Sunday 27th March 2005, Mortlake.
"It has the makings of a great race" predicted Cambridge coach Robin Williams a few days ago. His crystal ball must have been malfunctioning because Goldie stormed to victory over their Oxford rivals Isis in a rather dull procession. Impressive training outings have led to them being dubbed 'the other Blue Boats', but today Isis failed to live up to their billing.
As predicted, the start proved crucial. Cambridge got away hard and fast on the Surrey station and never looked back. The calm composure of the stern pair, German international Volker Utesch and President Andrew Shannon saw them establish a long fluid rhythm and they had clear water by the Black Buoy. Cox Russ Glenn was shocked that they lost contact with Isis so early. "We had expected them to go off hard and fast. My boys just did it stroke by stroke and it worked. We rowed the race of our lives."
Isis in contrast looked rushed and unsettled; they seemed to be chasing rate rather than rhythm. Twice Blue Dave Livingston expressed his frustration. "When you are down it is so hard to find your pattern and unfortunately we went down really early. We pushed and pushed but we just couldn't come back."
Goldie smashed the 1999 reserves record of 16:58 by 10 seconds. They crossed the line in a time of 16:48. The fast time is a testimony to the determination of the crew who were unchallenged for most of the race. Glenn "knew it was fast but I didn't have a watch on it so the crew had no idea." Coach Donald Legget frantically urged his crew on from the launch when it became clear that the race for the record was on. Five man James Orme confessed that they didn't execute their planned push around Barnes. "Volker kept it steady because we had a comfortable lead, it's a good job we broke the record otherwise we'd have been kicking ourselves!"
The victory for Goldie was sweet revenge for 5 members of the crew who suffered defeat at the hands on Isis last year. Oliver de Groot, Kyle Coveny, James Orme, Colin Scott and Ed Sherwood were men on a mission. "We sat down last night and had a long talk about what this meant to us" said de Groot. "We wanted to conquer Isis, it is all I've wanted since last year's defeat. It feels great right now."
Victory was bittersweet though for the Goldie crew who then had to watch their Blue Boat suffer defeat at the hands of the Dark Blues. For President Andrew Shannon it was a particularly tough day. As he and his crew landed at Mortlake shore he stressed 'the job is only half done'. Half an hour later he was inconsolable. "I felt awful watching the TV. I couldn't do anything to help the boys, it was the worst feeling." Ever since Shannon accepted the challenge but then didn't name himself in the crew he has emphasised his commitment to producing two winning crews. He clearly feels a responsibility for his Blue Boat. "I just keep questioning myself, what else could I have done? Where did I go wrong?" Maybe in time though he may find consolation in his crew's record-breaking row that secured his place in the history books as the first CUBC president to win in Goldie.
In contrast Isis seem to be finding some consolation in their Blue Boat's victory. They welcomed the crew home with open arms despite being in obvious distress and they proudly took the winning shell off the water. "They avenged my defeat last year" said Livingston as he hugged former crew mate, and current house mate, Oxford 3 man Pete Reed. "They've shown that Oxford can row away from Cambridge and that the Cambridge 'rhythm' is no such a special thing. This isn't how I wanted to end my time at Oxford though."
Goldie beat Isis by 5 lengths in a time of 16:48 setting a new record for the reserves race.
U niversity Stone to: Goldie Isis Mile Post 3.39 3.44 Hammersmith Bridge 6.28 6.34 Chiswick Steps 10.20 10.29 Barnes Bridge 13.57 14.11 Finish 16.48 17.03
Post-script
There was excitement before Isis and Goldie had even taken their first
stroke. Umpire Pete Bridge had them under starters orders when his launch
engine failed. Isis watched with alarm as the boat drifted towards them.
They remained composed though and pushed the stalled launch away. The
engine was eventually restarted and the race got underway. Goldie 5 man
James Orme joked afterwards "We did wonder whether the umpire was going to
keep us with us after that. We had visions of us clashing all the way down
the course with no-one to keep us apart!"