THE SPORT OF ROWING emanating from the Jesus boathouse next door. “In THBC circles, 1887 is still referred to as the annus mirabilis.”708 On the first day of the regatta, Trinity Hall won over Thames in a close race in their Stewards’ heats, and then Third Trinity’s Coxless-Pair of Barclay and Muttlebury from Steve’s 1886 and 1887 Cambridge Blue Boats disposed of Fairbairn and Hutchinson in their Goblets heat after they had kept it close for more than a mile. Fairbairn: “We were beaten after one of the most enjoyable and best races I ever rowed, by a very good pair, rowing for the Goblets alone whilst we were rowing for the Grand and Stewards’ as well.”709 “We got away beautifully, but they led us. ‘No pair can live at this pace,’ I thought, but they kept just ahead. We rowed every stroke perfectly true and very well together, and I confidently expected the other pair to come back, but they hung on just half a length ahead. We were rowed to a standstill and stopped about one hundred yards from home. “I looked around, and Hutchinson was in a glorious state of exhaustion. I gave a yell, ‘Up!’ and we had a last go, and a very fine spurt we made, but we were beaten by half a length.”710 In the Grand on the final day, Trinity Hall and Thames R.C. battled to the finish line with the Hall winning in 6:56. Fairbairn: “Hutchinson and I rowed in over a hundred races at 7 and 6 in Eights and 3 and 2 in Fours. We were only beaten once when rowing 7 and 6, and that was in ‘87 in the final of the Grand, which we lost by eighteen inches. This was only because the Hall’s crew’s oars struck the water just 708 Luckman, personal correspondence, 2010 709 Fairbairn of Jesus, p. 63 710 Ibid, pp. 69-70 before the finish and we struck just after.711 Our boat floated out ahead of the Hall boat. “We were beaten five times in Eights and Fours out of over a hundred races, and we did not have the pick of men with us, like Leander.”712 Steve and Hutch were to be lifelong friends, dying within months of each other in 1938. Freddie Brittain, speaking after Steve’s passing: “Each of the two friends was the complement to the other. Hutch’s slim figure a strong contrast to Steve’s massive frame [in later years], and he was a taciturn as Steve was loquacious. When the two were together, Hutch seldom spoke unless Steve addressed him first, and then he answered in the fewest possible words. Steve, for his part, seldom ventured on an assertion without afterwards appealing to Hutch for his opinion before he considered the matter closed.”713 Having completed his studies in 1887, Steve then returned to his homeland. Rowing for Jesus, he had rowed twenty-five times Head of the River at Cambridge,714 each time with Arthur Hutchinson. Afterwards Page: “Even after he had left for Australia, so missing the [Thames R.C.] Grand wins in 1888-9, his influence persisted, the captains of both these crews writing to him to say that it was all because 711 This represents a common misconception. The boat actually goes fastest after the release and slowest after the oars enter the water. See Chapter 102. 712 Fairbairn of Jesus, p. 69 713 Qtd. by Page, p. 93 714 (including multiple sessions in a single year’s regatta) Fairbairn of Jesus, p. 63 190
