Picture quizzes seem to be all the rage these last few days in the little corner of the boating blogosphere which I frequent. So here is another one for you...
Where did this race take place?
What year?
Who were the crews?
Who won?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Picture Quiz
Picture quizzes seem to be all the rage these last few days in the little corner of the boating blogosphere which I frequent. So here is another one for you...
Where did this race take place?
What year?
Who were the crews?
Who won?
13 comments:
On a lake
Yesteryear
Red and Blue
Those who got the gun
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Thames River (CT, USA)
18xx
Harvard & Yale
Harvard
I have it:
Thames (Putney to Marlake)
1869 (August 27th)
Harvard vs. Oxford
Oxford prevailed in an "eventful" finish
As a former Yale oarsman, I am delighted by this outcome! Amazing account attached in link below...
http://www.rowinghistory.net/1869.htm
Do I get extra credit if I mention that the depiction was by Currier and Ives?
typo.. Putney to Mortlake
Mojo: If I had only said river, this contest would have been over hours ago.
Well done Mojo. It's good to see someone other than Baydog or O Docker be first with the right answer on one of these quizzes. And there is a fascinating coverage of the race at the link you cited. It sounds as if this race had as much, if not more, impact on the rowing world as the first America's Cup race did on sailing.
Yes Tillerman, it would appear that that the Great International Boat Race had an incredible impact on the development of college rowing (in particular) in the U.S. Hard to believe that as many as 750,000 people (as estimated in the account) may have watched the 1869 race, but the various depictions in the account don't seem to belie the estimate.
This is a great story.
There are all kinds of lessons here about why it took until the mid-nineteenth century for organized international competitions and intermural sports to really take off. It's about developing technology and changing social patterns as much as it is about sports.
I love how the story is told using reports and illustrations from contemporary journals.
And illustrators were bending the truth 120 years before Photoshop!
Excellent, Mojo!
The incredible crowds that gathered to watch rowing races in the 19th century were there only partly for sport - mainly for gambling on the outcome.
Two developments made professional sport possible - Saturday afternoons off work and the arrival of the railways.
Go Cambridge go!!
....what...they weren't out on the river?
Ok, whatever.
Apparently Harvard challenged both Oxford and Cambridge to an international challenge race but Cambridge showed little enthusiasm and declined the offer.
For the record, Oxford may have beaten Harvard in 1869, but Cambridge went on to thrash Oxford in the Boat Race (the one that really counts) in each of the next five years.
Go Cambridge go!!
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