Kiwis in world famous boat race
Three Kiwis will hammer it out for honours in the world famous Oxford v Cambridge University boat race on London’s Thames River.
Canterbury’s Anna Dawson and Alice White, formerly of Hamilton, will row for Cambridge on Monday (NZ Time), while Harriet Austin of Wanganui will be going for glory in the Oxford eight.
Dawson, a former Rangi Ruru Girl’s School rower was in the New Zealand junior world championship crew before leaving to study at Stanford University on a scholarship.
She is now in her first year at Cambridge studying education and psychology, which she said were her two passions outside of rowing. She is studying for a PhD in clinical psychology, and wants to become a licensed clinical psychologist.
Dawson has been rowing since 2005 and has achieved several awards, including 2014 Pac-12 female athlete of the year. She was a three-time all-American athlete, twice won Stanford’s most valuable rower award and collected a silver and a gold at the under-23 world championships and junior world championships, respectively.
Known as the ‘Championship Course’, the course is 4.374 miles (6.8km) long and stretches between Putney and Mortlake in south west London. It regularly reels in over 5 million viewers in the UK alone and 250,000 spectators line the banks of the River Thames.
The course was first used for the Boat Race in 1845 and has been running since, but it was only two years ago in 2015 that the women’s race first joined the men’s on the same day and over the same distance.
Dawson said it was a ‘‘surreal’’ feeling to be in an event that dates back to 1829 - 11 years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
‘‘The tradition and history surrounding the race is unparalleled, and would be an honour to be a part of,’’ she said.
The famous River Thames Boat Race is yet another great achievement for the 26-year-old.
‘‘Three words spring to mind challenge, excitement and excellence – it is truly a one in a million experience.’’
It was her uncle, Warren Campbell, who first inspired her to take up rowing as he was a New Zealand under-23 representative.
‘‘Apparently after I was born, and after seeing the size of my thighs, he said, ‘She’s definitely going to be a rower’. From there, he always talked about how great the sport of rowing was, which eventually led me to join my high school rowing team.’’
Beyond the boat, Dawson had played several sporting codes including netball, basketball, swimming, hockey and athletics where she was a 100-200m regional representative sprinter.
White, 24, moved from England to Hamilton when she was 12 and earned a bronze medal with New Zealand at the 2011 world junior championships. She completed a science degree at UCLA in Los Angeles and received a bronze medal in the Great Britain women’s eight at the world under23 championships in 2015.
Austin, 28, rowed in the New Zealand women’s eight at the 2010 world championships at Lake Karapiro. She is a Massey University commerce graduate.
Both the men’s and women’s boat races are rowed upstream and are usually timed an hour before high tide, with the women up first so they often row with the fastest possible current.
Fans of the race love it because it has a lot more drama and status than any other rowing regatta in the world. There are no medals for second place, just two historic rivals battling it out for the yearly honour.
For the women, the results are flush in Cambridge’s favour with 41 wins over Oxford’s 30. The men’s margins are closer with Cambridge leading 82-79.
The first women’s boat race took place in 1927, while the men’s race dates further back to 1829.
This annual event is now one of the oldest sporting rivalries in the world.
Kiwi men have featured in the race over the years, including Olympic bronze medallist George Bridgewater, who won with Oxford in 2009 alongside four other Olympians.
Christchurch brothers Sam and James O’Connor helped Oxford win the title in 2015.