The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-03
Beats Cambridge Over His toric Thames Course By
 31a Lengths. One of the Most Exciting Races Ever Rowed Over
 Course.
Oxford Men Proved Their Superiority and Were Fresh at the Finish Were Not Expected to Win by the Experts Cambridge Was Favorite in Betting.
fspecia1 from united Press.,

London. April 3.-Upsetting the pre-
 dictions of the experts, the dark blue
 of Oxford finished 351 lengths ahead of
 the light blue of Cambridge to-day in
 the annual race on the historical
 Thames from Putney to Gortlake, a
 distance of about Az miles. The race
 was one of the most exciting in the
 long history of these dual contests and
 was witnessed by tens of thousands.
 The time 19 minutes. 50 seconds. Is
 one minute and three seconds below
 the record time for the course, made
 by Cambridge in 1900.
 Cambridge won the toss and chose
 the Surrey side of the river. giving her a slight advantage owing to wind and
 current conditions. This advantage was accepted with the fact that Cam bridge had a fine crew and it was seen
 that 1t would be a hard tussle. The starting pistol was fired at 12:3O with the tide slack. water smooth, and but little wind. Stroke in the Cambridge boat immediately set up a fast clip and the light blue boat shot ahead.
 On the way to Hammersmith Bridge the Oxford boat began to show it's power and by the time the bridge was reached IA miles from the start, the two crews were on even terms. OK ford at this stage seemed to have moro reserve strength than the Cambridge rowers. The race for half a mia here was the most desperate seen in years. neither boat apparently being to tell on Cambridge and Oxford crept slowly ahead amid deafening cheers from the banks. After. gaining half length lead Oxford lost her advantage by being hfndereds by one of the spec fators barges. This threw the crews on even terms again but Oxford. al- ready aware of her superiority, fought desperately and at sK miles had re- gained a lead of half length. Cam bridge was evidently tiring and when Barnes Bridge was reached which marked the last stretch of the race, the Oxford boat began to forge rapidly ahead.
 Oxford spurted unexpectedly inn mediately after passing Barnes Bridge and before Cambridge could recover the dark blue was two lengths ahead From then on there was nothing to the race but Oxford. With victory as- sured, the big men in the Oxford shell bent their backs to their blades and sent the boat cutting through the water at g. faster clip at the close than at any other time in the race.
 Not a man in the Oxford boat was in the least distressed while several of the Cambridge oarsmen were clearly rowed out to the last shred. The aver age, weight of the crews was Oxford. 174A pounds; Cambridge 174N. OK ford's victory to-day made her thir- ty-fourth. Cambride has won 29 times and one of the races was a dead heat.
 The crews were as follows: Oxford. A. c. Gladstone. bow; H. R. Barker. 9: c. R. M. Cudmore. 8: A. S. Carton, 4; D. MacKinnon, 5: J. A. Gilan, 6; A. G. Kerby. z: R. c. Bourne, strike; A. w. E. Dunkin, coxSwain.
 Cambridge-R. w. Arbuthnot. bow; | H. D. Swanston. 2; G. l.. Thomas, B.; H. E.. Kitchin. 4; R. G. Williams. 5; | J. R. Kosher, 6; B. S. Hornidge, 2; D. | c. R. Stuart, stroke; G. D. Compson, 1
 Cambridge was a strong favorfte. | Their captain. Stuart, is reckoned one | of the finest strokes in England. Their | trials had pleased the critics immense 1 ly and on one occasion about a. month | ago. they did the full course in the | splendid time of nineteen minutes, one | or only eleven seconds more | than the famous Harvard crews rec | ord trial time in 1906. a week before | their match with Cambridge. The | record time for the race is 1S:47. The | loss of G. E.. Fairbairn, Cambridge's | great bow oar, weakened the crew greatly.
 Oxford was a fine crew but had been | unfortunate in training. l ravaged the camp and two | candidates at bow broke the | blade off.