjoy myself. I did three years of rowing before graduating and moving to Cambridge.

At UBC, I studied mechanical engineering with a biomedical specialisation.

What is your experience of Hughes Hall and college life?

When I first applied to Cambridge I didn’t realise the importance of colleges. Now, I consider myself extremely lucky to have gotten Hughes Hall. I lived on-campus in Fenner’s last year, and the location is ideal for getting both to rowing training and to the engineering buildings. Now I am living off-campus, but I still try to spend time studying in the Pfeiffer Room and go to as many Hughes Bops as possible. The best part of Hughes is definitely the people. Everyone is friendly, close-knit, and up for a good time. This makes for some fantastic parties and an excellent May Ball.

In fact, this year I’ll be part of the May Ball planning committee. Make sure to buy your tickets on March 10th! It’s going to be epic.

And how do you strike a balance between studies, training and everything else.

Training can be pretty intense. With 12 training sessions a week, 4 on the river at Ely and the rest at the Goldie Boathouse, plus working towards my PhD, there’s not a lot of time out. We get Mondays off training so Sundays are our social night – probably because there’s not much going on, on Mondays, so it keeps us in check!

So there are compromises but on the other side, there is a huge social aspect to the sport – any sport – and hanging out with rowing friends is brilliant. And it is such a joy to be back to full training schedules and normal racing after the disruption of the pandemic.

A challenge is fitting in enough food – I generally have to eat a number of meals at my desk whilst working. If I didn’t multi-task I’d lose too many calories or too much work.

“there is a huge social aspect to the sport”. Thomas rows at Four; Noam at two, during training at Ely. Image credit: Nordin Catic

What about the future

I think after my PhD, I would like to go back to industry. I had a great opportunity as part of my degree in Canada to work in Germany at a large engineering company which was a chance to get work experience and earn a decent wage for a year. I’ll be 29 when I finish so might be time to return to the world of work and knuckle down, away from the river.

I don’t think this level of competition and training is something that can be sustained beyond college life – unless you become a professional of course and there’s always the Canadian national team! Or perhaps it’s full-time engineering for me next.

I’ve been putting off all these decisions until we’ve beaten Oxford.

Tell us about the CUBC experience

Being in the Blue boat is such an amazing experience – it is like rowing behind a load of legends, with so many world and national records in one boat. And because you’re rowing with people from all over the world, and with so many different backgrounds. It’s seriously amazing experience.

Rowing at Cambridge has been such a privilege – I just hope we do you all proud on The Tideway! There will be a lot of my family and friends back in Vancouver watching it live!

And, of course, after we’ve won the Boat Race we all look forward to joining our College rowing buddies in the May Bumps!

So, you’ve made the Blue Boat in the Boat Race!

I mainly just feel gratitude to be rowing with such great people, and for a university like Cambridge. Last year I got to row with four Olympians, and this year I’ll be rowing with guys that have been training in the sport since they were 12. (Ollie Parish probably started training in the womb). I’ve learned huge amounts from everyone, and it’s an honour to be part of the program.

Regarding race day, I try not to think too hard about the media or the number of people watching the race.

My job is pretty simple on March 26th – pull hard!

Training can be pretty intense. With 12 training sessions a week, 4 on the river at Ely and the rest at the Goldie Boathouse, plus working towards my PhD, there’s not a lot of time out.

Good luck Thomas and crew!