Oxford win Lightweight Boat Race with two Teddy Hall rowers in the crew!

On Saturday 23 March the Oxford vs Cambridge Lightweight Boat Race was held for the first time ever on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake. The Oxford crew contained two St Edmund Hall athletes: Doug Chesterton (2015, Engineering Science) at Stroke and Tom Schwantje (2017, MPhil in Economics) at Bow.

The main difference between Lightweight rowing and Openweight rowing is that all of the rowers in the crew must weigh an average of 70kg or below. The ‘weigh-in’ for this takes place four hours before the start of the race. In preparation, the athletes train 11 to 12 times per week at the Iffley gym and at the Boat House in Wallingford. Dieting is clearly an integral part of the sport, but on an average day the rowers use over 4000 calories so keeping weight low is not usually too difficult!

Lightweight rowing is famous for producing close racing, and the 2019 race was no different. Oxford won the toss and chose the Surrey station. Cambridge were the slightly quicker crew out the blocks, taking a half-length lead in the first two minutes. Oxford held this gap round the outside of the bend by Craven Cottage, then a few minutes later began to reel Cambridge back in. The two crews went under Hammersmith Bridge dead level, but with Oxford still moving faster and now with the inside of the bend, so they soon took the lead. Contact remained between the crews round the Surrey bend, until Oxford made a decisive move as the crews approached Barnes Bridge. Within one minute, they had suddenly opened up a length of clear water and moved in front of Cambridge. The Oxford crew was described by the commentator as “looking supreme” and they continued to open the gap through to the finish line, winning by 2 ¼ lengths and setting a new course record. This was a truly historic day for the club and for the event, drawing large crowds and a global audience on the live-stream.

Congratulations to both Doug and Tom for being part of this impressive team achievement. Both are experienced sportsmen – with Doug having rowed at Hampton School where he won a gold medal at Schools’ Head and two silver medals at the National Schools’ Rowing Championships. He reached the semi-final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley and also won the U16 GB vs France Match. Tom started rowing in Zwolle, Netherlands, in 2008 and has since gone on to medal at the Dutch National Championships and win the Headship at Summer VIIIs with Keble College in 2018. The pair both rowed in the Lightweight Boat Race in 2017 and then went on to represent the Great Britain at the European University Championships later that year, finishing fourth in the Lightweight Coxless Fours event.

Thanks very much to Doug for providing us with this account of the race!

Watch footage of the race