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The Boat Race .

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anneasquith | 18:15 Sun 26th Mar 2023 | Sport
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We settled down to watch the boat race, but guess who was presenting it . ?Clare bloo**=Balding, she is everywhere.
:-(. Who won ?
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Thanks jno! I agree with you! Prudie, it's a complete waste of money. An upper class piece of showboating that has no value whatsoever. Tradition my armpit!
Just like those who like the boat race aren't all upper class toffee nosed showboats jno but why does that matter when you want to diss the whole thing. Hyperbole can work both ways.
prudie: "Watching the boat race on TV was a big deal when I was growing up. So sad that we have kowtowed to those with views like 10CS, slowly all our traditions are being diminished by the low life. " - Yes prudie, well said, it's sad that the anti British, lefty 5C types love to denigrate our traditions. As kids we all picked a side and watched it every year and we are about as far from posh as you can get. I've always backed Cambridge, going through bad patch these days!
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Thank you all for the replies .
10cs: " it's a complete waste of money. " - who's money? what does it cost the nation?
it seems Cambridge won, I thought someone said above it was Oxford.
//As kids we all picked a side and watched it every year and we are about as far from posh as you can get.//

Indeed Tora. I also get a bit miffed when I hear talk of being only for “posh” people. I’m far from posh but I know a little about rowing as I rowed at school for over four years. Being a little on the light side and right-handed I usually rowed at Bow or three. I never made it to the first eight but was a regular member of the school’s 2nd VIII. For a year I was the school’s “Deputy Captain of Boats.” I participated in the “Schools Head of the River Race” (SHORR) for three years (it’s called a “race” but is actually a time trial) and our 2nd VIII boat finished eighth in my last outing. This sounds a bit of a failure but there were then (and still are) around 250 eights taking part. We beat a number of public schools who definitely were “posh” and were renowned for their rowing (including Eton and Winchester, as well as the Tideway Scullers School) but most importantly of all we beat our school’s first eight, who finished a lowly 20th. Having such a large field with a wide spread of starting times, a crew can get lucky with the wind and especially the outgoing tide, and odd results like ours is not that unusual.

Like the Varsity race it’s a tough event, taking place on The Tideway and being rowed near enough over the Boat Race course but in reverse, from Chiswick Bridge to Putney. There is also a fair bit of rowing to do getting from your host boathouse to the start. At over four miles it takes it out of the participants – well it did me and I always felt after about ten minutes that I wanted to die, and five minutes after that I wished I had! But you had to keep going for the good of your crew and the school. And after all that you had to get back to your hosts’ place.

Every year we hear these opinions of the Boat Race and it always saddens me. There seems to be a lot of envy disguised as unjustified disgust. Mrs NJ and I always have a 10p bet on the event (she’s Oxford and I’m Cambridge for no particular reason) and we watch the race with a beer – and 10p - in hand. I’m still in touch with a couple of my fellow crewmembers and we try to get down to the Tideway to watch the SHORR most years to watch the event (though it has to be said that the liquid lunch that follows seems equally important) and I always feel proud that I was once part of that spectacle. There’s nothing posh about rowing – it’s just that too few schools provide the facilities for it. But that’s no reason to run it down.
It's the lefty way judge, sneering hatred of things for no good reason. Sad people.
Well said, NJ. I wonder what criteria 10C uses to define it as for the upper class - they're just students.
// I'm far from posh but...I rowed at school //

Hilarious as always NJ. Well done mate. (Laughter emoji)
lots of state schools do rowing tomus.
Cambridge did the double.

I don’t think I’ve watched it on tv since the 1970s.
I can understand people watching it from the actual river and making an occasion of it but the race itself on the telly always struck me as dull as one crew always seemed to be miles ahead well before halfway.
When Oxford sank in 1978 I missed it!
Rowing was big at our school and we’ve had several Olympians
Is that the traditional light blue
Cge blue is that awful light greeny thingy
It's the lefty way judge, sneering hatred of things for no good reason. Sad people.

is this the man TTT that squawked loud and clear about a Certain Person ( PP, me) allowed to insult at will

and Naomi waded in feet first ( as one does when one wades) threatening burning at the stake or castration unless I was more mimsy.

I believe it is

( er just rying to pour oil soothe even stormy er waters)

please note proles and skool skippers, I AM more mimsy
//Hilarious as always NJ. Well done mate.//

Nothing hilarious in that, tomus.

When I was at school my father was a painter & decorator, my mother a wages clerk. I think the "poshest" (i.e. most well off) member of my rowing crew was a boy whose father owned a furniture shop. Many of my form mates lived in council flats or houses. We lived in a rented house and my school was in Inner London. There was nothing remotely posh about any of us. We were just youngsters at an inner city school.

Among the other alumnae of my school were four members of the group Spandau Ballet (only Martin Kemp was educated elsewhere). I met Gary Kemp at the school's 400th anniversary celebrations. He didn't seem posh either (but I don't believe he rowed).

//Rowing was big at our school and we’ve had several Olympians//

You must be very posh then, ikky !!! :-)
The more of Prudie's comments I read, the more I like her.
I didn't realise I was upper class! I'm in total agreement with Prudie. One of my loveliest memories is watching the boat race on TV with my Dad, sitting on his bed, just weeks before he died! Rowing is a sport for all.

Anyone for Pimm's?

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