Completed Event: Rowing versus ACC Championships on May 15, 2026 , , 7th/69 points
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Maitland Looks Ahead to The Boat Race
1/4/2021 9:54:00 AM | Rowing
DURHAM, N.C. – In the ranks of collegiate athletics, each sport possesses an event that stands alone as one that is aspired by all competitors. Typically, this event combines an element of historical relevance, proximity between rivals, an unparalleled level of competition and an emotional investment that cannot be found elsewhere.
As it pertains to college rowing, no meet is circled on as many calendars as The Boat Race. The annual rivalry features the two premier rowing programs in the U.K. – Oxford University and Cambridge University – and Sunday, April 4, 2021 will see the 75th installment of the women's race.
Throughout the event's illustrious history, competitors with a background in NCAA rowing have come few and far between, making an appearance in The Boat Race a significant, lifetime achievement. For the first time, the Duke rowing program will be represented by one of its own – Class of 2018 graduate Katherine Maitland.
A two-time All-ACC and CRCA All-America honoree her senior year with the Blue Devils, Maitland is currently studying medicine at Oxford and strokes the 'AstraZeneca' boat for The Dark Blues. While she established herself as one of the most decorated rowers in Duke's history, the London native was always well-aware of the aura that surrounds The Boat Race.
"Probably since I started rowing, I'd known what it was," Maitland said. "One of my coaches as a junior rowed in the Cambridge reserve boat, so we watched it and I was originally a Cambridge fan just because I knew him. Just from knowing people, too, I just sort of followed along people who raced in The Boat Race before me. It's such a big thing in the rowing community – it's the famous boat race. We would have watch parties at my old club and pick which blue you were, which for me was Cambridge, but not anymore."
Maitland remembers watching the live streams of the race in the K Center during her undergraduate years. As her career at Duke came to a close and she looked at what opportunities laid ahead, Maitland determined that continuing to row would be a significant factor. Although graduate entry in medicine was offered by few universities, it came to be that Oxford was the next chapter for Maitland in both her professional and athletic pursuits.
"I knew that I was only going to apply to places where I could keep up the rowing, even if it was recreationally at a club," she said. "I was never going to go to some city in the middle of nowhere, where there's no water. I really did choose my medical school based on where I could keep rowing. It wasn't necessarily Boat Race related, but it was a plus that I could do The Boat Race because it is such an amazing thing to be a part of and another thing to check off the rowing bucket list."
After finding a spot in the Oxford lineup, Maitland was set to compete in The Boat Race in April of 2020 before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many athletes around the world, she was faced with the disappointment of preparing for months only to see her competition not take place. Even while the team hosted a Zoom call on the day the race was originally scheduled, it came as a bittersweet reflection of an opportunity lost.
"It's tough because you didn't really get to end the season how you wanted," Maitland said. "You didn't really have any sort of debrief. It was like an 'It's canceled, we need to leave and go home,' sort of thing. We had a big team Zoom call on the day of the boat race, which was quite nice. They announced what the lineups would have been and put out some media and some of the footage that would have gone out."
Over the following months, Maitland took some time before making the decision to sign up for another year with the Oxford program. The focus of her summer was studying for exams while training enough to keep herself in shape. But when she decided to take on the challenge once again and aim for a spot in The Boat Race, Maitland knew it would require a full commitment.
"I think I was definitely thinking, 'Do I want to do it again?," she said. "I asked some old coaches what they thought and I chatted to teammates and just got a lot of advice. It wasn't really until probably June when I thought, 'I'm going to give it another go.' It has been nice just because of all the restrictions here. There's less restrictions around organized sport, so it feels a bit normal. I'm very glad I did it – it just took me a long time to make the decision and kind of commit, because it is a lot of work."
As Maitland and her teammates got into the initial stages of training, they did so while dealing with the uncertainty that the pandemic dictates. Through multiple government-mandated lockdowns, the team was forced to adjust constantly and train in whatever environment it could. At times, this required team personnel, including Maitland, to drive around locally and deliver ergs so that each athlete had a way to take part in virtual team exercises. While these sessions allow training to go on, Maitland admitted that they pale in comparison to rowing with her teammates on the water.
"We had a lockdown last month and we basically had to ship the ergs out," she said. "I was driving around town with the president and the vice president, with the minibus that had ergs in the back, trying to deliver them so people had a way of training during the lockdown. I think it's just about being adaptable. It was honestly one of the hardest months of training, because you don't have people there and I always find the water sessions quite relaxing. It makes up for some of the times you have to test yourself on the erg, just because on the water there's so much going on and you're in the fresh air."
However, even through a virtual training session, Maitland still feels a sense of comradery and group effort that can serve as motivation during an abnormal time. While the immediate future remains uncertain, she believes that Oxford has adapted well through each new circumstance.
"We set up some Zoom workouts so when we had interval training or when we did a 5K test during lockdown – which was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done – we had everyone on Zoom and you could see people and you were all sort of doing it at the same time even if you weren't in the same room," Maitland said. "I anticipate there will probably be more of those in the new year leading up to April. It's nice to see everyone adapting and I think the coaches and all the support staff are doing a really good job of trying to stay on top of things. It takes a lot of work and so far it's been okay."
That adaptability will be required again on race day, when the two rivals converge on the River Great Ouse – Cambridge's home course. Since 2015, the race has taken places on The River Thames in London, giving this April's edition an unknown element for those in the Oxford shade of blue. According to Maitland, though, this has been approached as a test to look forward to.
"This year is going to be a little bit different to last year because it's in Cambridge this year," she said. "All the returners are quite well-versed in how it works at London and the challenges of rowing on the tide, but this is a piece of water that I don't think anyone on the team had actually seen before. It's going to be a real mental challenge, but working out how we do that as a crew is, I think, an exciting challenge."
While The Boat Race holds its significance as one of the most revered athletic competitions in the world, Maitland acknowledges that it is sometimes difficult to absorb. She has rowed for over 13 years, at the highest levels of club and NCAA competition, so it took all the way until a week or two before the 2020 race was scheduled for her place in the historic event to set in.
The excess support, however, cannot be ignored before she is reminded how remarkable her achievement is. It has come from all areas of her life – family, friends, old coaches – but one source that she appreciates just as greatly is her classmates at Oxford.
"One thing that's been lovely is that my course mates on the medicine course are so supportive of the rowing," Maitland said. "They think it's the coolest thing. I often think it's quite mundane just because it's been part of my life since I was 12, so to me it's not that exciting. It is my everyday life, but I think it is nice when they remind me that it is something quite special.
"My parents have always been quite supportive, always asking questions about what's going on. My grandma now has Instagram and I'll get emails from her because the Oxford Instagram is quite active. She'll email and go, 'I saw you in the video – you looked so much better than the girl in front of you,' and all that kind of stuff."
As Maitland keeps preparing to check off perhaps the greatest accomplishment on her rowing bucket list, her fan section on the day of The Boat Race will extend all the way to Durham, N.C., where Megan Cooke Carcagno and the Duke program will cheer on one of their own.
#GoDuke
As it pertains to college rowing, no meet is circled on as many calendars as The Boat Race. The annual rivalry features the two premier rowing programs in the U.K. – Oxford University and Cambridge University – and Sunday, April 4, 2021 will see the 75th installment of the women's race.
Throughout the event's illustrious history, competitors with a background in NCAA rowing have come few and far between, making an appearance in The Boat Race a significant, lifetime achievement. For the first time, the Duke rowing program will be represented by one of its own – Class of 2018 graduate Katherine Maitland.
A two-time All-ACC and CRCA All-America honoree her senior year with the Blue Devils, Maitland is currently studying medicine at Oxford and strokes the 'AstraZeneca' boat for The Dark Blues. While she established herself as one of the most decorated rowers in Duke's history, the London native was always well-aware of the aura that surrounds The Boat Race.
"Probably since I started rowing, I'd known what it was," Maitland said. "One of my coaches as a junior rowed in the Cambridge reserve boat, so we watched it and I was originally a Cambridge fan just because I knew him. Just from knowing people, too, I just sort of followed along people who raced in The Boat Race before me. It's such a big thing in the rowing community – it's the famous boat race. We would have watch parties at my old club and pick which blue you were, which for me was Cambridge, but not anymore."
Maitland remembers watching the live streams of the race in the K Center during her undergraduate years. As her career at Duke came to a close and she looked at what opportunities laid ahead, Maitland determined that continuing to row would be a significant factor. Although graduate entry in medicine was offered by few universities, it came to be that Oxford was the next chapter for Maitland in both her professional and athletic pursuits.
"I knew that I was only going to apply to places where I could keep up the rowing, even if it was recreationally at a club," she said. "I was never going to go to some city in the middle of nowhere, where there's no water. I really did choose my medical school based on where I could keep rowing. It wasn't necessarily Boat Race related, but it was a plus that I could do The Boat Race because it is such an amazing thing to be a part of and another thing to check off the rowing bucket list."
After finding a spot in the Oxford lineup, Maitland was set to compete in The Boat Race in April of 2020 before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many athletes around the world, she was faced with the disappointment of preparing for months only to see her competition not take place. Even while the team hosted a Zoom call on the day the race was originally scheduled, it came as a bittersweet reflection of an opportunity lost.
"It's tough because you didn't really get to end the season how you wanted," Maitland said. "You didn't really have any sort of debrief. It was like an 'It's canceled, we need to leave and go home,' sort of thing. We had a big team Zoom call on the day of the boat race, which was quite nice. They announced what the lineups would have been and put out some media and some of the footage that would have gone out."
Over the following months, Maitland took some time before making the decision to sign up for another year with the Oxford program. The focus of her summer was studying for exams while training enough to keep herself in shape. But when she decided to take on the challenge once again and aim for a spot in The Boat Race, Maitland knew it would require a full commitment.
"I think I was definitely thinking, 'Do I want to do it again?," she said. "I asked some old coaches what they thought and I chatted to teammates and just got a lot of advice. It wasn't really until probably June when I thought, 'I'm going to give it another go.' It has been nice just because of all the restrictions here. There's less restrictions around organized sport, so it feels a bit normal. I'm very glad I did it – it just took me a long time to make the decision and kind of commit, because it is a lot of work."
As Maitland and her teammates got into the initial stages of training, they did so while dealing with the uncertainty that the pandemic dictates. Through multiple government-mandated lockdowns, the team was forced to adjust constantly and train in whatever environment it could. At times, this required team personnel, including Maitland, to drive around locally and deliver ergs so that each athlete had a way to take part in virtual team exercises. While these sessions allow training to go on, Maitland admitted that they pale in comparison to rowing with her teammates on the water.
"We had a lockdown last month and we basically had to ship the ergs out," she said. "I was driving around town with the president and the vice president, with the minibus that had ergs in the back, trying to deliver them so people had a way of training during the lockdown. I think it's just about being adaptable. It was honestly one of the hardest months of training, because you don't have people there and I always find the water sessions quite relaxing. It makes up for some of the times you have to test yourself on the erg, just because on the water there's so much going on and you're in the fresh air."
However, even through a virtual training session, Maitland still feels a sense of comradery and group effort that can serve as motivation during an abnormal time. While the immediate future remains uncertain, she believes that Oxford has adapted well through each new circumstance.
"We set up some Zoom workouts so when we had interval training or when we did a 5K test during lockdown – which was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done – we had everyone on Zoom and you could see people and you were all sort of doing it at the same time even if you weren't in the same room," Maitland said. "I anticipate there will probably be more of those in the new year leading up to April. It's nice to see everyone adapting and I think the coaches and all the support staff are doing a really good job of trying to stay on top of things. It takes a lot of work and so far it's been okay."
That adaptability will be required again on race day, when the two rivals converge on the River Great Ouse – Cambridge's home course. Since 2015, the race has taken places on The River Thames in London, giving this April's edition an unknown element for those in the Oxford shade of blue. According to Maitland, though, this has been approached as a test to look forward to.
"This year is going to be a little bit different to last year because it's in Cambridge this year," she said. "All the returners are quite well-versed in how it works at London and the challenges of rowing on the tide, but this is a piece of water that I don't think anyone on the team had actually seen before. It's going to be a real mental challenge, but working out how we do that as a crew is, I think, an exciting challenge."
While The Boat Race holds its significance as one of the most revered athletic competitions in the world, Maitland acknowledges that it is sometimes difficult to absorb. She has rowed for over 13 years, at the highest levels of club and NCAA competition, so it took all the way until a week or two before the 2020 race was scheduled for her place in the historic event to set in.
The excess support, however, cannot be ignored before she is reminded how remarkable her achievement is. It has come from all areas of her life – family, friends, old coaches – but one source that she appreciates just as greatly is her classmates at Oxford.
"One thing that's been lovely is that my course mates on the medicine course are so supportive of the rowing," Maitland said. "They think it's the coolest thing. I often think it's quite mundane just because it's been part of my life since I was 12, so to me it's not that exciting. It is my everyday life, but I think it is nice when they remind me that it is something quite special.
"My parents have always been quite supportive, always asking questions about what's going on. My grandma now has Instagram and I'll get emails from her because the Oxford Instagram is quite active. She'll email and go, 'I saw you in the video – you looked so much better than the girl in front of you,' and all that kind of stuff."
As Maitland keeps preparing to check off perhaps the greatest accomplishment on her rowing bucket list, her fan section on the day of The Boat Race will extend all the way to Durham, N.C., where Megan Cooke Carcagno and the Duke program will cheer on one of their own.
#GoDuke
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