The University Boat Club Squads for the 2011 Xchanging Boat Race Announced

October 20, 2010

The University Boat Club squads for the 2011 Xchanging Boat Race have been
announced and they include one of the biggest concentrations of home grown
oarsmen and undergraduates for many years.

Nearly three out of four squad members (72%) are British and many are also
undergraduates. More than a third (19) originate from London, while others
come from various parts of the country including Bournemouth, Cheltenham,
Chester, Colchester, Guildford, Nottingham, Sheffield, Taunton, Truro and
Warrington.

Oxford include 22 British rowers and coxes in a total squad of 27, while
Cambridge have 17 Britons in a squad of the same size. Both squads include
22 rowers and five coxswains – and both feature 12 undergraduates.

Six other nationalities are represented in the respective squads, compared
with eight last year. Oxford include two Swiss rowers, one German and one
Canadian, plus an American cox. With only one American in the squad, Oxford
are certain to break a run of 25 years, having had at least two Americans
in every Blue Boat since 1985; while Cambridge have a more cosmopolitan
group composed of five Australians, two Canadians, two Americans and one
individual from New Zealand.

Cambridge have four returning Blues – President Derek Rasmussen from
Maryland, Canadian Geoff Roth, George Nash from Guildford and Australian
Hardy Cubasch from the 2009 boat – to Oxford’s one, President and last
year’s bow in the Dark Blue boat Ben Myers.

There are five returning Goldie crew members in the Cambridge squad.
Britons Joel Jennings, Mike Thorp and cox Liz Box as well as Hardy Cubasch
from the winning 2010 reserve boat, plus James Strawson who rowed in the
losing 2009 boat.

Oxford have four members of the losing Isis boat in 2010 in the new squad
– Doug Bruce and Alec Dent from Britain who also won with Isis in 2009,
German Moritz Hafner and American cox Jack Carlson.

The last time Oxford had just one American in the Blue Boat was more than
25 years ago in 1984 when cox Seth Lesser steered them to victory.

The 2011 Race will be the first experience of the event for the new
Cambridge Chief Coach Steve Trapmore, who won a Gold medal for Britain at
the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The last Light Blue coach to win an Olympic
Gold was James MacNabb, who won his medal in 1924 and coached the winning
boat in 1951.

“I’m very pleased to have so many returning Blues and Goldies who give
the squad a thorough grounding in what’s needed to win the Race,” said
Steve.

In contrast, 2011 will be Oxford Chief Coach Sean Bowden’s 19th year of
being associated with the event. “But I’m still as enthusiastic about
the Race as ever,” he said. “We have a very young bunch of guys and we
must finish the second half of the Race more strongly if we are to win.”

The 157th Boat Race sponsored by Xchanging will be staged at 17:00 on
Saturday 26 March and screened live on BBC 1 within a two-hour programme.
The 2010 Race was also televised in more than 200 countries around the
world.