Thousands Flock to Boat Race Parties in the Parks

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Crowds cheer as Cambridge confound the bookies

Thousands of people flocked to parties in Bishops Park in Fulham and Hammersmith's Furnivall Gardens to enjoy a truly epic battle which saw Cambridge confound the bookies by coming from behind to win the 156th Boat Race.

The parties in the parks have become a highlight of the spring calendar, offering a grandstand view of the race from the riverbank, plus music, Morris dancing, food and drinks stalls, bouncy castles for the kids and giant screens showing the entire race from start to finish.

Cambridge's victory denied Oxford the hat-trick, and increased the Light Blues overall advantage in the series - they have now won 80 races against Oxford’s 75.

Oxford won the toss and chose the Surrey station - always the safer bet when the forecasts promised squally showers with the wind swinging round to the south west. Off the start their stroke, Charlie Burkitt, took the crew off at 47 strokes a minute against Cambridge at 45, and along the boat houses Oxford begand to eke out a small advantage. But as the crews settled at 37 and got into their race pace beyond Beverley Brook, Cambridge - on the inside of the Middlesex bend - had drawn level.

Oxford now moved into a solid rhythm which gave them a canvas advantage by the time the crews reached Barn Elms. Despite being warned for their steering by umpire Simon Harris, they reached the Mile Post a second ahead of Cambridge, with both crews now rating 35.

Oxford were now determined to maximise the advantage of the inside of the Hammersmith bend and, despite a slight push from the Light Blues, went half a length clear at Harrods, and maintained the edge at Hammersmith Bridge, where there was a margin of two seconds between the crews.

As Cambridge now dug deep on the outside of the curve to prevent the opposition moving away. Maintaining the higher rate past St Paul’s boathouse they began to close the gap, and Oxford upped their own rate to 36 to stave off the attack. As the forecast choppy conditions prevailed down Corney Reach, so the pressure from Cambridge proved relentless - they continued to close past Chiswick Eyot and narrowed the Oxford lead to just 0.5sec at Chiswick Steps.

Cambridge went for another push at the Crossing, which proved the crucial point in the race and this time the Dark Blues could not respond. For the first time Cambridge took the lead, finding new reserves of power in their confident stroke, while an air of desperation crept in to the Oxford boat.

Cambridge reached Barnes Bridge two seconds up and the Dark Blues faced the monumental task of moving round the outside of the final bend to recapture the lead. In a final push they upped the rate to 36 and began to close, but a confident response from Cambridge put the result in no doubt. The Light Blues pushed the rate back up to 38 to move away and cross the line four seconds clear in 17 mins 35 secs.

Robert Treharne Jones - The Boat Race

April 5, 2010