Spectators were treated to a fine display of rowing in the Henley Boat Races (HBR) last weekend. This year, the program included the 42nd annual Oxford and Cambridge Lightweight fixture and the 33rd one for the women. In addition, the program included the intercollegiate races as per tradition. To make up for the deficit in the program due to the move of the Women’s Boat Race and the reserve Boat Race Crew to the tideway in 2015, the HBR program now includes a race between the Women’s Lightweight Reserve Pairs.
Despite the tricky weather conditions, the crews persevered. The day kicked off with the intercollegiate races. The best college crew for each gender from Cambridge, decided through Lent Bumps, and the best college crew for each gender from Oxford, decided through a time-trial, raced over a course of 1750 metres.
First up, in the intercollegiate women’s race Jesus College of Cambridge faced the women of Christ Church of Oxford. With steady and solid rowing, Christ Church beat Jesus with a comfortable four lengths margin. As described by Eddie Rolls (Pembroke, Oxford), the Christ Church women were, “a class above Jesus.”
The men’s intercollegiate race brought some intrigue to the day. In the challenge between Pembroke College of Oxford and Caius of Cambridge, Pembroke’s rudder broke. Despite the setback, Pembroke beat Caius by one length. Eddie Rolls, the Pembroke five seat, told Cherwell, “Caius pushed us hard out the gate. We had the confidence to row them down over the course. Rudder broke which was quite exciting leading us to go into their lane but by then we were already a length ahead and the result was never in doubt.”
In a close and treacherous race, Cambridge dominated in the inaugural lightweight women’s reserve pair race. Their lightweight women’s reserve pair beat the Oxford pair by 3/4 of a length. This was followed by the Alumnae Race. The CUWBC alum coxed four beat OUWBC by 1.5 lengths.
Following the very narrow race of 2015, this year’s Women’s Lightweight VIIIs race did not disappoint. Cambridge took the lead early on with a 1/3 length advantage by the end of the enclosure extending their lead to 1/2 length. Oxford leveled the ground closing in to 1/3 of a length at Fawley. At Temple Island, the dark blues had their first taste of a lead with their bow-ball passing Cambridge. Cambridge retaliated, but Oxford came out victorious beating their opposition by a canvas and finishing the course in 6:54 min.
The Men’s Lightweight VIIIs were the last to race. Both crews were off to a solid start, but Cambridge gained an advantage early on and stayed strong. Despite technically clean rowing, the Oxford men were unable to catch up with their opposition. The Cambridge men finished the course in a comfortable 6:19 minutes. Regarding their performance on Saturday, Alec Trigger (Oriel College), president of OULRC, told Cherwell, “The Boat Race was a very tough defeat to take this year. Not performing to the best of our ability is devastating, but that is the nature of this race, you only get one shot. We have been having a difficult season with the change of coach just before Trial Eights among other things. Despite that we all know we’ve been rowing well and going fast, it’s just a shame it didn’t come out on the day. After a short break we’ll be training hard again looking towards BUCS and the summer season.”
The day concluded with some pomp featuring a row-past by the women’s lightweight crews of 1986 of both Oxford and Cambridge. Lastly, Steph Cullen, the 2011 Lightweight World Champion, presented the prizes.
