COMMENT: The Boat Race

I'll lay my cards on the table: I love The Boat Race, and it's not just because I went to Oxford. As a kid, long before I even contemplated going to university, my family would always huddle round the television, two of us supporting Oxford, two of us cheering on Cambridge (bizarrely, perhaps, I was always a Cambridge supporter in my pre-Oxford days!).

I never rowed at Uni - much too much like hard work, and stupid early mornings didn't fit with my personal version of being an undergraduate - but I always enjoyed watching my college friends wear themselves out at Torpids or Eights Week - and, of course, I'd watch The Boat Race and cheer on the Dark Blues in the hope we'd beat Fenland Poly.

I seem to remember that, during those years, Oxford had a habit of coming second.

And today, with my life at university a fading, distant memory, The Boat Race remains one of the year's big events that always get priority in my calendar - along with the Eurovision Song Contest and the F.A. Cup Final!

I know there are lots of people who don't care about it. And that's fine but even if you watch it as simply an amazing demonstration of fitness and sporting achievement it's surely worth a watch?

Each year, of course, the same cynical anti-Oxbridge jokes get wheeled out by those with an entire bowl of chips balanced on their shoulders.

"Well done to Oxford and Cambridge for qualifying for The Boat Race final again this year." Ho ho ho! Such wit! So clever! Probably explains why they were rejected by Oxbridge.

Of course, it's a private event. A direct challenge from one university to the other in a rivalry, across a multitude of sports, that dates back beyond Englsnd/Scotland football matches, or battles for The Ashes!

The race, itself, lasts less than 20 minutes, the physical endurance is amazing, the tactics can be ferocious and, of course, there's always the chance of a sinking.

Hurrah for The Boat Race! Long may it prosper.