The 158th Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race

In its 158 years of running, the Oxford versus Cambridge Boat Race has never seen such excitement and drama. Unfortunately, I don't think many of the spectators saw the events that unfolded that dreary, drizzly Saturday morning. It isn't easy chasing those racers upstream, even on land, by bus...which we tried to do, to catch the end of the race after having watched the beginning. 

After the initial preamble of selecting starting stations (apparently) the race was off. Reviewers claimed Oxford had the better chance of winning that day based on their record that season and indeed it was Oxford that looked the best at a cool 44 strokes a minute (they say), slightly over-rating Cambridge and taking an early ¼ length lead. 

By the first mile the boats were still largely neck-and-neck, no advantage to either. “And this was how the race proceeded with neither crew giving any quarter, Oxford holding on around the outside of the Surrey bend but unable to move away from the light blues as they raced under Hammersmith Bridge and on towards Chiswick. With the wind now behind them and both crews showing great heart and determination it was shaping up to be a truly fantastic race.” Film crews and umpires and the like followed closely in the wake of the rowers.

But this entire preamble accounted for nothing.

The Oxford coxswain shot her hand in the air, followed immediately by a red flag from the Umpire to stop the race. “Amid some confusion on the river a swimmer who would have been mown down by the flotilla of following boats if the race had continued, was spotted between the two crews.” The jerk in the river, Trenton Oldfield, 35, caused the annual contest on the River Thames to be stopped for around half an hour after he was spotted in the vessels' path as crews battled towards the finish. He is a self-titled anti-elitist who's aim was to protest the race, apparently, in the manner of “civil disobedience”. He narrowly avoided the blade of an Oxford oar, was pulled from the river, was taken away on a police launch and arrested. 

Oldfield, who lives in a run-down block of flats in Myrdle Street, east London, later defended his anti-elitist stance online, claiming he had always "fought from within". He added: "Still waiting for someone to show me when elitism (seeing oneself above another) hasn't lead to oppression and tyranny?" His bail condition bans him from using or being within 100 metres of roads which form part of the Olympic torch route.

The race was restarted from Hammersmith Bridge, around the 2-mile point. Then just 35 seconds into the restarted race Oxford on the outside of the bend were continuously warned to move away from Cambridge. “This they failed to do and a clash was inevitable. A clash in which the Dark Blues came out the worst and which cost them the race as Hanno Weinhausen six in the Oxford crew emerged from it with no spoon on the end of his blade.” Effectively the Race was over and Cambridge moved steadily away from the 7 man Oxford crew over the next few minutes to win by 4 and a quarter lengths.

Despite the Oxford crew’s appeal at the end of the Race Umpire Garrett declared Cambridge the winner. “But the drama wasn’t quite over Alex Woods Oxford’s bow man had collapsed after crossing the finish line and was lying unconscious in the boat, having given everything to prevent his team’s loss. Cambridge President David Nelson seemed bemused and described the Race in his laconic fashion as “pretty dramatic” while expressing his concern for his Dark Blue rival.”

Oxford's bow, Dr. Alex Woods, collapsed in the boat...

After the Race there was no presentation ceremony as both sides showed their concern for Woods who was taken to Charing Cross hospital immediately afterwards, where he was recovering well a short time later. This was a truly dramatic afternoon of sport, one in which the Umpire was adjudged to have made all the correct decisions in an unprecedented race, and in which many people probably didn’t notice that Ed Bosson had become the youngest ever winning Cambridge cox. Poor guys.

Luckily for us (?) with the halt in the middle, we saw both the beginning, as I said, and the finish of the race...and that was that.