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

by Mark De Rond (Author)

• Used

  Illustrated
  2009

  $23.04

  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.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $3.47

  Brideshead Revisited meets Fight Club in this thrilling, first-hand account of a year in the life of Cambridge University's Boat Race squad.Founded in 1828, the Cambridge University Boat Club has one objective: to beat Oxford in the Boat Race. This annual affair is one of sharp contrasts: a private match between two of the world's oldest universities, it is still followed by millions worldwide; an occasion marked by tribal rivalry, it also harbours deep mutual respect; quintessentially British, it is contested by amateurs who are nevertheless world-class sportsmen; it is all about taking part and yet the pain of losing is unimaginable.A Cambridge don in his late thirties, Mark de Rond spent a year living the blood, sweat and tears of the 39 students risking all for a chance to race Oxford, seeing in them everything he is not. This intense and deeply personal account reinforces the great traditions of Oxbridge, yet gives them a human face. For despite their brilliance, these individuals are flawed too.So what does it take to row in the coveted Blue Boat? 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 truly compelling - and a sports book like no other.