The 158th Boat Race

:00:46. > :00:52.It is one race, one day, and everything is building up to that.

:00:52. > :00:56.We can't let last year happen again. There is nothing else like it in

:00:56. > :01:06.sport, where you spent seven months, and at the end of it, you either

:01:06. > :01:16.win or lose. Each year, they come. It is man

:01:16. > :01:18.

:01:18. > :01:23.against man against water. Fishy is the tranquil, -- for she is the

:01:23. > :01:33.tranquil and the Tempest, and upon her surface plays out the Twist And

:01:33. > :01:38.

:01:38. > :01:42.Turn of hero and villain. For she is the river. And this is her drama.

:01:42. > :01:50.You spend your whole career dreaming about winning races like

:01:50. > :01:59.the Boat Race. Knowing that if you lose, you have basically just

:01:59. > :02:02.thrown away six months of your life. And that is what it means to the

:02:02. > :02:07.rowers who today are out there on the River Thames and will bear not

:02:07. > :02:11.just their muscles, but their souls. This is a unique event, based on

:02:11. > :02:15.intense rivalry, tradition and on the honour. There is no prize-money

:02:15. > :02:19.on offer. In any ordinary sporting event, second place might be a

:02:19. > :02:25.respectable result, but here in the Boat Race, second place means you

:02:25. > :02:29.have lost. Victory is everything. Defeat is crashing. It started in

:02:29. > :02:33.1829, when Cambridge challenged Oxford to a rowing race on the

:02:33. > :02:36.river and the. In 2012, the Xchanging Boat Race remains one of

:02:36. > :02:40.the most watched and famous sporting events in the world. We

:02:40. > :02:45.have a gorgeous day for it. The cloud is starting to clear, the son

:02:45. > :02:49.try to come out. There is a slight headwind, but conditions are good.

:02:49. > :02:52.This is a magnificent London occasion, the last great amateur

:02:53. > :02:56.event, and it is all free. No tickets are required. That is why

:02:56. > :02:59.so many people are lining the banks of the River Thames. Where

:02:59. > :03:03.expecting over a quarter of a million of them for the four and a

:03:03. > :03:07.quarter miles from Putney to Mortlake. The river pubs will be

:03:07. > :03:11.doing a booming business. The tow paths will be packed and full of

:03:11. > :03:16.family picnics and barbecues. As for the crews, they have waited and

:03:16. > :03:19.waited for this day, trying to keep calm, to ignore the crowds and the

:03:19. > :03:24.hoopla and the noise of the helicopter. But inside, their

:03:24. > :03:28.stomachs will be churning. The defending champions are Oxford. But

:03:28. > :03:34.Cambridge are the younger and heavier crew. Oxford are the

:03:35. > :03:41.bookies' favourite. The key to this classic event is its simplicity. It

:03:41. > :03:43.is the same course every year. Often the same crowds as well. The

:03:43. > :03:49.same two crews in terms of Oxford and Cambridge, but very different

:03:49. > :03:58.people, because they change every year. At some point, life has to be

:03:58. > :04:01.lived for them, earning money in the real world. The race starts at

:04:01. > :04:09.2:15pm and we aim to keep you entertained and informed between

:04:09. > :04:15.now and then. He Oz Clarke and James may embark

:04:15. > :04:19.on a very important liquid based reconnaissance mission. I think you

:04:19. > :04:24.get more of the race from this spot than anywhere else on the Thames.

:04:24. > :04:29.There is no reason why we should move from here.

:04:29. > :04:34.The scars are slow to heal, as we look back on the famous Oxford

:04:34. > :04:39.mutiny of 1987. It was made clear that we weren't going to row in

:04:39. > :04:44.that line-up. Matthew Pinsent reveals the hidden

:04:44. > :04:49.secrets beneath the surface of the Thames. The river is full, and the

:04:49. > :04:54.deepest, fastest water is completely invisible.

:04:54. > :04:58.And which are to be emotionally draining journey to the start-line.

:04:58. > :05:08.Knowing that if you lose, you have basically thrown away six months of

:05:08. > :05:17.

:05:18. > :05:22.your life is a good reason not to -- be 158th Boat Race. Joining me

:05:22. > :05:27.is Matthew Pinsent. I am the reserve umpire. If the umpire

:05:27. > :05:34.should kilo but from food poisoning, I will be there. I will be

:05:34. > :05:38.shadowing him and learning more about the roles. Hopefully, it will

:05:38. > :05:43.be enjoyable and not stressful. those who might be tuning in,

:05:43. > :05:48.saying, it is not a proper sporting event, you have won four gold

:05:48. > :05:52.medals. Why does this matter? a proper sport event because it is

:05:52. > :05:57.probably the last amateur event in the calendar. These guys do it for

:05:57. > :06:02.no money, no reward other than the luxury of winning. And it is a

:06:02. > :06:09.brutal physical test. You are unlikely to see a more exacting

:06:09. > :06:15.test of a rower. This was you at the age of 19, baby face. That was

:06:15. > :06:20.in 1990. My first race, which we went on to win. I remember being

:06:20. > :06:26.incredibly nervous. It was very stressful. James Cracknell is here

:06:26. > :06:32.as well, with whom you won two of your Olympic gold medals. James,

:06:32. > :06:38.how do you view the event? You live locally. Aside from the Olympics,

:06:38. > :06:42.it is the one time that rowing is on TV. And people grasp the

:06:42. > :06:47.importance of it. It is the one day that these guys have the chance to

:06:47. > :06:51.race. There is no heats, no semi. You have one chance to get it right.

:06:51. > :06:56.How important is it to keep your temper but controlled and not get

:06:56. > :07:00.too aggressive with the other side? That is the point. These guys might

:07:00. > :07:05.have been training for the last two weeks, and suddenly they come down

:07:05. > :07:09.and the tow path is 4, with that helicopter overhead. And Your TV

:07:09. > :07:15.cameras are very close. It is a very different atmosphere on Boat

:07:15. > :07:18.Race day. You want to replicate as much as you can knock on race day

:07:18. > :07:22.as you have in your best training. If you can carry that through and

:07:23. > :07:27.not be affected by the pressure, you will have success. Let me ask

:07:27. > :07:30.you about the respective weights of the boat. Matthew, your crew in

:07:31. > :07:35.1990 had the record deferential. Oxford were much heavier than

:07:35. > :07:39.Cambridge. This year, Cambridge have the second biggest

:07:39. > :07:44.differential, being much heavier. Why do the heavier crew have an

:07:44. > :07:48.advantage? A good big one will always beat a good little one. It

:07:48. > :07:57.is not like running or cycling where every bit of weight cows,

:07:57. > :08:01.because you do hang off the oar handle. But Oxford are not small.

:08:01. > :08:08.Their average height is my height, and they are a bit lighter than I

:08:08. > :08:12.was. And Cambridge are a bit taller and heavier than I was. So it is

:08:13. > :08:17.not like Amir Khan against one of the Klitschko Brothers. It is more

:08:17. > :08:21.similar and the water is fairly friendly today. Let's look at the

:08:21. > :08:27.course they will take, the four and a quarter miles, starting here at

:08:27. > :08:32.Putney Bridge tidal Thames Water, past Craven Cottage, Fulham's

:08:32. > :08:38.football ground, around the Surrey bend, which marks the two mile

:08:38. > :08:44.point. Then under Barnes Bridge and down to the finish line, where

:08:44. > :08:48.Cambridge set the record of 16 minutes and 19 seconds in 1998. Not

:08:48. > :08:52.long after Hammersmith Bridge, that is where the reach the halfway

:08:52. > :08:57.point across. It is a very popular spot to watch. There are a lot of

:08:57. > :09:00.pubs in that area. I suspect they will be packed. That is where we

:09:00. > :09:06.find Sonali Shah. I am behind the bar at the Black

:09:06. > :09:11.Lion, one of five pubs along this stretch of the Bank in Hammersmith.

:09:11. > :09:14.Landlord buzz cousins he has turned it into quite an event? Yes, we

:09:14. > :09:18.realised there was not much happening along the river that was

:09:18. > :09:22.a festival, so we have turned it into a festival with food courts

:09:22. > :09:27.and we are raising money for charities, including for a baby

:09:27. > :09:32.that is ill in hospital. These boys will be raising money for him. They

:09:32. > :09:38.will be done a bit of face painting and things like that. You are bring

:09:39. > :09:43.a bit of New Zealand here? Yes, a bit of Kiwi to make it a bit like

:09:43. > :09:48.home. These boys do a lot of canoeing and stuff like that.

:09:48. > :09:52.it in context for us, how big this days in terms of business? Is it

:09:52. > :09:57.your busiest day of the year? Definitely. We take five to six

:09:57. > :10:02.times the amount that we would normally take on a Saturday. It is

:10:02. > :10:08.a very busy day. Which side will you be cheering on? I will be

:10:08. > :10:16.cheering for Oxford, because our All Black captain was a scholar at

:10:16. > :10:19.Oxford. Thank you very much. Time to find out which side of the river

:10:19. > :10:24.the two boats will be rowing from, the Surrey side or the Middlesex

:10:24. > :10:28.side. It is the all-important toss. Ladies and gentlemen, after all the

:10:28. > :10:33.hard work and training these crews have put in, this bit comes down to

:10:33. > :10:36.luck, a toss of the coin to decide which station they will start from,

:10:36. > :10:41.Middlesex on the north side or Surrey on the south side, closest

:10:41. > :10:45.to us. Joining me here on the podium, from the sponsors,

:10:45. > :10:50.Xchanging, the global director of sales and marketing, Stephen Scott,

:10:50. > :10:54.the executive director of the Boat Race company, David Searle, the

:10:54. > :10:58.race umpire and the two President's for Oxford, Karl Hudspith and the

:10:58. > :11:05.Cambridge, Dave Nelson. As history dictates, the winners from the

:11:05. > :11:13.previous year toss the coin. The losers will call. Over to you, John.

:11:13. > :11:22.Thanks very much, Clare. I have the 1829 1/2 sovereign. I will ask Karl

:11:22. > :11:26.Hudspith to toss that and for Dave to call. Tales. The call is tails.

:11:27. > :11:32.The coin has fallen down as tale's. Sir Dave has the choice. Which

:11:33. > :11:39.station would you like? We will take Surrey. And a quick word from

:11:39. > :11:45.you on the Cambridge crew. How is everyone? Feeling good. And calm?

:11:45. > :11:49.Yeah, feeling good. Excellent. In terms of umpiring the race, what is

:11:49. > :11:53.your major challenge? We will be looking at the wind. We have a

:11:53. > :11:56.northerly wind at the moment, which is swinging a bit, so we have to

:11:56. > :12:00.make sure the crews get off straight at the start. Then we

:12:00. > :12:05.expect a light headwind as we are approaching Hammersmith Bridge.

:12:05. > :12:15.it will be a tough race. We wish you both like and we hope for a

:12:15. > :12:17.

:12:17. > :12:21.clean race. Cambridge have won the toss and chosen Surrey.

:12:21. > :12:25.The same choice as last year, when Oxford won the toss. They also

:12:25. > :12:35.chose the Surrey side and were in control by Hammersmith Bridge. They

:12:35. > :12:51.

:12:51. > :12:56.went on to record a dominant Oxford here were hugely impressive.

:12:56. > :12:59.Constantine Louloudis is now on the Olympic programme. Massive

:12:59. > :13:05.celebrations earlier. It is one of those sporting events where it is

:13:05. > :13:11.all about winning. You can see from the body language that you have to

:13:11. > :13:16.continue, but it is a long way back for Cambridge.

:13:16. > :13:20.The Boat Race. If you win, it hurts for minutes. If you lose, it hurts

:13:20. > :13:24.for months. It is totally devastating when you get a result

:13:24. > :13:29.like that. You have to just pull yourself together and say, what did

:13:29. > :13:34.go well, and what can we do better? Cambridge's initial squad featured

:13:34. > :13:42.three Blues hungry for revenge, including Mike Thorpe, who was

:13:42. > :13:49.still haunted by the events of last March. I saw the fate of me and the

:13:49. > :13:55.other two guys with me. We looked torn up, and I thought I needed to

:13:55. > :14:00.come back this year. As in 2011, the Oxford coach's squad contains

:14:00. > :14:05.just one returning blue, the club president, Karl Hudspith. Everyone

:14:05. > :14:09.is motivated. I am the only guy who has won it before, so everyone else

:14:09. > :14:14.is fighting for a first win. Powerful candidates are emerging

:14:14. > :14:20.such as experienced rower Alex Davidson and American William Zeng.

:14:20. > :14:24.It is nice to be at a university where rowing is the big thing. You

:14:24. > :14:30.were properly and do not just do a little motion. Australian James

:14:30. > :14:34.Ditzell turns 45 on race day. Cancer ruled him out of the 1992

:14:34. > :14:39.Olympics. He had not rowed competitively since. I have been so

:14:39. > :14:45.long out of the boat, I really realised what I missed. I enjoy the

:14:45. > :14:50.feel of the water under the boat. December's Trial eights were the

:14:50. > :14:54.first Test on the Boat Race course. Two crews from the same university

:14:54. > :14:58.doing battle, team-mates versus team mates. Cambridge were split

:14:58. > :15:01.into two equally strong boats to forge match-racing instinct,

:15:01. > :15:07.something the president felt had been lacking last year. Quickly,

:15:07. > :15:13.each crew forms its own identity and rallies to beat their own team-

:15:13. > :15:18.mates. Incredibly difficult conditions, really choppy water.

:15:18. > :15:28.Both Cambridge crews are showing real aggression. They have called

:15:28. > :15:33.

:15:33. > :15:43.Cambridge seemed ready for the battle to come. The coach had three

:15:43. > :15:47.

:15:47. > :15:54.candidates for the Oxford cox seek. One of them was Oskar Zorrilla.

:15:54. > :16:04.cox is not responsible for the emotional well-being of the rowers.

:16:04. > :16:10.They like to think that, but it is not the case. Oskar Zorrilla

:16:10. > :16:13.steered his boat to a comfortable victory. We have shown our

:16:13. > :16:23.teammates, let's show Cambridge, because at the end of the day, that

:16:23. > :16:29.is what is is all about. A lot of people are here down at the start.

:16:29. > :16:36.Who are you supporting today? are supporting Oxford. Why? Because

:16:36. > :16:43.we were at university there. know the President, Karl Hudspith.

:16:43. > :16:51.Are you supporting Oxford? Yes, I am. We will see if we can find some

:16:51. > :16:57.Cambridge supporters. We are supporting Cambridge. And why?

:16:57. > :17:02.live nearby. Is this the first time you have been to the Boat Race?

:17:02. > :17:11.it is the first time we have been down. Our friend lives just over

:17:11. > :17:17.the road. Good luck to all of you. Lots of people come with friends,

:17:17. > :17:21.they might know somebody in one of the crews, or they might have an

:17:21. > :17:31.affiliation, but for some people, it is just an excuse for a pub

:17:31. > :17:34.

:17:34. > :17:41.crawl. When I say some people, I mean, specifically, Oz and James.

:17:41. > :17:47.How the devil are you? How the devil are you, sir? Let's go and

:17:47. > :17:57.plan our day. We are going to do the whole course. Shall we start in

:17:57. > :18:03.

:18:03. > :18:07.this very conveniently sited pub? So, what's the plan? Well, the Boat

:18:07. > :18:13.Race is a monumental British institution. Somebody has described

:18:13. > :18:17.it as the most brutal, harsh, uncompromising test of any sport.

:18:18. > :18:21.It is actually a drinking festival with some boating thrown in. Well,

:18:21. > :18:28.I think it is a boating festival with a massive amount of drinking

:18:28. > :18:33.thrown in. Where was it you went to university? Oxford. Interest in. I

:18:33. > :18:38.am just deciding that I am a Cambridge supporter. Without

:18:38. > :18:45.colours nailed to our mast, we boarded our craft. There is a

:18:45. > :18:51.little stone over there, called the University Stone, that's where

:18:52. > :18:57.everything starts. There's thousands of stones. No, the rest

:18:57. > :19:03.of them are parking bollards. I dragged the conversation around to

:19:03. > :19:13.the issue of the day. We're going to the famous River Cafe, where

:19:13. > :19:17.

:19:17. > :19:27.Jamie Oliver used to work. No pie, no chips. No pies or chips or eggs

:19:27. > :19:36.or ham. Wow! That has got a slight... Very acidic and very

:19:36. > :19:40.fresh armpit, sweat sort of quality. The north of Italy has got lots of

:19:41. > :19:47.red grapes, and the middle of Italy has got lots of more rare, red

:19:47. > :19:55.grapes. Wow! That's fantastic. Would you like to try so with your

:19:56. > :20:01.risotto? Is that all he gets? have got the bottle. I think that

:20:01. > :20:11.was tremendous, very sophisticated, very modern, very contemporary. But

:20:11. > :20:14.

:20:15. > :20:20.how about a pint in the Dove? That's my wine. Is it? This is a

:20:20. > :20:25.tiny pub, it is ancient, all sorts of fascinating people came here

:20:25. > :20:35.like Graham Greene, and the bloke who wrote rule Britannia, what was

:20:35. > :20:40.

:20:40. > :20:47.The interesting thing, I think, is, the Middlesex bank is the best side

:20:47. > :20:52.for people to watch the Boat Race, Hammersmith is the best spot, the

:20:52. > :21:00.Dove is the best pub, and this terrace is the best part of the

:21:00. > :21:05.Dove. You're absolutely right. I think you get more of the race from

:21:05. > :21:09.this spot here than anywhere else on the River Thames. There's

:21:09. > :21:19.absolutely no reason now why we should move from here. This is as

:21:19. > :21:22.

:21:22. > :21:31.And those two were fairly hard to move from that spot, but move them

:21:31. > :21:39.we did. Now, rowing was included in the Paralympic Games for the first

:21:40. > :21:43.time in 2008. And here today, for the first time, a race in the

:21:43. > :21:53.the first time, a race in the adaptive rowing category. They are

:21:53. > :21:58.

:21:58. > :22:07.racing against an able body crew. The adaptive four with a distinct

:22:07. > :22:12.advantage coming towards the finish, and they were the winners. Here's

:22:12. > :22:15.Sonali. I'm joined by world Sonali. I'm joined by world

:22:15. > :22:20.champions in the mixed coxed four. Congratulations - what does it feel

:22:20. > :22:25.like to have won a race here on the River Thames on Boat Race day?

:22:25. > :22:31.Absolutely epic, such a fantastic experience. To be here, deeply

:22:31. > :22:36.involved in what is going on on this special day, it is pretty good.

:22:36. > :22:39.It gets everybody watching a little bit of adaptive rowing. Yes, that's

:22:39. > :22:44.one of the things we have been trying to do over the past few

:22:44. > :22:48.years, building up the public's opinion of what adaptive rowing is

:22:48. > :22:54.all about. I think we are the closest of the categories within

:22:54. > :23:00.adaptive rowing to the able body rowers, in the fact that we have

:23:01. > :23:04.minimal disabilities, our boat is not adapted in any way. Dave, I was

:23:04. > :23:09.reading about your story, incredible, a couple of years ago

:23:09. > :23:13.you had a tumour removed from your spinal column, you did loads of

:23:13. > :23:16.intense rehab, came back as world champion - what would it mean for

:23:16. > :23:21.you to qualify for the Paralympic Games this year? It would mean

:23:21. > :23:24.everything. Taking part today in one of the oldest sporting events

:23:24. > :23:29.in the world, it gives you a taste of what the Olympics in London will

:23:29. > :23:35.be like. The closer it gets, the more it means to me. It will mean

:23:35. > :23:41.the world to me after all my rehab. Good luck to both of you in your

:23:41. > :23:48.attempt to qualify for London 2012. A could start to the day, something

:23:48. > :23:56.for the many fans to enjoy. And we will be showing you highlights of

:23:56. > :24:04.the Isis Goldie race later on. I am joined now by Andrew Triggs-Hodge

:24:04. > :24:09.and Tom James. Very, very different, this, but both of you have

:24:09. > :24:15.experienced it - Tom, first of all, what was it like for you, the Boat

:24:15. > :24:20.Race? It was quite stressful, but I was there for four years, I

:24:20. > :24:25.competed in four boat races, lost the first three, but finally house

:24:25. > :24:32.my last one, as President. So I have got good memories of it. It

:24:32. > :24:36.was fantastic. And Andrew Triggs- Hodge, you represented Cambridge,

:24:36. > :24:41.there is nothing glamorous about this sport, you do not get somebody

:24:41. > :24:51.else to carry your boat down to the river, you do it yourself. Andrew

:24:51. > :24:55.Triggs-Hodge, you won, didn't you? Yes, in 2005. Memories I will take

:24:55. > :25:00.away for a long, long time. What are they thinking and feeling right

:25:00. > :25:05.now? You want to just be focused on your boat, getting the boat in the

:25:05. > :25:09.water, just keep calm and relaxed, you want to enjoy the event, and

:25:09. > :25:12.look at the people around, but at the same time, you need to be

:25:12. > :25:18.focused on what you're going to be doing to win the race, that first

:25:18. > :25:28.stroke. You cannot get too carried away. You could see the one with

:25:28. > :25:30.

:25:30. > :25:36.the big beard, Steve Dudek, who would have now regards it as one of

:25:36. > :25:44.his strengths, being so hairy! me, the buzz of the helicopter

:25:44. > :25:49.brings back a lot of memories. It is a very emotional day. To go up

:25:49. > :25:57.is a very emotional day. To go up to this level, it is a big step.

:25:57. > :26:01.Andrew, was Steve Bowden your coach when you were at Oxford? Yes, he

:26:01. > :26:07.when you were at Oxford? Yes, he was. Does he say anything this

:26:07. > :26:11.close to the race? He is a very focused man, he will usually say

:26:11. > :26:16.everything a couple of days before the race. Just before the race he

:26:16. > :26:19.will just remind us of what we have done, bringing out the confidence

:26:19. > :26:25.of the crew, reminding us why we are a good crew. So he does not

:26:25. > :26:29.have to say very much. You can feel that he is bristling with

:26:29. > :26:35.confidence, he just has to make sure that we're going in the right

:26:35. > :26:43.direction, he rarely leaves it to the crew to get on with it. For the

:26:43. > :26:49.Cambridge coach, he has got an awful lot to put right from last

:26:49. > :26:52.year. Yes, but looking back on it, within the boat, they were happy

:26:52. > :26:57.they had done everything they could do to win the race. Obviously they

:26:57. > :27:01.were not anywhere near Oxford's standard last year. So he will be

:27:01. > :27:09.feeling some pressure this year, but he is a good coach. Hopefully

:27:09. > :27:14.they will put it right this year. The crews are lining up inside

:27:14. > :27:18.their respective boat houses. And it is now time for them to take to

:27:18. > :27:23.the water. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the 17 men and one woman

:27:23. > :27:30.who will contest the Boat Race. For Oxford, their first female cox

:27:30. > :27:39.since 2000, she is 24 years old, studying for a doctorate of medical

:27:39. > :27:43.science at St Katharine's College, Zoe de Toledo! For Cambridge, a cox

:27:43. > :27:49.who turned 19 only yesterday, he left Radley College last year and

:27:49. > :27:58.is studying for a Bachelor of the arts in natural sciences at

:27:59. > :28:04.Pembroke College, Ed Bosson! And for Oxford, at bow, his tenth year

:28:04. > :28:14.at the University, he is now at Pembroke College studying graduate

:28:14. > :28:24.entry medicine, Dr Alexander Woods. For Cambridge at bow, the President,

:28:24. > :28:25.

:28:25. > :28:31.Dave Nelson, from Brisbane, Australia. At two, for Oxford, from

:28:31. > :28:40.Virginia, a graduate of Yale, studying for computer science at

:28:40. > :28:50.Oriel College, William Zeng. At two for the Light Blues, a man who

:28:50. > :28:50.

:28:50. > :28:57.learned to row at Oxford, he is studying medicine at Fitzwilliam

:28:57. > :29:07.College, Moritz Schramm. At three for Oxford, another experienced

:29:07. > :29:08.

:29:08. > :29:13.rower, from Trinity College, and Washington DC, Kevin Baum. Next,

:29:13. > :29:23.for Cambridge, a man who has survived being struck by lightning,

:29:23. > :29:26.

:29:26. > :29:30.studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Jack Lindeman. Next, for

:29:30. > :29:38.Oxford, studying developmental Biology at Christchurch, Alex

:29:38. > :29:42.Davidson! At four for Cambridge, another of their crew who first

:29:42. > :29:51.learnt to row at university, he has played tennis and water polo for

:29:51. > :29:55.his native New Zealand, Alex Ross. Now, for the President of Oxford,

:29:55. > :30:00.at number 5, their only returning boo, the only one who knows what

:30:00. > :30:06.victory feels like, he comes from Twickenham, from St Peter's College,

:30:06. > :30:10.Oxford, Karl Hudspith! His opposite number has not cut his hair since

:30:11. > :30:19.this day last year, he is the vice- president for Cambridge, reading

:30:19. > :30:23.history, he hails from Chester, Mike Thorp. At four for Oxford, a

:30:23. > :30:28.German international who's planning this to be his final race, after 15

:30:28. > :30:37.years of rowing. He has a doctorate in law and is now studying for an

:30:37. > :30:45.MSc in geography, Hanno Wienhausen. At number 6 for Cambridge, the

:30:45. > :30:55.tallest and heaviest man in either crew, originally from Wisconsin,

:30:55. > :30:59.

:30:59. > :31:07.At seven for Oxford, stepping up from the lightweight crew, he is 25

:31:07. > :31:12.and from Taunton and studying in computational biology, Dan Harvey!

:31:12. > :31:17.His opposite number for Cambridge is an Australian who has competed

:31:17. > :31:20.internationally at under 23 and junior level. He is studying law at

:31:20. > :31:27.St Edmund's College, Alexander Scharp!

:31:27. > :31:37.For Oxford, the first Dutchman ever to stroke a blue boat under 29 the

:31:37. > :31:38.

:31:38. > :31:42.oldest man in the race this year, he is from Rotterdam. Roel Haen!

:31:42. > :31:49.And at stroke for Cambridge, a graduate from the University of

:31:49. > :31:53.Washington who is now reading history. Niles Garratt!

:31:53. > :31:58.They train for six hours a day, six days a week, for six months to take

:31:58. > :32:08.part in this. Ladies and gentlemen, the two crews for the 2012 Boat

:32:08. > :32:15.

:32:16. > :32:20.I am here out on the water with Wayne Pommen, one of our

:32:20. > :32:23.commentators. What do you remember about those nervous moments as you

:32:23. > :32:28.push away from the Putney sure? is just such a relief to get out on

:32:28. > :32:30.the water. You may remember from your rowing career that those

:32:30. > :32:34.minutes beforehand seemed like hours. You can't wait to get out

:32:34. > :32:40.there. You know what you are doing on the water. The Boat Race is the

:32:40. > :32:43.worst, because thousands of people are there. Cameras are in your face.

:32:43. > :32:47.Even international rowing is not like that. So these guys can't wait

:32:47. > :32:54.to get in their bubble. They have about 40 minutes now before the

:32:54. > :33:00.race. How do they split that time up? They will have warm-up routines,

:33:00. > :33:05.getting physically and mentally ready. Let's have a word about the

:33:05. > :33:08.conditions. What do you think about the weather and the river today?

:33:08. > :33:11.is pretty benign. There is a 10 mile an hour when from the north-

:33:11. > :33:15.west, but I do not see it being a factor.

:33:15. > :33:24.So it sounds as if conditions should not be a factor for either

:33:24. > :33:28.side. James Cracknell is with us here. Who is going to win this?

:33:28. > :33:35.think Oxford's history over the last few years will be in their

:33:35. > :33:40.favour. The bow and stroke of the Cambridge side are both being on

:33:40. > :33:46.the same side means the Bowes have to travel further. That is not good.

:33:46. > :33:56.They are using a tandem wigging system, as Oxford did last year.

:33:56. > :33:56.

:33:56. > :34:01.Yes, I do not think you really need that. The person nearer the blow

:34:01. > :34:06.karts keep in time. Matt Pinsent's first boat, he rowed in a tandem,

:34:06. > :34:12.and it was all tied to the person in front, so he stayed in time. A

:34:12. > :34:16.normal rigged boat is better. Now, obviously with every outside

:34:16. > :34:22.sporting event, it does depend on the weather whether it is to make

:34:22. > :34:26.the greens softer in the Masters at Augusta or in the Grand National at

:34:26. > :34:36.Aintree. But here, if the weather turns nasty, that course turns into

:34:36. > :34:41.

:34:41. > :34:47.a real beast. It seems that we are moving into

:34:48. > :34:54.some dramatic, Wagnerian... word! An enormous car but under.

:34:54. > :34:58.years ago, there was an almighty storm and there had also been

:34:58. > :35:03.behind the scenes in the Oxford camp. Andrew Cotter tells the story

:35:03. > :35:09.of the 1987 mutiny. The Boat Race - tradition, honour,

:35:09. > :35:14.sportsmanship. The Americans staged a mutiny. Mutiny is in the eye of

:35:14. > :35:19.the beholder. In two became warfare. 1987, a race so dramatic that they

:35:19. > :35:26.even made a film of it. This isn't your Boat Race, it is all of ours.

:35:27. > :35:33.25 years on, have the scars healed? After ten years of domination,

:35:33. > :35:37.Oxford's humiliating seven-length defeat in 1986 led to coach Dan

:35:37. > :35:43.Topolski bringing world-class American athletes. Everybody was

:35:43. > :35:46.genuinely excited to come over here and take part in one of the great

:35:46. > :35:50.sporting events in the world. the world class training facilities

:35:50. > :35:55.that the visitors were used to were absent from the amateur realm of

:35:55. > :35:58.the Boat Race. The team didn't have its own boat house or its own boats.

:35:58. > :36:07.Half the training were spent in a van, driving around the British

:36:07. > :36:11.countryside. There was an incident at Radley School, where the whole

:36:11. > :36:19.squad, the president included, refused to go out for a second

:36:19. > :36:25.outing. Let's go out. Dan, we have done enough.

:36:25. > :36:33.That was the moment of mutiny, if you like, where they just piled

:36:33. > :36:38.into the training van and drove off. I thought, this is just not fun. I

:36:38. > :36:44.am not getting paid for this. Where is the goodwill? That was wrong of

:36:44. > :36:48.us to do. Simple as that. But what led up to that was an infuriating

:36:48. > :36:54.couple of months of logistical chaos. It makes no sense, all this

:36:54. > :36:57.pedalling around in that a ban from one boat house to another. It is

:36:57. > :37:01.not getting us anywhere. We thought we were being honest in raising our

:37:01. > :37:05.hands and walking to the front of the class and saying, teacher, we

:37:05. > :37:10.have an issue with the way you are conducting the class. Particularly

:37:10. > :37:13.at Oxford, deeply steeped in tradition. Tensions were

:37:13. > :37:21.intensified by the decision about who would be in the boat on the big

:37:21. > :37:26.day. In particular, the inclusion of club president Donald Macdonald.

:37:26. > :37:32.I choose based on performance, and Donald Macdonald's performances

:37:32. > :37:39.were consistently top. He named this wacky line-up. The majority of

:37:39. > :37:43.the blue boat rowers did not seek the sense or even the rationale in

:37:43. > :37:51.Dan's selection. There is disagreement over how the crew is

:37:51. > :38:01.run and the fairness of it. Were you obligated to Donald as the

:38:01. > :38:02.

:38:02. > :38:07.president of the Boat Club? In no way. It was made clear to Donald

:38:07. > :38:16.that we would not roll in that line-up. The Americans staged a

:38:16. > :38:21.mutiny. They have excluded themselves from the squad.

:38:21. > :38:26.became popularised in the press. And in Dan's book, it was said to

:38:26. > :38:31.be an American issue. That could not have been further from the case.

:38:31. > :38:39.There is a lot of stuff in that book that is wrong. It is

:38:39. > :38:44.embellished and ultimately very hurtful where it did not need to be.

:38:44. > :38:50.In the book, everything was my recollection. Four Americans

:38:50. > :38:55.withdrew. In came reserve rowers. And like a Hollywood movie, the

:38:55. > :39:01.underdogs claimed an unlikely victory. They won, and it was

:39:01. > :39:06.fantastic, against the odds. And I thought, what was all for? It was a

:39:06. > :39:14.shame we could not all figure out how to focus on the things that we

:39:14. > :39:19.held in common. It was the most extraordinary story

:39:19. > :39:25.and a real clash of temperaments. It made for a very exciting race,

:39:25. > :39:31.film and book. Katherine Grainger, Britain's most successful female

:39:31. > :39:35.rower, has joined me. How important is that relationship between coach

:39:35. > :39:38.and rower, and how much do they have to respect your intellect and

:39:38. > :39:47.experience as well as sometimes telling you things you don't want

:39:47. > :39:50.to hear? The relationship is crucial. There needs to be mutual

:39:50. > :39:57.respect in the partnership. Like you said, you will have to hear

:39:57. > :40:01.things that you will not always want to hear. But they will be the

:40:01. > :40:05.person who will tell you that you need to be better. But it is a two-

:40:05. > :40:11.way thing. If there is respect on both sides, you bring out the best

:40:11. > :40:15.in each other. Andrew, the difficulty with the Boat Race is,

:40:15. > :40:21.you are talking about a multinational crew. It is not new

:40:21. > :40:25.rowing for one country. Absolutely. We had Canadians and Americans and

:40:25. > :40:30.a huge range of experience from an Olympic silver medallist down to

:40:30. > :40:39.people who came last. So the scale of bringing a crew like that

:40:39. > :40:45.together rests on the coach. You need mutual respect and

:40:45. > :40:52.understanding as much as a training programme. That is the sign of a

:40:52. > :40:57.seasoned coach. 16 weeks today, the two of them will be lining up for

:40:57. > :41:02.Great Britain for the Olympics. That is when the rowing will start.

:41:03. > :41:11.How great is the depth of British rowing? How has the legacy of

:41:11. > :41:17.Pinsent and Redgrave been followed 2011. The British team of top the

:41:17. > :41:22.world championship medal table. 10 in total, three of them gold. This

:41:22. > :41:30.is the best British rowing squad in Olympic history. The most medal

:41:30. > :41:35.chances, the best rowers. Competition for places is fierce.

:41:35. > :41:39.The four is the men's main boat again. But for the last two years,

:41:39. > :41:43.the best rowers have been in a pair and lost. There is tension in the

:41:43. > :41:51.team because there is a bit of uncertainty. We have to have ups

:41:51. > :41:58.and downs with pressure through the season as we go. I can't be sure I

:41:58. > :42:04.will be rowing for Great Britain yet. We are coming close towards

:42:04. > :42:10.the selection. It is a really strong team. I am new to it, and

:42:10. > :42:13.the standard is really high. In the women, Katherine Grainger has three

:42:14. > :42:20.Olympic silvers. For her, the battle is less about selection,

:42:20. > :42:26.more about going one better. athletics Dorrie is the three

:42:26. > :42:33.silver medals. I am still missing the fairy-tale ending, the gold at

:42:33. > :42:37.last in front of the crowd. I am aware that if you could write the

:42:37. > :42:42.story, that is how you would write it. Lots of questions, some still

:42:42. > :42:49.to be answered. But with the spring come final trials, when everything

:42:49. > :42:54.becomes a bit clearer. The season is about to start. The four is

:42:55. > :42:58.still undecided. Reid and Hodge are in, along with Alex Gregory. Alex

:42:59. > :43:05.Partridge and Tom James will battle for the last place. New and old

:43:05. > :43:13.faces across the whole squad. With just over 100 faces -- days to go,

:43:13. > :43:19.the pressure is now on. In the past, you had just one leading boat. This

:43:19. > :43:25.time, it is very tight. The team as a whole is rising to the occasion.

:43:25. > :43:29.We put the pressure on ourselves because we are so good. It is about

:43:29. > :43:35.performing on the water in that one-off opportunity. We want to

:43:35. > :43:39.deliver. A good illustration of the dead the

:43:39. > :43:44.British rowing right now. Now we welcome viewers of BBC World News

:43:44. > :43:48.and BBC America. You join us here on the banks of the river Thames.

:43:48. > :43:52.We will be watching the 2012 Xchanging Boat Race on fold shortly.

:43:52. > :43:56.The crews are out on the water and going through their warm-up routine.

:43:56. > :44:00.I enjoyed by Katherine Grainger, Britain's most successful female

:44:00. > :44:06.role, with six world titles and three Olympic silver medals. You

:44:06. > :44:10.were talking about how obviously, the perfect end to the story is a

:44:10. > :44:14.gold in London. What do you feel about competing at a home games?

:44:14. > :44:19.Genuinely looking forward to it. A lot of people talk about the

:44:19. > :44:27.expectation and pressure. It can become paralysing, the thought of

:44:27. > :44:30.the scale of it. But it is just a fantastic opportunity that so many

:44:30. > :44:34.athletes I know who have retired would give anything to come back

:44:34. > :44:43.and do. You have teamed up with Anna Watkins. You have so far been

:44:43. > :44:50.unbeatable. So far. It is one of those partnerships that is so

:44:50. > :44:54.special. It comes around once every now and again. It just works. It

:44:54. > :44:58.has been successful, and we look forward to the next four months.

:44:58. > :45:03.How much has the set-up change in the 15 years you have been involved

:45:03. > :45:07.in British rowing? Has it become more professional? Without a doubt.

:45:07. > :45:11.It has transformed. When I came in, there was not the level of lottery

:45:11. > :45:15.funding that there is now. People on the team were in massive amounts

:45:15. > :45:19.of debt. They could not afford petrol to go to training. There

:45:19. > :45:23.were not many abroad training camps, the facilities, the level of

:45:23. > :45:27.coaching and support staff. Everything was at a much lower

:45:27. > :45:31.level. Across the board, the whole thing has stepped up every year.

:45:31. > :45:35.And we are seeing better results. suspect it is no coincidence that

:45:35. > :45:38.we are seeing more women want to take up rowing because of what you

:45:38. > :45:43.have done. The most exciting development in the recent history

:45:43. > :45:47.of the Boat Race is that from 2015, the women's Boat Race will also

:45:47. > :45:57.take place here on the Tideway. For now, it remains in Henley. This

:45:57. > :46:00.

:46:00. > :46:04.Conditions were perfect for this year's race. Both crews started

:46:05. > :46:09.well, with Cambridge, who had not won for five years, taking an early

:46:09. > :46:15.lead. They looked to be claiming a dominant victory, but there was

:46:15. > :46:20.drama to come. The number two seat was thrown backwards, and the boat

:46:20. > :46:25.almost ground to a halt. Cambridge were fighting to stay ahead. It was

:46:25. > :46:31.tight. But eventually, the Light Blues heard the news that they had

:46:31. > :46:39.won, just. The traditional celebration followed, before

:46:39. > :46:44.thoughts turned to the Tideway, in three years' time. It is a big plus

:46:44. > :46:49.for the women, bringing it in line with other sports, where or the

:46:49. > :46:57.women are on an equal footing. have come on so much in the last

:46:57. > :47:02.few years, we are as good as the men, and we're going to show it.

:47:02. > :47:08.How different a challenge will it be, moving from Henley, to having

:47:08. > :47:12.the race here? It will be a completely different event. The

:47:12. > :47:17.Boat Race at Henley has been a wonderful experience, it is very

:47:17. > :47:23.much a protected atmosphere. It is a much smaller deal, in terms of

:47:23. > :47:29.numbers. And much shorter. Yes, it is a third of the distance, even

:47:29. > :47:33.less than that. So, the training regime, the tactics in the race,

:47:33. > :47:37.everything will be very different when the women come here. Is that

:47:37. > :47:41.why it is taking a while, they want to get the women to a certain level

:47:41. > :47:45.to be convinced that they can do it? It is not that they need to

:47:45. > :47:50.step up, they will easily manage the racing here, that's not the

:47:50. > :47:57.problem. It is just almost about tradition, it has been the Henley

:47:57. > :48:00.Boat Race. I think it is very good that the women's Boat Race and the

:48:00. > :48:04.men's Boat Race will now take place over the same distance, with the

:48:04. > :48:09.same crowd, and the same excitement. Is it something you would like to

:48:09. > :48:15.get a piece of yourself, either taking part or coaching? I don't

:48:15. > :48:21.know if I could do any more degrees! I spoke to someone from

:48:21. > :48:27.Oxford who has been studying for 10 years! Yes, but the oldest one is

:48:27. > :48:30.29, and I am a little bit past that now. Of course, it is part of our

:48:30. > :48:35.competitive nature. When these events happen in your own sport,

:48:35. > :48:41.you want to have a piece of it. What will be great is that it will

:48:41. > :48:48.involve more women in the sport of rowing than ever before. We have

:48:48. > :48:52.got to let you go to Radio 5 Live now, so, many thanks to Katherine

:48:52. > :48:57.Grainger. There is one woman taking part today, that's the Oxford cox,

:48:57. > :49:01.Zoe de Toledo. It is a very tricky course to negotiate, because

:49:01. > :49:07.beneath the waterline all sorts of problems, as Matthew Pinsent can

:49:08. > :49:12.explain. The most important seat, especially for the Boat Race, is

:49:12. > :49:17.the coxing seat. They have a couple of weapons at their disposal. First,

:49:17. > :49:22.the rudder wires, and secondly, as you will see on Boat Race day, they

:49:22. > :49:27.have all got these microphones, so that everybody in the boat can hear

:49:27. > :49:31.exactly what they are as saying. But for all the technical wizardry,

:49:31. > :49:41.the most important decision they have is the line on the river,

:49:41. > :49:42.

:49:42. > :49:45.which, for them, is all about that view out there. What does it every

:49:46. > :49:52.eight-year-old learned at school? That the shortest distance between

:49:52. > :49:56.two points is a straight line. So, here we are, at the start, and

:49:56. > :50:02.there's Hammersmith Bridge. So, why don't the coxes take the shortest

:50:02. > :50:06.line between these two points? I will show you why not. Every Coxon

:50:06. > :50:10.knows that the straightest line is seldom the quickest here on the

:50:10. > :50:14.Boat Race course. The fastest water is the deepest, and it is only as

:50:14. > :50:20.the tide drops that you get a proper indication of where that

:50:20. > :50:24.deep, fast water is. Here we are on the inside of the first bend, at

:50:24. > :50:34.Fulham, and look how far these famous flats sweep out into the

:50:34. > :50:38.river. In the Boat Race, the crews will be coming past way over my

:50:38. > :50:42.head. The fastest water is the deepest. The quintessential

:50:42. > :50:49.challenge for the coxes is not just to find the quickest water on the

:50:49. > :50:57.first bend, at Fulham, but to keep their crew sitting in it for the

:50:57. > :51:00.full race. As the huge Surrey bend unwinds, the cox will be making

:51:00. > :51:06.sure that their growers on the inside line, and holding their

:51:06. > :51:08.position. If the race is still close at Barnes Railway Bridge,

:51:09. > :51:13.close at Barnes Railway Bridge, then it is going to be a classic.

:51:13. > :51:17.The last bend on the course is the sharpest, and the Middlesex crew is

:51:17. > :51:21.going to feel that it is definitely going to win from here. There is

:51:21. > :51:25.not anything in the last five minutes of the race which favours

:51:25. > :51:31.the Surrey station. All of that looks good in theory. But here's

:51:31. > :51:38.the challenge for real. The river is full, and the deepest, fastest

:51:38. > :51:42.water is completely invisible. The river is probably 150 metres wide,

:51:42. > :51:49.and the coxes have got to pick the fastest line with no visual

:51:49. > :51:56.references. They know that within 20 seconds after steering off the

:51:56. > :52:00.tide, that could cost them the race. What a nightmare job. And if you

:52:00. > :52:06.get it right, your reward is to be chucked in the river. It does not

:52:06. > :52:12.seem to be fair. Still to come, Oz and James continue their vintage

:52:12. > :52:21.odyssey up the River Thames. You're taking me to visit a brewery which

:52:21. > :52:25.makes foreign lager on our beloved Tideway?! We will join them again

:52:25. > :52:31.later, and you can see how many people are piling in, trying to get

:52:31. > :52:37.a decent view among the banks of the river. This big sign, who is

:52:37. > :52:43.this for? It is for Alex Davidson, our old school friend, we have

:52:43. > :52:52.known him for the last 12 years. Absolutely ages, yes. Tell us some

:52:52. > :53:00.secrets about him. He is a very loud chap, he is very strong, he

:53:00. > :53:06.has been doing rowing for ages. is probably the most focused and

:53:06. > :53:14.ambitious person that we know. he will need to be. I hope he saw

:53:14. > :53:18.your banner earlier. Also, we have the girlfriend of Moritz Schramm

:53:18. > :53:23.the girlfriend of Moritz Schramm with us here, and you do this

:53:23. > :53:32.yourself, don't you? A Yes, it is a very different feeling, when you're

:53:32. > :53:37.doing it yourself. When you're rowing, once you take the first

:53:37. > :53:41.stroke, you can feel the boat, you can feel your crew, you can feel

:53:41. > :53:45.the race, but on the other hand, for me, it will just be more and

:53:45. > :53:51.more nervousness. He texted me this morning, saying, baby, don't worry,

:53:51. > :53:55.we have got this. He knew that I would be the nervous one. Where we

:53:55. > :53:59.you position yourself? I'm going to a friend's house who lives on

:53:59. > :54:04.Putney Bridge. We have been watching it there for years. Thank

:54:04. > :54:08.you so much for coming down to speak to us. For all of the rowers,

:54:08. > :54:13.all of that training, it is not just about winning the race today,

:54:13. > :54:17.it is about actually making it into the boat in the first place. Early

:54:17. > :54:23.mornings on the river are not the romantic ideal. It is hard work and

:54:23. > :54:28.it is hugely time-consuming. Knowing that if you lose, you have

:54:28. > :54:34.basically thrown away six months of your life is a really good reason

:54:34. > :54:40.not to lose! Time is ticking by, and Steve Trapmore needs to pick

:54:40. > :54:43.his final eight. Last year we had some really good guys, but the

:54:43. > :54:48.internal competition was not as good at it is this year. The coach

:54:48. > :54:53.also has to contend with the vagaries of fate. Just days before

:54:53. > :54:58.the final announcement, a virtual certainty, Jack Lindeman, has

:54:58. > :55:03.aggravated a tendon injury. amount of mileage we do, it is

:55:03. > :55:07.natural for our bodies to break down a bit. One man's injury is

:55:07. > :55:12.sometimes another man's opportunity. That is the nature of a brutal

:55:12. > :55:17.selection policy. It can be really cut throat and difficult at times.

:55:17. > :55:20.There are setbacks obviously for everyone involved. Oxford returned

:55:20. > :55:25.from their French training camp with the selection process drawing

:55:25. > :55:31.to a conclusion. If everybody is fit and healthy, I could put the

:55:31. > :55:36.boat out tomorrow. But there's definitely one or two seats with

:55:36. > :55:43.some guys in the Isis boat who could perhaps make a bit of a

:55:43. > :55:48.challenge. One of those, staking a late claim, was Geordie Macleod.

:55:48. > :55:55.Alex Davidson had impressed greatly, but at a price. Sean Bowden

:55:55. > :55:59.demanded total commitment. He has broken down my stroke from start to

:55:59. > :56:05.finish, since we arrived. I had to spend a lot of time thinking about

:56:05. > :56:15.exactly what he wanted. Hopefully I am getting there. Elsewhere, one of

:56:15. > :56:21.the stars of the trials, Oskar Zorrilla, had found himself out of

:56:21. > :56:25.favour. I will want to know that whoever is coxing Isis will be able

:56:25. > :56:31.to challenge me, because that is when I will be able to get my

:56:31. > :56:37.practice. One thing the Boat Race has shown over the years is that

:56:37. > :56:43.anything can happen between now and the day. 5th March 2012, and, in

:56:43. > :56:47.the shadow of the Olympic Stadium, the two crews were finally unveiled.

:56:47. > :56:57.For the Dark Blues, Alex Davidson had proved his worth to claim the

:56:57. > :56:59.sixth seat. And William Zeng, despite his injury, made it. It is

:56:59. > :57:07.the opportunity for real achievement, as opposed to watching

:57:08. > :57:12.the other guys do it. There would be no fairy-tale for James Ditzell.

:57:12. > :57:18.And Katherine Apfelbaum would have to be content with the Cox seat in

:57:18. > :57:22.the Isis boat. I decided the best bet was to come in, thinking, I am

:57:22. > :57:26.coxing the boat, what do I do to make it as fast as possible? That

:57:26. > :57:31.has been my mindset since the middle of September. Zoe de

:57:31. > :57:35.Toledo's opposite number of would- be Ed Bosson, who turned 19 just

:57:35. > :57:41.yesterday. Jack Lindeman had proved his fitness in the face of

:57:41. > :57:47.competition, and Mike Thorp was back for another assault. We know

:57:48. > :57:51.what we need to do, we cannot let last year happen again. So, for all

:57:51. > :57:55.of them, the hard work is about to begin, they cannot drink any

:57:55. > :58:00.alcohol for days before the race, they need to eat plenty of

:58:00. > :58:07.carbohydrates, but for everybody here watching, it is just a big day

:58:07. > :58:10.out. When last we saw Oz and James, they were on the raised balcony

:58:10. > :58:15.outside the Dove, near Hammersmith Bridge, where they would have

:58:15. > :58:19.stayed, given the choice. But the good thing about being slightly

:58:19. > :58:27.tipsy is, you can become more easy to persuade to carry on your

:58:27. > :58:37.adventure. Do you fancy, because I know you believe everything was

:58:37. > :58:42.better in the past, to go to a pub for a traditional bar game? I will

:58:42. > :58:51.put you out of your misery, the game is skittles. Isn't that a

:58:51. > :58:59.little bit old-fashioned? It is, compared with Space invaders.

:58:59. > :59:06.they play with cheese? No, they play with a ball, I think. You need

:59:07. > :59:13.a bit more spin, James. Here we go. You throw it down and it went

:59:13. > :59:17.bouncing, like Barnes Wallis. It is quite interesting, actually, there

:59:17. > :59:22.is a long tradition of beer making on the river, for obvious reasons,

:59:22. > :59:30.I suppose, stuff could come in by boat. There is actually a brewery

:59:30. > :59:34.which makes lager. Foreign lager. Foreign lager? You're taking me to

:59:34. > :59:38.visit a brewery on our beloved Tideway which makes foreign lager?

:59:38. > :59:48.I thought it would give you a chance to have a good rant about

:59:48. > :59:56.

:59:56. > :00:02.the decline of England. I will give You are amused by the most childish

:00:02. > :00:12.dreams. It is quite funny. Seriously, look at it closely, you

:00:12. > :00:15.

:00:15. > :00:22.will see what I mean. It should be slightly fruity, a little bit?

:00:22. > :00:31.think there is a textural quality of the skin of a baked mackerel.

:00:31. > :00:36.slightly mineral feel to it. Is it bottled here or tank here? It goes

:00:36. > :00:39.off to going cans, I asked that earlier. Please pay attention. You

:00:39. > :00:49.thought because I was asking the question, it was irrelevant. But

:00:49. > :01:01.

:01:01. > :01:08.actually, it was pertinent. Now, So is that the finishing post?

:01:08. > :01:14.is it. Well, they queue for enhancing my appreciation of the

:01:14. > :01:17.Boat Race, but where would you watch it? This is the end, and you

:01:17. > :01:26.can watch the rest on TV. Putney is the beginning and you can watch the

:01:26. > :01:30.rest on TV, or you can watch an enormous chunk of it at the Dove.

:01:30. > :01:35.Well, it is safe to say that they had fun with that. James May well

:01:35. > :01:40.be joining me next week at Aintree for his man and a programme, which

:01:40. > :01:44.makes me think about perfect physique for a rower. Andrew

:01:44. > :01:48.Triggs-Hodge and Tom James are with me again. What is the perfect shape

:01:48. > :01:54.for a road? It seems that you can be small and delicate, or you can

:01:54. > :01:59.be a beast of a man. There are lots of different routes. If you have

:02:00. > :02:05.long limbs, it helps, and big lungs. Genetics are certainly part of it.

:02:05. > :02:11.But being athletic and dynamic, the sport is about applying the power

:02:11. > :02:14.you have got and timing. You see all shapes and sizes. But generally,

:02:14. > :02:18.longer leavers and bigger lungs helps. And you have to stay

:02:18. > :02:23.motivated. You have been training this morning? Were were up bright

:02:23. > :02:28.and early this morning. It is a seven day job. But it is the same

:02:28. > :02:35.for the guys in the Boat Race. They are training every day for the Boat

:02:35. > :02:39.Race. But the motivation spills out into their dedication. And the

:02:40. > :02:44.coaches were combat. As everybody at homes finishes their lunch, how

:02:44. > :02:50.much do rowers eat in a given day, and what do they eat? For someone

:02:50. > :02:55.like me, it is about 6000 calories. You try and get more in when

:02:55. > :03:00.training, because I find my weight drops a bit. It is not the same for

:03:00. > :03:03.everyone, but it becomes a bit like a chore. You have to see it as

:03:03. > :03:09.another training session, which is the opposite of what a lot of

:03:09. > :03:13.people find. 6000 calories is typical. Enjoy watching the race. A

:03:13. > :03:17.brief word about weight - Cambridge are 7.9 kilograms per man on

:03:17. > :03:23.average heavier than Oxford. In the past, the heavier crew has seemed

:03:23. > :03:26.to have the advantage. Oxford are the favourites today, though. We

:03:26. > :03:36.have near-perfect conditions. I hand you over to our commentary

:03:36. > :04:03.

:04:03. > :04:07.team. Let's look at total wins of For the last two years, the

:04:07. > :04:13.favourites have been beaten in this race. I will hop in a boat and head

:04:13. > :04:23.to the finish. Our commentary team will now take over, Dan Topolski

:04:23. > :04:24.

:04:24. > :04:31.Cambridge are a stone heavier. But Oxford are odds-on favourites to

:04:31. > :04:36.win. This sporting fixture has been here well before the Moscow

:04:36. > :04:41.Olympics. But over the last 20 years, it has been equal between

:04:41. > :04:48.heavier and lighter crews. The big boys do not necessarily win. As Tom

:04:48. > :04:52.James was saying, more significant is that priceless ability to make

:04:52. > :04:56.the boat go faster on a course weather conditions are constantly

:04:56. > :05:02.changing. Down, there is plenty of driftwood, some of the worst

:05:02. > :05:06.conditions we have ever seen? through the week, the dredgers was

:05:06. > :05:13.supposed to be cleaning the river and getting rid of some of the

:05:13. > :05:16.rubbish that tipped into the river earlier in the week. Oxford had

:05:16. > :05:22.their fines knocked off by a submerged drifting log on Monday.

:05:22. > :05:27.We have seen that all this week, and it will be a serious problem

:05:27. > :05:31.for the coxes. It is below the surface of the water. The umpire

:05:32. > :05:38.has stated that if there are any problems, he will pick it up. This

:05:38. > :05:48.is the reserve crew we are watching. The crew for Oxford have come well

:05:48. > :05:56.

:05:56. > :06:04.clear. They have won again. The Cambridge crew won the toss. And

:06:04. > :06:07.And yet again, Isis have won. was a big margin of victory. A

:06:07. > :06:13.great success to come off the Middlesex side, round the

:06:13. > :06:19.Hammersmith bend. A very good performance, and it bodes well for

:06:19. > :06:23.Oxford in the main race coming up now. There is a big weight

:06:23. > :06:28.difference, and that is really considerable. The heavier crews

:06:28. > :06:33.have longer legs, longer answer. That power, if Cambridge can

:06:33. > :06:38.harness it well and really put on in the middle of the race with that

:06:38. > :06:43.power and role efficiently, they will be a very big challenge. But

:06:43. > :06:51.Oxford are very racy. They have three lightweights in the boat, my

:06:51. > :06:57.size, 77 kilos or about 12 stone. That is a big difference. The coach

:06:57. > :07:00.has been working on that. It is very much his programme after the

:07:00. > :07:06.disappointment in 2010 to ensure that his chosen crew do themselves

:07:06. > :07:11.justice and turn potential into high performance. I am the

:07:11. > :07:19.president of the CBC, and this is my crew. I am studying medicine

:07:19. > :07:24.with a PhD in behavioural neuroscience. I am studying Anglo-

:07:24. > :07:29.Saxon, Norse and Celtic literature. Jack provides a lot of positivity

:07:29. > :07:37.and enthusiasm. I am reading history at Homerton College. I

:07:37. > :07:43.bring fight. I am studying law at St Edmund's. He provides a lot of

:07:43. > :07:53.hunger and technical leadership. am studying land economy. He is a

:07:53. > :07:53.

:07:53. > :08:01.real workhorse. I am studying economic Research. He is a fellow

:08:01. > :08:07.Aussie, bringing a lot of experience. I am studying history.

:08:07. > :08:17.He sets up a solid rhythm, and the rest follow his lead. I am studying

:08:17. > :08:24.

:08:24. > :08:28.natural sciences. He is the will be fielding as his Oxford crew,

:08:28. > :08:34.the dark Blues, are chasing their ninth victory as Oxford coach since

:08:34. > :08:41.he was given the job in 1998. He is an unflappable man. And there is a

:08:41. > :08:50.quiet intensity to his Crow. There is no hiding their ambition to rule

:08:50. > :08:55.the Tideway once more. I am Karl Hudspith, President of the Oxford

:08:55. > :09:04.University Boat Club. This is my crew. I am reading graduate entry

:09:04. > :09:09.medicine. He won last year's Isis race. Quantum computation. Yale

:09:09. > :09:15.graduate William Zeng is as quick with mental arithmetic as he is

:09:15. > :09:22.with an oar. I am reading water science policy management. Another

:09:22. > :09:29.vocal American. I am reading for an MSc in research and geography

:09:29. > :09:34.environment. He is one of the toughest in the crew. I am studying

:09:34. > :09:40.chromosome and developmental Biology. He has a constantly chirpy

:09:40. > :09:45.and upbeat personality. I am studying computational biology at

:09:45. > :09:51.Mansfield College. The third of our former lightweights in the boat, he

:09:51. > :09:56.also rowed in last year's Isis race. I am doing a masters in Surgical

:09:56. > :10:01.Sciences. The second of our senior internationals in the crew, a true

:10:01. > :10:06.Dutch master. I am reading for an MSc in Criminology and Criminal

:10:06. > :10:15.Justice. A former under 23 world champion who learned to cox on the

:10:15. > :10:19.Tideway. Her experience is valuable. When you see the Cambridge crew, in

:10:19. > :10:27.the middle of the boat, there is a tandem rig, one in front of the

:10:27. > :10:31.other, with their blades on the first side. They became the first

:10:31. > :10:36.crew to win with such a set-up. bring your weight into the middle

:10:36. > :10:40.of the boat. That is one reason for doing it. If your boat is not going

:10:40. > :10:46.straight in the normal set-up, you want to change that so that your

:10:46. > :10:49.bow man does not have the same leverage. You are trying to get a

:10:49. > :10:59.straight to running boat. That must be one of the problems they were

:10:59. > :11:05.

:11:05. > :11:10.having. Two boats waiting. John Garrett is in the umpire's launch.

:11:10. > :11:15.Let's see where Clare Balding has got too, towards Hammersmith? You

:11:15. > :11:19.are going well? When you get to come down the river

:11:19. > :11:23.on a boat, I am excited because you get a real sense of all of the

:11:23. > :11:27.crowds. You can imagine the noise that will be here as the crews

:11:27. > :11:31.reached Hammersmith Bridge. They still have the large part of the

:11:31. > :11:39.race to go and the big left-handed curve. The water is slightly choppy,

:11:39. > :11:47.with a bit of a headwind, but we have to speed up. Bye-bye.

:11:47. > :11:55.Clare is churning up the water for the race! So she is happy. We are

:11:55. > :11:59.now by Putney Bridge. You can see the two boats on their stations.

:11:59. > :12:07.Oxford are on the North Bank, the Middlesex bank. And Cambridge are

:12:07. > :12:16.on the southern bank, the Surrey station. Dan will take you through.

:12:16. > :12:25.Please acknowledge that you can hear this. Testing for volume. Zoe,

:12:25. > :12:33.can you hear that? At the start, we come off Putney Bridge. The forced

:12:33. > :12:36.corner they come to is Fulham Football Club. Then they go to

:12:36. > :12:45.Middlesex, then up to Hammersmith Bridge, seven minutes gone. Then

:12:45. > :12:49.round the big spend on the Surrey side. Straighter long Chiswick Eyot,

:12:49. > :12:53.round and then the last seven minutes, you are coming up through

:12:53. > :12:57.the Bandstand, with four minutes to go. Three minutes from Barnes

:12:57. > :13:03.Bridge. A big curve in favour of Oxford for the last few minutes of

:13:03. > :13:06.the race, through to the finish at Chiswick.

:13:07. > :13:11.That is the cause which is laid out ahead, a course already conquered

:13:11. > :13:17.by the Oxford reserve crew, Isis. They started from the same station

:13:17. > :13:21.the blue boat will start on. advantage of being on the Middlesex

:13:21. > :13:27.here is that they will not hit the headwind until they get round the

:13:27. > :13:32.corner. The Surrey side will hit it first. They will get the rougher

:13:32. > :13:37.water along the first mile through to Hammersmith Bridge. Oxford will

:13:37. > :13:45.be trying to get as much as they can in this first part of the race.

:13:45. > :13:53.We are waiting. The umpire is controlled. The crews are waiting.

:13:53. > :13:58.This means so much to both crews. It is one race, one day, and

:13:58. > :14:06.everything builds up to that. The effect of losing, we can't let last

:14:06. > :14:16.year happen again. You spent seven months, and at the end you either

:14:16. > :14:16.

:14:16. > :15:01.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 44 seconds

:15:01. > :15:10.have just had one British rower in their boat. You can see the two

:15:10. > :15:16.coxes. Ed Bosson, 19 just yesterday. For Oxford, Zoe de Toledo, a winner

:15:16. > :15:22.last year for Isis. There's Matthew Pinsent, who will be Assistant

:15:22. > :15:27.umpire. And there's John Garrett, never a winner as a Cambridge

:15:27. > :15:37.oarsmen. Three times an umpire of the Boat Race, and returns in

:15:37. > :15:39.

:15:39. > :15:49.charge of the reserve race. Arms aloft, so, neither crew ready just

:15:49. > :16:05.

:16:05. > :16:11.way. At the start is crucial. As expected, Oxford are away.

:16:11. > :16:15.Cambridge, with the greater weight. But look at Oxford, charging clear.

:16:15. > :16:18.Cambridge very slow on those first few strokes, we saw that in

:16:18. > :16:22.practice earlier in the week, they were very slow getting going.

:16:22. > :16:30.Oxford have got about a third of a length already. They are

:16:30. > :16:35.approaching the first corner. If they can just push this on, and not

:16:35. > :16:39.allow Cambridge to get into their stride... Cambridge know that

:16:39. > :16:45.Oxford are good starters. They are prepared for that, they say. They

:16:45. > :16:49.are hoping that they will be able to make their weight tell. They are

:16:49. > :16:53.more than a stone a man heavier, and that is their big calling-card.

:16:53. > :16:59.They have to get into position to make sure they can make the most of

:16:59. > :17:05.this Surrey bank. Fulham football ground coming up on the right-hand

:17:05. > :17:09.side, the Middlesex station. Both crews are at 35 strokes a minute at

:17:09. > :17:19.the moment, they have settled into their race pace. They are just

:17:19. > :17:20.

:17:20. > :17:24.passing Noel our commentating box. Oxford have half a length. You can

:17:24. > :17:30.hear the umpire, John Garrett, warning the boats. He is saying to

:17:30. > :17:37.Oxford, you're pushing further towards the Surrey station. Again,

:17:37. > :17:40.they're being warned. Zoe de Toledo, a very impressive Cox in all the

:17:40. > :17:44.previous matches on the Tideway in the build-up to this race.

:17:44. > :17:49.Cambridge have done a very good job here, they have checked Oxford's

:17:49. > :17:54.progress, and they are getting into their rhythm, moving up into

:17:54. > :17:59.contention. Oxford still trying to get away. They need to get as much

:17:59. > :18:06.of an advantage in this first part of the race as they can, before

:18:06. > :18:10.they hit the big Hammersmith bend. That is worth three quarters of a

:18:10. > :18:14.length to the inside crew, which is Cambridge. As they come into the

:18:14. > :18:22.rest of the race, into this head wind, the Cambridge extra weight

:18:22. > :18:27.will really come to their advantage. John Garrett has been to see both

:18:27. > :18:32.crews, insisting that he wants at least four or five metres between

:18:32. > :18:36.the two boats. They're quite close together at the moment. The umpire

:18:36. > :18:40.has said he wants that gap, but they are getting quite close. He

:18:40. > :18:46.wants them to move apart. He thinks they're both encroaching against

:18:46. > :18:52.each other, so no-one is at fault, but he wants them further apart.

:18:52. > :18:55.Both crews, move apart! They're coming on to the straight, and

:18:55. > :19:02.Oxford have got about a quarter of a length. Cambridge have settled

:19:02. > :19:05.into a very good, strong, 35 strokes a minute. Expect Cambridge,

:19:05. > :19:09.as they approached the Harrod's Repository, to make a big, big push.

:19:09. > :19:14.That's what they have been practising, that's where they think

:19:14. > :19:20.they can really score. Middlesex bend, were something like

:19:20. > :19:24.a quarter of a length to the crew on that side. But then, it really

:19:24. > :19:30.starts to tell, as the river starts to bend around. Underneath

:19:30. > :19:33.Hammersmith Bridge, down towards Chiswick Steps, and that advantage

:19:33. > :19:41.could be as much as three-quarters of a length to a length. So,

:19:41. > :19:47.Cambridge are still in touch, as they come up to the former Harrod's

:19:47. > :19:52.Repository, now, luxury flats. Cambridge have come back, as we can

:19:52. > :19:56.see. Oxford on the outside of his corner, this is where they really

:19:56. > :19:59.have to push. They will try to make a big push, they have got to push

:19:59. > :20:05.before they get to the Harrod's Repository. Cambridge have settled

:20:05. > :20:11.into a very strong rhythm, looking very good. Remember, a stone a man

:20:11. > :20:15.extra, it is like having an extra man in the boat. Eight kilos,

:20:15. > :20:21.nearly 10 stone, of extra power in that Cambridge boat, and into this

:20:21. > :20:25.head wind, it is having a big effect. Oxford, entirely aware of

:20:25. > :20:28.Cambridge's weight advantage, conscious that their technical

:20:28. > :20:37.skill, the ability to move the boat efficiently and effectively as a

:20:37. > :20:41.unit, not necessarily being clunky, that could be their advantage.

:20:41. > :20:46.Still about a quarter of a length of clear, as Cambridge start to dig

:20:46. > :20:51.in. With the sunglasses and the pony tail, at number five, Mike

:20:52. > :20:57.Thorp, hurting so deeply following that defeat last year, having won

:20:57. > :21:01.the year before that. Here they go again, Oxford getting quite close.

:21:01. > :21:06.They have straightened up again, but they are making a very big push,

:21:06. > :21:09.to try to get as much of an advantage as possible, as you can

:21:09. > :21:16.see the Harrod's Repository on the left. They are trying to get away a

:21:16. > :21:20.bit, so they have an advantage going into this big, big corner.

:21:20. > :21:26.The coxes are driving this aggressive, racing line, looking

:21:26. > :21:34.for the fastest water, the deepest water is the fastest stream, which

:21:34. > :21:37.is what both crews are searching for. But only if one crew moves

:21:37. > :21:47.actually -- moves at least one length clear, can they then move

:21:47. > :21:51.across. Something like 2000 metres, which is the usual length for the

:21:51. > :21:56.World Championships or the Olympics. As they come up to Hammersmith

:21:56. > :22:00.Bridge, they have got an advantage of three-quarters of a length,

:22:01. > :22:05.going around his corner. Oxford will have to hold on now, they have

:22:05. > :22:08.not got enough of an advantage to move ahead. You can see now,

:22:08. > :22:18.Cambridge beginning to move, they have moved up to 37 strokes a

:22:18. > :22:21.

:22:21. > :22:27.minute, and they are pushing fast. At stroke, a very cool man, calm

:22:27. > :22:37.man, Niles Garratt, but women can be relied upon for great rhythm.

:22:37. > :22:53.

:22:53. > :22:58.And for Oxford, in the bow seat, to the left, towards Chiswick Reach.

:22:58. > :23:02.This is where the Surrey bend could count for Cambridge. Then now,

:23:02. > :23:06.they're starting to make it count. Oxford have been warned, they have

:23:06. > :23:10.had to move out towards the outside of that corner. It is very

:23:10. > :23:14.dangerous for them, they have got to dig in and hold all the way

:23:14. > :23:19.around the outside of his corner. Remember, Cambridge, big weight,

:23:19. > :23:23.big power in their boat, harnessing it well. They have got to make this

:23:23. > :23:27.work, they have got to move away, it is worth three quarters of a

:23:27. > :23:35.length, and try and get clear of Oxford. Because Oxford will have

:23:35. > :23:40.the advantage over the last bend. So, how do you think it is looking?

:23:40. > :23:44.We have got a fantastic race on her hands, better than anybody expected,

:23:44. > :23:48.better than the book is expected. Cambridge have done an amazing job

:23:48. > :23:51.in the first eight or nine minutes, they have made their weight tell.

:23:51. > :23:56.They have got another three or four minutes on this big Surrey bend,

:23:56. > :24:03.they have to get away from Oxford, because after this, the next bend

:24:03. > :24:09.will be in Oxford's favour. Cambridge have to get away. This is

:24:09. > :24:19.some contest. So many sages on the towpaths were saying that Oxford

:24:19. > :24:21.

:24:21. > :24:27.would run away with this. But here we are, coming up to the 9th minute,

:24:27. > :24:32.by Chiswick Reach, just on the left, back upstream, and we are pretty

:24:32. > :24:37.much level. Oxford holding on very well around the outside of his

:24:37. > :24:41.corner. Oxford are still in this race. Cambridge's advantage is

:24:41. > :24:44.beginning to run out, but they are making the most of it, really

:24:44. > :24:49.having a big push now, because they know that the advantage is going to

:24:49. > :24:53.turn to the other side of the River once they get around his corner.

:24:53. > :24:58.They have got a straight coming up alongside Chiswick Eyot. Cambridge

:24:58. > :25:02.Ian ward, they're trying to push out, but Oxford holding on, and now,

:25:02. > :25:07.they will try to push on and feel that they have got the advantage.

:25:07. > :25:10.Now, they're beginning to move, Oxford, back alongside again. And

:25:10. > :25:20.this straight is where the advantage will start to favour

:25:20. > :25:25.

:25:25. > :25:29.Oxford. Now, it is down to real guts and determination. This is

:25:29. > :25:34.down to where or the real Boat Race work is done. They have got about

:25:34. > :25:38.seven minutes to go. Cambridge will be warned, they are coming across.

:25:38. > :25:43.But the coxes are reacting well. It is big man's work for the last

:25:43. > :25:50.eight minutes of his race. Oxford have just got the edge. Trust is a

:25:50. > :25:55.word you hear so much for rowing crews, trust in the Cox, trusting

:25:55. > :26:00.each other, as a unit, to dig deep and do everything you can to take

:26:00. > :26:05.your boat to the finishing line first. And Oxford have dug deep,

:26:05. > :26:15.held their own around that crucial Surrey bend, and now, look as if

:26:15. > :26:15.

:26:15. > :26:19.they are pulling clear possibly. As they come up towards Dukes Meadow

:26:19. > :26:28.on the Middlesex side. Still something like eight minutes to go,

:26:28. > :26:33.and nothing to choose between them. Seven minutes to go now. Once they

:26:33. > :26:36.get around this corner. What has happened? Cambridge have stopped.

:26:37. > :26:46.They have stopped growing, there is a man swimming a cross between the

:26:47. > :26:50.

:26:50. > :26:56.boats. All the boats have stopped. What a shock. This is unprecedented.

:26:56. > :27:01.Well, this could well be a restart for John Garrett. He will start the

:27:01. > :27:06.race, with the crews pretty well even. Oxford just had the edge. He

:27:06. > :27:11.will have to start the race again from this point. This is going to

:27:11. > :27:15.be an advantage for Cambridge, because the weight will get them

:27:15. > :27:20.going much faster, they will be much quicker on a winning start.

:27:20. > :27:25.They will start where they are on the water, as they work, in the

:27:25. > :27:29.sense that Oxford were just possibly a quarter length ahead. It

:27:29. > :27:34.will take some time for this to be arranged. Have you ever seen

:27:34. > :27:41.anything like this before? Never seen anything like it. The race was

:27:41. > :27:45.stopped once seven or eight years ago. But a swimmer in the river?

:27:46. > :27:55.It was a demonstration, clearly, to draw attention to himself. We will

:27:56. > :27:56.

:27:56. > :28:00.find out why he did it later on. We're going to spin round, we are

:28:00. > :28:08.going to start the race from the bottom of Chiswick Eyot, it is a

:28:08. > :28:18.restart. That's what we're going to do. So, the umpire, John Garrett,

:28:18. > :28:21.saying that they're going to turn around and go back to Chiswick Eyot.

:28:21. > :28:26.This is a shock. Remember, they have worked, emotionally and

:28:26. > :28:32.physically, extremely hard. The advantage is going to become a

:28:32. > :28:35.really, apart from the little band which will favour Cambridge,

:28:35. > :28:38.they're starting at the bottom of the island, they will go for one

:28:38. > :28:42.minute along the island, they will hit that corner, which will favour

:28:42. > :28:46.Cambridge, and then the advantage will turn to Oxford for the last

:28:46. > :28:51.part of the race. So, the advantage is going to be a little bit with

:28:51. > :28:56.Oxford. Whether the umpire starts the crews level, or whether he

:28:56. > :29:00.starts them as they were at that point in the race, we do not know.

:29:00. > :29:06.But the important thing here is, the lactate which has built up in

:29:06. > :29:10.the muscles of these two crews, it will be extremely important. And

:29:10. > :29:16.there you can see the swimmer in the water, that was very quick-

:29:16. > :29:20.thinking, from the Oxford cox, Zoe de Toledo, because that could have

:29:20. > :29:24.been quite frightening. You can see his head bobbing in the water, that

:29:24. > :29:29.could have been quite horrific. could have had his head cut off by

:29:29. > :29:35.the blades. But then launches that were falling cannot stop, he would

:29:35. > :29:38.have been subsumed by them. remember in the Formula 1 at

:29:38. > :29:45.Hockenheim a few years ago, something similar, but I was not

:29:45. > :29:49.expecting that. The amount of lactate which has built up in the

:29:49. > :29:53.muscles of these athletes, very, very difficult. There has got to be

:29:53. > :30:00.a lot of very, very focused thinking in the boats as they think

:30:00. > :30:04.about what they're going to do. It is going to be a rolling start. The

:30:04. > :30:11.umpire is going to have to judge the distance between them, as they

:30:11. > :30:14.start off. He will have to judge how he starts them. But look at the

:30:14. > :30:18.waves which have been kicked up by the following launches. All of

:30:18. > :30:24.those following launches are having to turn around, to get back behind

:30:24. > :30:28.the crews, so the water is appalling. Whether the umpire will

:30:28. > :30:38.give this water time to settle down, we do not know. What are conditions

:30:38. > :30:46.

:30:46. > :30:49.launches have come to a screeching halt. We are sitting next to the

:30:49. > :30:53.police boat which has picked up this protester who was swimming

:30:53. > :30:59.across. He has a big smile on his face. He has achieved his aims, but

:30:59. > :31:06.the whole race today has been disrupted. There had been all sorts

:31:06. > :31:15.of preparations and pre-race planning and visualisation. Surely

:31:15. > :31:23.this could not have been part of anyone's visualisation. No. But how

:31:23. > :31:28.to take off again from a stop, that will have been thought about. But

:31:28. > :31:33.it is how quickly they can recover. See how what cities. The boats are

:31:33. > :31:37.bouncing around. The launches are churning it out -- about as they go

:31:37. > :31:42.back to the start. This is very difficult for the crews. Their

:31:42. > :31:45.adrenalin will be right up now. This is going to be an

:31:45. > :31:51.extraordinary last seven minutes. They are starting eight minutes

:31:51. > :31:58.from the finish. They have stopped just past halfway. But the umpire

:31:58. > :32:05.is taking them back to start at the halfway point. You can see how the

:32:05. > :32:10.boats are still making their way back towards the Hammersmith Bridge.

:32:10. > :32:19.I wonder if we can talk to Matthew Pinsent, who is on the umpire's the

:32:19. > :32:23.launch. Matthew, how is this going to work? John Garratt obviously

:32:23. > :32:28.stopped at the race for the swimmer in the water. The rules allow him

:32:29. > :32:34.to stop the race and restart it from any position he sees fit. At

:32:34. > :32:37.the moment, we are taking Cambridge and Oxford back up the river,

:32:37. > :32:41.because the tide is constantly taking us towards the finish line.

:32:41. > :32:46.We will align them again so that they are level, and rowed the last

:32:46. > :32:52.bit of the course. It is not ideal. But given those circumstances, what

:32:52. > :32:56.could we do? It is a safety issue. If you have someone in the water,

:32:56. > :32:59.it could be a very serious injury if someone was hit by a rowing boat.

:33:00. > :33:04.Fortunately, we spotted him and stopped the race. How easy will it

:33:04. > :33:09.be to get these crews level and how easy is it to get some sort of

:33:09. > :33:15.level surface, too? It will be so churned up because of the boats.

:33:15. > :33:21.Absolutely. We are bobbing about now. It is not ideal. But we could

:33:21. > :33:25.not possibly have carried on. The rules do not allow the umpire to

:33:25. > :33:30.designate a winner if you stop at that point. They have to cross the

:33:30. > :33:34.finishing line. So now we are left with this position that we will

:33:34. > :33:38.have a four or five-minute race now from here to the finish line.

:33:38. > :33:45.wonder how long it will take for you to get in position and for the

:33:45. > :33:50.crews themselves to be ready? Cambridge are ahead of us. Oxford

:33:50. > :33:53.are level with us. So we probably have another three or four minutes

:33:53. > :33:57.before the crews are back towards the position where John Garrett

:33:57. > :34:02.wants to turn them on to the tide. This has never happened before in

:34:02. > :34:05.the Boat Race. We have never had a swimmer before. As anything ever

:34:05. > :34:09.happened like this team in all your experience, Olympics, training,

:34:09. > :34:14.whatever? We have had plenty of swimmers, but always after the

:34:14. > :34:22.finish line, swimming out to say well done or commiserations. This

:34:22. > :34:27.is a new one. Dan, I was out watching Cambridge in their last

:34:28. > :34:32.race on the Tideway against Molesey. And in their second race, they

:34:32. > :34:36.almost had a collision with a cruiser which was coming down the

:34:36. > :34:39.river and only noticed the two crews racing flat out at the last

:34:39. > :34:44.minute and veered straight across to avoid them, but completely

:34:44. > :34:50.disrupted the race. Cambridge, at one stage, in their boat, which is

:34:50. > :34:54.a slightly more delicate boat than the one used by Oxford, there were

:34:54. > :34:59.concerns that it would snap, because there was an enormous wash,

:34:59. > :35:05.and it was going up and down alarmingly and the race was ruined.

:35:05. > :35:11.Well, the race has been ruined here. The key thing to think about now is

:35:11. > :35:15.how this disruption is affecting the two crews. You have three very

:35:15. > :35:20.small people in this Oxford boat. The amount of work they will have

:35:20. > :35:27.done to be in the race around the outside of the corner, they will be

:35:27. > :35:34.feeling that. They have less resilience than bigger people. The

:35:34. > :35:38.advantage of the extra weight that Cambridge have, that will help them

:35:38. > :35:48.to dispel the tiredness in the Lakes. They will be able to move

:35:48. > :35:50.off more quickly on a running start. They will not be held back. Their

:35:51. > :35:57.first few shroud will be much stronger and sharper. But Oxford

:35:57. > :36:02.have the advantage of the last corner, and that will help. But now

:36:02. > :36:06.they are trying to get their legs moving and get themselves back.

:36:06. > :36:11.Having built themselves up to go towards the finish, they now have

:36:11. > :36:18.to come back up again. They are not doing much work, they are just

:36:18. > :36:23.paddling back. They need to keep moving. But they have done races in

:36:23. > :36:30.other fixtures where they have had to race two seven minute pieces or

:36:30. > :36:34.two nine-minute pieces, so they have done this in training. But in

:36:34. > :36:38.the actual main race, they will have expended everything to get to

:36:38. > :36:43.that point. Wayne Pommen, have you ever experienced anything like this,

:36:43. > :36:46.and if so how did you manage to reset your mind to race again?

:36:46. > :36:51.have not seen anything like this. The last time this happened in a

:36:51. > :36:56.Boat Race was 2001, when there was a collision and a restart. The

:36:56. > :37:00.biggest question will be whether the umpire will start the crews

:37:00. > :37:05.level, or whether he will estimate who was leading at the time of the

:37:05. > :37:08.incident. In 2001, Oxford were leading when it was stopped. But

:37:08. > :37:14.they were have restarted roughly level, and the umpire was severely

:37:14. > :37:17.criticised. So the question is, what will happen this time? Having

:37:17. > :37:21.talked to John Garratt earlier in the week, I understood that in the

:37:21. > :37:28.event of any driftwood getting in the way, as we discussed earlier,

:37:28. > :37:34.when Oxford lost their fear and and there but had to come back, if they

:37:34. > :37:36.were to have repaired it, he would have restarted the race in the

:37:36. > :37:40.order and the ranking that the boats were at the time of the

:37:40. > :37:45.incident. So which of the crew was in the lead, he would set it up as

:37:45. > :37:50.near as possible to that advantage to the crew who were leading. So by

:37:50. > :37:58.my reckoning, it was very close. There was about a quarter of a

:37:58. > :38:02.length in it. Imagine how much work they have to do now to come back up.

:38:02. > :38:11.Also, you talked about the lactic acid and how they get themselves

:38:11. > :38:21.ready again. And what about the start? It was crucial when we saw

:38:21. > :38:25.it originally, with Oxford starting so powerfully. Looking at the

:38:25. > :38:32.course here, the stoppage of the race happened just on this corner

:38:32. > :38:38.here. They had seven minutes to go from the point where they had to

:38:38. > :38:43.stop. There are now working back down the river towards this end of

:38:43. > :38:47.the island. They will line up at the bottom end, which is pretty

:38:47. > :38:57.well exactly halfway over the Boat Race course. They will have raced

:38:57. > :38:57.

:38:57. > :39:01.eight minutes, and they now have nine-and-a-half minutes to go.

:39:01. > :39:05.There is a short corner in favour of Cambridge on the Surrey side.

:39:06. > :39:12.And as they come round to the crossing, the advantage then starts

:39:12. > :39:17.for the Middlesex side, which is Oxford. It takes us under Barnes

:39:17. > :39:23.Bridge. Both crews go through the centre arch and then round towards

:39:23. > :39:27.the finish, just before Chiswick Bridge. The crews still have some

:39:27. > :39:37.work to do. It was optimistic of Matthew Pinsent to say there were

:39:37. > :39:43.

:39:43. > :39:50.five minutes to go. Extraordinary. Canada geese serenely in front of

:39:50. > :39:56.us, near Putney! And mayhem further downstream. I suppose it is also

:39:56. > :40:00.fair to say that the spectators will be waiting at Mortlake,

:40:00. > :40:05.thinking, what has happened? Has there been a sinking? Have they

:40:05. > :40:11.suddenly disappeared?! I am sure the word will have got out on

:40:11. > :40:18.portable radios and mobile phones. They are probably aware of what

:40:18. > :40:23.happened. And those watching it in cider on TV and in the pubs will

:40:23. > :40:33.see what is going on. You can see people checking their mobile phones.

:40:33. > :40:35.

:40:35. > :40:41.The power of Twitter. I am sure they will be filing furiously. But

:40:41. > :40:51.there is still some time before this race will resume. Still

:40:51. > :40:56.

:40:56. > :41:01.waiting to confirm exactly how far... I wonder who was in front.

:41:01. > :41:07.John Garrett has been the centre of controversy before, when he was

:41:07. > :41:17.umpire in the Isis race in 1990, when he disqualified Isis when the

:41:17. > :41:18.

:41:18. > :41:28.two crews came too close together. That was quite a controversy.

:41:28. > :41:29.

:41:29. > :41:34.are going to restart at the bottom of the eight. So this is the replay

:41:34. > :41:41.of where they were. You can just see the man in the water. Who was

:41:41. > :41:45.ahead? It looks to be Oxford, a quarter of a length ahead. If they

:41:45. > :41:51.start a quarter of a length ahead, that will eliminate the advantage

:41:51. > :41:55.that Cambridge will have on the first corner. It seems that that

:41:55. > :41:59.launch has an extra passenger, heading down towards Putney Bridge,

:41:59. > :42:03.namely the man who was in the water. You hope there is no one planning

:42:03. > :42:07.to do something similar, because this was brewing up to be a really

:42:07. > :42:13.close, tight-knit contest, much against all predictions. So many

:42:13. > :42:17.were saying Oxford looked so good in the water, Cambridge unable to

:42:17. > :42:21.nip their power properly as a flowing unit, which is so important

:42:21. > :42:27.on this stretch of water. It is not like 2000 metres in a straight line,

:42:27. > :42:34.as at the World Championships and on the Olympic rowing course in 16

:42:34. > :42:38.weeks' time. This is a river all of its own, with its own special,

:42:38. > :42:43.capricious conditions, which have caught out many a crew in the past

:42:43. > :42:48.and will do so in the future. But the problem now is entirely man-

:42:48. > :42:58.made and has thankfully been removed. You can see how bouncy

:42:58. > :43:06.

:43:06. > :43:16.that water is. Very uncomfortable for them. They are just sitting,

:43:16. > :43:22.waiting for the... The umpire will be wanting to try and let the water

:43:22. > :43:32.settle down. In all your experience, have you ever had anything like

:43:32. > :43:37.this? Either as an oarsman or a coach? My Bowman collapsed in 1980,

:43:37. > :43:43.when I was with Oxford. Six years ago, the Cambridge four man

:43:43. > :43:50.collapsed. But no disruption like this? No. Not actually in the race.

:43:50. > :43:55.A clash and a stoppage by the umpire and then maybe start. So we

:43:55. > :44:03.have had a restart. Matthew Pinsent, I gather you can hear us again.

:44:03. > :44:08.What is your schedule now? We are just talking to Oxford now. John

:44:08. > :44:12.Garrett is telling them the exact start line for the restart, which

:44:12. > :44:16.will be down Chiswick Eyot. You obviously want to get going again

:44:16. > :44:21.as quickly as you can, but the balance is the water. The flotilla

:44:21. > :44:25.that follows the race churns up the river to a great extent, so they

:44:25. > :44:35.will have to race in some bumpy conditions which are completely

:44:35. > :44:35.

:44:35. > :44:43.unlike what they just had. We are going to restart the race. Please

:44:43. > :44:52.get off the course. That is the lifeboat, being asked to leave the

:44:52. > :44:56.premises because of the Wash. This is the problem. You can see, he is

:44:56. > :45:01.churning it up again. That means the water bounces between the banks

:45:01. > :45:05.and creates a rolling, difficult piece of water to roll on. It was

:45:05. > :45:11.some feat for Cambridge last month in that race against Molesey to

:45:11. > :45:16.gather themselves. At one stage, the cox it said, just stop running,

:45:16. > :45:26.because they were pitching and it was a very close thing. Let's see

:45:26. > :45:34.

:45:34. > :45:39.last year. Yes, and you can give us a flavour of this and what it must

:45:39. > :45:43.be like for the coxes. It is something completely unexpected. It

:45:43. > :45:47.is something which gets bandied about in a joking way, what if

:45:47. > :45:50.somebody jumped into the river? You talk about debris and things like

:45:50. > :45:54.that, but actually somebody being in the river, that has never

:45:54. > :46:00.happened before. Already, the coxes have shown great maturity in

:46:00. > :46:04.stopping, getting their crews back together, spinning, and getting

:46:04. > :46:08.ready for the restart. It now becomes a completely different race.

:46:08. > :46:13.Yes, it was developing into one of the most exciting races we have

:46:13. > :46:16.seen for a while. They were both still right there. But they will be

:46:16. > :46:22.getting back into the zone, they will be refocusing themselves, and

:46:22. > :46:32.I'm sure we will see a great end to this race. Let's hope so, we would

:46:32. > :46:36.

:46:36. > :46:40.have been well into the to get into some kind of station.

:46:40. > :46:50.And you may have heard how John Garrett was still unhappy with

:46:50. > :47:10.

:47:10. > :47:15.boat's there are all part of the Boat Race flotilla. Now, waiting

:47:15. > :47:21.for John Garrett to be happy, for the crews to be ready, and on their

:47:21. > :47:25.respective stations. Currently, both crews are on the Surrey bank,

:47:25. > :47:32.and we know that Oxford have got to be on the other side, to satisfy

:47:32. > :47:35.this man here. We're still not really yet quite sure whether they

:47:35. > :47:40.going to start level, or whether they're going to start with Oxford

:47:41. > :47:47.slightly ahead, as they were when they came round the corner. When

:47:47. > :47:54.they got to the point of the swimmer, at the top of Chiswick

:47:54. > :48:02.Eyot, it was pretty close. Let's go to Sonali. You have a man with you

:48:02. > :48:07.who knows all about rowing. Yes, with me now, Andrew Triggs-Hodge.

:48:07. > :48:13.We have been watching events unfold from Putney. What will be going

:48:13. > :48:19.through the mind of the rowers? This is a complete game-changer.

:48:19. > :48:23.These guys have been preparing for a race which will last 18 minutes,

:48:23. > :48:29.and the physiological demand is very precise. They have now had to

:48:29. > :48:33.stop the race because of a stupid swimmer, and not only do they then

:48:33. > :48:38.have to come down from that race, put it to bed, get their heads

:48:38. > :48:42.screwed back on, but now, they have got to start the process of getting

:48:42. > :48:47.their bodies could back up to start racing again. The demands of

:48:47. > :48:52.physical as well as mental. As soon as they finished that first piece,

:48:52. > :48:58.their body would have been going, OK, fine, I can start to slow down,

:48:58. > :49:03.start to recover. However, they have now got to be kick-started

:49:03. > :49:07.again, to get it going again, for the last seven minutes. That is a

:49:07. > :49:12.short race in these terms, and it is going to be a whole new demand

:49:12. > :49:17.for them. It changes everything they have been preparing for.

:49:17. > :49:22.their plans completely thrown out of the window. Exactly, they

:49:22. > :49:25.prepare for one start. Now they have got to restart. They were side

:49:25. > :49:28.by side for the majority of the race, it has been a fantastic race.

:49:28. > :49:32.Oxford would have been confident, going into the next phase of the

:49:32. > :49:37.race, on the inside of the bend, mentally, they would have been in a

:49:37. > :49:42.very strong position. Cambridge had been trying really hard around the

:49:42. > :49:46.inside of their bend, that was the part where they had to win the race.

:49:46. > :49:50.And now, we have a situation where everybody is back to the start, but

:49:50. > :49:57.they have moved it back, so they have given Cambridge their bent

:49:57. > :50:03.back, which I find a bit crazy. If you have a streaker coming on in

:50:03. > :50:08.tennis, you do not then go back a few sets. So, they have given

:50:08. > :50:12.Cambridge another chance at their inside bend. It merely changes

:50:12. > :50:17.everything. It is hard to know what is going to happen. The athletes

:50:18. > :50:21.have to get their head switched back on. They have to find a new

:50:21. > :50:24.side of their training, because they will not have practised this,

:50:24. > :50:28.they have just got to believe that they can push on hard and get back

:50:28. > :50:35.into the race. Who do you think will have the psychological

:50:35. > :50:39.advantage, with the race having been moved back? Well, it would

:50:39. > :50:45.have been Oxford, but now, Cambridge can think that they have

:50:45. > :50:49.got a second chance, which can do some good things to a crew, they

:50:49. > :50:54.can get their heads up again and they can really kick on. They know

:50:54. > :50:58.how Oxford started at the beginning of the race, I think they can make

:50:58. > :51:02.amends and really do some damage. But Oxford really had a good,

:51:02. > :51:07.strong rhythm, they need to get straight back into that, commit to

:51:07. > :51:17.what they were doing, what looked like a good, strong position, and

:51:17. > :51:30.

:51:30. > :51:37.then, it is anyone's race. It is bad. They lined up to go and then

:51:37. > :51:41.Cambridge decided to turn around and paddle back down again. It

:51:41. > :51:45.could be that the Cambridge cox decided that the water was too

:51:45. > :51:48.bouncy, too unpleasant, and he wanted a bit more time, and he took

:51:48. > :51:53.that decision on his own, because there was no instruction coming

:51:53. > :51:56.from the umpire. Otherwise both crews would have turned at the same

:51:56. > :52:02.time. I think Cambridge made that decision to turn ahead of anybody

:52:02. > :52:07.else. That will be another four minutes, I would say, before we are

:52:07. > :52:11.ready, Cambridge going back up. And I have to say, it is not warm.

:52:11. > :52:21.There is also the concern about the tide. The tide is coming in, it is

:52:21. > :52:23.

:52:23. > :52:28.beginning to slow down now. Those launches have got to be careful,

:52:28. > :52:33.they are just sitting there now. Usually they have a clear approach

:52:33. > :52:37.to the start. But now they have got those floating launches. They have

:52:37. > :52:41.got to come back through those floating launches, to get back to

:52:42. > :52:50.the point where the umpire wants to start the race, at the bottom of

:52:50. > :52:57.Chiswick Eyot. This is the finish, where they are waiting, some people

:52:57. > :53:02.may be keeping in touch with friends who are at the start. Some

:53:02. > :53:10.people have gone, it is all too much, or maybe they are looking for

:53:10. > :53:14.another bottle. But for the crews, what did you make of what Andrew

:53:14. > :53:17.Triggs-Hodge was saying, in terms of, the advantage was with Oxford,

:53:17. > :53:22.but now, Cambridge have got another chance? Yes, they have got that

:53:22. > :53:27.little bit of a corner, at the top of Chiswick Eyot, so they can take

:53:27. > :53:33.some heart from that. But on the other hand, they know that the Big

:53:33. > :53:37.bend is going to be against them, further down the course. Watching

:53:37. > :53:45.the crews, Cambridge did get into a good rhythm. They were rather

:53:45. > :53:49.ragged, the tandem that they have on that bow side, they were showing

:53:49. > :53:53.a bit of ragged blade work, but overall, they had quite a good,

:53:53. > :54:01.solid rhythm, which is what helped them to recover when Oxford had

:54:01. > :54:05.that fast start. Oxford had leapt out to about half a length from the

:54:05. > :54:11.start, but Cambridge held them, came round the first corner, and

:54:11. > :54:15.then got back into the game, all the weigh, in the head wind, which

:54:15. > :54:21.is to their advantage, because they have got a big crew, which is a

:54:21. > :54:25.very big advantage, going into a headwind. Oxford, round the outside,

:54:25. > :54:29.good steering from Zoe de Toledo, and Oxford held all the way around

:54:29. > :54:34.the corner, and they were in a good position to steam on, they were

:54:34. > :54:44.really in that winning position. As Andrew Triggs-Hodge has said, this

:54:44. > :54:46.

:54:46. > :54:51.is a game-changer. I'm sure if Mike Thorp and Dave Nelson have anything

:54:51. > :55:01.to do with the words being said in the Light Blues boat, they will

:55:01. > :55:05.

:55:05. > :55:15.just say, 2011. This has been their goal, and they have been focused on

:55:15. > :55:15.

:55:15. > :55:18.nothing else. I think you're going to see that Oxford's fast start,

:55:18. > :55:23.from a standing start, at the beginning, will not be repeated

:55:23. > :55:27.quite so easily, because the boats are floating now. They are moving,

:55:27. > :55:36.it is a moving start, and the first stroke will not be so effective for

:55:36. > :55:44.Oxford. So, I think it will be closer at the start, but they are

:55:44. > :55:49.pretty close. But the water is bouncy, and my hunch is that the

:55:49. > :55:53.boat which Cambridge have chosen to use, this boat, I think it is quite

:55:53. > :56:01.vulnerable in difficult water. That's why Cambridge turned around,

:56:01. > :56:11.because they would prefer to have flatter water. Can you make sure

:56:11. > :56:15.you leave enough room between the blades, please, before the start?

:56:15. > :56:25.The coach, Steve Trapmore, was a winner with the Men's Eight in

:56:25. > :56:43.

:56:43. > :56:47.movement on the water. Ready - Oxford, Cambridge... The crews

:56:47. > :56:53.themselves do not want to be starting at a disadvantage.

:56:53. > :57:03.your hand down when you're straight. Cambridge are happier at the moment,

:57:03. > :57:13.on the Surrey bank. So, we had a restart in 2001. I'm going to start

:57:13. > :57:15.

:57:15. > :57:21.you... Easy, both crews. Easy! Go! Away we go, the Boat Race has been

:57:21. > :57:27.restarted! Once again, Oxford have already taken about a quarter of a

:57:27. > :57:32.length. They moved out very fast. They're very determined here. You

:57:32. > :57:35.have got about three-quarters of a minute until they get to this small

:57:35. > :57:42.bend in Cambridge's favour. Cambridge know that they have got

:57:42. > :57:48.to make an impression. Oxford did really well there. Their blade work

:57:48. > :57:51.is very good, they're very good in rough water, Oxford. But they now

:57:51. > :57:56.see this as a sprint, because they know that in a few minutes, they

:57:56. > :58:01.will have the advantage of this big corner in their favour. They have

:58:01. > :58:07.taken out almost half a length, and they will have the corner...

:58:07. > :58:16.there has been a big clash! And there is a broken oar. This is

:58:16. > :58:23.terrible. She is waving, Zoe de Toledo, they have lost an oar.

:58:23. > :58:28.Absolute chaos. This is a big decision. The umpire had this

:58:28. > :58:33.before in the Isis-Goldie race, and disqualified one crew. The umpire

:58:33. > :58:38.is allowing this! The umpire will have to make a decision, he must be

:58:38. > :58:44.assuming that it was Oxford's feud, and he is allowing Cambridge to win

:58:44. > :58:54.his boat race. Cambridge are going to win this Boat Race. There cannot

:58:54. > :59:00.row with only seven oars. What did you see, Wayne Pommen? What I saw

:59:00. > :59:04.was that the umpire was warning Oxford. John Garrett was warning

:59:04. > :59:08.Oxford, he did not like where they were on the river, and he is

:59:08. > :59:13.judging that that clash was Oxford's fault. He is letting

:59:13. > :59:21.Cambridge go on, he is saying, Oxford, it was your fault that this

:59:21. > :59:28.happened. Cambridge are going to win. One of the powerhouses for

:59:28. > :59:30.Oxford, Hanno Wienhausen, with no blade at the end of his oar, he is

:59:31. > :59:38.literally a passenger, going through the motions, because they

:59:38. > :59:42.need to maintain that the them. But this as a contest is now over. --

:59:42. > :59:48.that rhythm. Oxford are bravely trying to carry on, but there is

:59:48. > :59:54.nothing they can do. Cambridge will now win by probably eight or 10

:59:54. > :59:59.lengths. There is nothing they can do. And for Cambridge, they are now

:59:59. > :00:04.so far clear, they can move across from the Surrey station to the

:00:05. > :00:10.Middlesex station, to the north bank, they can take that line, and

:00:10. > :00:16.they are going to be leading past Dukes Meadow. This was where the

:00:16. > :00:25.clash happened. The umpire was warning. The blade broke and that

:00:25. > :00:28.was game over. Cambridge, the odds were against them, coming up to the

:00:28. > :00:33.point where that swimmer took over, that swimmer has had a huge effect

:00:33. > :00:37.on this race, because Oxford were moving into a leading position. But

:00:37. > :00:47.now, it is race over. Oxford bravely trying to do something, but

:00:47. > :00:48.

:00:48. > :00:53.there is nothing they can do. umpire was warning Oxford. That is

:00:53. > :00:56.how the umpire will see it. This was a boat race full of incident.

:00:56. > :01:01.Oxford will be hugely disappointed that they have not been able to

:01:02. > :01:07.race to their full extent, to carry out their plan. And Cambridge,

:01:07. > :01:12.really, fortunate that all of this has happened, and they can row as

:01:12. > :01:22.they like, all the way home. They are just doing exactly what they

:01:22. > :01:29.

:01:29. > :01:33.aware of what has happened. They will now know that the 158 number

:01:34. > :01:43.arete -- the 158th race is theirs for the taking. This is now an

:01:43. > :01:49.exhibition. There is nothing Oxford can do with seven blades. There was

:01:49. > :01:53.a disruption by a swimmer, and then the commission. The only thing

:01:53. > :02:00.Oxford should be, if I was in that boat, I would be staying -- saying

:02:00. > :02:05.stop rowing. There is nothing you can do. The result would be race

:02:05. > :02:10.not finished, and that would show that something had happened. Race

:02:10. > :02:14.not completed would mean there was clearly an incident. But at the

:02:14. > :02:19.moment, Oxford are trying to finish the race, and they will finish many

:02:19. > :02:23.lengths behind. So we have had an intruder disrupting the race just

:02:23. > :02:29.as it was boiling up to be one of the closest contests, certainly

:02:29. > :02:34.much more than last year's. In 2003, there was just a foot between the

:02:34. > :02:39.two crews, and that is what it may have shaped up to be. On that day,

:02:40. > :02:43.Oxford, who won, where a stone lighter than Cambridge. It was the

:02:43. > :02:49.same today. The ingredients were in place for a classic contest until

:02:49. > :02:54.the finish. Then we had the restart, then the Clash, and now the contest

:02:54. > :02:59.is academic. Nonetheless, it has been the same for both crews. They

:02:59. > :03:05.have all gone through those six months of early mornings, long

:03:05. > :03:10.hours in the gym, long hours on the water in all weather, sometimes the

:03:10. > :03:15.Mercury down as low as minus 40 not one particular weekend. Now a

:03:15. > :03:20.Cambridge are pushing on. This is very sad to see from Oxford's point

:03:20. > :03:25.of view. Sad to see them battling on with only seven men. It is very

:03:25. > :03:30.different to football. If you are down to ten men, you can still win.

:03:30. > :03:33.But here, you have no chance unless it happened within half a minute of

:03:33. > :03:38.the race and they were leading, then there might have been a chance

:03:38. > :03:43.of getting across the line. But here, no chance. The umpire will

:03:43. > :03:48.say he warned them not once, but twice. They continued to steer

:03:48. > :03:54.their course, Zoe De Toledo, and that is the price for what he made

:03:54. > :03:57.term aggressive steering, attacking Cambridge to closely, too fiercely.

:03:57. > :04:03.That is why, as Cambridge University approach the finishing

:04:03. > :04:07.line at the end of this 158th Boat Race, it is victory for Cambridge

:04:07. > :04:12.and victory for their coach in his second year in charge. Controversy

:04:12. > :04:20.will dog this raised about the intruder, about the restart, about

:04:20. > :04:25.the Commission and the broker oar. But the Cambridge, it is all about

:04:25. > :04:30.celebration. Droxford, the winners last year so decisively, -- for

:04:30. > :04:35.Oxford, it is all about what might have been. The against all the odds,

:04:35. > :04:39.Cambridge come home winners, but what incident. What an

:04:39. > :04:49.extraordinary series of events which left Oxford unable to finish

:04:49. > :04:50.

:04:50. > :04:54.their race. It will be good to look back and see how that steering was

:04:54. > :05:00.and where those warnings came. It happened within half a minute of

:05:00. > :05:05.the retake. Oxford were well up and moving up to three-quarters of a

:05:05. > :05:11.length lead. Five times, the race has been held on April 7th before

:05:11. > :05:15.today, and each time Cambridge have won. This is a 6 victory for

:05:15. > :05:24.Cambridge. True, controversial circumstances, but the record books

:05:24. > :05:34.will say this has been Cambridge's day. There was so much washed that

:05:34. > :05:42.

:05:42. > :05:48.I could not move as fast as I said. She said, there was no way we

:05:48. > :05:52.could have a race like this. I was steering as I saw fit. I can't hear

:05:52. > :06:02.what John Garrett is saying. were been -- we were within the

:06:02. > :06:21.

:06:21. > :06:29.Garratt, the white flag. Oxford have complained, but the umpire

:06:29. > :06:35.ruled that it is a clear decision. His decision. Bury controversial,

:06:35. > :06:42.but he has given the race to Cambridge. Oxford were coming over,

:06:42. > :06:48.they were warned, and the clash resulted in their sixth man, person,

:06:48. > :06:54.breaking his blade, allowing Cambridge to take the race -- Hanno

:06:54. > :07:00.Wienhausen broke his blade. Two big moments in this race. The result

:07:00. > :07:04.stands. You have won the Boat Race. This was the first key moment, a

:07:04. > :07:10.man in the water. That's when I was almost in real danger there. Could

:07:10. > :07:20.have lost his life -- that swimmer was in real trouble. Then this was

:07:20. > :07:20.

:07:20. > :07:24.the second incident. He then there was the oar of Hanno Wienhausen.

:07:24. > :07:29.The blade comes off, and that was the contest over. Zoe De Toledo,

:07:29. > :07:37.the cox, argued that she was within her rights, within the first 100

:07:37. > :07:44.metres of the start. But the umpire was having none of it. Keep going,

:07:44. > :07:50.boys. From the winners' point of view, it doesn't matter. Whatever

:07:51. > :07:56.happens, they rowed like tigers in the race. For them, whatever

:07:56. > :08:00.happened, they were worthy winners in their book. The man standing in

:08:00. > :08:06.that launch in the grey top with the white hat is the gold medallist

:08:06. > :08:16.at Sydney and now winner of his first Boat Race as chief coach of

:08:16. > :08:20.

:08:20. > :08:24.Cambridge University Boat Club. Alex Woods is still collapsed in

:08:24. > :08:31.the back of the boat. They are very worried about him. They are trying

:08:31. > :08:38.to call to get the safety launched over to get him to a doctor. He

:08:38. > :08:45.needs oxygen. They are finally getting him out of the boat.

:08:45. > :08:48.was William Zeng to his rescue. They were trying to help him. But I

:08:48. > :08:56.think they're only just noticed, because he has been lying flat for

:08:56. > :09:02.quite some time. He was at the back. This was a man who was training to

:09:02. > :09:06.be a doctor as well. He is a doctor. But he has been lying collapsed in

:09:06. > :09:14.the back of the boat there for some four or five minutes since they

:09:14. > :09:20.finished the race. That is serious. They have to get oxygen to him and

:09:20. > :09:24.get him to hospital. This has been a race of such incidents. You can

:09:24. > :09:34.see the launch is churning around. Cambridge will be unaware of all of

:09:34. > :09:42.this. They are victors, and they are coming into the bank. They will

:09:42. > :09:48.get ready for the presentation. Oxford were in a position twice

:09:48. > :09:52.where those incidents happened where they were winning. They came

:09:52. > :09:55.up to the island in a position to win. They were moving away when the

:09:55. > :09:59.swimmer hit the water. The advantage was all for them. The

:09:59. > :10:03.race was stopped when it was their advantage. They went back to the

:10:03. > :10:12.start, took off and had half a length before they came together

:10:12. > :10:17.and clashed. And again, broken oars, and the race went against them.

:10:17. > :10:27.From my point of view, Oxford were the faster crew over the whole

:10:27. > :10:27.

:10:27. > :10:37.course. But we shall never know. There start was not good enough,

:10:37. > :10:38.

:10:38. > :10:41.but they had the power. By the time they crossed the line, we had seen

:10:41. > :10:48.the end of but Oxford challenge because of that broken blade. The

:10:48. > :10:57.first man across the line, Dave Nelson, stroke in 2011, bow in 2012

:10:57. > :11:02.and President as well. And the president at the University. Moritz

:11:02. > :11:12.Schramm, back in the boat, having been 2010 winner. He took a year

:11:12. > :11:12.

:11:12. > :11:19.out last year to concentrate on his studies. Jack Lindeman, Alex Ross.

:11:19. > :11:26.Kiwi, as he is known. And here is the man at the centre of the storm.

:11:26. > :11:33.John Garrett. Umpire, a former Cambridge University Boat Club

:11:33. > :11:36.president, losing oarsmen from 1983, 1984 and 1985. Went on to represent

:11:36. > :11:46.Britain in the Commonwealth Games, Olympics and the world

:11:46. > :11:49.

:11:49. > :11:52.championships. What an extraordinary day. Goldie were

:11:52. > :11:59.beaten by Isis in the reserve crew half an hour earlier. Their race

:11:59. > :12:08.went by without incident, we understand. Cambridge are about to

:12:08. > :12:12.take their boat out of the water. Well, not too many visible signs of

:12:12. > :12:17.celebration from Cambridge, because they are shocked at what happened

:12:17. > :12:24.in that race. This is Dave Nelson, the Cambridge president.

:12:24. > :12:31.Congratulations. You have won. Thanks. It is a huge relief. But it

:12:31. > :12:37.is shocking to see Alex Woods in such a state. He is getting

:12:38. > :12:41.treatment as wispy. What an extraordinary race, with the man in

:12:41. > :12:49.the water and the broken blade for Oxford.

:12:49. > :12:53.Yeah. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing up until the island. And

:12:53. > :12:59.then suddenly, there was this yelling about an obstruction going

:12:59. > :13:05.on. Next thing you know, I see a guy's head in the middle of the two

:13:05. > :13:14.boats. And there must be 10 or 20 boats following us. So that guy was

:13:14. > :13:21.in serious strife. And then with all the hoo-ha around the restart

:13:21. > :13:29.and then the clash, pretty dramatic race. At what point, if at all,

:13:29. > :13:37.could you start to enjoy it and celebrate? By the Barnes Bridge,

:13:37. > :13:41.the gap was pretty clear. So it suddenly felt like we could relax

:13:41. > :13:46.into are with them a touch. But we are so exhausted. We were just

:13:46. > :13:52.trying to hang on. We will keep you updated on Alex and the rest of the

:13:52. > :13:57.Oxford crew. The Oxford president, Karl Hudspith, is virtually

:13:57. > :14:02.speechless, but congratulating Dave Nelson. John Garratt, the umpire,

:14:02. > :14:08.can I have a word? What on earth was going on out there? Totally

:14:08. > :14:13.unexpected. I am grateful to Matthew for having spotted the swim

:14:13. > :14:17.there. He said, there is something in the water. We thought it was

:14:17. > :14:21.some debris, and then we realised it was a swim there. We were not

:14:21. > :14:24.sure what would happen, whether he would get out of the way in time.

:14:24. > :14:30.Then it was clear that he was waiting for the post to come across

:14:30. > :14:34.him, so I had to stop the race and we start. In terms of the restart

:14:34. > :14:38.and the clash of oars and the damage to the Oxford blade, which

:14:38. > :14:43.was completely snapped off, how clear were you that the race would

:14:43. > :14:49.continue and that you would not call it void altogether? The rules

:14:49. > :14:54.state clearly that crews have to abide by their accidents. If

:14:54. > :14:59.something happens in the latter stages of the race and there is a

:14:59. > :15:05.breakage, they have to abide by their accident unless one of the

:15:05. > :15:07.crew's is of station and has caused that accident. In my judgment,

:15:07. > :15:13.Cambridge were not of their station. In the immediate run-up to the

:15:13. > :15:18.Clash, I was warning Oxford. In my view, Oxford were off their station.

:15:18. > :15:24.The collision took place and Oxford came off worse. But Cambridge were

:15:24. > :15:29.in the white position. So I allowed the race to continue. Zoe De Toledo

:15:29. > :15:34.has just walked past, inconsolable. A desperate moment for her, because

:15:34. > :15:38.there was nothing she could do. But she had to abide by your ruling,

:15:38. > :15:43.which is that the result will stand and Cambridge have won. I suspect

:15:43. > :15:46.that was not what you anticipated. You have played a major part.

:15:46. > :15:56.will be the suffragettes all over again. The rowers will now make

:15:56. > :15:58.

:15:58. > :16:04.You have not cut your hair since this day last year, when you lost

:16:04. > :16:10.the Boat Race. Yes, pretty happy right now. Extraordinary race,

:16:10. > :16:18.great result for you. Yes, we have been going through it all week,

:16:18. > :16:23.saying what we would do in various situations, but I am still not sure

:16:23. > :16:29.exactly what happened. We really fired ourselves up to go again

:16:29. > :16:34.after the restart. And then something else happened, I still do

:16:34. > :16:38.not know what happened, we will have to see the replay. All we

:16:38. > :16:43.could do in that situation was to do what we have been trying to do,

:16:43. > :16:49.which was not to look around, and just keep going. I'm proud of the

:16:49. > :16:54.guys, that we did that. With us now, the youngest person on either crew,

:16:54. > :16:59.Ed Bosson, who kept his cool in incredibly difficult circumstances.

:16:59. > :17:04.I will let you guys make your way up to the presentation podium.

:17:04. > :17:11.Enjoy it. Oxford will have to go through the presentation as well.

:17:11. > :17:16.But what a race, Jonathan! Just a bit. A very muted atmosphere,

:17:16. > :17:25.understandably, I am sure there would have been celebration from

:17:25. > :17:33.Dave Nelson, but having seen the condition of Alexander Woods, and

:17:33. > :17:37.also how upset the rest of that crew is, understandably, because

:17:37. > :17:45.there is such a sense of trust, such a sense of togetherness, built

:17:45. > :17:48.up among the crew, you cannot avoid exactly why you're year, and to see

:17:48. > :17:58.one of your team players being taken away in such a state, it is

:17:58. > :18:06.deeply distressing. Yes, we have not had an update yet on the

:18:06. > :18:13.condition of Alexander Woods, the bow man from Oxford, who was

:18:13. > :18:22.carried out of the boat. For those watching on the world feet, thank

:18:22. > :18:26.you very much for watching. We are waiting now the presentation to the

:18:26. > :18:28.winning crew, and also to the winning crew, and also to the

:18:29. > :18:34.losing crew. You will understand that there will be some delay

:18:34. > :18:37.because, ideally, we would like to see all crew members there, but at

:18:37. > :18:42.the moment, that may not be possible, with Alexander Woods

:18:42. > :18:47.being attended to by medical staff. We wait to hear exactly how or he

:18:47. > :18:56.is. He is training to be a surgeon, he has been at Oxford for 10 years,

:18:57. > :19:02.thoroughly enjoying himself. He started rowing at Oxford, did he

:19:02. > :19:09.not? Yes, he started rowing at Oxford. He learned at his college,

:19:09. > :19:13.and then he graduated to the lightweight squad. He was one of

:19:13. > :19:17.the three lightweights in the Oxford boat. When you're a light

:19:17. > :19:21.weight, you have got to be so efficient and effective, you're

:19:21. > :19:24.working on the absolute edge of your possibility. So, he worked

:19:24. > :19:29.himself out, hopefully it is nothing more serious than

:19:29. > :19:36.exhaustion. He is 12 stone, the lightest man in the race, and you

:19:36. > :19:41.can contrast that with the 17 stone of someone like Steve Dudek. It is

:19:41. > :19:46.a huge difference. Absolutely. Alexander Woods has proved himself,

:19:46. > :19:56.he beat bigger people in the Oxford squad to win that place in the boat,

:19:56. > :19:57.

:19:57. > :20:03.and that was his dream. I am praying that he is recovering.

:20:03. > :20:07.presentation delayed at the moment, but Clare Balding is in place at

:20:07. > :20:12.Mortlake. She is with someone who has been right at the heart of the

:20:12. > :20:15.action. Over to you. Yes, the news is that there will be no

:20:15. > :20:20.presentation, because of Alexander Woods being treated by the medical

:20:20. > :20:29.team. You have been to see him, Matthew. As close as I could get,

:20:29. > :20:36.he was at least sitting upright, he is having medical attention. What

:20:36. > :20:41.more can I say? I did not want to interrupt anything, he is receiving

:20:41. > :20:45.medical attention. But he is conscious and sitting up, and it

:20:45. > :20:49.has been decided that in those circumstances, we should not have a

:20:49. > :20:55.big celebration of Cambridge's win, while Alexander Woods is still

:20:55. > :21:00.being treated. Oxford are obviously very concerned. Extraordinary, I

:21:00. > :21:07.cannot think of enough adjectives to cover what happened out there.

:21:07. > :21:16.Busy. It is hard to imagine a Boat Race could contain so much to talk

:21:16. > :21:20.about. We had an accident, we had a broken blade, we had everything.

:21:20. > :21:25.Cambridge are over here, just trying to assimilate what actually

:21:25. > :21:28.happened in that race, and in some way, enjoy this celebration,

:21:28. > :21:32.without going over the top. I don't think we're going to get the cox

:21:32. > :21:37.being thrown in the river, any of the usual stuff, because it has

:21:37. > :21:41.been so difficult. It has been really so strange. When they have

:21:41. > :21:46.finished talking to each other, we will try to get a few more words

:21:46. > :21:50.from them. But Matthew, in terms of the difficulties out there for the

:21:50. > :22:00.rowers, we had the there's a in the river, then we had the clash of

:22:00. > :22:01.

:22:01. > :22:09.oars. -- the swimmer. Really difficult to be stopped, and then

:22:09. > :22:13.having the restart. They had to try to get back into position. Then you

:22:13. > :22:21.had all the Wash, it was quite a cold day, lots of people getting

:22:21. > :22:27.cold. Then there was the confusion about when it was going to restart.

:22:27. > :22:32.How quickly the tide has come in, I am worried about your shoes. Here

:22:32. > :22:36.with me now, the biggest man of either crew, Steve Dudek.

:22:36. > :22:42.Congratulations - what have you said to each other? Just have a

:22:42. > :22:46.little bit of class, the best goes out to Alex, we hope he is or right.

:22:46. > :22:50.We have basically just established that it is a little bit more low-

:22:50. > :22:57.key, our thoughts are with him. are hearing much better things

:22:57. > :23:01.about him now. Steve Trapmore, you have won the race, your second year

:23:01. > :23:08.of coaching the team, but it is a bit flat. Yes, I guess it is not

:23:09. > :23:12.the ideal way that anybody wants to win. We are more worried about the

:23:12. > :23:18.state of Alexander Woods at the moment. We will reflect more on the

:23:18. > :23:23.race later on. How proud were you of your guys, and your young cox,

:23:23. > :23:27.Ed Bosson, for keeping their heads? Very, actually. We have been doing

:23:27. > :23:32.a lot of preparation for this race, looking through past races where

:23:32. > :23:41.there have been restarts and stuff. So we were totally prepared. The

:23:41. > :23:47.guys did themselves proud today. Well done. A very, very strange

:23:47. > :23:51.atmosphere. As Steve Dudek was saying, none of the Cambridge crew

:23:51. > :23:55.are wanting to jump up and down, because Alexander Woods is still

:23:55. > :23:59.being treated, and because it was such an extraordinary race. They

:23:59. > :24:07.had to restart, and then they had to go through the second half of

:24:07. > :24:10.the race, during which there was a clash of blades are, and Hanno

:24:10. > :24:16.Wienhausen's blade snapped off completely, after which Cambridge

:24:16. > :24:19.went on to win convincingly. And after the finish, Oxford's

:24:19. > :24:26.Alexander Woods collapsed. However he is now sitting up, and he is