In recent years the crew with the most Canadians on board has always won the boat race, or at least that was what this year's winning bow pair, Dan O'Shaughnessy and Kip McDaniel were insisting after their crew fought a blinder of a race to win by 1 and a quarter lengths.
After last weekend's events when CUBC won the Head of the River Race in the sort of conditions that cost them the 2006 boat race, and the Cambridge women out-rowed a stressed Oxford crew to win their race at Henley, I heard it remarked "If God's a woman - she's obviously a Tab..."; Saturday morning seemed to bear that out with the Tideway being more pussy-cat that tiger for once, conditions which favoured the more experienced, heavier Cambridge crew from the start.
Umpiring the main race for the first time this year was Pete Bridge, who was more than happy to see a good weather forecast for the race. "It's a good thing" he commented at the umpire's pre-race briefing "as it means the crews rather than the conditions will dictate who wins".
Mind you, bookies were still offering odds of 33/1 before the race, for one or more boats to sink - they obviously hadn't been paying much attention to Cambridge's performance at the HORR.
Going into the reserve race (30 minutes before the main event), Oxford were leading the series by 4 to 3 - women's reserves; lightweights and lightweight reserves (if you count a row-over) to Cambridge's woman's blue boat, spare pair and masters' race.
Isis (the Oxford reserves) blasted off the start taking an early but small lead over Goldie, however by the black buoy, the light blues had edged back into the lead. The crews continued to battle it out to Hammersmith, when Goldie finally broke clear and continued to move away to win by four lengths in an impressive time of 17 mins 48 seconds.
With the tally now four all and everything coming down to the main event, the atmosphere was electric as the blue boats lined up in perfect conditions for the 153rd boat race. If recent years have proved anything, it's that one should never bet against Oxford and that as a squad they seem to relish the role of the underdogs. Indeed, those expecting Cambridge to have an early walkover were disappointed, as Oxford threw everything but the kitchen sink at it and took an early lead, despite Cambridge having the benefit of the first bend. However, with both crews rating 49 off the start it was clear that the associated punishment was going to kick someone before the end of the race. Watching the crews battle it out towards Hammersmith, someone said to me "if Kieran West starts foaming at the mouth, he's in trouble" but the five time veteran of the race kept his cool and kept in control, and it was the Oxford 4 man who first started to loose it.
As the crews came out of the Hammersmith bend (in Oxford's favour) Cambridge started to nudge back ahead; at this point it became obvious that at least a couple of the Oxford crew were spent from their earlier efforts. Edging through, the light blues took their rate up to 42 against Oxford's 34 at Barnes and extended their lead to win by 1 and a quarter lengths in a time of 17:49.
With a final result of 5-4 to the light blues, the relief from the Cambridge camp was palpable at the end of the race - but all credit to Oxford who rowed the race of their life and gave CUBC a much harder challenge than anyone expected, ensuring that despite the flat water conditions it was a race in a million and that in the end rowing was the real winner.
Back to our Canucks and post race the grins and large bottles of champagne said it all. Kip is heading back to Canada on Tuesday for a couple of week's training with the squad while Dan is likely to be back next year to up Cambridge's winning Canadian count. As for Saturday night - they'll be well advised to keep away from litter bins and bikes...
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