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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport

When the boat race comes in for Oxford

Crews from Oxford Brookes University and Cambridge University compete on the Boat Race course on the Thames in London on 20 March 2022.
University crews from Oxford Brookes and Cambridge compete on the Boat Race course on the Thames on 20 March 2022. Oxford Brookes won. Photograph: Peter Hogan/Alamy Live News

The letter from Prof David Thomas of Hertford College, Oxford (31 March), raises the question of how an Oxford University eight might fare if 300 independent college crews were to compete in the Boat Race. Such a race has existed since 1926 – the Head of the River Race, an open event that attracts over 300 entries annually, rowed over the same course as the Boat Race. An Oxford college crew has never won this, and the only Oxford University crew to do so was its Isis reserves in 1957. But a local rival institution, Oxford Brookes University, has won five times in the last 10 years.
Paul Tattam
Chinley, Derbyshire

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John Jones
London

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Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

• It’s ridiculous of Suella Braverman to blame bad weather for the chaos at Dover (Report, 2 April). We all know the real culprits – remoaners, lefty lawyers and woke football pundits.
Geoff Booth
Knebworth, Hertfordshire

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Peter Brooker
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• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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