The Boat Race 2009
| 155th Boat Race | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 29 March 2009 | ||
| Winner | Oxford | ||
| Margin of victory | 3 and 1/2 lengths | ||
| Winning time | 17 minutes 35 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) |
79–75 | ||
| Umpire |
Boris Rankov (Oxford) |
||
| Other races | |||
| Reserve winner | Goldie | ||
| Women's winner | Oxford | ||
|
|||
The 155th Boat Race took place on 29 March 2009. Oxford's crew was the heaviest in the event's history and which featured five Olympic rowers, including silver medallist Colin Smith and bronze medallist George Bridgewater. Cambridge took an early lead, only to be caught and overtaken by Oxford who won the race by three-and-a-half lengths.
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie defeated Oxford's Isis, while Oxford won the Women's Boat Race.
The Boat Race is an annual competition between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. First held in 1829, the competition is a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) race along The Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 2008 race by six lengths, while Cambridge led overall with 79 victories to Oxford's 74 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The race was sponsored by Xchanging for the fifth consecutive year.
The first Women's Boat Race took place in 1927, but did not become an annual fixture until the 1960s. Up until 2014, the contest was conducted as part of the Henley Boat Races, but as of the 2015 race, it is held on the River Thames, on the same day as the men's main and reserve races. The reserve race, contested between Oxford's Isis boat and Cambridge's Goldie boat has been held since 1965. It usually takes place on the Tideway, prior to the main Boat Race.
The Oxford crew (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") weighed an average of 8 pounds (3.6 kg) per rower more than the Cambridge crew (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"), making them the heaviest in Boat Race history. Oxford fielded five rowers who had featured at the 2008 Summer Olympics: Colin Smith won silver for Great Britain, while Ante Kušurin rowed for Croatia, New Zealander George Bridgewater won a bronze in the coxless pair,Sjoerd Hamburger rowed for The Netherlands, and Tom Solesbury for Great Britain. Cambridge's crew contained five returning Blues to Oxford's three.
...
Wikipedia