ENGLAND
For everyone outside of, well Oxford and Cambridge, the annual boat race between these two English university towns is meaningless. It is a chance for two academic powerhouses to prove who really is the elite but is normally a non-event. That changed this year!
On Saturday 7th April, 2012, this race had everything. Here is the sequence of events that created one of the most hilarious and disastrous boat races in history:
- The 158th boat race starts on the River Thames, London.
- 10 minutes in both teams are neck and neck.
- An intruder is seen swimming in the river and both teams stop whilst the man is detained by police.
- The teams restart from the halfway point.
- Shortly after the restart, both boats are too close to each other and their oars clash. Oxford breaks an oar.
- Cambridge go on to win the race.
- Oxford bowman Alex Woods was so incensed at the decision no to restart again due to the broken oar, that he collapses in the back of the boat.
- It takes 5 minutes for anyone to realize that Alex is unconscious and he is rushed to hospital.
- There is no award ceremony in all the confusion.
For everyone outside of, well Oxford and Cambridge, the annual boat race between these two English university towns is meaningless. It is a chance for two academic powerhouses to prove who really is the elite but is normally a non-event. That changed this year!
On Saturday 7th April, 2012, this race had everything. Here is the sequence of events that created one of the most hilarious and disastrous boat races in history:
- The 158th boat race starts on the River Thames, London.
- 10 minutes in both teams are neck and neck.
- An intruder is seen swimming in the river and both teams stop whilst the man is detained by police.
- The teams restart from the halfway point.
- Shortly after the restart, both boats are too close to each other and their oars clash. Oxford breaks an oar.
- Cambridge go on to win the race.
- Oxford bowman Alex Woods was so incensed at the decision no to restart again due to the broken oar, that he collapses in the back of the boat.
- It takes 5 minutes for anyone to realize that Alex is unconscious and he is rushed to hospital.
- There is no award ceremony in all the confusion.
image: cbc.ca
