The Boat Race is the name of a famous race of Aviron which short every year with the Printemps between the universities of Cambridge and Oxford on the the Thames with London with the the United Kingdom. This event is very popular among the old ones of these universities but also for the amateurs of oar as well as the general public. The number of spectators on the banks of the Thames is estimated at approximately at 250.000. In 2004, the televised retransmission was followed by a little more than 500 million televiewers. This does of them one of the sports events most followed to the world. The first race goes up with 1829 and short every year since 1856 (except during the two world wars).

The members of the two teams are traditionally called the blues (the blue ones) and each boat Blue Boat , the Cambridge University Boat Club having for colors the light blue and Oxford the dark blue.

The race

The race runs 4 precisely mile S and 374 Yard S is 6  779 meters of Putney until Mortlake while passing by Barnes and Hammersmith. This race is opened with the eight with cox (i.e., 4 pairs of oarsmen and a cox) and does not impose weight limit. The boats must go up the river but the race is synchronized with the rising tide. Arrival and the starting points were almost always Putney and Mortlake but on some occasions, the race took place:

There also were 4 nonofficial races out of London during the Second world war: in 1940 with Henley-one-Thames, 194 3 with Sandford-one-Thames, in 1944 and 1945 on the river Great Ouse with Ely. The results of these races are not retained in the official results.

History

The tradition began with Charles Merivale, a student of Cambridge and its friend Charles Wordsworth who was with Oxford. Cambridge defied Oxford during a race and the challenge was renewed the following year. The tradition continued with each year, the loser who starts again the challenge for the following year.

Although the race proceeds between oarsmen amateurs, each oarsman having to be student in the respective universities, the drive which each team undergoes is very testing. Each team involves itself on average 6 days per week during the 6 months which precede the race. The competitive spirit is so important between the two universities which it is not rare to see of the oarsmen of Olympic level in each team. The team of Oxford thus counted in her rows the quadruple Olympic medal Matthew Pinsent in 1990, 1991 and 1993. The medal-holders of the Olympic Games of summer of 2000 Tim Foster, Luka Grubor and Kieran West rowed respectively for Oxford in 1997 and Cambridge in 1999 and 2001. This raised the not proven charges that these students had been accepted at the university for their scores more than for their intellectual abilities. This does not seem any more to be the case nowadays. In 2005, the team of Cambridge for example aligned 4 students in Ph.D. of which a doctor and a veterinary surgeon. But the charges however continue to be regularly started again.

The race became today a British national institution and is retransmise on television each year. In 2005, after 66 years of exclusiveness, BBC left the rebroadcast right to ITV. The race was gained 78 times by Cambridge and 73 by Oxford. The edition of 2003 saw the tightest arrival of its history, Oxford preceding Cambridge of a foot only (approximately 30 cm).

Preparation with the race

The drive for the race begins in September at the same time as the academic year. First tests one in November place with the British Championship of Oar in interior where each university sends a score of oarsmen. The two universities also send their respective teams to take part in the Fours Head , a race which is run on the the Thames to London but in the opposite direction of the Boat Race .

In December, the respective trainers make clash two equic each university on the same course as the real race. One often gives nicknames to these teams. In 2004, the two teams of Cambridge were called Kara and Whakamanawa (terms Maori siginifiant force and honor) and those of Oxford Cowboys and Indiens .

During the period of Christmas, the teams leave in camp drive abroad where the final crews are decided. Once formed, they are measured with best the British and foreign teams of oar.

In order to mitigate the cases of wound or disease, each university lays out of two additional oarsmen, called spare even (even of reserve). In the week preceding the race, the teams of the two universities clash on a distance from 1 mile. The individual official weighings and of the team take place during the last week.

Anecdotes

  • In 1949, a comment of the sports correspondent of BBC John Snagge remained famous: I can' T see who' S in the lead goal it' S either Oxford gold Cambridge. (I cannot see who am at the head but it is either Oxford, or Cambridge).
  • the term Boat race became so popular that it is a synonym of face in Cockney rhyming slang, a form of slang of the Cockney of London.
  • On the weapons of the London Borough off Richmond upon Thames, on the territory of which the majority of the race proceed, one finds two scratch carrying oars, blue clearly and blue dark, in reference to the colors of the two boats. These colors are very rare in British Héraldique.
  • the first woman to be taken part in the race was Susan Brown, which was the barreuse one of the team of Oxford in 1981.
  • Certains participants in the race became famous thereafter: George Mallory (Cambridge in 1906, 1907 & 1908, Andrew Irvine (Oxford in 1923), Lord Snowdon (Cambridge in 1950), Hake Moynihan (Oxford in 1977) and Hugh Laurie (Cambridge in 1980).
  • It arrived at three recoveries that one of both boat runs during the race: the team of Oxford in 1925 and equips it with Cambridge in 1859 and 1978.

Results

  • Cambridge: 79 victories

  • Oxford: 73 victories
  • Ex-aequo: 1

In 2006, the race proceeded on Sunday, April 2 with 4:35 (GMT) and saw the first participation of a French oarsman, Bastien Ripoll.

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Nonofficial results

Statistics

  • the heaviest Oarsman: Thorsten Engelmann, Cambridge 2007, 110.8 kg

  • the lightest Oarsman: Alfred Higgins, Oxford 1882, 60,1 kg

  • the heaviest Crew: Oxford 2005, 98 kg on average

External bond

  • Official site of the race

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