Guy Arnold is a 2nd year historian at Christ Church: he is also the captain of the college’s prestigious boat club, rowing for M1 in last year’s double triumph in Torpids and VIIIs.
Even above that, though, is his international pedigree. At the age of 17, representing Great Britain in Italy, Arnold won a silver medal in the youth European Championship pairs event. Of course, the road to such success did not come cheaply: ‘It was the culmination of a year-long trialling process. I got down to the final 32 pairs, but I didn’t do any of the original training for those championships. But, someone was injured, and I seized my opportunity. After that, it was a gruelling 2 training sessions per day, and that lasted for 3 or 4 weeks.’
Enduring 11 or more training periods per week is almost unthinkable to any sporting discipline outside of rowing: Arnold was at times required to consume over 5,000 calories a day- not for bulking up, but for sheer replenishment.
Oxford is chocked full of international rowers and Olympian oarsmen, but Guy is no ringer or drafted mercenary: his talent and experience were nurtured by excellent coaching from school, and his development as a rower has only continued at Oxford.
As Christ Church Boat Club captain, Guy holds many important responsibilities: he must organise day-to-day sessions, plan training camps, and liase and co-ordinate with coaches. In the run up to M1’s defence of its Torpids headship, Arnold is busy preparing his boat and his club for the forthcoming challenge. On retaining the position at the Head of the River, Guy is optimistically confident- ‘It’s not going to be easy, but I expect us to pull it off. It will be a tough battle at the top, certainly.’
Whether or not he hits the international heights again is yet to be seen; Guy has plenty of years to continue his growth and maturity as a rower. The immediate future is all about Torpids, though, where the lead ChCh boat will seek its third consecutive victory on the Isis’s waters. Now that would be an achievement.
