Dramatic scenes at the Putney Boat Race

A swimmer in the river, broken blades, Alexander Woods collapsing with exhaustion and a race which had to be restarted half way through.                                                                                   

The 2012 Putney boat race, which struggled to a finish a few hours ago, was beset with problems from the very start. First a man’s head was spotted in the path of the boats, causing the crews to stop rowing seconds before they would have hit him. Perhaps as a result, when the race was restarted the boats clashed, hit oars, and Oxford lost a blade, which allowed Cambridge a hollow victory. Even after the race had finished the drama continued, when Oxford rower Alexander Woods collapsed in his boat and had to be carried away by paramedics.

It ended with a sombre meeting of the Cambridge winners, a cancelled award ceremony and no one being thrown in the river, only the mystery swimmer being dragged out. All in all a gloomy non-occasion; the defeated, exhausted looks in the rower’s faces told the story only two well.

See footage of the swimmer's disruption on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17644260