Saturday, March 26, 2005

The Boat Race (Need We Say More?)

Most of you probably know that rowing has become a big part of my life since my two daughters have become involved with the sport here in Hamilton. And now Jaime is rowing for the University of Victoria on the West Coast.

I didn't know much about the sport, but I've become hooked, to put it mildly. So I thought I'd let you know about one of the biggest events of the year, The Boat Race, which is running Easter Sunday at about 2 pm, London time (10 am EST).

It's the annual challenge race between the crews from Oxford and Cambridge that's been going on for 150 years each spring in London. This is a big event in London, with major newspaper, TV and radio coverage in the days leading up to the race itself. Over 250,000 people will line the banks of the Thames River in the centre of London to watch, and you can even listen live if you want, over the Internet.

I had hoped that it might be on TV here in Canada, but while TSN has the rights to show the race, I can't find any mention of it in their schedule. Nor can I find anyone who's offering a live video feed over the Internet.

The BBC has been the official media sponsor of the race in past years (view the 2004 race here if you have a Real Audio player) but this year, ITV has been given the rights.

There's also a nice Canadian angle to this year's race, as reported here in today's Globe and Mail.

Even if you're not much into rowing, you'll have fun checking out all the stuff about the race on the various websites. It's a big deal for a lot of us.

UPDATE -- Oxford beat Cambridge on Sunday.

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