2024 Reserve Crew and 2025 Blue Boat Cox, meet Tobias Bernard. Tobias will lead the Dark Blue men for The Boat Race 2026 as President.

I study the MChem Chemistry which is the undergraduate integrated master’s degree in chemistry.

This is my third year with Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC). I will never forget my first Boat Race Day as part of the club. It impressed on me the extraordinary atmosphere of the race and the unique privilege that it is to compete in it.

It was an honour to be selected to Cox the Blue Boat this year and a great opportunity to work with athletes with a wealth of experience including some with Olympic pedigree. While I was able to provide Boat Race and Tideway-specific knowledge from my time training there, I benefited enormously from their willingness to share what they had learned at the international level.

In recent years, I’ve been fortunate enough to race at Henley and on the Charles and Amstel rivers, in Boston (USA) and the Netherlands respectively, but nothing compares to the power and drama of the tidal Thames in London.

Understanding the differences in the athletes” motivations, strengths, and experiences is key to building a crew. The fastest boats harness their individual strengths and perspectives but ultimately put aside their differences in pursuit of speed.

Balancing studying with training is one of the unique challenges of the boat race season. I have found a strong work ethic, rigorous time management, and good relationships with tutors and course-mates essential to making the most of the academic and athletic opportunities on offer at Oxford.

I love the excitement of Boat Race Day and the noise and spectacle of the crowded Tideway banks. Nothing compares to the feeling of arriving at the culmination of all the long sessions and performing under pressure.

We have an exciting team of amazing and inspiring student-athletes at Oxford University Boat Club, and I look forward to building a culture of hard work and collective responsibility for achieving the highest standard of training on and off the water through close personal relationships with them and our coaches.

My research next year involves developing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance techniques. It’s a technology used by scientists to look at the structure and behaviour of molecules and proteins. This can be useful to many researchers from chemists trying to identify the products of reactions, or biochemists trying to understand the behaviour of large biomolecules involved in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.