Xchanging Boat Race 2010
The 2010 Xchanging Boat Race on Saturday 3 April – the 156th Race in the series between Oxford and Cambridge Universities – will see 14 of the 18 oarsmen making their first appearance in the Race.
Only four Blues are set to return from the 2009 Race and three of those are in the Cambridge boat attempting to stop Oxford winning for a fifth time in six years. They include American club President Deaglan McEachern at 6, last year’s President and stroke Henry Pelly and Canadian bow Rob Weitemeyer. The Light Blues also feature three rowers from the 2009 Goldie boat that lost to Isis – Englishmen Fred Gill and George Nash, plus American Code Sternal. The boat contains four Englishmen, three Americans and two Canadians.
The Oxford boat features the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, sitting next to each other at 3 & 4, plus President Sjoerd Hamburger, the giant 6’ 9” Dutchman who is the Dark Blues sole returning Blue. Also included is 20-year-old Ben Meyers from Kingston-Upon-Thames who was a development squad member last year and has risen to prominence in recent weeks to take the bow seat. The Oxford stroke is another Englishman, Charlie Burkitt from Nottingham. The Oxford boat is made up of three Americans, two Englishmen, one with dual British & Canadian nationality, and individuals from Germany, Holland and Ireland.
Commenting on his selection for his second Race as Cambridge Chief Coach, Chris Nilsson said: “Last year we had five returning Blues, but it’s going to be a good crew with a combination of some international experience and exciting new talent. The choice of cox went down to the wire and it was a close thing between Ted Randolph and Liz Box.” Had Liz made the boat, Cambridge would have been coxed by a female for four consecutive years, as Rebecca Dowbiggin steered the Light Blues in the last three Races.
Oxford Chief Coach Sean Bowden, who had three returning Blues in 2009, said: “This crew has the potential to be right up there with our better crews in recent years and is improving technically all the time.”
Cambridge currently lead the series that began in 1829 with 79 wins to Oxford’s 75, with one Race declared a dead-heat in 1877. The Race will be screened live on BBC One television.
More details can be found at www.theboatrace.org
The confirmed crews are as follows:
| Oxford | Cambridge | |
| Ben Myers (Exeter College – GB) | Bow | Rob Weitemeyer (St. Edmund’s – Can) |
| Martin Walsh (Green Templeton – Ire) | 2 | Fred Gill (Hughes Hall – GB) |
| Tyler Winklevoss (Christ Church – USA) | 3 | Code Sternal (Hughes Hall – USA) |
| Cameron Winklevoss (Christ Ch – USA) | 4 | Peter McCelland (Pembroke – Can) |
| Sjoerd Hamburger (Oriel – Ned) | 5 | George Nash (St. Catharine’s – GB) |
| Matt Evans (University – Can/GB) | 6 | Deaglan McEachern (Hughes Hall – USA) |
| Simon Gawlik (Kellogg – Ger) | 7 | Derek Rasmussen (Hughes Hall – USA) |
| Charlie Burkitt (Wolfson – GB) | Stroke | Henry Pelly (St. Edmund’s – GB) |
| Adam Barhamand (Wolfson – USA) | Cox | Ted Randolph (Peterhouse – GB) |
