Protestor Arrested as Legendary Boat Race Ends in Disarray

Olympic Planners Express Security Concerns As Rogue Swimmer Halts Action

LONDON, England -- You’ve heard the one about the guy who goes to the fight and a hockey game breaks out? Well, something similar happened here over the weekend, when The Boat Race, a quintessentially English event matching rowers from Oxford and Cambridge, suddenly disintegrated into a political protest and a runaway win for Cambridge.

About halfway through the four mile race, a protestor emerged from the water, square in the path of the oncoming boats.  Olympic champion and assistant umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent raised his red flag, stopping the race as a police boat sped to the scene, siren blaring, to arrest the interloper.

Oxford (foreground) and Cambridge oarsmen battle before protestor interrupts race and causes restart. After Oxford broke an oar, Cambridge won easily to forge ahead  81-77 in the historic 158-year tradition  known simply as The Boat Race. As you can see it was not a Chamber of Commerce type day.

If that wasn’t enough, once the race restarted, the Oxford crew broke an oar allowing Cambridge to gain the easy win. Then at the finish line, Alex Woods, who tended the bow for Oxford, collapsed unconscious. After finally being noticed amid the tumult, Woods was attended to by teammates, and then rushed to a hospital where doctors said he was expected to recover.

The interloper, a “bloke” named Trenton Oldfield, was protesting the elitism symbolized by the race between two of Britain’s top-tier educational institutions. Previous races have been marred by demonstrators carrying signs and placards, but this time Oldfield took the protest to a new level. In fact in a 2,000 word internet post he explained his deep-seated feelings about the privileged class and the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots.

After all was said and done there was no presentation ceremony. The mayor was told “Thanks for stoppin’ by.” And the buzz from the day’s happenings continued well into the night and beyond.

While the Oxford Cambridge race, now 158 years old with Cambridge holding a 81-77 lead, will undoubtedly live on, the implications for what went on this week reach beyond the race itself.

Construction continues on London's Olympic Stadium. All will be in readiness for the July Opening Ceremonies.

London is the site of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which are scheduled to start in just a few months. While the facilities are shaping up nicely, there remains the ever-present concern about security. And what happened on the Thames this week didn’t make London Olympic Organizing Committee (LOCOG) officials feel any better. Yes, there will be 25,000 police and military personnel watching over the Games, but as we know from Atlanta and now from The Boat Race, it’s almost impossible to stop a renegade who is intent on causing trouble.

Quick Take…While in London, we (my son, Brian, an Executive MBA student at Oxford was with me) also toured the 2012 London Olympic venues. Although we did not take an organized tour (they are free and available if you book far enough in advance), we were able to eavesdrop on several of the professional guides and go to an observation deck designed to provide an optimal view of all the construction. There are many extraordinary and unique structures such as the stingray-shaped Aquatics Center, and the Velodrome, called the Pringle because of its resemblance to the crispy snack. The big, but rather ordinary Olympic Stadium will seat 80,000 . The centerpiece of the construction is what is known as the Orbit (below), a spiraling tower that will serve as an observation center. As we listened in on the guide, we heard him mention the Atlanta Games and some of the lessons learned. He said the athlete’s village will be much closer to the venues than in Atlanta. As will the press center, which is immediately behind the stadium and is geared to accommodate 20,000 journalists. London will be the only city to have hosted the Games three times (1908 and 1948 were the other two).  And with construction nearing completion and excitement building among the populous, this one will likely be its best ever. The Games run from July 27-August 12.

The Orbit, part of the legacy of London's 2012 Olympic Games