Week 3 Do you like sports? The Boat Race 1 Leggi l introduzione e poi i quattro paragrafi. Abbina ciascun paragrafo con l immagine corrispondente e da loro un titolo. The Boat Race is the annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club. The two boats, with eight rowers plus a cox, compete on the river Thames on the last Saturday of March or the first of April every year. The first race was in 1829. A. The course covers a 4-mile, 374-yard (= 6.779 Km) stretch of the Thames in West London, from Putney to Mortlake. It has an S shape from east to west. The clubs presidents toss a coin for the right to choose which side of the river they will row on: this depends on the weather conditions and can be very important. The crews row upstream and the race starts when the current is fast, with the incoming flood tide. At the end, a trophy is presented and, traditionally, the winning crew throw their cox into the Thames to celebrate. 1 B. 2 24 Each crew is composed of 8 rowers and a cox who steers. The rowers must be students of the university they race for. They train six days a week for six months before the event. It used to be a competition for male rowers, only, but female coxes are now permitted. Some rowers to remember are: Matthew Pinsent (Oxford), four times Olympic gold medalist; Lord Snowdon (Cambridge), husband of Princess Margaret, the Queen s sister; and the actor Hugh Laurie (Cambridge), the famous Doctor House.
