56th Boat Race
Date25 March 1899 (1899-03-25)
WinnerCambridge
Margin of victory3+1⁄4 lengths
Winning time21 minutes 4 seconds
Overall record
(Cambridge–Oxford)		23–32
UmpireFrank Willan
(Oxford)
← 1898 1900 →

The 56th Boat Race took place on 25 March 1899. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. Cambridge won, their first success in a decade, by 3+1⁄4 lengths in a time of 21 minutes 4 seconds. The victory took the overall record in the event to 32–23 in Oxford's favour.

Background

Cambridge University's crew in practice

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues")[1] and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues").[1] The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London.[2][3] The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and as of 2014, broadcast worldwide.[4] Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1898 race "easily", with Cambridge leading overall with 32 victories to Cambridge's 22 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).[5][6]

Oxford's coaches were G. C. Bourne who had rowed for Oxford in the 1882 and 1883 races, Douglas McLean (an Oxford Blue five times between 1883 and 1887) and R. P. Rowe (who rowed for Oxford four times between 1889 and 1892). Cambridge were coached by William Fletcher, Oxford Blue and R. C. Lehmann, the former president of the Cambridge Union Society and captain of the 1st Trinity Boat Club (although he had rowed in the trials eights for Cambridge, he was never selected for the Blue boat).[7][8] The umpire for the race for the tenth year in a row was Frank Willan who won the event four consecutive times, rowing for Oxford in the 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869 races.[9]

Crews

The Oxford crew weighed an average of 12 st 5 lb (78.3 kg), 0.5 pounds (0.23 kg) per rower more than their opponents.[10] Cambridge saw three rowers with Boat Race experience return, in Claude Goldie, former Boat Club president William Dudley Ward and Raymond Broadly Etherington-Smith. Oxford's crew contained four former Blues, including Harcourt Gilbey Gold who was rowing at stroke for the fourth consecutive year. All but one of the Oxford crew were educated at Eton College; Cambridge's crew contained five Old Etonians.[10] Australian rower Noel Leonard Calvert was the only participant in the race registered as non-British.[11] C. E. Johnston of Oxford was the father of Brian Johnston, the cricket broadcaster, who, 82 years later, would become the BBC's principal Boat Race commentator.[12]

George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd (left) was the cox for the Cambridge boat, while William Dudley Ward (right) rowed at number seven.
Seat Oxford
Cambridge
Name College Weight Name College Weight
BowR. O. PitmanNew College10 st 10 lbW. H. Chapman3rd Trinity11 st 2 lb
2C. W. TomkinsonBalliol12 st 0 lbN. L. CalvertTrinity Hall11 st 13 lb
3A. H. D. SteelBalliol 12 st 11.5 lbC. J. D. Goldie3rd Trinity12 st 1.5 lb
4H. J. HaleBalliol12 st 9 lbJ. E. PaynePeterhouse12 st 10.5 lb
5C. E. JohnstonNew College13 st 0 lbR. B. Etherington-Smith (P)1st Trinity12 st 10 lb
6F. W. WarreBalliol12 st 13 lbR. H. Sanderson1st Trinity12 st 10 lb
7A. T. HerbertBalliol12 st 13 lbW. Dudley Ward3rd Trinity12 st 9.5 lb
StrokeH. G. Gold (P)Magdalen11 st 11.5 lbJ. H. Gibbon3rd Trinity11 st 3.5 lb
CoxG. S. MaclaganMagdalen8 st 1 lbG. A. Lloyd3rd Trinity8 st 5 lb
Source:[13]
(P) – boat club president[14]

Race

The Championship Course along which the Boat Race is contested

Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station, handing the Middlesex side of the river to Oxford.[10] The weather on the day of the race was good, but the tide was poor.[15] Willan got the race underway at 12:58 p.m. and the crews remained reasonably level until the Mile Post, where Oxford held a quarter of a length lead. Cambridge began to reduce the deficit, so Oxford stroke Gold increased the rate in an attempt to make the most of the favourable bend in the river. The spurt had little effect,[15] and the Light Blue stroke John Houghton Gibbon responded in kind with a burst of his own.[16]

The Cambridge boat drew away quickly and were well ahead by The Doves pub, allowing them "to take matters fairly easily over the latter part of the course".[16] Cambridge won by three and a quarter lengths in a time of 21 minutes and 4 seconds. It was their first victory in ten years and took the overall record to 32–23 in Oxford's favour.[6] Author and former Oxford rower George Drinkwater remarked that "Cambridge were definitely the better crew" and noted that their effort was all the more impressive as number four John Ernest Payne had been struck down by influenza just a day before the race.[16]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Dark Blues aim to punch above their weight". The Observer. 6 April 2003. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Smith, Oliver (25 March 2014). "University Boat Race 2014: spectators' guide". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "The Course". The Boat Race Company Ltd. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Former Winnipegger in winning Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race crew". CBC News. 6 April 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Classic moments – the 1877 dead heat". The Boat Race Company Limited. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Men – Results". The Boat Race Company Limited. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Searby, Peter (6 November 1997). A History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 3, 1750–1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 664. ISBN 978-0521350600.
  8. ↑ Burnell, pp. 110–111
  9. ↑ Burnell, pp. 49, 59
  10. 1 2 3 Burnell, p. 67
  11. ↑ Burnell, p. 39
  12. ↑ Johnners at the Beeb. BBC Radio Collection. 1995. 131 minutes in.
  13. ↑ Dodd, p. 313
  14. ↑ Burnell, pp. 50–51
  15. 1 2 Drinkwater, p. 106
  16. 1 2 3 Drinkwater, p. 107

Bibliography

  • Burnell, Richard (1979). One Hundred and Fifty Years of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Precision Press. ISBN 0950063878.
  • Dodd, Christopher (1983). The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race. Stanley Paul. ISBN 0091513405.
  • Drinkwater, G. C.; Sanders, T. R. B. (1929). The University Boat Race – Official Centenary History. Cassell & Company, Ltd.
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