JUJU COULD WALK

London – Next year’s Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge will take place outside London for the first time since World War II – because a bridge that passes over the usual course is close to collapsing.

The annual event between rowing crews of England’s top two universities usually attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators to the west London stretch of the River Thames, with many standing on Hammersmith Bridge to watch the boats pass underneath.

But the suspension bridge, built in 1887, has been closed to motor traffic since April 2019, following the discovery of hairline micro-fractures in the brittle cast iron pedestals.

In August, it was closed to pedestrians and cyclists and river traffic beneath it was banned, due to a sudden increase in the size of the fractures.

This poses the risk that the bridge could suddenly collapse, according to Hammersmith and Fulham Council, the local authority that owns it. –