Hereby follows a woeful tale so to summarise, there are pros to watching the boat race: relaxed atmosphere in the park, free sporting event open to all, see some amazing athletes. Cons outweighed in my opinion, including waiting around, inability to see the whole race.
Maybe do it once, or if it's a nice day have drinks in the park with friends. Like most sports, if you want to see ALL the action watch it on TV.
My sporting ability is physically sadly lacking - not for want of trying, weak hips muscles as a baby have a lot to answer for. Mentally I relish competition. When my uni offered rowing as an additional activity I was keen to sign up to cox ... Or what I thought washout and motivate the crew. Okay there is so much more to being a coxen than that. Even though rowing involves very early starts (particularly as a student) being on the river when it's dark, only hearing the sound of the oars disrupting the water is so therapeutic. I never felt more awake than the mornings I got out of bed for 5, made it down to the boat house and left the boat 2 hours later when the sun was up. It was like one of those gentle alarm clocks, which left me invigorated for the day ahead.
So. I haven't been in a boat for more an 10 years and to be honest I'm a bit scared about whether I'd be agile enough to jump in one now. I have visions of slipping and going through the expensive boat. But I still love it. Going to watch the famous Boat Race live finally had to make the list. Except it was bad timing on behalf of the sport schedulers. What were they thinking arranging for the Grand National to be held on the same day. It's obligatory, a toast to my maternal grandfather, to place a bet on the great race, and this year was no exception. This meant that me and BF had to hop, skip and jump straight after the horse race (won at 40/1) to Putney Bridge where unsurprisingly we were going to get a bad spot. We go a spot though and managed to see the race in motion from Bishop's Park, and the excitement built... Particularly enjoyable was watching the young adults climb trees (and fall out of trees) for a better view.
Once the race started we managed to see about 30 seconds to minute of action before running to a 'local' pub (where our presence was not appreciated) to see the rest of the race where Oxford were clearly miles in the lead. I'm glad I ticked it off my list- one thing to say I seen, but next year I'll be back to watching it on the TV as I enjoy hearing the coxes technique.
Still, reignited my love of the water so perhaps getting back in a boat will be on next years list. Maybe do it once, or if it's a nice day have drinks in the park with friends. Probably best to get out those pink shorts, rugby shirts and blazers if you are a boy. If not breton stripes, gillets etc will help you to fit in.