The 119th Boat Race took place on 7 April 1973. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

along the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. It was won by Cambridge who passed the finishing post thirteen lengths ahead of Oxford, the largest winning margin since the 1955 race. Despite being pre-race favourites, Oxford's warm-up saw them take on board a large amount of water in rough conditions. In the reserve race,

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in th ...

beat Isis, and in the

Women's Boat Race The Women's Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Women's Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. First rowed in 1927, the race has taken place annually since 1964. Since the 2015 race it has been rowed on ...

, Cambridge were victorious.

Background

The Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's ...

is a side-by-side rowing competition between the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the

Championship Course The Championship Course is a stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England. It is a well-established course for rowing races, particularly the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches of th ...

on the

in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having beaten Oxford by lengths in the previous year's race. Cambridge held the overall lead, with 66 victories to Oxford's 51 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The race was umpired by former Oxford

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

Ronnie Howard who had rowed in the

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

and 1959 races. The first

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 The Henley Boat Races were a series of annual rowing races between various crews representing the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. The event included the Lightweight Men's Boat Race from 1975 to 2018, the Women's Boat ...

, 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. It was the first year since 1927 that the main race was not covered in full on any of the BBC's national radio networks. Its 4.15pm start coincided with the conclusion of the

FA Cup semi-finals The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest Association football, football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always be ...

, and it had been decided that the rowing would be broadcast in full on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

and

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown area of Oxford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audien ...

only. Commentator

John Snagge John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge (8 May 190425 March 1996) was a British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio. Life Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in la ...

who had described every race since 1931 was disappointed: "I do not want to be unreasonable but I am a little surprised that for an event like the Boat Race, with its tradition and history, the BBC cannot find 20 minutes on one of its four networks to carry it in full." Oxford's preparations for the race including coming second only to

Leander Club Leander Club, founded in 1818, is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and the oldest non-academic club. It is based in Remenham in Berkshire, England and adjoins Henley-on-Thames. Only three other surviving clubs were founded prior to ...

in the

Head of the River Race The Head of the River Race (HORR) is an against-the-clock ('processional') sport rowing, rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England between eights, other such races being the Schools' Head of the River Race, Women's Head of ...

. Both crews had to cope with strong winds in their outings, with large pieces of driftwood providing additional hazards to the boats. Cambridge's number four,

Chris Baillieu Christopher Latham Baillieu MBE (born 12 December 1949) is an English former rower who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics representing Great Britain. He was the first chairman of British Swimming, from 2001 to ...

, recovered from a back injury while his

cox Cox may refer to: * Cox (surname), including people with the name Companies * Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company ** Cox Communications, cable provider ** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations ** ...

, Mike Williams, spent time before the race recuperating from an upset stomach. Their number seven, Steven Tourek, was also forced from the boat with illness, missing several days training. Cambridge were coxed by Lou Barry. Oxford's boat, built by Swiss manufacturer Stämpfli was considered suitable for "placid Continental lakes" while Cambridge's boat, while lighter than their previous year's craft, had a deeper hull and was "better equipped" for inclement conditions. In an interview with

Barry Norman Barry Leslie Norman (21 August 1933 – 30 June 2017) was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist. He presented the BBC's cinema review programme, '' Film...'', from 1972 to 1998. Early life Born at St Thomas’s Hospital ...

writing for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', Oxford's stroke Sawyier had prophetically suggested: "if we do lose, I hope we're not disgraced ... it would be a kind of tawdry end of the year to be in a crew that was beaten out of sight."

Crews

The Cambridge crew weighed over per rower more than their opponents. Oxford saw four former

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

return, Magarey, Hall, Payne and the cox Yalouris, while Cambridge welcomed back

for his fourth race and Michael Hart. Oxford's crew contained three non-British competitors, Australian Magarey, and Americans Yalouris and Sawyier (who had rowed for

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the United States Olympic team in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

),Burnell, p. 29 while Cambridge featured just one foreign participant, the American rower Tourek.

Race

Following good performances in practice in the buildup, Oxford were considered pre-race favourites. They won the toss and elected to start on the Surrey station, handing the Middlesex side of the river to Cambridge. In the warm-up to the race, the Light Blues opted for calm waters in Wandsworth Reach while Oxford rowed part of the course, in rough conditions, up to the Mile Post and back. Arriving back at the stake boat, the Dark Blues spent considerable time attempting to alleviate their boat of large amounts of water, using their tracksuits as makeshift sponges. Oxford made a fast start, rating over 40 strokes per minute, but in the rough conditions it resulted in more water being drawn into their boat. Cambridge "slowly but surely" took control with a lead of just under three lengths within three minutes of the start. A ten-second lead at the Mile Post was extended to sixteen seconds by

Hammersmith Bridge Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the north side of the river, and Barnes in the London Borough ...

with Oxford still taking on more water in their pursuit of the Light Blues. Oxford were 26 seconds behind at Chiswick Steps and despite a last push from Oxford to reduce the deficit, Cambridge passed the finishing post in 19 minutes 21 seconds, 13 lengths and 48 seconds ahead of their opponents. It was Cambridge's sixth consecutive victory, and their 67th overall to Oxford's 51 wins. In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis by five lengths, their seventh consecutive victory. In the 28th running of the

, Cambridge triumphed, their eleventh consecutive victory.

Reaction

The Oxford boat club president Andy Hall said "the water was round our ankles ... we made a mistake in doing that warm-up over part of the course ... there was so much water on board that I thought 'God, we're going to sink.' It was really hopeless after that." In losing the race, Hall became the first Oxonian to lose four Boat Races in the 20th century. Jim Railton, writing in ''The Times'' summarised the race: "Cambridge beat the Tideway and the Tideway beat Oxford." According to

Dickie Burnell Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the double sculls. He and his father Charles are the only father and son in Olympic history ...

, "to say that the race was soon over would be a mis-statement. It never really began."

References

Notes Bibliography * *

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boat Race 1973 The Boat Race 1973 in English sport 1973 in rowing 1973 sports events in London April 1973 sports events in the United Kingdom