1924 Oxford University Boat Race Crew

While in Oxford, England recently, we had the honor and pleasure of spending some time with a handful of this year’s Olympiads and gold medalists in rowing—Andrew Triggs Hodge being one of them. He took gold for England (for the second time) in the coxless four just a few months ago. While visiting, we noticed an old rowing illustration in the spirit of the popular Vanity Fair rowing portraits hanging in his living room. It’s an 88 year-old sketch of the 1924 Oxford University Boat Race Crew.

The Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Thames in London. The two have been at it every year since 1829. We learn that it holds some significance because Hodge rowed at Oxford. Though what appears to be a strapping (and very stylish—notice the variations in which to wear a scarf) young group of men, that 1924 crew didn’t win. Perhaps Hodge had it hanging for motivation, having stroked Oxford to victory in the 2005 Boat Race.