Sir Matthew Pinsent, the Olympic rowing great, has raised hopes that a new £5 billion super sewer will counter mounting pollution worries for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
E.coli scares dogged teams at the last event in March, with rowers on the men’s Oxford team complaining of “poo in the water” and saying sickness had played a part in their defeat.
Cambridge’s women also decided against throwing the winning cox in the water, with Oxford hitting out at a “national disgrace” over the water quality.
However, Pinsent, who has umpired the event for several years, says he is hopeful the new Thames Tideway Tunnel can have an immediate impact on next year’s event. London’s £5 billion “super sewer”, a 16-mile (25km) pipe that diverts 34 of the most polluting sewage outflows that have been discharging into the Thames, has been switched on since last month.
“The super sewer is literally under the Boat Race course,” explained Pinsent, who said he has taken particular interest because he is a west London resident.
“The old Victorian London sewer system, when it overflows and comes into the river, that’s the central problem. So there’s one line of defence for Thames Water, and they’ve done that. I think there is a decent chance that bit of rowing water will improve dramatically.”
Siobhan Cassidy, chair of the Boat Race, said it would be “really interesting” to see how effective the new sewer was. She said it was too early to make predictions on water quality, however, as much depended on the amount of rainfall in March.
The first four sites along the Thames Tideway Tunnel were brought into operation in recent weeks, while further sites are set to become operational in the coming months. Tideway chief executive Andy Mitchell said recently: “These are early days, with more connections to make and further testing to come, but the super sewer’s positive influence on the health of the Thames will increase over the coming months.”
Recent data showed that in one day, when London experienced heavy rainfall on Sept 23, 589,000 cubic metres of wastewater were captured by the tunnel with just the first connections activated. Once fully operational, the tunnel system will have a capacity equivalent to 640 Olympic-size swimming pools.
‘It’s not ideal to have so much poo in the water’
The Oxford and Cambridge teams both expressed delight at the prospect of improved water quality. Oxford’s coach, Sean Bowden, had in March slammed the “national disgrace” of polluted waterways in an interview with Telegraph Sport. E.coli was then cited as a potential factor as the Dark Blues lost rowing’s annual showpiece by three-and-a-half lengths, despite their status as pre-race favourites.
“We’ve had a few guys go down with E.coli strain,” said Leonard Jenkins, the Oxford No 7. “I threw up this morning but decided to row. I am not sure whether that was the right decision. It’s not ideal to have so much poo in the water.”
Rowers were told in March not to enter or swallow the water, and to take other preventative measures, such as covering up scrapes with waterproof plasters.
Last Thursday, the presidents’ challenge took place – a tradition in which the losing teams of the previous year’s races formally challenge those from the winning teams, marking the renewal of an intense competition which stretches back nearly 200 years.
Aside from water-quality worries, there is an upbeat mood among organisers, with around five million watching BBC coverage of the event, and following the announcement of a partnership with French fashion house Chanel.
There are six Olympians in the latest squads. For Cambridge, they include two-time Olympian Claire Collins. Oxford have Paris men’s eight bronze medallist Nick Rusher, Paris women’s eight bronze medallist Heidi Long and Tokyo men’s eight gold medallist Tom Mackintosh. Harry Brightmore, Paris gold medallist in the men’s eight, has joined Oxford as an assistant coach.
First raced by crews from Oxford and Cambridge University in 1829, the championship course stretches over 4.25 miles of tidal Thames in west London between Putney and Mortlake.
