UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14326, 23 March 1910, Page 8

UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

OXFORD v. CAMBRIDGE. - THE SI'IKIT op. the race. O.vthe Thames to-day will be decided; the I 67th boat race between the sister Universi- ; ties' of . Oxford : and , Cambridge. When one ■ remembers that the first race was rowed in the year : 1829, so that George IV. -could have witnessed the contest had he been so minded, the .sustained interest which, the race has excited up 'to the present day re-.-mains a phenomenon in English sport only paralleled by the popularity of the Derby.'.; Even, in comparison with the Derby .the boat race can claim a far wider and more general circle of interests. 4lt has : never been a matter for the sporting world alone; indeed, the gentlemen with ; the draftboard trousers and the tall white hats;; whose generous "habit it is to "give the odds," are conspicuous by their absence from the boat race. It is '■, purely a national affair, .an event which has gripped the instincts of \ the nation and captured the imagination of all classes of the community,' The explanation is simple. It is a square ; race, : a straight race, a sporting race, rowed simply for the honour of sport, and, as such, it is bound to hold its sway over all clean-living, ; sport-loving Britishers. There can-be -no suggestion of selfishness, personal interest, crookedness or slackness in such a contest. Every race that is rowed is in itself an epitome of the finest spirit in British sporting life./ The errand boy testifies to this when he sticks a blue favour in his greasy cap and shouts in raucous tones: : ) "';, ~ ";■':'■'■■ Oxford's the winner, r , ~;'' Cambridge 'the sinner! .'< or reverses the order of merit according to ■his individual fancy. The maiden aunt testifies to it. when she suddenly emerges from an atmosphere of tea cosies, domestic cats, and home reading,; to blush suddenly upon the world over a Cambridge blue blouse or Oxford blue bonnet strings. '- .The oldfashioned omnibus driveralas! fast passing into the region of forgotten things—-testifies to it by the bright ribbons that flutter from his whip and the caustic wit that he ex-: changes so amiably with those !of r his i fra-: ternity who are so unreasonable as to sport the opposite colour. The Cambridge baby I in ,' the Cambridge " pram," wheeled by a Cambridge nurse; the Oxford coster, drawn by an Oxford donkey in an Oxford vegetable cart, who is. constantly requested; by Cambridge costers to "take it tori;" the dark I blue- "hansom cabby," who exchanges' pro- | phecies as to the result of the race through i a trap-door with a ; light blue " fare"—all j these and innumerable others testify to the I fact 4 that everyone who loves sport '}■[ for sport's sake. feels a quickening of ■■ pulses and an awakening of interests when Oxford and Cambridge race each other in little boats along the l broad cool flowing stretches of our Father Thames. • ._;■;.;■' .' Given a touch of spring, with a buret of sunshine, and there . is no prettier ■ sight in the worldthe pale early sunshine, the river glinting like, a silver iserpent (as it, twines among the spring green meadows, j the freshening breeze, and the .two frail I boats that glide over the \ sparkling. surface of the water like things of life and beauty. Then the musical dip of the ,'; oars, . the rhythmic movement of the oarsmen, the fine clean-cut picture of young English manhood stirred to earnest endeavour, all com- i bine to rouse the blood■>and send a flush of pride tingling into the cheeks of those who prize British sport, British youth',:and British honour. Some of us have seen the race rowed under the * worst of 'difficulties, in swirling tides; against blustering winds, and slanting rainfalls;; some, indeed, can recall / the ever-memorable race 'that was grimly fought out through a storm of blinding snow. But however stern 'may- be the conditions of the contest,' the \ health and vigour that goes to the race, and all that has gone previously <to the making of; the race, tinge the picture with light and glory. Oxford has won the : -'. : historic / race. 35 times and Cambridge 30, the.; contest of | 1877 resulting in a | dead-heat... \ ; •"; \'.- -•■'■■/ ' /* ' * ' J >-'