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Why I love the Boat Raceby Martin Gough - BBC Sport (U2505894) 25 March 2008   Can we get the jokes out of the way early this year? Yes, it's the same teams again competing in the 154th Boat Race on Saturday. No, Sunderland Poly won't be putting in a late entry. Sir Steve Redgrave once compared the Boat Race and the Olympics to go-karting and Formula One As a fan of the annual match between Oxford and Cambridge for the last 30 years, I've heard most of them. There is always an underlying message and sometimes it's pretty vehement: many believe the Boat Race is an example of elitism that has no place in the modern sporting calendar. The first point is debatable but, to me, the second is nonsense.Yes, the event is closed to all but the country's two oldest universities. Yes, it is dominated by those who learned to row at fee-paying schools and foreigners who have paid for their education. But that does not mean that there is no place for anyone good enough to make the crews and able enough to find a place at one of the institutions. Andy Hodge and Peter Reed – currently considered Great Britain's best oarsmen having won gold at the 2005 and '06 World Championships – both spent time at Oxford as postgraduates having attended state schools and learned to row at other universities. Whereas American universities offer hundreds of sporting scholarships each year, Oxford and Cambridge have an agreement not to. In fact, being a rower can actually harm your chances of getting a university place as Mike Wherley – who has won three World Championship golds with the USA and appeared at two Olympic Games – found out when he was turned down by Cambridge. Thankfully for him, he found a place at Oxford instead. Arguably there are other British academic institutions who could compete with the big two in a good year Is the Boat Race an anachronism? Sir Steve Redgrave once compared the Boat Race and the Olympics to go-karting and Formula One, although he later insisted that he just wanted to highlight the differences rather than to claim that one is of higher quality to the other. The race comes earlier in the season, the race is three times longer than the standard international event, it is a match race rather than six-abreast and takes place on a winding tidal course rather than a still-water lake.All that makes it very difficult to compare the two. A Boat Race crew in a strong year (usually the one after the Olympics), training for an international season would probably figure among the top five crews in the world. Arguably there are other British academic institutions – certainly Oxford Brookes, University of London, Imperial College and Durham – who could compete with the big two in a good year. They get their chance during the regatta season, although the Oxbridge focus on this race means they generally aren't at their best by the time the summer comes around. Three arguments come out in response to the annual jokes. In this event there is no league season, no play-offs, no heats and no second place One is that the Boat Race is a private match and that even if seven million people weren't watching on TV and 250,000 more didn't line the banks to watch each year, it would still go ahead. It may do but it would have to do without the sponsorship that provides full-time coaching, support and equipment.Another is that the seven million figure proves how much interest there still is in this unique occasion. It may not be the same audience that watches the Premier League but the figure remains high despite the change in broadcaster from the BBC to ITV three years ago and the increasing dominance of football on the sporting agenda. For me, though, it is simple. Eighteen people who you would not recognise if they bumped into you on the street (unless they were together) get to take part in an event where there is no league season, no play-offs, no heats and no second place, in front of a crowd three times that of a packed Wembley Stadium. Sometimes the Boat Race is a procession towards the end but always there is a moment of real excitement, when one crew delivers the blow that will win them the contest. To me, those who criticise the Boat Race can't be bothered to work out what it's all about. Explain the offside rule to me and I'll return the favour. Meanwhile, forget the backgrounds of the competitors, forget how they come to be there or whether others should take their places. Enjoy one of the sporting highlights of the year, every year. I'll be around to argue over this one all week, inbetween going to the media events and some of the training sessions for each crew in the run-up to the event. Whether you have never seen the Boat Race before or are an aficionado it would be good to hear from you. More Boat Race articles by Martin Gough: Thursday: Cambridge need stroke of inspiration Wednesday: Coxes' test of character December trials: Oxford’s old stager, Cambridge savour early test In photos: Boat Race snaps on Flickr Latest 10 commentsRead members' comments or add your own
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PeterPointerSmith (U11359113) posted Mar 29, 2008 In response to legends01:
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TartanBarmyArmy (U6921404) posted Mar 29, 2008 In reply to PeterPointerSmith;
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AndyPlowright (U8110679) posted Mar 29, 2008 PeterPointerSmith:
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The_Anonymous_One (U11363405) posted Mar 29, 2008 In reply to PeterPointerSmith
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Alwaysawasp (U7358787) posted Mar 29, 2008 Am happily working class, never rowed in my life, never went to Oxbridge, love the boat race. Go figure!
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Willylad (U1837196) posted Mar 29, 2008 in response to the "it's a toff's sport argument":
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Bright Blue Shorts (U116149) posted Mar 29, 2008 I love the Boat Race because despite what the article writer suggests, it is fairly anachronistic.
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consnamh (U11256167) posted Mar 29, 2008 As an Irish rower I would like to add that despite our many 'issues' with England over the years, we tune in and watch the boat race. Its a great event, reflects a lot of training and as far as I'm aware has included rowers from all over the world, incl Ireland methinks. The stuff that the previous commentator was spouting was pure nonsense. Sometimes I think those kind of people would prefer to live in some stalinist, grey, dull, lifeless world. I think the tradition, hard-training, hard-course and sometimes close-finishing all adds to the race. Any country worth its salt cherishes its traditions. In Ireland we embrace the arts, horse-racing, Irish language (well some of us, ar a laghad!) as well as our traditional sports gaelic football, hurling etc. Britan should be proud of theirs and not let a few idiots spoil the party. Come on Cambridge!
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hpiper (U2183285) posted Mar 29, 2008 I LOVE THE BOAT RACE, and have possibly missed three or four in my entire life due to work or social commitments. I admit, it does tend to get a bit boring in the middle, but the build up, the race, the helicopter shots from above and the finish all combine to make a great race.
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oxfordblue2002 (U8672592) posted Apr 7, 2008 Just to clear something up quickly - to all those who claim that "these two crews may not be the best university crews in the country" - couldn't be more wrong. Oxford and Cambridge, at least since the 1990s, have been consistently the best university crews in the UK - the difficulty is that they don't race at the same events as other universities. To put it into context, a decent boatrace blue boat is international class, other british university (Durham, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Oxford Brookes, UL, IC (now)) are a good standard but never THAT good. A common argument is that the boat race crews never race in the summer. At Henley Royal Regatta a couple of years ago, the cambridge reserve boat (with some blues) won the 2nd best 8s competition (the Ladies Plate) and Oxford pushed the soon to be world champions in a nailbiter (the Germans then went on to beat the British crew by some distance the following day) Comment on this article
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