A Bizzare Boat Race
Yesterday afternoon, after a hearty brunch of crepes in Chiswick, I found myself in the Bollinger Bar, courtesy mates S and R. We arrived well in time to get a vantage point on the balcony that would allow us an unrivaled view of what was to become one of the most unusual and eventful contests in London's popular annual boat race event.
Following a tradition from 1829, each year during the Easter break, 8-member rowing crews from Oxford and Cambridge compete on the Thames. As we started the morning the statistics on our smartphones informed us that out of a total of 157 races, Cambridge had won 80 and Oxford had won 76 including the one in 2011. On 7th April, 2012 the spectators were prepared for yet another fierce contest.
At 1:15 PM in the Bollinger Bar just east of Chiswick Bridge, the atmosphere was still building up.....
There was a bit of cheering at the pre-race events including the Reserve Boat Race which Oxford's Isis crew won. Soon crowds started building up across us and on Chiswick Bridge. Having no affiliation to either Oxford or Cambridge, we randomly decided to root for Cambridge.
At 2:15 PM the twitter feeds on our phone informed us that the race had begun to a roaring start!
Not long after excitement was palpable and we readying ourselves to cheer the winning team. The twitter feed said it was neck-to-neck, the screen behind us said the race was at half-way stage. At that point, the group of guys parked on a boat in front of us appeared to jump in surprise. The lady next to me on the balcony shouted- 'what's happening?' and they informed us that the race had been halted as a protester was the river between the two competing boats. This is the first time in the history of the race that someone had jumped in, although the race itself was last halted 11 years ago.
I can confirm that the guy in the red jacket in the photo below is NOT the protestor, although he does look dangerously perched, yet somehow managing to enjoy his Bollinger or perhaps his Budweiser.
The swimmer narrowly missed being whacked on the head by an oar and both teams halted. The umpire speedily took a call to re-start the race from roughly half-way. After 31 minutes the race started again.
Just a few minutes into the re-start Oxford got too close to Cambridge and ended up with a broken oar. Their cox raised a hand in protest but the umpire had already been in the process of warning them that they were coming too close, and so he did not call for a halt.
From then on it was a 7-person versus an 8-person race. 'It is hardly a race now!!' shouted our well-heeled Bollinger balcony-mates. Before we had time for the oar-catastrophe to sink in Cambridge were past the finishing line and standing up to celebrate.
Behind them were the 'runners-up'.
And behind the Oxford team was this flotilla of umpires, TV crews, police and medical team.
But the unusual events did not stop there. Look at the Oxford crew photo above this one. To onlookers it seems he was dispirited by his team's loss. But in fact, as we found out a few minutes later, Dr Alex Woods had collapsed due to lack of oxygen. He had possibly over-exerted himself seeing that his team were down an oar. He was immediately rushed to hospital and thankfully he is recovering well.
The mayor Boris Johnson did not do a formal presentation of the trophy in the light of a crew member needing medical attention. The crowd around appeared to be dismayed at the entire sequence of events - the Cambridge supporters unable to cheer the victors and the Oxford supporters unable to drown their sorrows in a bottle of soothing bubbly. In the loo, a lady said to me - 'I've just found out the umpire is an ex-Cambridge man. How is that for further controversy?!'
As we were leaving my friend captured this screensaver on the mega-TV at the Bollinger bar :
But very often, life is far from perfect.
Following a tradition from 1829, each year during the Easter break, 8-member rowing crews from Oxford and Cambridge compete on the Thames. As we started the morning the statistics on our smartphones informed us that out of a total of 157 races, Cambridge had won 80 and Oxford had won 76 including the one in 2011. On 7th April, 2012 the spectators were prepared for yet another fierce contest.
At 1:15 PM in the Bollinger Bar just east of Chiswick Bridge, the atmosphere was still building up.....
There was a bit of cheering at the pre-race events including the Reserve Boat Race which Oxford's Isis crew won. Soon crowds started building up across us and on Chiswick Bridge. Having no affiliation to either Oxford or Cambridge, we randomly decided to root for Cambridge.
At 2:15 PM the twitter feeds on our phone informed us that the race had begun to a roaring start!
Not long after excitement was palpable and we readying ourselves to cheer the winning team. The twitter feed said it was neck-to-neck, the screen behind us said the race was at half-way stage. At that point, the group of guys parked on a boat in front of us appeared to jump in surprise. The lady next to me on the balcony shouted- 'what's happening?' and they informed us that the race had been halted as a protester was the river between the two competing boats. This is the first time in the history of the race that someone had jumped in, although the race itself was last halted 11 years ago.
I can confirm that the guy in the red jacket in the photo below is NOT the protestor, although he does look dangerously perched, yet somehow managing to enjoy his Bollinger or perhaps his Budweiser.
The swimmer narrowly missed being whacked on the head by an oar and both teams halted. The umpire speedily took a call to re-start the race from roughly half-way. After 31 minutes the race started again.
Just a few minutes into the re-start Oxford got too close to Cambridge and ended up with a broken oar. Their cox raised a hand in protest but the umpire had already been in the process of warning them that they were coming too close, and so he did not call for a halt.
From then on it was a 7-person versus an 8-person race. 'It is hardly a race now!!' shouted our well-heeled Bollinger balcony-mates. Before we had time for the oar-catastrophe to sink in Cambridge were past the finishing line and standing up to celebrate.
Behind them were the 'runners-up'.
And behind the Oxford team was this flotilla of umpires, TV crews, police and medical team.
But the unusual events did not stop there. Look at the Oxford crew photo above this one. To onlookers it seems he was dispirited by his team's loss. But in fact, as we found out a few minutes later, Dr Alex Woods had collapsed due to lack of oxygen. He had possibly over-exerted himself seeing that his team were down an oar. He was immediately rushed to hospital and thankfully he is recovering well.
The mayor Boris Johnson did not do a formal presentation of the trophy in the light of a crew member needing medical attention. The crowd around appeared to be dismayed at the entire sequence of events - the Cambridge supporters unable to cheer the victors and the Oxford supporters unable to drown their sorrows in a bottle of soothing bubbly. In the loo, a lady said to me - 'I've just found out the umpire is an ex-Cambridge man. How is that for further controversy?!'
As we were leaving my friend captured this screensaver on the mega-TV at the Bollinger bar :
But very often, life is far from perfect.
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