Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race

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High drama for historic Oxford-Cambridge boat race
April 08, 2012


Surprise tactic: a swimmer interrupts the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race.

Britain's historic Oxford and Cambridge boat race has been dramatically disrupted after a wetsuit-clad protester swam across the River Thames, before Cambridge claimed a controversial victory over rivals Oxford.

The activist caused a half-hour hiatus in the race between England's two oldest universities, which is in now its 158th year, in a stunt that will raise security questions ahead of the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The race restarted around half an hour later but seconds after that the crews clashed and one of the Oxford oars snapped off, leaving them trailing far behind by the end of the race.

There was further drama after the finish when Oxford crew member Alex Woods, 27, collapsed in the boat and had to receive medical attention.

Coach Sean Bowden said: "I guess you can only imagine the desperation that Alex must have been in with only six crew-mates left and that's probably how he ended up pushing himself beyond his limits."

Oxford boat race president Karl Hudspith later said he "is conscious and will hopefully be OK".

Amid the chaos, the traditional post-race presentation ceremony was abandoned.

Hudspith condemned the protester who he blamed for Oxford's defeat, saying in a Twitter message: "My team went through seven months of hell, this was the culmination of our careers and you took it from us."

As he was pulled out of the water by a lifeboat crew, the swimmer appeared to have a broad smile on his face, before police arrested him on suspicion of a public order offence and took him into custody.

But the protest will raise questions about security ahead of an eventful summer in the British capital.

While rowing events for the 2012 London Olympics starting in July will be held at a closed course in Windsor, west of the city, a flotilla marking the Queen's 60 years on the throne is set to proceed down the Thames in June.

'Surprise tactics'

British media identified the swimmer as an activist named Trenton Oldfield and published a statement he had purportedly posted on the internet titled: "Elitism leads to tyranny."

"I am swimming into the boats in the hope I can stop them from completing the race and proposing the return of surprise tactics," he apparently wrote.

The two boats were about eight minutes into the race, with Oxford about a third of a length ahead, when the man wearing a black wetsuit swam in front of the two boats, and was nearly hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.

Spectator Mike Emerson said he had seen the man in his early 20s come through the trees on the south bank of the river and then get into the water long before the boats came past.

"He started swimming, he knew what he was doing," Mr Emerson, who is 60 and from Cambridge, said.

"He drifted down the river and then he waited near a pontoon until the boats came, and then he deliberately swam out toward the boats."

Umpire John Garrett halted the race after reserve umpire and former British Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent spotted something in the water.

"He (Pinsent) thought it was some debris and then we realised that it was actually a swimmer," Mr Garrett said.

"We weren't sure what was going to happen, whether he was going to get out of the way in time and then it was quite clear he was just waiting for the boats to come across him, so I had to stop the race and restart."

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youtube.com

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telegraph uk

Shortly before taking to the water Mr Oldfield, who was apparently privately educated before studying at the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, posted a manifesto online.

Entitled Elitism Leads to Tyranny, he declared: "This is a protest, an act of civil disobedience, a methodology of refusing and resistance.

"This act has employed guerrilla tactics. I am swimming into the boats in the hope I can stop them from completing the race."

In his manifesto, Mr Oldfield said he was targeting the boat race because of its elitist nature – saying it went past Fulham Palace, a former royal residence, St Paul's, the leading public school, and the London home of Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, who he attacked for being educated at public school.

He even likened it to the actions of Emily Davison, the suffragette who threw herself under the King's horse at the Epsom Derby on June 4, 1913 and died of her injuries four days later.

Mr Oldfield is familiar with this stretch of the Thames, having once worked as a coordinator for the Thames Strategy project, set up to regenerate the landscape around the river from Kew to Chelsea.

He is also a member of a group of activists called This Is Not A Gateway, which he set up with his girlfriend, Deepa Naik, a fellow artist, to protest at the way modern cities are run.

Mr Oldfield, who lives in a 1930s apartment block in Whitechapel, east London, also objects to "shiny buildings" and wants to "remove every fence from around every park".

His blog urges people to stage similar stunts in a bid to disrupt the London Olympics and suggests, somewhat bizarrely, that taxi drivers take their passengers the slowest and most expensive route possible in protest at their "elite status".

Last night, he was being widely mocked on the internet, the medium he used to post his manifesto – although his actions are being more seriously studied by the organisers of the Olympics.

to pursue his own selfish agenda he attempted to ruin a traditional british sporting fixture, he deserves to be horsewhipped really but i suppose the magistrates will just look on him as another harmless eccentric and fine him 50 quid and send him on his way.

[Kwang]

He deserved a good smash around the chops with one of those oars.
Oxford were behind at that time, so I don't know why they are whingeing

[VocalNeal]

"Elitism leads to tyranny."

Fecking moron. People who go to Oxford and Cambridge are smarter not necessarily elite. They have lots of scholarship students.

Society needs smart educated people to contribute to it. These type of twats irk me.They want the whole world dumbed down to the lowest common denominator so we can all feel worthwhile. While he on the otherhand is obviously an underachieving wannabe.

Hopefully he will considered a terrorist threat and will be "interviewed" by some MI5 chap who graduated from Oxford!

[nostromo]

"Elitism leads to tyranny."

Fecking moron. People who go to Oxford and Cambridge are smarter not necessarily elite. They have lots of scholarship students.

Society needs smart educated people to contribute to it. These type of twats irk me.They want the whole world dumbed down to the lowest common denominator so we can all feel worthwhile. While he on the otherhand is obviously an underachieving wannabe.

Hopefully he will considered a terrorist threat and will be "interviewed" by some MI5 chap who graduated from Oxford!

Well said. But the MI5 chap might come for Cambridge as well, or LSE or Another Poly. Not that it matters.

[superman]

He's not even a Brit. He's an unruly Aussie wanker.

Trenton Oldfield, an Australian activist

http://www.onenewspage.co.uk/n/UK/74...n-Oldfield.htm

[Begbie]

Well done Trenton. The boat race is the most boring over-hyped event of the year.

[crippen]

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Boat race protester banned from Olympic torch route
Monday 23 April 2012

Restrictive bail conditions also stop Trenton Oldfield from disrupting state opening of parliament and Diamond Jubilee celebrations


Trenton Oldfield leaves Feltham magistrates court.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The swimmer who brought the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race to a dramatic halt this month has been given restrictive bail conditions to prevent him from disrupting the state opening of parliament, events to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic torch route.

Trenton Oldfield, 35, caused the annual contest on the River Thames to be stopped for around half an hour after he was spotted in the vessels' path as crews battled towards the finish.

Dressed in a crumpled suit and tie, Oldfield spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and address at Feltham magistrates' court in Middlesex.

The defendant, who took to Twitter following his arrest to speak out against elitism, showed no emotion as he sat beside his legal team while the charge of causing a public nuisance was read out.

Michael Schwarz, defending, indicated Oldfield would not enter a plea and his case was committed to crown court.

The next hearing will be at Isleworth crown court on 28 May.

The Australian protester was released on bail with restrictions preventing him from entering the City of Westminster on 9 May for the state opening of Parliament and forbidding him from going into the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead prior to his next court appearance.

During this time, there are a number of events planned in the borough to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

A further bail condition bans Oldfield from using – or being within 100 metres of – roads which form part of the Olympic torch route until the same date.

Cambridge eventually won the 158th Boat Race on 7 April. It was labelled "possibly the most dramatic in history" by organisers after Oldfield created unprecedented disruption.

After the race was re-started, an Oxford crew member broke an oar during a clash between the two crews before the team's bowman Alex Woods collapsed after crossing the finishing line. He was later treated in hospital.

Oldfield sparked scenes of chaos when he swam towards the boats as they were neck and neck between the two and three-mile marker.

Former rower and assistant umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent was said to have alerted fellow adjudicators before the race was stopped and the swimmer, who narrowly avoided the blade of an Oxford oar, was pulled from the river.
He was taken away on a police launch and arrested.

Oldfield – who lives in east London – later defended his anti-elitist stance online, claiming he had always "fought from within".

The demonstrator posted a series of messages the day after the race saying "with the severe deficit in democracy new sites of protest unfortunately have had to be found" and "if its jail time, so be it" (sic).

Oldfield made no comment as he left court.

guardian.co.uk

[Mr Lick]

Boat Race protester Trenton Oldfield jailed






Trenton Oldfield swam between the Boat Race crews in the Thames


A man who disrupted this year's University Boat Race has been jailed for six months for causing a public nuisance.

Trenton Oldfield, 36, of Myrdle Street, east London, swam into the path of crews on 7 April interrupting the 158th race between Oxford and Cambridge.

Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent who was on a launch behind the crews said Oldfield could have been killed.

Oldfield said he was demonstrating against government cuts.

The man, who had moved to the UK from Australia, was also ordered to pay £750 costs.

Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously, disproportionately, had not shown what he was actually protesting against, and displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which he regarded as elitist.

'Symbolic gesture'

During the trial, footage of the race, which was eventually won by Cambridge, was shown.

Trenton Oldfield was arrested after being pulled from the water on 7 April

The jury heard a statement from four-time Olympic gold medal-winning rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, who was assistant umpire of the race.

"The risk for the swimmer was great," he said in the statement, read to the court by prosecutor Louis Mably.

"He could have been killed if he had been struck by an oar or the rigging, which is metal."

Pinsent, who was immediately behind the two eight-man university crews on a launch with umpire John Garrett, initially thought he had spotted a balloon.

Their launch was followed by 25 motorised boats, carrying officials, police, sponsors and camera crews.

Pinsent said they were "alarmed" to realise it was a person and he was "worried about the safety of the swimmer".

Oldfield, who admitted swimming in front of the crews, said he decided to demonstrate after hearing about the government's public spending cuts, which he said were "worse than in Dickens's time".

On targeting the race, he said: "It's a symbol of a lot of issues in Britain around class. Seventy per cent of government pushing through very significant cuts are Oxford or Cambridge graduates.

"It was a symbolic gesture to these kind of issues."

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Oldfield, an activist who on his blog, Elitism leads to Tyranny, suggests acts of civil disobedience such as taxi drivers taking passengers on the most expensive routes and waiters in smart restaurants serve their customers cold food, mounted a robust defence of his actions yesterday, attacked the media for focusing on his apparently privileged background and insisted his act had been a legitimate form of attack on the injustices of society.

"Of course I expected the vindictive class to be vindictive and nasty about having disrupted their fun and 'months of training'," he posted on Twitter, adding: "I'm 100% behind my actions, if it's jail time, so be it."

Oldfield, whose four years spent at private school and MSc in contemporary urbanism from the London School Economics had sparked criticism, from many quarters,said he had gone to the LSE on a scholarship and had worked his way through the course.

He had left private school at 16, he added, "because I couldn't stand the elitism".He added: "Having been deep within elite institutions I have a very good understanding of them. I protest their injustices - ask anyone that knows me."

he seems to be a bit of a misguided and pompous fool.

the judge gets it right though.

The judge said Oldfield had acted dangerously, disproportionately, had not shown what he was actually protesting against, and displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which Oldfield regarded as elitist.

'You decided that you had the right to stop members of the public enjoying a sporting competition which they had chosen to go and watch. You did not have that right,' she said.

'You did nothing to address inequality by giving yourself the right to spoil the enjoyment of others. In doing so you acted without regard for equality and contrary to the meaning of it.

'You made your decision to sabotage the race based on the membership or perceived membership of its participants to which you took exception.

'That is prejudice. No good ever comes from prejudice. It is a necessary part of a liberal and tolerant society that no one should be targeted because of a characteristic with which another takes issue. Prejudice in any form is wrong.'


As she told him he had shown no regrets the judge said to Oldfield, dressed smartly with a brown suit with a white shirt and black tie, 'I see Mr Oldfield that you now smile in the dock'.

He then shook his head as he was sent to prison.

Judge Molyneux said: 'There were many other ways you could have promoted your views more effectively.

It was not clear to anyone who saw what you did what your views actually were. There was no immediate or instant need to act as you did.'


Read more: Home | Mail Online

[CaptainNemo]

"Elitism leads to tyranny."

Fecking moron. People who go to Oxford and Cambridge are smarter not necessarily elite. They have lots of scholarship students.

How many? ...and how many from crime-ridden unemployment blackspots with families who live on subsistence wages?

I hear there are stats that say that half of all Oxford UGs come from about half-a-dozen schools ...do you really believe there is no money greasing the way in? If you study at Oxbridge, you're not allowed to have a part-time job (AIUI); and of course, you have all that extra-curricular CV-building stuff to do, that's apparently now more important than your actual results... how many mature students with children are there there? How many from the non-leafy suburbs, executive piles, and foreign elites? Corruption is just more subtle in some places than in others...

[taxexile]

Oxbridge, you're not allowed to have a part-time job (AIUI)

yes you are.

[Mr Lick]

I dare say that the judge was correct in his assessment of the young man and his misguided actions, however, a jail term of 6 months for 'causing a public nuscience' hardly seems appropriate imo.

It was not an act of violence against another, merely a statement highlighting his own beliefs relating to the class system. The judge was also unwise in bringing up the subject of prejuduce in this mans case as this particular trait exists in all of us.

When the judiciary look back at this case they may observe a failure in their own system. A young protester who commits an act of stupidity is brought before a court where a jury is required and knighted witnesses appears to give evidence in what is clearly a closed verdict. The suspect had already posted his intended actions and his reasons for doing so on the internet. Video evidence was also freely available.

A total waste of public money and quite dangerously sending a message to the public that those who would try similar will be dealt with harshly, thereby endorsing this mans fears of the foundation of the british class society.

Of course, had he perhaps assaulted an innocent victim in a public house then it is very likely that a mere fine would have been imposed by a magistrate and nothing more said.

Did the judicary play into his hands by offering him more publicity than he deserved? Maybe, but in doing so they also brought to the attention of the public the inequality that exists within themselves.

[buriramboy]

He probably got the custodial sentence for pleading 'not guilty' and thus wasting the courts time by having a trial in the crown court when a magistrates court could have dealt with it, courts ain't too fond of people of trying to use them to make a statement, plus smiling in the dock won't have done him any favours.

[taxexile]

,

a jail term of 6 months for 'causing a public nuscience' hardly seems appropriate imo.

i would say it is nearing appropriateness , 12 months would have sent a stronger message.

assaulted an innocent victim in a public house then it is very likely that a mere fine

whereas that is an inappropriate punishment.

if anything, he has been hoist with his own petard. his claims that britain is elitist washed down the river, as he, the rebellious elitist, is sent to prison whilst it is the yob from the public house who walks away from court smirking and unpunished.

[Mr Lick]

^^ I don't think he entered a plea which he is quite entitled to do. I just think that having Sir Pinsett as a witness was unnecessary especially as he thought the young man's head was a balloon floating in the water.

I would agree that he did himself no favours although 6 months inside for smiling in court appears a wee bit excessive. He's an ass for sure but a harmless ass.

The people who should be serving custodial sentences are those that use violence, not those 'causing a public nuscience'. Some things never change.

[kmart]

As it was a nautical offense it might have been better to give him a taste o' the cat, and confined to the ship's hold on half-rations of rotten pork and ship's biscuits.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[The Big Fella]

A snivelling little shit that should have been given 12 moths !

[kingwilly]

What a dick.

[nigelandjan]

I dare say that the judge was correct in his assessment of the young man and his misguided actions, however, a jail term of 6 months for 'causing a public nuscience' hardly seems appropriate imo.

Agree with you Mr L. he's upset the old Eatonian brigade ,,,

Meanwhile a judge tells this tattooed brain dead serial house burglar ,, it takes guts to break into peoples homes and sets him free !

Judge says it takes courage to burgle a house and lets serial Redcar raider walk free - Mirror Online