Rowing

Beginning with rugby, many sports originated in Britain, and there are lots of British people who enjoy sports on a daily basis. It is amazing how many sports clubs there are at Oxford University. In the town, too, there are many sports facilities. Anyone wanting to take part in sports would find Oxford a well-endowed environment.

Probably the best known sports club in Oxford is the rowing club. The annual boat race between the Oxford and Cambridge clubs has been held ever year since 1829. I was fortunate in being able to watch the race in two consecutive years. The first was in March 1984. On the 17th, the scheduled date of the race, the Cambridge boat, while practising for the race that day, crashed into a barge which was anchored nearby and was badly damaged. As a result, the race was put off until the following day. So I went to the Thames again on the 18th and saw the race from on board another boat. The river banks were crammed with spectators and the shouts of encouragement to the crews never ended. As the Oxford boat went downstream and the river became wider there was a slight curve where there was the usual competition between the two crews to determine which side to take on the curve. Oxford won both the races I saw.

There were rowing clubs in each college. At Merton the crew would be up at six in the morning running and training, I gathered that one of the crew members was inclined to over-sleep; so the other members of the crew would go to his room and wake him up. When I was invited to the rowing club party in my first term I was asked whether I would like to be their cox, but I declined as I had only rowed a number of times in a four in Japan and had no experience of an eight. However, in my second year I felt that I really would like to row a boat on the Thames. So I asked the captain of the rowing club if I could join in the practice and he willingly agreed. Some days later, I found a rough note in my pigeon hole listing the days, times and place for practice.