5 April 2024
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch is in the wake of a classic Boat Race.
I have no doubt that most HTBS Types watched this year’s Oxford – Cambridge Boat Race either in person or via the live broadcast. So, as usual, my three posts on the day are not so much race reports as an attempt to give a visual impression of the atmosphere of the occasion. Part I was posted yesterday.
Versions of the BBC’s broadcast are on YouTube and BBC iPlayer. The iPlayer recording is only available in the UK and is online for 30-days after broadcast. The YouTube version is slightly inferior as it does not contain all the BBC inserts and has a certain amount of “dead air”. The extended appeal following the end of the women’s race meant that the segment on the efforts by Fulham Reach Boat Club and others to make rowing more accessible had to be dropped from the live broadcast. However, a recording of the unused insert is on YouTube.
Excellent written race reports are on the Junior Rowing News site. The men’s race is summarised by Tom Morgan who held that, “We may never know the true reason for the Dark Blue collapse.” The women’s race is covered by Lara Robinson who called it “the strongest-fought Women’s Boat Race I’ve ever seen.”
On the official website, Olivia Bothamley-Dakin gives brief summaries of both the men’s and the women’s races and I have reproduced them below in italics (excluding captions) interspersed with pictures (my own unless otherwise stated). I was in the launch that followed the last race, that of the men’s Blue Boats, so I could not photograph the earlier races.
The 78th Women’s Boat Race
Racing in benign conditions, Oxford on the Middlesex station came (fiercely) out of the blocks…
At Barn Elms Boat Club, the Dark Blue women inched ahead with their stroke Annie Anezakis leading her crew with a long, powerful, and relentless rhythm.
Umpire Richard Phelps was kept busy with warnings being given at Harrods depositary for Cambridge who looked to take advantage of their bend early.
Cambridge knew it was their time to shine under Hammersmith, as they looked confident heading into their Surrey bend advantage.
At St. Paul’s Boat Club and around 10 minutes into the race Cambridge dug in and closed the gap with cox Hannah Murphy and stroke Megan Lee pulling their crew back even.
The race was not without its drama as after establishing a one boat lead, Cambridge cut across the course early forcing Oxford to cope in their puddles.
Oxford cox, Joe Gellett, made the call to go for the bump, which… would render Cambridge disqualified.
Yet Oxford came off significantly worse from the incursion and Cambridge, looking calm and collected, stretched out their lead through Barnes Bridge and across the finish line…
After a lengthy umpire discussion about whether Cambridge were in Oxford waters when the boats hit, Cambridge were declared the winners by a convincing margin of seven lengths earning the light blues their seventh consecutive win.
Predicted to be a close race, the 78th Women’s Boat Race saw Oxford fail to turn the tide on Cambridge with the Light Blues securing a commanding victory…
The 169th Men’s Boat Race
Starting in sluggish water, Cambridge had the sharper start but Oxford quickly pulled back even.
Cambridge was given warnings off the start as cox Ed Bracey encroached on Oxford’s water early.
Two minutes in, the Light Blues were one seat up and started to put pressure on their opposition.
Blades interlocked early but three minutes in Cambridge stretched out a 5-seat lead.
It became clear that Umpire Matthew Pinsent was going to be tested down the Crabtree stretch as both coxes chased the faster stream.
The Cambridge crew had a more dynamic and relaxed front end which stood them in good stead in the first half of the race.
Oxford made a move heading into Hammersmith as Cambridge was warned they held half a boat lead.
At St Paul’s School (just upstream of Hammersmith Bridge), Cambridge survived Oxford’s counterattack easily and took clear water as they started to inch ahead sending puddles and dirty water to Oxford.
Cambridge, who were the underdogs, extended their lead to around three lengths as both crews approached Barnes Bridge.
Heading into the finish, Cambridge stroke Matt Edge was visibly struggling and looking spent as Oxford dug in with a final last effort to the line.
Luckily the light blues had done enough as Edge collapsed across the finish line with his crew cheering behind him…
Cambridge (had) showed their rowing prowess (and with) a commanding lead over Oxford of 3 1/2 Lengths (had) completed the double.
Although I am not properly qualified to analyse high performance rowing, I am forced to speculate on what went wrong for Oxford – or what went right for Cambridge. I very much doubt that water quality was a deciding factor in any race.
A few days ago, I expressed surprise that the media pack from the Boat Race Company unusually expressed an opinion on the relative strengths of the crews. In a commonly held view it stated:
In racing the Oxford Women’s team has displayed confidence, managing to overcome tight margins and demonstrating clear growth. On paper, Oxford would appear to be the favourites to win…
Whilst… the Light Blue (men have) a Boat Race crew with experience, it is not clear if they will have the power to overcome a strong Oxford crew.…
Years ago, when I was attempting to row competitively, I was fond of dismissing my not-too-impressive ergo scores by pointing out that, if you put an ergo on water, it sinks. Equally, a crew may be strong “on paper” but we all know what can happen when paper and water meet.
I stand to be corrected but I suggest that Cambridge’s victories can be attributed to that elusive rowing phenomenon, “rhythm.” It is not particularly clever or original of me to point out that four-and-a quarter miles is too long to rely on brute force and high rates.
In the women’s race particularly, the Oxford strategy was a perfectly respectable one, to go off at a high rate, get ahead and stay there. It would have been so easy for Cambridge, the underdog finding themselves down off the start and with a lower rate, to respond by raising their rate but to lose their rhythm in the process – but they had the self-belief and maturity not to do this. Full credit must go to their coach, Paddy Ryan, for instilling this in them. I speculate that the Cambridge women learned a lot from their fixture race against Thames four weeks earlier. For Rob Baker, it was his fourth win out of the five since he took over as men’s coach.
In the other camp, the Oxford women were the best for a long time, and I trust that their new coach, Allan French, will be back next year. Sean Bowden has been the men’s coach since 1997 and Oxford have won thirteen of the twenty-seven races held since then – though only one of the last six. What will next year bring?
Postscript: Olympic rower Cath Bishop has written a very interesting piece for last Wednesday’s Guardian newspaper on why she thinks the Cambridge women did so well: “The notion and reality of a caring high-performance culture.” Read it here. We have not heard the last of this idea.
Part III will be posted tomorrow.