Tonight, the heated hockey rivalry between Boston College and Boston University will continue in dramatic fashion, but just as storied a rivalry involving a Terrier standout will be happening in April over 3,000 miles away.
The Oxford University rowing team selected Boston University graduate Anthony Mullin to compete for its squad at the 153rd Oxford-Cambridge University boat race held on the River Thames in London, England in April.
Mullin, a 2006 College of Arts and Sciences graduate, is one of 26 Oxford rowers contending for a spot on the team’s first boat, the Blue boat, at the event nicknamed “The Boat Race.” If he’s not selected for the Blue boat, Mullin will have an opportunity to race in the university’s second boat, the Isis. Although the Oxford coaching staff has yet to fill any of the positions, Mullin said he expects to hear the announcement by next month.
Even if Mullin is not chosen for the top squad, he said that being part of the Oxford tradition is an achievement in itself.
“I am extremely happy and proud to be part of the squad,” Mullin said. “It is certainly an honor to row for Oxford. When you stop to think, you are reminded of the countless oarsmen before you doing the same thing for over a hundred years, training to beat Cambridge.”
After graduating from BU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, Mullin enrolled at Oxford, where he is currently working toward his Masters in Science – the same field he intends on staying in for his doctoral degree in clinical psychology.
When he first came to BU, Mullin said he wanted to play soccer, but instead walked on to the rowing team and was a mainstay for four years. As a member of the BU squad, Mullin competed in the dual meets and the 2006 Eastern Sprints. According to Mullin, his success at BU helped his performance so far at Oxford.
“Beating some good crews like Harvard [University] and Princeton [University] over two kilometers is a great feeling and so the determination and positive feelings from those good performances is something you try to replicate,” Mullin said. “Also rowing in the tough conditions in Boston helps me on the days when the weather is rough in Oxford. I don’t think I have rowed anywhere as cold as some of those mornings on the Charles River.”
At Oxford, Mullin said he is striving to improve academically and “physiologically,” honing the technical execution of his rowing stroke.
“The Oxford program, although part of the university, is an elite rowing team and so you need to strive to be the best in both areas to have a chance of competing well at this level,” Mullin said.
While Mullin acknowledges that he is one of the least experienced rowers on the Oxford squad, he said that his “jovial” personality and his work ethic make him “an integral part [of] the team.”
Mullin will be the second BU alum competing in the race, although he will be the first rowing for Oxford. Max Justicz competed for Cambridge in the 1989 race.
The long-standing rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge began Mar. 12, 1829, when Cambridge extended a challenge to Oxford. From that year on, it has been tradition for the previous year’s loser to ask for a rematch. In the overall standings, Cambridge leads the series with a 78-73 advantage although Oxford has won the past two contests.
The race, which will be held April 7, attracts 250,000 spectators annually, millions of television viewers and, according to BU coach Rodney Pratt, “is the oldest intercollegiate race in the world.”
“[The Oxford-Cambridge boat race] is certainly a big deal,” Pratt said. “The whole nation pretty much watches it.”
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