Rowing: Leander beaten by a length

THE NATIONAL squad eight racing as Queen's Tower won the Tideway Head of the River Race on Saturday by approximately a length from Leander.

Leander rowed over on their own after London, a lightweight crew starting second, had hung back. The Leander cox, David Nelson, was accused of having his telescope to the wrong eye around Chiswick steps where strokeside blades were scraping the bank, meanwhile Queen's Tower, were drawn on by a close tussle with London. Four seconds adrift at Hammersmith, Leander had gained a little, rowing at 37 strokes to the minute, over the last half mile.

Cambridge won the Women's Boat Race in an otherwise "dark blue" day at Henley. The tail wind varied from benign to unhelpfully strong. Oxford in winning the lightweights women's race broke the record by over 16 seconds, and 30 minutes later the Cambridge Blue Boat did the same time to break their record set in 1995 by just one second, but in much less wind. The Lightweight Men were fastest overall with Oxford winning in 5min 31sec.