The Boat Race 1949

Date26 March 1949

WinnerCambridge

Margin of victory1⁄4 length

Winning time18 minutes 57 seconds

95th Boat Race

Date

26 March 1949

Winner

Cambridge

Margin of victory

1⁄4 length

Winning time

18 minutes 57 seconds

Overall record
(Cambridge–Oxford)

51–43

Umpire

Guy Oliver Nickalls
(Oxford)

Other races

Women's winner

Oxford

← 1948

1950 →

The 95th Boat Race took place on 26 March 1949. 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 in London. The race, umpired by the former Oxford rower Guy Oliver Nickalls, was notable as the commentator for the BBC, John Snagge announced "I can't see who's in the lead, but it's either Oxford or Cambridge."^[1] Cambridge won by a quarter of a length, the narrowest margin of victory since the 1877 race, which was officially recorded as a dead heat. The victory took the overall record in the event to 51–43 in their favour.

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues")^[2] and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues").^[2] First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London.^[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]^[5] Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1948 race by five lengths, with Cambridge leading overall with 50 victories to Oxford's 43 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).^[6]^[7]

Cambridge were coached by R. Beesly (who had rowed for the Light Blues in the 1927, 1928 and 1929 races), W. L. S. Flemming, Mike Nicholson (non-rowing boat club president for the 1947 race), Harold Rickett (who had rowed three times between 1930 and 1932), and M. H. Warriner (a three-time Blue between 1928 and 1930). Oxford's coaches were Hugh "Jumbo" Edwards (who had rowed for Oxford in 1926 and 1930), F. E. Hellyer (who had coached Cambridge on five previous occasions), A. McCulloch (who had rowed in the 1908 race) and J. MacNabb (who had coached Cambridge between 1930 and 1932).^[8] The race was umpired by Guy Oliver Nickalls who had rowed for Oxford in the 1921, 1922 and 1923 races.^[9]

Writing in The Observer, G. I. F. Thomson noted that "neither crew contains an oarsman of any exceptional power, distinction or reputation" yet both crews had improved in form since their arrival at Putney.^[10] The rowing correspondent for The Manchester Guardian praised the quality of the final coaching on the Thames, and stated that "there has been no threat of influenza, and no last-minute change in the constitution of either crew".^[11] He went on to claim that "Oxford should win".^[11] The Times' rowing correspondent suggested that the crews were "extraordinarily evenly matched".^[12]

Crews

The Cambridge crew weighed an average of 12 st 10.75 lb (80.9 kg), 2 pounds (0.9 kg) per rower more than their opponents. Oxford's crew contained five participants with prior Boat Race experience, including cox Alastair Palsgrave-Brown. Cambridge saw one rower return to the crew in number five Paul Bircher.^[13] The Light Blue's crew contained three Olympic medallists: Brian Lloyd, Bircher and Paul Massey won silver when they finished second in the men's eight at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.^[14]

Seat	Oxford			Cambridge
Seat	Name	College	Weight	Name	College	Weight
Bow	G. C. Fisk	Oriel	11 st 9.5 lb	G. S. S. Ludford	Jesus	11 st 2 lb
2	A. J. M. Cavenagh	Magdalen	11 st 1 lb	A. L. Macleod	Lady Margaret Boat Club	13 st 0 lb
3	W. J. H. Leckie	Brasenose	12 st 12 lb	C. B. M. Lloyd	Lady Margaret Boat Club	13 st 0 lb
4	R. L. Arundel	Merton	14 st 0 lb	J. R. la T. Corrie	1st & 3rd Trinity	13 st 3 lb
5	A. D. Rowe (P)	Trinity	12 st 11.5 lb	E. A. P. Bircher (P)	Christ's	13 st 7 lb
6	T. D. Raikes	Trinity	12 st 10.5 lb	P. M. O. Massey	Lady Margaret Boat Club	13 st 8 lb
7	J. M. Clay	Magdalen	12 st 12.5 lb	D. V. Lynch Odhams	Jesus	13 st 1 lb
Stroke	C. G. V. Davidge	Trinity	12 st 13 lb	D. M. Jennens	Clare	12 st 4.5 lb
Cox	A. Palgrave-Brown	Queen's	8 st 9 lb	T. R. Ashton	Christ's	9 st 3 lb
Source:^[13] (P) – boat club president^[15]

Race

Oxford won the toss and elected to start from the Middlesex station, handing the Surrey side of the river to Cambridge.^[16] The umpire, Nickalls, started the race at 11:30 a.m.^[10] The Dark Blues took an early lead and were half a length ahead after the first minute of the race.^[17] They were clear of Cambridge by Craven Steps,^[18] and by the time the crews passed the Mile Post, were a length ahead. In the headwind along Chiswick Reach, and with the bend in the river in their favour, Cambridge slowly redressed the balance and by Chiswick Eyot they had begun to overlap Oxford's boat.^[17]

By the bottom of Dukes Meadows, Oxford's lead was down to half a length and as Cambridge out-rated their opponents, they drew level and passed under Barnes Bridge side by side. Despite numerous spurts from Oxford's stroke Davidge, Cambridge kept in touch and "were fighting every inch of the way".^[18] Commentating for the BBC on a launch whose engine had failed,^[19] John Snagge announced "I can't see who's in the lead, but it's either Oxford or Cambridge."^[1] Both crews were rating over 33 strokes per minute as they approached the finishing post, with the Light Blues just edging ahead to win by a quarter of a length in a time of 18 minutes 57 seconds.^[18] The winning distance was the narrowest since the "dead heat" result of the 1877 Race. It was Cambridge's third consecutive victory and took the overall record in the event to 51–43 in their favour.^[6] The rowing correspondent for The Manchester Guardian suggested that this was a race that "will never be forgotten",^[16] while the correspondent for The Times claimed that "1949 must go down in Boat Race history as having provided one of the epic struggles of all time."^[18] G. I. F. Thomson, writing in The Observer, stated that "heroic determination on both sides ... produced perhaps the most exciting Boat Race of all time."^[17]

v t e The Boat Races
	Oxford University Boat Club crews Oxford University Women's Boat Club Cambridge University Boat Club crews
	The Championship Course Results Blue Boat Stones
	The Boat Race 1829 1836 1839 1840 1841 1842 1845 1846 1849 (March) 1849 (December) 1852 1854 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
	Women's Boat Race 1927 1929 1930 1934 1935 1936 1939 1941 1973 1974 1975 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1993 1994 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
	The Lightweight Boat Races Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club Oxford University Women's Lightweight Rowing Club Cambridge University Boat Club
Category Commons

The Boat Race 1949

Crews

Race

References

External links

Related Articles