Another Boat Race Tradition Of 30 Years Broken!

Both squads will trial on the Thames on the same day

In a break with tradition dating back nearly 30 years, the two University squads due to contest the 2010 Xchanging Boat Race will hold their respective Trial Eights races on the same day next month – Thursday, 17 December.

Since the early 1980s, the Trial Eights have been held on the Thames’ Tideway course on separate dates in December and at the time of the fastest Race tide.

But for the first time this year, two crews representing the Oxford and Cambridge ‘probables’ and ‘possibles’ will race from Putney to Mortlake within an hour-and-a-half of each other.

Having won the toss at a reception to mark the start of the Boat Race season, Oxford President Sjoerd Hamburger elected to take the second of the race times at 13:20, while Cambridge President Deaglan McEachern was not too concerned about racing at the earlier time of 12:05.

Commenting on the new arrangement, David Searle, Executive Director of the Boat Race Company Limited (BRCL), the organisers of the Xchanging Boat Race, said:
“This new format will give interested parties, especially the media, the chance to compare the relative strengths of the two squads and how their final Blue Boats might perform in the Race itself.”

The 2009 Race was won by Oxford.

November 25, 2009