Crew Alums Compete In Wild England Boat Race

Where do you go after finishing a Harvard rowing career measured by historical benchmarks and raced in 150-year-old regattas? To England, of course, the only place to find a rowing event known as “The Boat Race” running for its 149th year.

Cambridge has more in common with Harvard than the house system and prefects. It also carries on a legendary rivalry with Oxford. Hundreds of thousands attended The Boat Race between the two nemeses, and the BBC estimated that 7.7 million people watched as Oxford won the closest Boat Race in history by just a foot.

“As soon as we got out, there were thousands of people out there, and TV cameras everywhere—absolute mayhem,” said Wayne Pommen ’02, the captain of Harvard’s heavyweight crew last year. “You’d never see anything like that at a U.S. college rowing event.”

Among the Light Blues left in second place by a mere .05 seconds were coxswain Jim Omartian ’02 and three seat Hugo Mallinson ’02. Pommen was set to row in the bow seat for the Cambridge Blue Boat until he fractured his left wrist last Friday when his boat collided with a harbour master launch.

“It was just one of those freak accidents,” Pommen said. “It was pretty scary actually.”

In the vulnerable bow position, Pommen was the only rower to suffer significant injury, though the No. 2 seat hit his head and the Light Blues broke three oars. The boat had been warming up to do practice starts on the busy Thames River.

“When you’re a coxswain with a 6’7, 220-lb. guy in front of you, it’s hard to see things all the time,” Pommen said. “Also, the ship we hit wasn’t necessarily in the right place.”

After futilely arguing with doctors, Pommen was stuck high and dry.

“I’ve been training since September for the race, that being the major focus of our season,” Pommen said. “Obviously, it’s very disappointing, but the main thing was just helping the other guys to get on with the job.”

Pommen’s replacement, 19-year-old Ben Smith, heightened the drama. Ben’s brother, Matt Smith, is the President of Oxford’s boat. Between that duo and James and David Livingston—rowing for Cambridge and Oxford, respectively—the Boat Race was now the first with two pairs of brothers rowing in opposing boats.

After the ruckus of the training, the race itself brought no less drama. Though the first turn in the course was in the Dark Blues’ favor, Oxford could not advance on the Light Blues, and at the mile marker, Cambridge had a third of a length’s lead and remained a second ahead of the Dark Blues at the Hammersmith Bridge.

However, Oxford pushed back, and even cuffed oars with Mallinson and Smith in the Light Blue boat, grabbing a two-second advantage by the Barnes Bridge. With little space to rally, Cambridge pulled its stroke rating up to 44 strokes per minute, unheard of in the last legs of the race.

The boats crossed the finish line together and the crews sat dazed and exhausted, waiting to hear the winner announced. At last, the ruling came, and Oxford was declared victorious by the smallest margin in Race history.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.