Waikato survive a swim to win

Clashes, chaos, carnage – and a Waikato win.

That’s often been the story of the Gallagher Great Race when the men’s crews chase the Harry Mahon Memorial Trophy, and yesterday’s contest was possibly the most fiercely fought of all until an unscheduled dip for Waikato University rower Richard Power.

Midway through the race between the hosts, Harvard University and Melbourne University, the two heavyweights came together in a clash of oars that propelled Power into the Waikato River.

Harvard were ruled to be at fault for the incident, and when Power clambered back into the boat, the hosts powered away in a favourable current to win easily.

The meeting of the crews had been coming since the start – Harvard kept a slight edge from their preferable start position, but Waikato applied plenty of heat and eventually pushed their chief rival out, but not far enough to get cleanly past.

‘‘It was chaos – I’ve never been involved with a Great Race so dramatic,’’ said the winning coxswain Caleb Shepherd.

‘‘From the start, we tried to get a length clear, which was the goal – we didn’t quite get it. Obviously I was very aggressive with my moves, but then we decided, OK, it’s not going to work and dropped back.

‘‘When we got the jump and pushed inside, they wouldn’t move out. I was pretty vocal about that – I thought the umpire would have done something about it earlier.’’

Shepherd said he didn’t even realise Power had taken a swim.

The Waikato University men’s eight recover after winning the Harry Mahon Memorial Trophy.

‘‘It was just carnage – we all love races with carnage. ‘‘I would have liked it to be a bit fairer, but we got the win, so very happy.’’

Harvard rower-coach Patrick Lapage was less happy, but still philosophical.

‘‘We knew it’d be pretty hectic and we’d both have pretty similar speeds,’’ Lapage said.

‘‘We got probably six or seven gallons of water in our boat after the first clash. It made the boat pretty heavy and that made it hard to get away after the restart – I think that made a difference.’’

Lapage said the visitors were sceptical of the umpiring, referencing history after they were also beaten by the hosts in a re-started race when ruled at fault when they last contested the event in 2007.

‘‘I think it’s always going to be tricky to come here and win for a number of reasons,’’ he said. ‘‘But it was a lot of fun.’’ Power also seemed to enjoy his brief dunking. ‘‘That was a new experience,’’ he grinned.

‘‘When I got thrown out, the first thing I thought about was ducking – I knew there would be a few blades coming my way. I felt a few things brush up against my head.

‘‘As soon as I popped up, I took a look at the crew to see if they were still going. Then I noticed that the race had been stopped, so I got straight back into the boat to go again.’’

Was he worried about disappearing downstream while his crewmates rowed the other way?

‘‘Nah, it’s a lovely place, Hamilton – you can’t go far wrong.’’