I don’t know anything about the sport of rowing except for the fact that it takes place on water and is about propelling a boat with muscle power as fast as possible, but I watched the Boat Race between the two old English universities yesterday, mostly because I’m planning to commence postgraduate study in Oxford (who, incidentally, won the race) this fall.
I think it’s a really interestingg event, first of all, of course, because of its history. A sporting event which has been taking place every year (with some exceptions) for some 170 years with little change in rules or format must have something to it which captures the minds of people. It seems to be typically British that this tradition of sportsmanship is upheld in this manner. And it also seems a challenge from the pure sporting point of view since, at least from what I can judge by having watched the TV coverage, the waters on the Thames were rather rough. The event seems to be commercialized quite a bit, with the emblems of official sponsors being displayed, but it keeps its spirit.
One thing which I’d like to know: Are the crew of the boats actually students studying at the respective universities in the usual manner, or have the universities adopted the manner of formally enrolling top-class oarsmen just in order to put them in the boats? The latter seems to be done in college sports occasionally, and it was common as a way of evading the Olympic ban on professional athletes which was lifted not too long ago.