Oxford v. Cambridge

The two crews jerked away from the starting line together, but before they had moved 200 yards up the Thames the race was really over. Cambridge, stroked for the third year by Thomas A. Brocklebank, had settled into a smooth, fast stroke, a half-length ahead. Oxford, whose crews have failed to win since 1923, was splashing the water unrhythmically, losing distance.

Oxford still had a chance at the mile post. Ranking, 97-lb. Cambridge coxswain, steered too close to shore and lost a half-length. Two miles farther, the Oxford boat rolled in choppy water. Stroke Holdsworth grazed the surface with his oar. At Barnes Bridge where the Thames narrows near Mortlake, Cambridge was three lengths in front. Brocklebank, watching the Oxford shell, eased down his stroke. When his boat slid over the line a good two lengths in front, Stroke Brocklebank slipped his feet out of the slides, waved his legs at the crowd.

In the crowd, estimated at a million persons, were 20 who fell into the hold of a dismantled barge, had to be hoisted out by derrick.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.