The Boat Race 1899
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| 56th Boat Race | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 25 March 1899 | ||
| Winner | Cambridge | ||
| Margin of victory | 3+1⁄4 lengths | ||
| Winning time | 21 minutes 4 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) | 23–32 | ||
| Umpire | Frank Willan (Oxford) | ||
| |||
The 56th Boat Race took place on 25 March 1899. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. Cambridge won, their first success in a decade, by 3+1⁄4 lengths in a time of 21 minutes 4 seconds. The victory took the overall record in the event to 32–23 in Oxford's favour.
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues")[1] and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues").[1] The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London.[2][3] The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and as of 2014, broadcast worldwide.[4] Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1898 race "easily", with Cambridge leading overall with 32 victories to Cambridge's 22 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).[5][6]
Oxford's coaches were G. C. Bourne who had rowed for Oxford in the 1882 and 1883 races, Douglas McLean (an Oxford Blue five times between 1883 and 1887) and R. P. Rowe (who rowed for Oxford four times between 1889 and 1892). Cambridge were coached by William Fletcher, Oxford Blue and R. C. Lehmann, the former president of the Cambridge Union Society and captain of the 1st Trinity Boat Club (although he had rowed in the trials eights for Cambridge, he was never selected for the Blue boat).[7][8] The umpire for the race for the tenth year in a row was Frank Willan who won the event four consecutive times, rowing for Oxford in the 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869 races.[9]
Crews
The Oxford crew weighed an average of 12 st 5 lb (78.3 kg), 0.5 pounds (0.23 kg) per rower more than their opponents.[10] Cambridge saw three rowers with Boat Race experience return, in Claude Goldie, former Boat Club president William Dudley Ward and Raymond Broadly Etherington-Smith. Oxford's crew contained four former Blues, including Harcourt Gilbey Gold who was rowing at stroke for the fourth consecutive year. All but one of the Oxford crew were educated at Eton College; Cambridge's crew contained five Old Etonians.[10] Australian rower Noel Leonard Calvert was the only participant in the race registered as non-British.[11] C. E. Johnston of Oxford was the father of Brian Johnston, the cricket broadcaster, who, 82 years later, would become the BBC's principal Boat Race commentator.[12]
| Seat | Oxford  |
Cambridge  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | College | Weight | Name | College | Weight | |
| Bow | R. O. Pitman | New College | 10 st 10 lb | W. H. Chapman | 3rd Trinity | 11 st 2 lb |
| 2 | C. W. Tomkinson | Balliol | 12 st 0 lb | N. L. Calvert | Trinity Hall | 11 st 13 lb |
| 3 | A. H. D. Steel | Balliol | 12 st 11.5 lb | C. J. D. Goldie | 3rd Trinity | 12 st 1.5 lb |
| 4 | H. J. Hale | Balliol | 12 st 9 lb | J. E. Payne | Peterhouse | 12 st 10.5 lb |
| 5 | C. E. Johnston | New College | 13 st 0 lb | R. B. Etherington-Smith (P) | 1st Trinity | 12 st 10 lb |
| 6 | F. W. Warre | Balliol | 12 st 13 lb | R. H. Sanderson | 1st Trinity | 12 st 10 lb |
| 7 | A. T. Herbert | Balliol | 12 st 13 lb | W. Dudley Ward | 3rd Trinity | 12 st 9.5 lb |
| Stroke | H. G. Gold (P) | Magdalen | 11 st 11.5 lb | J. H. Gibbon | 3rd Trinity | 11 st 3.5 lb |
| Cox | G. S. Maclagan | Magdalen | 8 st 1 lb | G. A. Lloyd | 3rd Trinity | 8 st 5 lb |
| Source:[13] (P) – boat club president[14] | ||||||
