The ‘Boat Race’ between the men’s boat clubs of Oxford and Cambridge Universities was first rowed in 1829 and has been rowed annually since 1856, except during the first and second world wars and during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Women’s races have been taking place since 1929 and annually since 1964.
The traditional course is now between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames although in 2021, again as a result of Covid-19, the event was transferred to the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire.
Victorian enterprise
In 1858 some two years after the Boat Race became an annual event, in an unusually hot summer the ‘Great Stink’ caused by effluent in the open sewer that the River Thames had become. This finally persuaded the government of the day to undertake a major and expensive enterprise – the development of an underground sewerage system to manage the disposal of human waste in the capital.
The stink of the Thames, as unpleasant as it was, was not the only issue caused by the effluent. Diseases such as cholera killed thousands. Completion of the underground sewerage system virtually eliminated cholera,
Privatisation of the water industry in 1989
Having previously starved England and Wales’ regional state-owned water and sewerage utilities of much needed public investment required in order to upgrade the infrastructure, Mrs Thatcher’s government privatised the industry in 1989. In fact Thatcher forbade the water utilities from investing and then gave the reason for privatising them as the need to invest.
The 2024 Boat Race
Prior to the 2024 boat race rowers, amongst others, have been warned not to enter the Thames and to take precautions including covering blisters to prevent infection due to high levels of E coli, often associated with sewage, which were reportedly found in the river.
Cambridge won this year’s race on Saturday 30 March. In a break with tradition, the winning cox, presumably heeding the health advice, was not thrown into the Thames.
If there is no significant improvement in the water quality in the Thames and it should become necessary to hold the traditional event away from the Thames once again, it might be of interest to note that our European friends and neighbours, France, have, in advance of the 2024 Paris Olympic games restored sections of their own capital city river, the Seine. They also propose to hold some swimming events at the Olympics in the river and even to restore some public swimming to it..
When can we expect the same from our British government?
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