Oxford narrowly escaped being disqualified just two minutes into the women’s Boat Race. The team encroached into Cambridge water and the oars of both boats collided.
Cambridge rushed into an early lead and Oxford trailing slightly behind. Desperate to catch up, Oxford found themselves drifting towards the Cambridge boat. The two boats came so close together that their oars collided, with Oxford taking the blame over the incident.
As the blades touched for the first time, the BBC‘s commentator announced: “There’s the warning from Matthew Pincent because you can see the blades of Oxford, they’re creeping across. They’re being told with that outstretched white flag of Pincent to get back into their own water.”
The oars then got caught, bringing both boats to a halt and sending one rower out of their seat. However, they did not fall out of the boat.
Both crews tried to continue but the umpire stopped the race. He then suggested resetting both positions and seeing if the outcome of the race was impacted by the collision, but suggested that there could be grounds to immediately disqualify Oxford for moving into Cambridge’s terroritory. « Stop rowing, please. Stop rowing! Both crews stop rowing, » shouted Pincent from his boat behind the two teams.
Pincent turned to a member of the officiating team and said: « My suggestion is that we reset [the positions] and see if it affects the outcome of the race. Or do you think that’s a straight DQ? »
The commentator continued: « My goodness, it might be a straight DQ for Oxford here. Matthew Pinsent is asking the question… »
However, Pincent ultimately decided against disqualifying Oxford, instead restarting the race and handing Cambridge an advantage of a third of a length. It was the first time the race had been restarted since 2012.
Boat Race rule seven states: “In the event of a foul occurring either crew may claim, to the umpire, that the other crew be disqualified.
« If the crew making the claim was in its proper course, and the crew against whom the claim is made was out of its proper course, the latter shall be disqualified unless the foul was so slight as not to influence the race. In this case the crew against who the claim was made shall only be disqualified if, in the opinion of the umpire, it has seriously or deliberately encroached on the course of the crew making the claim.”
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