The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, 2013: All Dark Blue, 'Field Day' on the River [Photos]


2013-03 Boat Race Selection - Images by Iain Weir

The 2013 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race was everything that the Boat Race should be—hard fought, closely contested, and fairly won. Oxford, led by two-time Olympic medalist Malcolm Howard at stroke, showed that they had the grit and determination to gut out a close race despite being heavy favorites, which is a testament to their mental toughness. While the focus is always on the winning crew, Cambridge showed equal tenacity, if not boat speed, on the Tideway today, and a real star emerged from the Light Blue crew. His name? Henry Fieldman.

The Oxford start was, as widely predicted, very good, and saw the Dark Blues have an almost immediate advantage. However, the same crafty coxing that saw his GB crew to victory at the E.ON Hanse Cup in 2010 were in evidence early and often, as Fieldman steered a brilliant line through Hammersmith, tucking into the Oxford blades just slightly and disrupting them just enough to keep his CUBC crew within roughly half a length entering the Oxford bend. While doing this, he also kept his crew calm and confident, in a solid rhythm despite overlapping blades at times, and the Light Blues held on to overlap through the Chiswick Eyot.

The Chiswick Steps marked Oxford's separation from Cambridge, and it wasn't until that point that we really saw the strong, powerful and confident rhythm from the Dark Blue crew that saw them through to  a Boat Race victory. Still, that separation could have worsened, and the final third of the race again saw Fieldman out-maneuver his Dark Blue counterpart Oskar Zorrilla (perhaps most famous for his choice language at key moments in the race—is it really a rowing race without a few f-bombs though?) to make the race close all the way home from Barnes Bridge, closing the gap slightly in the final strokes.

The better crew appeared to have won, the water was flat, there were no swimmers, and the racing was of outstanding quality—what more could you ask for?

Just the facts:
We predicted a victory for Oxford by three lengths. The official verdict of the 159th Boat Race was Oxford by 1 and 1/3 lengths in a time of 17:28 to Cambridge's 17:32. Cambridge still leads the all-time tally 81-77. Isis won the reserves race, giving Oxford a clean sweep of the Henley Boat Races as well as the BNY Mellon Boat Race this year.

Write-ups elsewhere:
BBC Sport (video clips here)
The Boat Race (official website)—there's also a blow-by-blow (live-text) account of the race here.
CBC Sports
Evening Standard
The Times of London
The Guardian (UK)
The Telegraph (UK)
ITV News

Further updates as they become available. Thanks very much to Iain Weir of Rowing Photography UK for the fantastic images!

[Update]:

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b...
Read more

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States. ...
Read more

So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

Image
Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor...
Read more

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

Image
Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s ...
Read more

Winter Workouts: Why Do Rowers Fear the Erg?

Image
Op-Ed from the RowingRelated Editorial Staff Friend. Not foe. (Illustration: B. Kitch) I am really frustrated by our sport when it comes to the erg being viewed as a torture device rather than a helpful tool that people can enjoy. This negative mindset, which is extremely contagious, plagues the sport, preventing athletes from training to their potential and possibly serving as one of the reasons that careers in rowing, at every level, are often so short. When compared to other endurance sports, I have not encountered an equal level of disdain for such fundamental mental and physical endurance training. My main problem is that everywhere I turn in the rowing community, whether it's high school rowers, college athletes, or even national team hopefuls, I hear of people dreading the erg. I've never heard about a cross country runner 'dreading' a track workout. True, basketball and football players may dread running wind sprints or other such conditioning acti...
Read more