Cambridge storm home to turn tide
Crews battle it out in Boat Race as Scots clear up after Katie chaos
ON the day the Apocalypse c ame to t he Tideway, Cambridge won the 162nd Boat Race to turn back the tide of recent history. And their women’s crew nearly sank.
The spray was so strong that only electric pumps kept the Light Blue women above water along storm-tossed Chiswick Reach.
The umpire, Rob Clegg, offered to pick them up in the safety launches following behind. He waved the red flags, signalling that they could stop if they wished to.
But he added an invitation the crew could not refuse. ‘Carry on if you want to,’ said Clegg.
Cox Rosemary Ostfeld waved her hand to signal that her girls would plug on.
It was now about survival and heart and pride. That, and the design of modern boats, which comprise sealed compartments that leave only the foot-wells exposed to flooding, and that is where the pumps come in.
If they had been rowing in an older specification, they would have suffered the same fate as the 1978 Cambridge men’s crew that slipped into the Thames. No boat had sunk in the previous 70 editions of the Women’s Boat Race, but this is only the second time it has been held on the Tideway, with its malevolent moods.
The margin of victory for Oxford was 24 lengths — a record, of course — but the 2016 Cambridge girls will be r e membered for t hei r battling defiance.
Wrapped in tin foil when they got back on to land, president Hannah Roberts said: ‘We had no option but to carry on. We have put in too much to do anything else.’
The men knew nothing of the women’s race, but every forecast had warned them what to expect when they turned their bows into the wind-meets- current storm in the second half of the four-mile, 374-yard Championship Course.
So it proved. Cambridge, who started on Surrey to give them the advantage in the first major bend, began more cleanly in what, at this point, were no more than fleeting gusts of wind.
Cambridge, the pre-race favourites, did everything they should have done, benefiting from the mature rhythm set by their stroke Lance Tredell.
By halfway, Cambridge had broken just free of Oxford.
Their aim, surely, was to wrap up the race before the tempest hit. You could say they accomplished that, but it probably did not feel like it on board because the Dark Blues were tenacious.
The victory margin was two-and-a-half lengths, only Cambridge’s sixth win in 17 races this century. It stopped Oxford making it four wins in a row.
Cambridge head coach Steve Trapmore, who had lost all but one of his Boat Races since taking charge in 2011, said: ‘This win is huge for the club. Huge for the future. It is the start of the turning of the tide.’
The ritualistic throwing of the winning cox into the river was honoured. It held no fears for Ian Middleton. ‘I’m soaked through anyway,’ he said. That summed up t he c apricious day: a wet afternoon and Cambridge men ready to smile.
IT may have been the first day of British Summer Time, but it was anything but a nice day for messing about on the river yesterday.
As Storm Katie swept into the UK, the annual Boat Race on the Thames saw Cambridge’s women rowers come close to sinking in choppy conditions.
Race officials ordered the crew into calmer waters as their boat became inundated, leaving them trailing sadly behind their opponents.
But the light-blue team were met with roars of approval from the thousands gathered on the banks to watch, and their Oxford rivals clapped them as they finally rowed exhausted over the finish line.
It was a better day for the Cambridge men, whose win ended Oxford’s run of three consecutive victories on t he Thames and pushed Cambridge’s winning record to 82 against Oxford’s 79.
The dramatic Boat Race came after the Met Office issued a weather warning for the south of the UK, predicting gusts of 70mph on the coast last night.
In Scotland, it was an Easter weekend washout with heavy rain and high winds battering the country.
However the Easter break is set for a ‘cracking’ end today with bright spells and temperatures of up to 11c (52f).
Paul Arbuckle, Met Office forecaster, said: ‘Sunshine-wise, Scotland is certainly the place to be on Monday.
‘Storm Katie should pass through Wales and then England by mid-afternoon.
‘But while there may be a little cloud in the Borders, most of Scotland will enjoy a nice, bright day. Temperatures should be up around 11c (52f), which we saw at Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire on Sunday.
‘There will be the occasional shower but nothing compared to what we had on Sunday.’
Heavy rain fell through the night into Sunday in the west, with yesterday bringing a mixture of sunshine and showers for most of the country.
Forecasters have warned there could be fallen trees and broken fences today.
There were long tailbacks on some roads and motorways, due to a spate of accidents and broken-down vehicles.
A three- car pile-up on the M8 at Fruit Market in Glasgow city centre caused tailbacks for some time. Another threecar accident on the same motorway at Glasgow Airport happened as recovery services were dealing with a breakdown only a few hundred yards away. No one was seriously injured in either crash.
High winds disrupted some ferry services on the west coast, including the Cal Mac crossings to Arran, Rothesay and the Small Isles f rom Mallaig.
Meanwhile, in the north of the country, skiers made the most of chilly conditions by heading on to the slopes of CairnGorm Mountain.
Today, t emperatures in Glasgow and Edinburgh should peak at around 10c (50f) while 11c (52f) is possible in Aberdeen, forecasters said.
And Scotland should enjoy a largely dry final week of March, before low pressure brings rain to the country this coming Friday.
Storm Katie is expected to shift out to the North Sea by 3pm today.
‘Scotland is the place to be’