The Boat Race

The Boat Race

The Boat Race, also known as the University Boat Race and The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club. It is rowed annually between competing eights each spring on the Thames in London. The event is a popular one, not only with the alumni of the universities, but also with rowers in general and the public. An estimated quarter of a million people watch the race live from the banks of the river, around seven to nine million people on TV in the UK, and an overseas audience estimated by the Boat Race Company of around 120 million,[1] however, other estimates[2] put the international audience below 20 million. The first race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856, with the exception of the two world wars.
Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue.
The 2009 boat race took place on 29 March at 15:40 BST, with Oxford (on the Middlesex station) winning.[3]

ORIGIN

The tradition was started in 1829 by Charles Merivale, a student at St John's College, Cambridge, and his schoolfriend Charles Wordsworth who was at Oxford. Cambridge challenged Oxford to a race in Henley. The second race occurred in 1836, with the venue moved to be from Westminster to Putney. Over the next couple of years, there was disagreement over where the race should be held, with Oxford preferring Henley and Cambridge preferring London. Cambridge therefore raced Leander Club in 1837 and 1838. Following the formation of the Oxford University Boat Club, racing between the two universities resumed and the tradition continues to the present day, with the loser challenging the winner to a re-match annually.
The race in 1877 was declared a dead heat. Legend in Oxford has it that the judge, "Honest John" Phelps, was asleep under a bush as the crews came by leading him to announce the result as a "dead heat to Oxford by four feet", but this is not borne out by contemporary reports.
Oxford, partially disabled, were making effort after effort to hold their rapidly waning lead, while Cambridge, who, curiously enough, had settled together again, and were rowing almost as one man, were putting on a magnificent spurt at 40 strokes to the minute, with a view of catching their opponents before reaching the winning-post. Thus struggling over the remaining portion of the course, the two eights raced passed the flag alongside one another, and the gun fired amid a scene of excitement rarely equalled and never exceeded. Cheers for one crew were succeeded by counter-cheers for the other, and it was impossible to tell what the result was until the Press boat backed down to the Judge and inquired the issue. John Phelps, the waterman, who officiated, replied that the noses of the boats passed the post strictly level, and that the result was a dead heat.
—The Times
Cambridge produced one of the legends of the Boat Race and of rowing worldwide, Stanley Muttlebury, whose crew won the race in the first four of the five years he was a member, 1886-1890. He was viewed as "the finest oarsman to have ever sat in a boat".[citation needed]
Contemporaries writing to The Times to add to his 1933 obituary called attention to his extraordinary physical prowess and natural aptitude for rowing, traits accompanied by mildness, good manners, and natural kindness:
Muttlebury had a natural aptitude which amounted to a genius for rowing, and, as he was not only massively large and full of courage but herculean in muscular strength, it was inevitable that he should be an outstanding exponent of oarsmanship. Added to this, he came to his prime when rowing was in a transitional stage, when the old methods of the straight back and the body catch suited to the fixed seat and the short slide, had necessarily to be superseded by methods required by the long-slide. I consider that long-slide rowing sprang suddenly to perfection in Muttlebury, that on him this new (or partially new) art was built...
"Muttle", as he was known at the varsity and later in life, was one who strove never to hurt (The Times), but there have been two instances where later generations of oarsmen have rebelled against the leadership of the Boat Club President and their coach. Both have involved Oxford University Boat Club and in both cases American oarsmen played a pivotal role.