Robin Bourne-Taylor
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Robin Edwin Geoffrey Bourne-Taylor (born 22 July 1981 in George Town, Grand Cayman) is a British rower and three time Boat Race winner.
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[edit] Education
Robin was educated at Abingdon School and Christ Church, Oxford where he read engineering. He also undertook the 44 week commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and is an officer in the British Army. His girlfriend 2nd Lt Jo Dyer was killed by an IED in Basra on Thursday, 5 April 2007[1]
[edit] The Boat Race
Whilst at Oxford University, Robin was a member of Oxford University Boat Club and took part in the Boat Race four times in five years between 2001 and 2005 (taking a year off to train for the 2004 Summer Olympics). He was elected president of the Oxford University Boat Club for the 2004-05 academic year.
2001: Bow - Lost
2002: Seven - Won
2003: Five - Won
2005: Bow - Won
Robin's time at Oxford coincided with some of the most controversial and exciting Boat Races in recent memory. The 2001 race, in which he took part as a "fresher", caused controversy when the two crews were restarted level when the Cambridge bowman lost his blade on the wake thrown up by an Oxford oarsman, when Oxford were half a length up. Following the restart Cambridge went on to win by 2 1/2 lengths.
A year later Oxford gained revenge by coming from behind to win, after a Cambridge oarsman - Sebastian Mayer - appeared to collapse in the closing moments. It was the first time in fifty years that the crew behind at Barnes Bridge had gone onto win the race.
2003 offered another thrilling finish, as Oxford won the 4 1/4 mile race by just a foot. For the first time in history two sets of brothers competed against each other. David Livingston (Oxford) raced against his older brother James, and a last minute call up for Ben Smith (who joined the Cambridge Blue Boat from Goldie hours before the race after the original crew member was injured) meant that he competed against his brother Matthew, the Oxford president.
Having concentrated his efforts on the Olympics in 2004, Robin returned to Oxford for one final race, this time as President of the Oxford University Boat Club. Both universities had extremely strong intakes that year, with Cambridge boasting several world champions and the Oxford crew including Olympic silver medallist Barney Williams. Oxford won the epic contest by 2 lengths in a time of 16 minutes 42 minutes.
[edit] International Rowing Career
Having won a silver medal at the 1999 Junior World Rowing Championships, Robin won his first senior international vest in 2002. He sat in the seven seat of the Great Britain Eight, which made the final of the Rowing World Championships in Seville. He occupied the same seat a year later when the Eight won a bronze medal at the championships in Milan.
Following this success, Robin decided that training for the Olympics and finishing his engineering degree were incompatible. He took a year off from his studies at Oxford, and trained with the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames. The build up to the Olympics for the GB Men's Rowing Squad was somewhat disrupted due to illness, injury and variable form. Illness to the Eight's stroke - Tom James - the night before their Heat in the Olympic competition was a particular blow, and whilst he returned for the repecharge, the crew failed to make the final.
Robin did not represent Great Britain in 2005 and 2006, choosing to concentrate on finishing his degree and dedicate himself to a career in the British Army.He returned to the international scene in 2007.
[edit] Other Rowing
Despite rowing for both Oxford University Boat Club and Great Britain, Robin still found time to compete for Christ Church Boat Club in the annual Eights Week competition. In 2001, Christ Church Men's 1st VIII won blades for the first time in over 80 years, with Robin in the stroke seat. Four years later, Robin was the only surviving crew member, when the 1st VIII repeated that achievement.
In 2006, Robin competed in the Army crew that reached the semi-final of the Visitor's Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, steering the Army crew from the three-seat. In the semi-final he raced against fellow Christ Church graduate, Jonny Searle. Perhaps surprisingly, youth failed to beat experience, and despite having a useful lead for the majority of the race, the Army succumbed to a 'Searle finish' cBarcelona 1992.
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Olympics
[edit] World Championships
- 2007 Munich - Bronze, Eight (seven)
- 2003 Milan - Bronze, Eight (seven)
- 2002 Seville - 6th, Eight (seven)
[edit] World Cups
- 2003 Milan - Bronze, Eight (seven)
- 2003 Lucerne - Gold, Eight (seven)
- 2003 Munich - Bronze, Eight (seven)
- 2002 Munich - 6th, Eight (seven)
- 2002 Lucerne - 11th, Eight (seven)
- 2002 Hazewinkel - 7th, Eight (seven)
