COMMENT: Bowden must take his share of the credit for Oxford's success

By George Scott

BEHIND every great team lies an even greater coach, and the Boat Race is no exception.

DARK ARTS: Oxford celebrate victory in the 155th Boat Race (Getty Images)

Athletes come and go but, for Oxford, one man has remained consistent in their recent dominance of this proud English event - Sean Bowden.

And yesterday, as his Dark Blues reached the Mortlake finish line three-and-a-half lengths ahead of their Cambridge rivals, Bowden celebrated his seventh win since becoming chief coach at Oxford University Boat Club ten years ago.

It is a remarkable record and one that Cambridge coach Chris Nilsson, losing in his first year at the helm, will need to halt if Cambridge are to maintain their slender lead in the overall Boat Race series, which currently stands at 79-75.

But yesterday was not about Bowden, instead it was about the crew he has spent the past six months assembling - one of his finest by his own admission.

A post-Olympic Boat Race always produces a ripe crop of athletes and this was no different. Fresh from success in Beijing, the Dark Blues lined up with no less than five Olympians.

It was an impressive pedigree that installed them as firm-favourites on the start at Putney and Cambridge, with no Olympians in their eight, looked to have faltered from the off.

Coxswain Rebecca Dowbiggin, competing in her third and final Race for the Light Blues, went to raise her hand to signal that her crew were not ready, just as the umpire shouted "attention".

"We had a terrible start - our first stroke was very disturbed," said Dowbiggin.

However, it wasn't to be a fatal mistake as Cambridge, quick starters throughout their practice fixtures, raced into a quarter-of-a-length lead by Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club.

"I was surprised by how much we seemed to be moving on Oxford despite that," she said.

And from there Dowbiggin steered an aggressive line, pushing Oxford wide onto the Middlesex side to guide her crew into the fastest water.

But, with Cambridge narrowly ahead as they headed under Hammersmith Bridge, it was the experience of Oxford's Olympic-stars, headed by president Colin Smith, that began to show.

Smith has enjoyed a superb twelve months, guiding Great Britain's men's eight to second in Beijing before victory yesterday, his second Boat Race triumph. 

But he does not fit the mould of an Olympic silver medalist. Standing at 6'1" tall, and weighing a modest 87kg, he is an oarsman who has long punched above his weight, relying on his phenomenal work-rate.

And it is indeed testament to the strength of Smith's crew that despite the president stroking the Great Britain's eight, Ante Kusurin was the man who won the battle for the Boat Race stroke seat.

With that, it was between Hammersmith and Chiswick Eyot that the Boat Race was won, with Kusurin raising the stroke rate to 40 strokes-a-minute to edge into the lead, despite being behind early on in a repeat of last year's race.

Oxford rowed with confidence, power and in unison - an impressive feat for a crew assembled from six nations. And it was such ability that crowned the Olympic-stars victorious against the brave wannabes.

Cambridge showed patches of the speed needed to match Oxford but only for shorts periods, and not the full 4.25 miles of the Championship course.

However, next year will see a number of Light Blues return and talented young athletes such as George Nash, a junior world champion, will look to make the step up from Goldie to Blue boat. Bowden, however, will be starting afresh as seven of his eight Blues graduate.

And it is this sense of continuation at Cambridge that provided their dejected president Henry Pelly with some hope at the finish line yesterday.

"We can move on from this. As president of the team I am really proud of the crew. They did a great job in terms of competing with Oxford who are such a strong crew," he said.

"We can learn from this and we will move on."

And now Chris Nilsson, who did not arrive in England until just before Christmas owing to visa problems, has a full-year to move on and learn himself how to build a crew to thwart Sean Bowden.