Malcolm Howard of Victoria, already a part of rowing history with Olympic gold and silver medals with the Elk Lake-based Canadian eight, further embedded himself in rowing lore Sunday in London.
Howard, rowing from the coveted stroke seat, paced Oxford to victory over Cambridge in the 159th Boat Race.
Oxford won the storied annual match race on the River Thames by a length and a half, completing the 6.8 kilometres from Putney to Mortlake in 17 minutes and 28 seconds.
“It's an amazing feeling to win this because there's so much tradition to this race,” said Howard, by phone from London.
“It's pretty neat to say I've won all the big races in the eight — in the Olympics with Canada, U.S. collegiate with Harvard and now the Boat Race with Oxford.”
Howard, a graduate of Brentwood College in Mill Bay, said nothing was given to Oxford on Sunday. The victory was hard earned as the Blues closed the overall gap with Cambridge now leading the series 81-77 with one tie.
“Cambridge was never willing to give up. They didn't give us anything,” said Howard, gold medallist with the Canadian eight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics.
The Boat Race was viewed by more than 250,000 people lining the banks of the Thames and millions more on BBC-TV. It has taken on the stuff of sporting legend. To be chosen for the stroke seat — the most important position in an eight-oared boat — for either Oxford or Cambridge is considered a high honour.
Howard, who is planning a medical career after rowing, is studying for a master’s in clinical medicine at Oxford’s Oriel College.
The six-foot-seven Islander was the lone Canadian in the 2013 Boat Race among seven Britons, six Americans, two Aussies, a Kiwi and a Czech.
Although 29-years-old, there appears plenty left in Howard's tank. Questions about the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics will become inevitable.
“Ask my wife, [Erika],” said Howard.
“If she's in for it [in terms of family commitment], I'm in for it [Rio].”
Howard became only the third Canadian to stroke a crew in the Boat Race, joining fellow-Islander Kip McDaniel of Cobble Hill from the 2006 Cambridge crew and Los Angeles Olympic gold-medallist Mike Evans of Toronto from the Oxford crew in 1984.
Barney Williams of Victoria, 2004 Athens Olympic silver-medallist in the Elk Lake-based Canadian four, won two Boat Race titles as an Oxford business major in 2005 and 2006, the latter as president and captain of the Oxford crew.
It was a double win for Oxford on Sunday with its 'B' team, nicknamed Isis, defeating Cambridge's 'B' team. Former University of Victoria Vikes rower Tom Watson was a member of the victorious Oxford Isis crew.
