Boat Race April 3 1999 - Cambridge trials December 7 Cambridge show zip on a slack tide Christopher Dodd from the Tideway The mice outwitted the cats when "Itchy" beat "Scratchy" in the Cambridge trials from Putney to Mortlake by a healthy 15 seconds. Nor were there fisticuffs. Both Simpsonian coxswains took coach Robin Williams at his word when he told them that in the Boat Race, "any physical contact is a foul." Itchy, with the Canadian international Brad Crombie, this year's President, on board in the No 7 seat, took an early lead on the Middlesex station, cut the corner past Fulham football ground to pass the mile post more than a length ahead and extend this to two lengths at Hammersmith Bridge. The President's boat, stroked by the Goldie oarsman Richard Stokes and coxed by the tiny Vian Sharif, rated higher than Scratchy most of the way. Scratchy looked together but laboured, and cox Christopher Wren didn't use the tide much either, even though he started with the possible advantage of the Surrey station. But the stern four - the Blues Toby Wallace and Graham Smith, the German international Tim Wooge and stroke Thomas Stallard, are certainly better than their result. Cambridge defend a record of six consecutive wins next April, and a dull trial race was a bushel under which some respectable talent lies. Itchy raced it all the way and completed the Boat Race course in 17 minutes 11 seconds on a slack tide and flat water, a time which should have raised an eyebrow before Oxford lined up two days later. Crews: ITCHY: D J Tweedie (St Paul's School and Trinity Hall), bow; J Fauset (Hampton and Homerton College); R P Cantwell (Radley and Peterhouse); C J Hobcroft (The King's School, Chester and Peterhouse); D O M Ellis (Harvard USA and Trinity); K M West (Dulwich College and Christ's); R E B Crombie* (president, McGill University, Canada and Peterhouse); R P Stokes (Shrewsbury and Trinity), stroke; V Sharif (Lady Eleanor Holles and Clare), cox. SCRATCHY: D H Burston (Arden School and Homerton); R J Gaughan (St Ambrose College and Fitzwilliam); C H Vickers (Merchant Taylors' School, Liverpool and Girton); A J West (Yale University, USA and Gonville and Caius); T J Wallace* (King Edward VI School, Southampton and Jesus); T Wooge (Dortmund University, Germany, North Eastern University, US and Magdalene); G C D R Smith* (Westminster School, University College London and St Edmund's); T A Stallard (Oundle School and Jesus), stroke; C W Wren (Giggleswick School, North Yorkshire and Queens'), cox. © Copyright Christopher Dodd, 1998.