The Last Amateurs: To Hell and Back with the Cambridge Boat Race Crew

By Mark de Rond

Book Overview

As the Cambridge University Boat Club prepared for the 2007 Boat Race, Mark de Rond - a Cambridge don and fellow of Darwin College - spent a year living the blood, sweat and tears of the 39 students risking all for a chance to challenge Oxford. "The Last Amateurs" is de Rond's intense and deeply personal account of freezing early-morning training sessions, booze-fueled crew 'formals', the tenderness of camaraderie, the pain of self-doubt, and the tantrums and testosterone of crew members, each set on becoming a Cambridge 'Blue'. So what does it take to row in a Boat Race? In this thrilling book, de Rond delves into the depths of what it means to be a man and the primeval desire to compete. Told chronologically and driven by the pursuit of the final victory, the result is a breathtaking portrait of a deeply historical race marked by sharp contrasts - and one in which every sports person will recognize at least a little of themselves.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1848310455
• ISBN13: 9781848310452
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.6"