Last Amateurs

So what does it take to row in a Boat Race? This book focuses on what it means to be a man and the primeval desire to compete.

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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.