James C. Michaud

I've been fascinated with the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge University for so long as I can remember. I didn't attend any of those top two British Universities, nor do I have an avid enthusiasm for rowing but this conventional race of the two boats over precisely four miles and 374 yards nonetheless holds a fascination for me. I'm not alone as the televised event is broadcast, from the historic River Thames, to a whole lot of nations and has an audience of millions. The concept for the boat race between these paragons of academia was dreamt up by two college students, both named Charles, funnily enough. Charles Merivale was at Cambridge University and Charles Wordsworth was at Oxford.

Cambridge issued their challenge to Oxford on March twelfth 1829. Ever since then, it has been a convention for the loser of a 12 months's race to problem the opposite boat to a rematch the next year.

On tenth June 1829, hundreds of enthusiastic folks descended on the small city of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. They have been there to witness the primary ever staging of the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge's greatest rowing teams. In a fairly embarrassing flip of events the race needed to be stopped shortly after both boats had begun to be rowed. It was restarted and Oxford was the winner of the primary boat race against Cambridge.

One factor that I didn't realise concerning the Boat Race till fairly just lately was that the members of each crews do not get any particular dispensation as far as their research go. If they'll't keep up with their educational commitments then the students must resign from that yr's boat squad.

The Boat Race is on a Sunday in March or April and the principle event is preceded by a competition between Isis and Goldie. These are the reserve boats for Oxford and Cambridge in that order. About half an hour later the Blue Boats, as the first groups of each University are known, takes place. Cambridge is mild blue and Oxford dark blue.