Boat Race: The Final Countdown

In their final press conference Oxford strike a bold tone


Oxford coach Sean Bowden threw down the gauntlet to the tabs in a confident press conference, with both OUBC president and cox seemingly supremely calm about the upcoming 4.2 mile slog.

When asked about final preparation for the race the Oxford coach said “so far so good, we’re in good spirits”. This is a marked difference from his comments at the weigh in when he admitted the Oxford crew were suffering heavily from a lack of water time.

Bold words from the boys in dark blue

Asked to characterise his crew one word was all he needed; “Quick!”, before elaborating to the less monosyllabic, “They have a significant amount of power for their weight and an efficiency and fluidity in their rowing”

A confident Oxford in training yesterday

The race looks to be dramatic one, violent weather has lead book makers to slash the odds of Oxford sinking to just 50-1. Coach Bowden  agreed the conditions would be treacherous and raised the possibility that his crew would need mechanical assistance to prevent them slipping beneath the waves “it’ll certainly be one of those raises, we may have to use the pumps”.

Cox Laurence Harvey and president Malcolm Howard both seemed unconcerned about the tab threat, underlining why Oxford are firm favourites in this 160th Boat Race.

Cherwell and Oxstu still nowhere to be seen!

When asked what he thought of Cambridge after a shrug and pause Howard replied simply “they’re my opposition”. Cox Harvey was equally cool “I’m just focused on my race, I’ve not thought about the Cambridge cox”

Nor are our boys in dark blue fazed by the smog “nobody’s even noticed it” said Sean Bowden, and Oxford’s 108kg powerhouse  Malcolm Howard claimed the first he heard of it was when his mother emailed him frantically worrying.

We’ll be live blogging the Boat Race this weekend, like us on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out on all the rowing news.