Yesterday's Great Race introduced a new euphemism for trouble – downstream with a paddle.
The University of Cambridge men's eight failed to defend their Harry Mahon Trophy on the Waikato River after a collision with the University of Waikato boat left them with a broken rudder.
The defending champs had to restart with coxswain George Bosson using a small paddle to steer, as the hosts rowed away to a convincing victory over University of Melbourne with Cambridge trailing in last.
That made it a double Waikato triumph after the women thrashed their challengers from Melbourne and Sydney universities to capture the Bryan Gould Cup.
Cambridge had the favoured west starting station but Waikato kept close enough from the middle of the river to force the visitors into trouble.
"We knew we had to get a length up on Waikato before we crossed," Bosson said.
"Unfortunately we still had a canvas overlap. I thought we could push that out to a length so I was quite aggressive but we had a clash with their bowman's blade, which hit our steering column and it ripped through our canvas.
"We were offered a new rudder but that wouldn't have worked as it was the actual fitting that was broken."
Instead, Bosson had to borrow a paddle from a safety boat, which meant Cambridge had no show of keeping pace when the race was restarted.
"There was always going to be a crash, we just didn't know it was going to be that big," said Waikato's Finian Scott.
"We knew we had to hold on to Cambridge at the start and we just maintained our overlap and they couldn't come across us," crew-mate Hayden Cohen said.
Victorious cox Ivan Pavich said they worked on their furious start which gave them the right of way when the two leading boats crossed early. "We'd been planning that all week ... to cover that advantage they had at the start."
The men's win allowed coach Ross Tong to breathe easier after his St John's College crew collided with a bridge girder during their secondary schools' race earlier.
Winning womens' crew member Zoe Stevenson said the hardy support helped Waikato dominate their race.
"I heard a lot of cowbells, even in the first kilometre with people outside their houses – the local support is just a huge boost."
== Report by Ian Anderson of Waikato Times
