Omar Al-Miqdadi’s 2025 was almost as successful as it could be for a club coxswain. Winning the Wargrave Challenge Cup and the Club Pennant at the Women’s Head of the River, he has continued to lead the women’s squad into a new campaign where they recently came 2nd at the Head of the Charles, losing only to the US National Team.
Sum up your coxing career in less than 100 words
I started coxing at King’s College School Wimbledon when I was 13 after one of my PE teachers thought I’d be good at it because I was “small and loud”. I gave it a go, instantly loved it and have never looked back! I went to Warwick University for my undergrad and coxed there for 4 years which was really enjoyable and gave me a new passion for the sport. I then moved back to London and started coxing at Molesey Boat Club where I’ve been for the last four and a half years.
What do you do outside of rowing, and have you taken any learnings from coxing into this role?
I’m a PhD student working on the development of new materials that can be used for carbon capture applications. Although I’m the only one working on this project, I’m part of two research groups, and we often talk about how we can work as a team and be more collaborative. Many of the principles that I proposed for us to do this mirror those that I use in coxing. Clear and effective communication, good leadership and having a set communal goal in mind are just a handful of principles that are key to being a good cox but have also worked in my research groups.
What do you think are your three best qualities that make you a great cox?
On the water, I think I have pretty good boat feel and often find I’m making calls right before the coach/rowers were thinking the same thing. I also think I make good use of silence when I’m coxing. It’s tempting to want to be speaking all the time but making clear, concise calls and then giving your crew a few strokes of silence to really think about and implement the change is far more effective. Off the water, I think I’m quite personable, which is not an essential coxing skill but makes it easier to build relationships with rowers.
Who most influenced that way you approach coxing?
There are obviously many people who’ve had an impact on my coxing over the years, but one of the most important bits of advice I’ve received that has resulted in my current coxing style is my coach at Molesey, Sam Tuck. To avoid upsetting rowers in my crew, I went through a few years of being more of a yes-man than someone who would make the tough calls to guide them to a win. Sam told me that on the water, they’re not my friends, rather my ticket to victory and that I need to be more demanding on what I need (whether that’s a split or a seat) in order for us to succeed. It’s a change that brought me a lot more success on the water when I made it and the rowers who I thought I’d be upsetting actually thanked me.
Favourite place to race, and favourite place to train?
Favourite place to race has to be Henley Royal Regatta. You just can’t beat the buzz around the boat tents, the walkouts and the noise along the riverbank. I have to give an honourable mention to the Head of the Charles Regatta though. Racing internationally is always fun but the craziness of overtaking crews and cutting over buoys in what’s described as a coxswain’s race made it such a fun one to do. Maybe a bit predictable but my favourite place to train is Molesey. I could say that’s because it’s picturesque, it’s near exclusive use of the river or it’s almost always clear and calm, but the main reason I love training at Molesey is the element of working in the shadows. None of our competitors see us train and so we turn up to races and people don’t know what to expect, and that’s something that really excites me.
What would your crew pick out as the best race call you have ever made?
I think despite all our best efforts there’s no ‘magic bullet’ call that a cox can make out of the blue that will change the course of a race. The calls that have worked best in racing for me are those which have been previously discussed that have a very clear required response which everyone is on the same page about. With that in mind, we had a call last summer which was “paint it black”. The response was for everyone to stay up at the catch and sharpen to maintain boat speed through the 600m mark of a race. It worked really well and was often where we moved away from the field.
How do you inspire trust and belief in your crew?
It’s something that takes time and certainly can’t be done overnight. For me, it comes down to two main things in training: being present and getting things right. If you’re making yourself available to train, you’re showing that you’re reliable and motivated which will mean a lot to your crew when you’re asking them for more in the third 500m of a race. Getting things right in training is a more direct way of building trust. If you’re constantly getting in a boat and getting the best line or delivering the session correctly, your crew/squad will know that you can be called upon to do that, and they’ll trust you when it comes to racing. That’s not to say don’t make mistakes because everyone does but then take accountability for them instead of trying to throw the blame elsewhere.
If you could do one race again which would it be and why?
The Heineken Roeivierkamp 2023. We were racing a women’s eight in the elite category going up against Nereus who were effectively (if not completely) the Dutch women’s eight on their
home water. We knew we were good, but we didn’t go into it expecting to win the whole thing – after all, the elite category had never been won by an international crew. On the first day we beat Nereus over 2500m, but they pipped us on the 250m sprint leaving us tied overall. We then beat them over 5000m on the second day, but not by enough to cement the win so it came down to the 750m sprint. With it still all to play for and myself and Dieuwke playing mind games on and off the water, we pipped them in what was probably the biggest win of my career at the time. It was a weekend where we just grew in confidence and one I’d love to relive!
If you think back to the start of your coxing career, what is one untrue belief or bad habit you have had to deliberately unlearn?
That you have to shout/talk all the time. I started doing it when I was a J15 and it was initially very well received (you can imagine 15-year-old boys just wanting to hear noise), but it gave me nowhere to go and what I was saying often got lost in the noise. When I needed to improve to get into the first eight, I tried to say more and get louder, but it had the opposite effect. I had to quickly unlearn this, and over the years have found that communicating clearly what you want/need and using silence during both training and racing is far more effective than being loud and talking all the time.
