Rowing in England and America.

The training of the English crews presents many remarkable differences to one who is familiar with rowing in American Universities. In the first place, in England no such things as rowing tanks and very few rowing machines are used. It is an exceptional thing for the Thames to be frozen at Oxford and the crews always begin their practice on the river early in January if not before. As each of the twenty colleges which make up Oxford University has at least one crew, it is no infrequent sight to see twenty five eight-oared crews on the river at one time. Each college has a barge moored to the bank, painted in its colors and containing besides a dressing room, lockers and a cosy reading room. The 'varsity men of course have a barge to themselves.

When the crews are at home there is little coaching by launch. The tow path which extends along on both banks of the river offers a fine coaching ground, and the coach running on foot or galloping on horseback, yells his comments to the men.

The strict training does not begin until about six weeks before the race. Then the men usually take their breakfasts and dinners together, but their luncheons where they please. They do not eat at any one place as is the custom with us, but by dining in each other's rooms, at the clubs and different restaurants, they get a great variety of food.

The feature of the training, however, that would most surprise us here is the high sportsmanlike spirit with which the crews treat each other. During the three weeks before the race they live within a stone's throw of each other and practice within plain sight of each other. It is not uncommon for one crew to lie on their oars and watch their rivals row by at full speed and on time. There is no attempt made, by spreading reports that one man is ill and that another will probably be unable to row, to deceive each other in regard to the relative strength of the crews.

In regard to the actual rowing itself, the Englishman leans further back, and in finishing his stroke, is quite out of a perpendicular: he also brings his hands up to his chest before finishing his stroke and shooting out again. With us, on the contrary, the man ends his stroke while sitting up almost straight, just a very little out of the perpendicular and with his hands several inches from his chest. No matter how rapidly the English crew is rowing, the stroke must always be pulled through in exactly the same way. In this then, that the English crews row a longer stroke, lies the chief difference.

A minor one is that they do not insist as strongly as we do that the back shall be kept perfectly straight. If a man can row better so, they do not object to a slight curve of the shoulders. In the management of the slide, too, there are some differences. The Americans start their slides very fast, then slow them up about half way, and gradually come to a full stop. The Englishmen get their hands away very quickly, but slide forward slowly all the way.

Finally among the English crews nearly all the men swing a little bit out of the line of the boat. This swing is very little, indeed but still it is quite perceptible. The coaches always try to correct this but do not rigidly insist upon it.