The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-24 00:00:00

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THE UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

The state of the weather at Putney on Monday was not
such as to give a very cheerful reception to the Oxford and
Cambridge crews on their arrival. A cold and bitter
wind brought great storms of hail down the Thames, and
so far agitated the surface of that prince of rivers as to
render the experiment of going off in an outrigger con-
siderably more dangerous than delightful. After three,
however, when the tide had been for some short time
turned, the wind abated, and there was sufficient of cam
to warrant the Cantabs in starting on their first voyage
over the established course. They had arrived at the Star
and Garter earlier in the day, and from that inn they
came up to the boat-house as soon as there was a reason-
able chance of getting to work. A few score spectators
had gathered about the boat-houses and on the towing.
path, but the clay was so extremely cold that the atten-
dance of visitors was more limited than usual. The
appearance of the eight light blues was, as a matter of
course, closely scrutinised as they brought out their
last year's boat and got her afloat. At present
they do not impress the critics most favour.
ably. While there are at least three undeniably good
men in the boat, there are two as to whom knowing
people do say they are a little weak. There certainly is
not that uniform and tolerably equal distribution of
power which marked the superior crew of last, year. They
are under the direction of Mr. T. S. Egiin, who, on seeing
his men in their places, took his seat in the stern of the
boat to steer them up the river. A quiet and easy start
was made, and, going athwart the stream, they went
slowly and pretty evenly to the Craven Point. It was
at once observed that the stroke was longer and slower
than has been the wont at Cambridge ; but there is
not as yet any great display of additional force. In fact,
the boat went at first rather feebly up against the ebb
and the cross wind. They rowed to the Ship at Mortlake,
where Mr. Egan gave up his place to Mr. Warner, the
coxswain, and the boat trimmed for a strong pull down
with the tide. When warmed to the work, the Cantabs
came away at a very good pace, doing thirty-three strokes
in a minute, and rowing in the latter part of the course
and up to the finish almost as one man. Their first
performance, if not altogether assuring, was certainly not
otherwise than creditable. It is evident that they have
trained hard, and that in the matter of physical condition
they are more likely to come to the post too fine than
too fresh. The reverse of that holds good with regard to
the Oxford crew. As they walked from the White Lion
to their boat, about half-past four, they certainly had more
of the looks of eight tolerably jolly members of the London
Rowing Club going out for an hour's pull than those of
men half trained for a great race. While the eight are
pretty nearly equal in stature, the elders of the crew are—
not to put too fine a point upon it—fat. They will hays
to do hard work and Ranting, with some closeness of
application in order to get down to racing form in the fort-
night that intervenes between this and the day of the race.
Still, the old power of Oxford is evident among them ;
and there is really nothing beyond the freshness just
noticed, either in the crew or the rowing, to shew any
falling off from the high standard of former excel-
lence. In the absence of Mr. Ross, who is in the hands
of the doctor, No. 3 oar was taken by another gentle-
man, and, with Mr. Tottenham to steer, the eight went
leisurely up against tide as far as Chiswick Church. Their
manner of going was distinguished by the well-known
characteristics of the Oxford boat ; nor was there to be ob-
served any particularly weak point in the rowing. There
is room for a little more " dressing" to be perfectly even
in feathering. From Chiswick Church the dark blues came
down at a smart rate, doing thirty-five strokes per minute
off the Craven Point, and rowing up to the Aqueduct in
good style.