Light Blues take command of women’s race right from the off
Cambridge storm clear in repeat of last year’s win Poignant result for bow Smith after mother’s death
An hour and one minute before the start flag dropped on the men’s Boat Race, the Cambridge women painted the Thames light blue with a commanding win for the second year.
After a disastrous first stroke of the 2017 race, the Oxford women were relieved to get away cleanly without mishap but that was the last good news of the afternoon for the Dark Blues.
Cambridge, who had won the toss and chosen Surrey, were two seats up within the first half-minute, and although at first the Oxford women held on strongly, they could not counter the Light Blues’ speed.
From four seconds up after the first mile, Cambridge extended it to nine at Hammersmith and 22 by the finish, a demonstration of long smooth rowing which Oxford could do nothing to match. The margin was confirmed as seven lengths. Fifteen minutes later the Cambridge reserve, Blondie, won their own race against Osiris by 36sec.
“The flag went down and we were off, and before I knew it we were 10 strokes in, I don’t even remember it,” said bow Tricia Smith, the first across the finish line. After her mother, Ann, had died from cancer in Smith’s first year at college, the resonance with the headline sponsors, Cancer Research UK, was unmistakeable, as it will have been for many of the thousands of spectators lining the course.
“We knew we had to go out there and do the job,” said cox Sophie Shapter, another first-time Blue. “I never thought I’d do the Boat Race, and never thought I’d be on that stage spraying champagne everywhere. It’s something you watch other people do. Now I’ve done it and that’s pretty cool.”
“We knew we had a really fast crew,” said Cambridge coach Rob Baker, who has overseen the resurgence of the Cambridge women’s programme, “but it was about executing on the day, and they really did that. I’m really, really proud of how they executed.”
He has guided his squad from the large loss of 2015 and the near-waterlogging of 2016 to victory with both Blues and reserves, twice in a row. It is a feat not achieved since the 1990s. Cambridge’s rowers now share a grand new boathouse at Ely and can take confidence from men, women and lightweights racing one another in training, which benefits all of them.
“We’ve got some momentum on our side, and I think people believe in what we’re doing, and that’s a massive part of a strong programme,” said Baker. “But it’s a nervous time leading in, however fast we think we are, and that’s what you have to manage.
“When the boat’s out in front on the day it feels very simple, but it’s not simple before that point.
“As a coach, you concentrate on the technique and whether we are rowing in the right pattern. At no point could we relax. Oxford dug in really well and raced a really good race.”
In reality, his rowers were never threatened after the first minute, although the Dark Blues never gave up.
“[Cambridge] assembled a great crew,” said Oxford president Katherine Erickson. “It was an honour to race them. I am crying now but I am really proud how we did.”
To those watching on TV, it appeared that Oxford had started more quickly but it was an error of parallax, and Cambridge were, in fact, already ahead. Oxford were rating fractionally higher but Cambridge’s strokes were longer and moving more water per stroke, a feature which was to tell along the whole course. The margin stuck at half a length as the crews raced along the packed Embankment under dull grey skies, but then Cambridge began to edge out again as they moved past Craven Cottage, and had clear water before they reached the mile post.
This is the point at which the losing crew can feel and see the puddles of the leaders passing them, which tells them that the gap is increasing. As the Light Blues powered on, steadily increasing their lead, the Dark Blues were left with no options. Oxford cox Jessica Buck several times deliberately steered inside her rival’s line as Shapter had the luxury of being able to take a wide line around the corners, but it was something of an exercise in futility.
The defending champions always had the upper hand, and were not to be denied. The Tideway has turned for Cambridge’s women.