Twaddle vs. Bridgewater in Great Race

This year’s winning crew from the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, Oxford, travelled to New Zealand for this racing experience as well as taking time to be tourists.

The race within the race, however, was the former men’s pair World Champions from New Zealand Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater racing each other in opposing crews. After the duo finished with bronze at last year’s Olympic Games, Bridgewater left New Zealand to study at Oxford University’s business school. He gained a place in the university’s top rowing crew and competed in the Boat Race in March.

Meanwhile, Twaddle went back to New Zealand after the Beijing Olympics and took time off rowing to have a hand operation. Twaddle was joined in the Waikato University boat by five other World Champions including Duncan Grant (lightweight men’s single), Joseph Sullivan (under-23 double and single), Graham Oberlin-Brown (under-23 lightweight double and single), Dane Boswell (under-23 coxed four), Tobias Wehr-Candler (under-23 coxed four) as well as Olympian, Nathan Cohen.

The University of Waikato is close to New Zealand’s national training centre for rowing and many rowers, including Twaddle, study there while they are on the national team. Waikato, in the city of Hamilton, is close to the venue for next year’s World Rowing Championships, Karapiro.

Along with Olympic medallist Bridgewater, the Oxford University crew included British Olympic medallist Colin Smith. Captain and stroke Smith won silver at Beijing in the men’s eight. Smith has raced in the Oxford boat on other occasions. The crew included four members who raced in this year’s Boat Race.

The Great Race covers a distance of 4.2km on the Waikato River. The University of Waikato led for the entire way.

The Great Race has been going since 2002 and in that time the University of Waikato has raced Cambridge University, Harvard University and the University of Oxford.