march-2013

106
extra time: sport
tom watt on a university challenge, no-boat Water-skiing and football’s power for good
the ticket
There are plenty of ways to spend money
watching elite sport in London all year round.
This month, however, one of the city’s blue
riband events can be watched from the banks
of the Thames for free. On 31 March the
159th Boat Race between the Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge will take place.
First held in 1829, the Boat Race is one of
the oldest sporting events in the world. It’s
the athlete the knowledge
Monrovia is a capital that demonstrates the he energy of
a nation reinventing itself. Ask Monrovians s who best
symbolises Liberia’s re-birth and they’ll answer, nswer, “The King”.
George Weah was raised in Clara Town, one of the city’s
toughest areas. His talent took him to the very top of
European club football where he was voted d European
Player of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1995,
the only African footballer to win those awards. ards.
But Weah never turned his back on Liberia; eria; he
worked with the national football team and d
became involved in politics. Recognition came
late in 2012, when he was appointed head of the
National Reconciliation Commission. Years rs on, there’s
still work for Africa’s greatest-ever player to do.
March 2013
also a contest that captures British culture
– sporting and otherwise – in a way that’s
pretty much unique. These are sportsmen at
the very top of their game: each crew will
include oarsmen who will go on to become
future Olympians.
But the event is also a throw-back to the
old hierarchies and traditions which have
seen Oxbridge graduates monopolise the
country’s corridors of power. And yet
the Boat Race retains a genuine popular
appeal; up to 250,000 cheering spectators
will cram the banks of the Tideway, between
Putney and Mortlake, on the day. Millions
more will watch on TV, and the competition
this year will be as fi erce as ever. It’s hard
to think of a more British way to spend
a Sunday afternoon.
Water’s never far away in Hambu Hamburg, in the River Elbe as well as canals and
lakes, so there’s plenty ple of action to be had by way of rowing
and canoeing. ca If you arrive in Hamburg in
March, March however, you can try something a little
more ambitious: water-skiing at Wasserski Hamburg on the Neulander
Lake. Water-skiing and wake-boarding wake-b here work on the ski-lift
principle: you grab a T-bar that tha pulls you across the water on a rotating
steel cable at speeds of anything anyth up to 60 km/h along the 1km course.
The 2013 season opens on 17 March and, once you’ve found your
way 15 minutes south from the th city centre, you’ll need nothing but a few
euros to take part. Wetsuits and an equipment are included in prices which
rise and fall depending on the water temperature! Fortunately, at the
head of the course sits a fi ne beer b garden, where you can pluck up
courage before taking to the water, wat or recover afterwards.
FLY TO london lo four times daily; monrovia four times
weekly; hamburg hamb
four times daily. brusselsairlines.com
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