Relentless rowing regime

The university crews are out on the river every afternoon

BBC Sport's Mark Davies, a Cambridge cox between 1992 and 1995, provides an insight into life as a university oarsman.

Oarsmen are a strange breed. University oarsmen are stranger still.

For a start, while they are extremely dextrous with a blade in their hands - the sensitivity of a good rower to the feel of the boat can be astonishing - it is not worth asking any of them to join your football team or stand at second slip.

The rower who is good at ball sports is a rare animal indeed.

If you spend any time in the company of a top-flight oarsman then the thing that is noticeable above all else is the amount they eat.

Daily fitness tests ensure that the crews are in peak condition

Approximately 7,000 calories a day compared to the average intake of between 2,000 and 2,500 - but strictly no sugars.

They feast on a complex diet of carbohydrates like potatoes, pasta, and rice. Food is fuel, but not fat.

The average person has between 17 and 25% body fat. A large proportion of the population may be well over 30%.

In stark contrast, an oarsman at the peak of his game will probably be between 8 and 12%.

For the ill-disciplined rower any excess is easily spotted as the physio's fat callipers come out regularly to ensure that everyone is in trim.

All of which means that the crews have to do an extraordinary amount of training, maximising the efficiency of the body, just as, on the water, they seek to maximise the efficiency of each stroke.