VARSITY BOAT RACE

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1933, Page 4

VARSITY BOAT RACE

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.

NINE SUCCESSIVE ■ WINS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Nov. 10.

Oxford has lost the boatface for jiine consecutive years. If the crew should be beaten again'next year, a record for the longest sequence of defeats will be set up. Naturally there is concern for Oxford rowing. It has even been stated that, if Cambridge were to win in 1933, the race would cease to be , a great national event. ,

This is, of course, an exaggeration, but the situation is a’most unfortunate one. For year after year Cambridge have been expected to win, and they have won, but there has been no diminution of interest, and the crowds which have assembled on the ' bridges and ’ along the towing paths have grown bigger rather than smaller. Indeed, the attractiveness of the race is very remarkable for, except by those who follow in the steamers, the crews are not seen for much more than a minute at any stage of their journey to Mortlake. The university is urged to make a bigger effort than ever before in order to stop the decay. In the past there have been nothing but promises which have not been fulfilled. “All that has happened,” it is said, “is some controversy on the topic of swivel rowlocks and an assurance that the trial eights show more promise than they did last year.” It is agreed that this effort to bring about a revival is urgently necessary, but the decline has been so definite that I am afraid it will take more than six months to produce a crew of the standard which Cambridge have maintained during past years. Some authorities are convinced that Oxford methods are wrong, and that the whole system of rowing and also coaching requires to be overhauled. The organisation and the getting together of the crews, it is insisted, is nothing like as thorough as at Cambridge, and not until this matter is energetically tackled can there be real hope of improvement. The two chief rowing schools are Eton and Shrewsbury and it may be that the trouble can be traced back to the time when young oarsmen begin to cultivate a style.