From the Rowing Service correspondent on the riverbank:
First the Women's Division 1 was stopped, due to a pile-up in the narrow Gut half-way up the course. Under these circumstances the rules dictate a re-row for senior divisions such as this, and all the crews were told to return to their bunglines immediately for a re-start. The stoppage had occurred several minutes after the start gun, by which time the top crews Osler, New College, St. Catz and Teddy Hall were into the top stretch of water and beginning to near the boathouses. As marshalling officials yelled their heads off and called for these crews to slow down, the four eights, oblivious to the klaxon, continued to push on. Finally they were stopped and turned round just a minute or so from the finish line.
During this race, New College had closed significantly on Osler before the gut, but as the river widened, the Head crew's strength and endurance began to tell, and they had been pulling away as the klaxon sounded.
The re-row was almost uneventful, the exhausted crews using the rest of their energy on their second starts, and with nothing left in the bank for pushes and so on, most rowed over.
So far so good, and a delayed Men's Division 1 started off as it had done the two days before, with Pembroke, starting second, closing hard on the Oriel Head crew. However, this time, instead of Oriel holding off the boys in pink, the gap continued to narrow, and as they came up to OUBC it could be seen that the Oriel rudder-string had broken (circumstances so far unconfirmed). With immense presence of mind, the Oriel cox, who I believe is a novice this year, continued to steer a very creditable line by holding onto the rudder-yoke with both hands behind her back. This is possible in many eights used in the UK, and certainly worked in the Oriel Empacher.
With a gutsy Pembroke crew snapping at their heels, the gap a quarter of a length past the boathouses and shrinking all the time, Oriel threw in a last big effort and just managed to keep their stern away from the Pembroke bow. Superb racing for all the spectators, and the only question is now, how much will it have taken out of both crews as they get ready for tomorrow's final day of racing?
Full results, confirmed bumps and tomorrow's starting order are available on the Oxford Rowing pages, which also give you links to the pretty coloured bumps charts showing the progress of each crew.