Row, row, row, your boat....

[Gob]

Boat Race: Swimmer halts contest, bowman collapses at finish line



A dramatic 158th Boat Race had to be halted midway through because of a swimmer in the River Thames, with Cambridge winning the restarted race.

The Oxford and Cambridge boats were side by side after 10 minutes and 30 seconds when the sight of a man in the river forced them to stop.

The swimmer was picked up by a police boat and later arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

After a 31-minute delay, the race was re-started at the halfway point.

Cambridge went on to win with ease after Oxford broke an oar in a clash moments after the resumption but the drama continued after the race.

Oxford bowman Dr Alex Woods collapsed in the boat after they crossed the line and was transferred to the race launch for medical treatment, before being taken to Charing Cross Hospital. His condition is described as stable.

The traditional post-race presentation ceremony was abandoned out of respect for Mr Woods.

Karl Hudspith, president of the Oxford University Boat Club, named the swimmer on Twitter as Trenton Oldfield .

He wrote: "Would like to start by saying that Alex Woods is conscious and will hopefully be OK.

"I'm proud of everyone in the team and how they rowed. They were a credit to themselves and their university.

"Finally to Trenton Oldfiled (sic); my team went through seven months of hell, this was the culmination of our careers and you took it from us."

A closely fought race had looked to be heading for an exciting finish going into the final bend, only for a man wearing a black wetsuit to swim in front of the boats and narrowly avoid being hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.


The intruder was detained and the race restarted

"They almost took his head off," said Sergeant Chris Tranter of the Metropolitan Police.

Race umpire John Garrett halted the race after his assistant, the four-time Olympic champion Sir Matthew Pinsent, spotted the protester in the water just after the crews had passed Chiswick Steps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rowing/17645929

Knowing how seriously and how painfully hard the teams train for this race, I hope the Oxford crew get ten minutes alone with him.

[Gob]

As Oldfield was pulled out of the water by a lifeboat crew, the 35-year-old appeared to have a broad smile on his face. But he was arrested and was later charged with an offence under the Public Order Act, police said.



British media said Oldfield was an Australian activist who gave warning of his protest in an online statement titled: "Elitism leads to tyranny."

"I am swimming into the boats in the hope I can stop them from completing the race and proposing the return of surprise tactics," he apparently wrote.

The two boats were about eight minutes into the race, with Oxford about a third of a length ahead, when the man wearing a black wetsuit swam in front of the two boats, and was nearly hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.

Spectator Mike Emerson said he saw the man come through the trees on the south bank of the river and get into the water long before the boats came past.

"He started swimming, he knew what he was doing," the 60-year-old from Cambridge told AFP.

"He drifted down the river and then he waited near a pontoon until the boats came, and then he deliberately swam out toward the boats."

Umpire John Garrett halted the race after reserve umpire and former British Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent spotted what he thought was debris in the water, which then turned out to be a swimmer.

"We weren't sure what was going to happen, whether he was going to get out of the way in time and then it was quite clear he was just waiting for the boats to come across him, so I had to stop the race and restart," Garrett said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/shock-and-o ... z1rPRGWbv0

Wanker.

[The Hen]

Applied to both and was rejected was he?

[Gob]

A man who disrupted this year's University Boat Race has been found guilty of causing a public nuisance.

Trenton Oldfield, 36, of Myrdle Street, east London, swam into the path of crews, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Oldfield had denied the charge, after the 158th race between Oxford and Cambridge was delayed for about half an hour, on 7 April.

Judge Anne Molyneux said all options were open to the court, including jail, when he is sentenced on 19 October.

"Mr Oldfield has accepted that he disrupted the boat race," she said.

[oldr_n_wsr]

and narrowly avoid being hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.

I'm surprised the rowers in the boats were not arrested.

[Gob]

I'm surprised they didn't aim for him...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Not eights. Coxless pairs maybe

[Gob]

Good stuff!!

A man who disrupted this year's University Boat Race has been jailed for six months for causing a public nuisance.

Trenton Oldfield, 36, of Myrdle Street, east London, swam into the path of crews on 7 April interrupting the 158th race between Oxford and Cambridge.

Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent who was on a launch behind the crews said Oldfield could have been killed.

Oldfield said he was demonstrating against government cuts.

The man, who had moved to the UK from Australia, was also ordered to pay £750 costs.

Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously, disproportionately, had not shown what he was actually protesting against, and displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which he regarded as elitist.

She said: "You did nothing to address inequality by giving yourself the right to spoil the enjoyment of others.

"In doing so, you acted without regard for equality and contrary to the meaning of it.

"You made your decision to sabotage the race based on the membership or perceived membership of its participants of a group to which you took exception.

But following the sentencing, outside court, his wife, Deepa Naik, 35, defended his actions.

"Trenton has spent his adult life working on these issues and his direct action protest was a natural extension of his everyday work," she said.

"Trenton's protest was a reaction to an increasingly brutal business, media and political elite."

"Great Britain has convinced many it is the home of democracy and the gauge of civilisation," she added.

"Anyone living here today knows Britain is a brutal, deeply divided, class-driven place."

[MajGenl.Meade]

But following the sentencing, outside court, his wife, Deepa Naik, 35, defended his actions.

"blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah."

[rubato]

Of course if he was protesting limits on public breastfeeding it would be ok.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

I don't know if I'd call this guy affluent; I'd say he's more of a parasite...

[Gob]

Of course if he was protesting limits on public breastfeeding it would be ok.

Hmmm.. legitimately having a coffee in a cafe while breastfeeding is equivalent to illegally disrupting an event watched by 7 million people. Yep, I can see that.

[Sean]

*Alert*

I think rooby is attempting humour again...

[The Hen]

I laughed.






But I am slightly mad.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I laughed.






But I am slightly mad.

Who are you mad at?