158th Oxbridge Boat Race Saturday

[Robert Meyer]

April 7th 2012 sees the 158th Boat Race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. First raced in 1829 The Boat Race is one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

Watched by thousands along the banks of The Tideway, between Putney and Mortlake in London and by millions more on TV around the world, The Boat Race is a unique sporting event. With two very strong squads of athletes, expect to see another great race this year.

[Reynard38]

Anybody know if this is on TV here in the US? BBC America maybe?
Great to watch a top level 8 in action. We've got 3 boathouses on the Chattahoochee by my house and I see GA Tech practicing when I'm out in the Whitehall. Amazing how fast an 8 is.

[Reynard38]

BBC America (channell 188 on Uverse) at 8:45am EDT, Sunday. Got it set to record.

[purri]

4's are almost as quick as an 8 due to lower drag/ surface area vs weight and muscle power. FWIW my missus rows in both since her rowing debut at age 14. Meanwhile 38 yrs onward...

[rbgarr]

4's are almost as quick as an 8 due to lower drag/ surface area vs weight and muscle power. FWIW my missus rows in both since her rowing debut at age 14. Meanwhile 38 yrs onward...

Not at the elite level. The world record for 2000 meters for an eight is 5:20 while fours time out at 6+ minutes at their best. A quadruple scull, however, (four rowers and eight oars) is much closer at 5:35+.

[C. Ross]

BBC America (channell 188 on Uverse) at 8:45am EDT, Sunday. Got it set to record.

Thank you!

[Presuming Ed]

Not at the elite level. The world record for 2000 meters for an eight is 5:20 while fours time out at 6+ minutes at their best. A quadruple scull, however, (four rowers and eight oars) is much closer at 5:35+.

Coxed fours best time is 5.58. Coxless, the best is 5.41.
http://www.worldrowing.com/results

[skuthorp]

Seems to have been a butcher's picnic this year. First a swimmer stopped the race. He reportedly has a website, a self-server looking for publicity. A quick whack with an oar may have done everyone a favour.
Then on the restart the boats got tangled and Oxford broke an oar and one of their crew collapsed at the finish.
http://theboatrace.org/news-article/...ging-boat-race

[purri]

Not at the elite level. The world record for 2000 meters for an eight is 5:20 while fours time out at 6+ minutes at their best. A quadruple scull, however, (four rowers and eight oars) is much closer at 5:35+.

Chortle. My missus rowed in the inaugural World Titles at Luzern in '74 and has been up there with the betters since (esp at Masters composite D-F fours and eights). REAL competitive rowing at both international and Masters (the latter over 1 km) levels has become much faster... (even without the East German hormone supplements)
Addendum: Read 48 years on.