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Dark Blues aim to punch above their weight

This article is more than 20 years old

A Dramatic last-minute change to the line-up of the Cambridge crew has made the outcome of today's 149th Boat Race even less predictable than anticipated. Ben Smith, the 19-year-old stroke of the reserves crew Goldie, has been promoted after the Cambridge bowman Wayne Pommen, 23, fractured his left wrist in an accident on Friday. The Light Blues collided head-on with the harbour master's launch Westbourne during a practice start.

'It has been very hard for Wayne,' said coach Robin Williams. 'We all feel for him. We have had a lot of work to do to settle back in.'

Smith is the younger brother of Oxford's stroke and president Matt and he joins James Livingston, 22, who will also be facing his brother David, 19, the Oxford number six, when the crews line up at 4.30 this afternoon. The last time that brothers raced against each other was in 1900, but two sets of brothers from the same school, Hampton, is a first.

The boat was repaired overnight and Cambridge spent yesterday adjusting to the new man and practising the delayed starts with the umpire Boris Rankov, winner of a record six Boat Races.

For Cambridge the crash is a case of déjà vu. In 1984 they wrote off their boat when they ran into a moored barge minutes before the race which had to be postponed to the next day, the only other time the race has been run on a Sunday. The last time there was such a late enforced crew change was in 1979 when Cambridge stroke John Woodhouse fell ill. On both occasions Cambridge lost.

Even before the crash this year's contest was tipped to be a classic David and Goliath encounter between two contrasting crews. Never has the lighter crew overcome a weight discrepancy of over a stone a man to win this event. Yet Smith believes he can lead his men to victory against a Cambridge crew that weighs an average 15lbs a man heavier, as well as being two inches taller and almost three years older.

This apparently unequal confrontation is symbolised by the physical presence of the two crew presidents who have also been selected for the crucial stroke seat of their respective crews.

Smith is 21, weighs 12st 8lbs and is just over 6ft tall. His Light Blue counterpart, the German international Tim Wooge, is 30, just under 16st and, at 6ft 7in, he is the tallest man in his crew. Both have won the Boat Race twice.

Yet all the signs are that today's race will be every bit as extraordinary as last year's, which Oxford won by half a length, coming from behind on the outside of the last bend in the final seconds. All of which could provide the race sponsors Aberdeen Asset Management with their fourth edge-of-the-seat drama in as many years.

'Weight is less important than pedigree,' says the Cambridge coach Williams. 'Oxford are good boat movers, but I would still prefer to have the extra weight than not.'

Oxford's coach Sean Bowden believes his crew punch well above their weight. 'The Boat Race is like no other event,' he says. 'You only get the one chance and you have to get all nine guys right on the day.'

The added poignancy of the double fraternal encounter will provide a bitter-sweet experience for the two families, although John Livingston has had more time to get used to the idea. 'We were going to be even handed and choose a son each,' he said, 'but we just can't. All we can hope for is a dead heat.'

Wooge has picked a cosmopolitan crew with fellow German international Matthias Kleinz, the original three from Harvard in the United States (the unfortunate Canadian Pommen, plus Hugo Mallinson and cox Jim Omartian), Australian Kris Coventry and three Britons (Livingston, Alex McGarel-Groves from last year's Goldie eight and 18-year-old freshman Tom James).

They have been moulded by their coach into a smooth, powerful unit with the distinctive, relaxed rhythmic style of their predecessors.

Oxford by contrast are a tight-knit dynamic outfit, ably led by the mercurial Smith. He has called back two men who won with him last year - Basil Dixon and Robin Bourne-Taylor who was also in the British eight at the world championships last September. Promoted from the reserves are John Adams, cox Acer Nethercott, Henry Morris and Livingston. The line-up is completed by Canada's Scott Frandsen and Sam McLennan from Australia.

The only guide to form was provided two weeks ago when Oxford lost a 10-minute race to Leander's crew of international medallists by nine seconds, while Cambridge twice defeated Croatia's national eight by three seconds. Last week, Leander easily won the Head of the River, with Croatia over half a minute back in fifth place.

Cambridge have won the 4mile race 77 times to Oxford's 70 with one dead heat.

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