THE GREAT BOAT RACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11650, 11 May 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE GREAT BOAT RACE.

OXFORDS VICTORY.

Oxford won the boat race on March 30 by two feet. It was the closest, the pluckiest, the hardest, and, therefore, the finest race that in the memory of the oldest Blue ever was rowed. From the technical point of view of the rowing expert neither crew was in the very first class. Perhaps more than one of the crews which have led unexciting processions in undistinguished years could have made common hacks of Saturday's winners. But that matters nothing. There is no glory in an easy win. It is the slrenuousness of the struggle that is the measure of the triumph of victory, and whether they were in the very first rank as oarsmen or not, the two crews of Saturday made the finest race of it that lias ever been seen on the river. To the Cambridge president belongs a great share of the popular gratitude for the greatness of the race. He won the to<S. It is a simple and not uncommon achievement, and he would be the last to claim any merit for it. But his winning the toss and the most favourable station made the greatness of the race. If Oxford had gained this advantage the race might "nave been after the first few minutes a tame, one-sided affair. For the result proved that Oxford were the better crew, and with the better crew having the advantage of the more sheltered position the result could never have been in doubt. HutMr. Brooke, to his lasting credit, named the spinning coin toirectly. and the advantage of the Surrey station equalised the chances so perfectly that the two crews were at the closest of glips all the way, and there was only the difference of a mere couple of feet at the finish. Cambridge got rather the better of the start, but from the Hr>t the superior form if the Oxfonl ecu- was apparent. However, form does no; assert its value in a moment, and Cambridge held its own. both sides working like demons, until at the bend in the rive;- their stations began to give them an advantage. But which side was leading or by how much it was impossible to see from the following boats. The shifting angle of view as the river turned seemed to give first one and then the other side an advantage. But what could be seen was that every man in each boat was straining every muscle of his body and every strand of resolution in his moral fibre. They went under Hen;, mersmith Bridge dead level amid tremendous excitement. Then, in the betid of the river where the south-wester meeting the tide threw up white-crested 'e'er-'. Cambridge had the inside turn and the rao-t sheltered position. The-.- began to forge ahead, the Dark Bine hanging dogcecTrr on. At Barnes Cambridge were still leading, and shot the bridge first, but here with another ber.d th« broken water smooth?:! down ar.d Oxford had the inside com ....

Xow was thii opportunity. Oradually they closed up and up.'inede good the ditTc-r----ence. and just managing to push themselves ahead kept their position, and won by two feet—two feet in a four-mile rate which each crew had rowed all the way at one mile pace. Culme-Sevmour. the Oxford stroke, won those two- feet by judgment.

rnr. > sitical POINT. Xearing the Doves the bsd water could be seen ahead. The CaEibridge cox went right in under the Surrey shore, and CulmeSeymour after nearly getting level took a long look round, first at the water ahead and then at his rivals. He then showed tinfinest piece of generalship in the race. He deliberately slowed down and gave the lead to the Cantab-. It was not worth killing his men in such a racing sea. The waves were terrible nt? Chiswick and in Corner Reach. Maitlr.nd spurted continually, and tried hi* be~\ r;.' get v'uhi away from the Oxford boat, which had dropped into the wake. Ciilme-Seymour. splendidly backed up by '!'. D. Etheringtoit-Sr.nth. nursed his crew through th? rough writer, never hurrying them or calling upon litem for any special effort. When ,i wave caught them badly lie slowed and got them together again. So Oxford hung on in the wake of their rivals, biding- their time. Had the Oxford stroke eyes in the back of his head he could not have shown more perfect judgment. rTad he attempted to fret level along the Meadows the effort would have killed the crew. The fact was the Cantabs' boat whs very full of water, and their uneven form was beginning to tell against them, "'hey held the lead, but could not yet away from the steady sv.i.iu of the Oxonians. Nearing Barnes both crew* were being terribly buffeted: the waves continually broke over their backs, and the water in the bouts splashed about up to their ankles. So the boats laboured and rolled, and there was never a second's respite from the struggle with the wind and waves

A tangent across to the Middlesex shore had to be struck. This is what Cuirae-Sey-mour had wait*-;! for. but Mail land -was also watching his rival's tactics. Suddenly both crews ouickened. It was a critical moment of trie race, for a few hundred yards further and Oxford would have the station. The Cantab* struck 16 strokes in half a minute, and quickened to 31" to the minute. This great effort told its tale later, but Opioid was once more stalled off. and the Cantab** shot Barnes Bridge in 19m. 10s.. v. ell over a length to the good.

f rLMr.-sEYMor?.'s triumph. The race seemed over. It' Oxford had a final spurt left i.i them, even their strongest partisans admitted that it la:d been now defayed 100 Ion:-, in this they failed toitaiise two facts. Firs i-. though the Cambridge boat was m;ii;r. ; ed by eight game and plucky oarsmen, that it was. nevertheless, not a really first-class crew ; secondly, that Online Seymour was a born stroks, "and had beer steadily noising his crew in the erne! water the boats had been floundering through.

A sudden spasmodic shout from the steamers and the bank?; shoved I hat Oxford were making their effort. How they rowed, those eight Oxford men! Off the White Hart the Cantabs realiutd that the victory was possibly to be snatched from them. The stroke was suddenly—far too suddenly— raised to 4.*) to the minute, end the" coxswain, presumably losing his head for the moment, steered out towards the Surrey '''tore. The Cantabs rowed plnckily, but th'eir'previot's efforts had told on them. Lad: of true combination of form at the finish of a punishing race told its tale. They failed to hold any length of stroke. Br the time Maitiand and Duncan«on had settled down to a more steady 156, and the coxswain had got .his '.-oar pointing straight up river again. Oxford were level. It was then a ding-dong struggle between the 16 exhausted men. J; was impossible to say which crew showed the greatest pluck. Jsot a man failed in either ciew. A few strokes forced in at almost breaking point .pushed the bows of the Oxford boat in front. 'of the Light Blues as the winning-post was ' breasted in 22rn. 31.-.