Rowing: Smith guides Health home

Two eights battled out Oxford's Boat Race trial for about half a minute at Putney yesterday before "Health" made it a procession ahead of "Safety" for the next 18 minutes. Health won by about 10 lengths.

All the returning Blues were packed into the winning Health crew. It was stroked by the president, Matt Smith, now trying for his fourth Boat Race. He had a much easier time of it yesterday than when he stroked Oxford to an epic victory in the 2002 race. Behind him at No 7 was Robin Bourne-Taylor, coming up for his third encounter with Cambridge. This pair set a good rhythm on the choppy water at Putney, which continued in calm water after Hammersmith.