Oxford and Cambridge met on Sunday in a competitive clash that ultimately saw the Light Blues walk away with the chief prizes.
In the Women’s Blues race the Cambridge crew narrowly edged Oxford by quarter of a length despite squandering a convincing lead in the later stages. With only a few hundred metres to go the Light Blues’ two-seat, Caroline Reid, caught a crab and the Cambridge boat was stopped dead. The Oxford crew rapidly pulled level but an impressive recovery enabled Cambridge to hold on in a tense and hard-fought finish.
Cambridge was also able to pull out a victory in the closely contested Men’s Lightweight race. Capitalising on a strong start, Cambridge was able to fend off repeated pushes from the Oxford boat and maintain a slim lead until the finish, crossing the line ahead by 3/4 of a length.
OULRC President and Oxford’s four-seat James Thom recounted, “our start was pretty shaky and we gave away ground quite quickly”, and the crew only found a comfortable rhythm after the first minute.
Both coxes were aggressive and received warnings from umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent. The boats clashed in the last few hundred metres but a final drive from the Oxford crew was to no avail.
The Dark Blues had better luck in the Women’s Lightweight race and Oxford finished ahead by a margin of over one boat length. Cambridge fell behind early and was not able to recover; Oxford held a strong position and the Light Blues struggled in the choppy waters left by the Oxford boat’s wake.
Oxford also earned a convincing victory in the Women’s Reserves Boat Race, finishing ahead by over three boat lengths. The Cambridge boat, Blondie, jumped out to a slender lead at the start but by the halfway mark had been overtaken and were trailing the Oxford crew, Osiris. After clashes left the Light Blues dealing with a crab Osiris pulled away for good and secured the victory.
The inter-collegiate races were shared equally and in the first contest of the day Pembroke, Oxford defeated Emmanuel, Cambridge in the women’s race. It wasn’t to be a clean sweep for Pembroke though and Gonville and Caius, Cambridge won the men’s race by a tight margin of a third of a length.
