BURKITT FACES BOAT RACE BLUES

Report and pictures by

Leander press officer Robert Treharne Jones

Oxford won the Toss and chose the Surrey station - always the safer bet when the forecasts promised squally showers with the wind swinging round to the south west.

Burkitt took the crew off at 47 strokes a minute against Cambridge at 45, and along the boat houses Oxford begand to eke out a small advantage. But as the crews settled at 37 and got into their race pace beyond Beverley Brook Cambridge, on the inside of the Middlesex bend, had drawn level.

Oxford now moved into a solid rhythm which gave them a canvas advantage by the time the crews reached Barn Elms. Despite being warned for their steering by umpire Simon Harris they reached the Mile Post a second ahead of Cambridge, with both crews now rating 35.

Oxford were now determined to maximise the advantage of the inside of the Hammersmith bend and, despite a slight push from the Light Blues, went half a length clear at Harrods, and maintained the edge at Hammersmith Bridge, where there was a margin of two seconds between the crews.

As Cambridge now dug deep on the outside of the curve to prevent the opposition moving away. Maintaining the higher rate past St Pauls boathouse they began to close the gap, and Oxford upped their own rate to 36 to stave off the attack. As the forecast choppy conditions prevailed down Corney Reach so the pressure from Cambridge proved relentless - they continued to close past Chiswick Eyot and narrowed the Oxford lead to just 0.5sec at Chiswick Steps.

Cambridge went for another push at the Crossing, which proved the crucial point in the race, and this time the Dark Blues could not respond. For the first time Cambridge took the lead, finding new reserves of power in their confident stroke, while an air of desperation crept in to the Oxford boat.

Cambridge reached Barnes Bridge two seconds up, and the Dark Blues faced the monumental task of moving round the outside of the final bend to recapture the lead. In a final push they upped the rate to 36 and began to close, but a confident response from Cambridge put the result in no doubt. The Light Blues pushed the rate back up to 38 to move away and cross the line four seconds clear in 17mins 35secs.

" They were working hard to stay with us round the outside of the bend, and we hoped we could break them once the bend was over, but they put in another push - they clearly raced better than we did " said Burkitt afterwards.

"It doesn't feel good to have lost it, but I don't think I could have done anything more - I can't be too disappointed" he said.

He is now attempting to emulate the achievements of his clubmate, Colin Smith, who stroked the Dark Blues to victory in last year's epic encounter on the Tideway.

And, although Smith moved to Oxford after stroking the GB men's eight to Olympic silver in Beijing, Burkitt isn't short of success himself in his five years at Leander.

Twice an Under-23 bronze medallist in the GB men's pair he stroked the Leander eight to victory in the Thames Cup at Henley in 2007. The following year he was at stroke again, this time helping Leander to take first place at the Head of the River Race over the reverse Boat Race course in London.

News of his selection for this year's Boat Race came gradually as his performances in key tests, including seat racing, all began to stack his way.

"I had an idea I was in the running for it and I was fairly confident about the rowing side, but when I went to Oxford they didn't really like the way I rowed - they said it was a very Leander style!" he explained.

There followed an autumn where he had to rebuild his stroke to fit the Oxford style - a process which has evidently now satisfied Sean Bowden, the chief coach.

"For the first two months it was like banging my head against the wall, but the technical side of things has finally clicked, and although I'm not the strongest guy I won all my seat races" he said.

Although he tipped the scales at just over 90kg at this week's Weigh-In in London Burkitt is one of the two lightest men in the crew, an honour he shares with Ireland's Martin Walsh, whom he beat to the stroke seat when the choice was finally made three weeks ago.

"There are guys who are stroke men, it's what they do, it's their special job and I think Charlie is one of those" said Sean Bowden.

But despite his achievements so far there is one aspect of the race that Burkitt has yet to come to terms with - the global publicity that surrounds one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

"It hasn't totally hit home yet - I quite like to separate myself from that until I arrive 'on stage' but the more you see the cameras it dawns on you it is quite big. I'm used to the crowds at Henley, and Boat Race crowds are just as big - it's one of the the reasons why I wanted to do this" he said.

The Xchanging Boat Race starts at 4.30pm on Saturday 3 April and will be broadcast live on BBC television and Radio 5 Live.

ENDS