A boat race on Maine in the course of Oxford-Cambridge

A British touch event has been organized on the Maine river on Tuesday by some sport sections of the Angers university : a rowing competition. An Angers media which reported the news immediately pointed out that such an event recalled the famous Oxford-Cambridge boat race. The participants, about both teachers, employees and students, came from the several sections (medecine, law, litterature...) of the Angers university. The race took place where the river goes across the city, like the Thames in London. 

The initiative is revealing about the interest of the Angers inhabitants for their river and gives some legitimacy to the "Maine new banks", town hall has decided to implement. Or course, the rowing race didn't attracted a lot of people what suggest that it should be planned during a week end for its next edition. Maybe the calendar of the event should copy the Oxford-Cambridge event, generally planned in march or april (the 2012 edition was organized durung a Saturday). 

What could be the elements for the success of the Angers university's initiative? One of the ingredient could be the size of the boat. In the English race, the boats host 8 rowers and a coxswain while in Angers 4 rowers were on board. This influence of course the size and the spped of the boats and therefore enhance the dramatic aspect of the race. The main reason of the world fame is probably due to the technical level of the rowers. Compared to their British counterpart, the Angers teams should start to train right now. (Credit pictures Angers Nautique Aviron and The Boat Race)