An American citizen will lead the Cambridge crew into next year’s Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging, which begins in earnest next week.

26-year-old Deaglan McEachern from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been elected President of Cambridge University Boat Club for the 2009/2010 season.

He will lead the Cambridge effort to win the Boat Race for the first time in three years. He is a former US sculls champion who took bronze medals at the 2007 Pan-American Games.

“I’m looking forward to preparing the Cambridge squad so that we can secure our 80th victory.” said Deaglan.

Having briefly worked on Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign team in 2008, Deaglan is in his second year of studying History at Hughes Hall as an Affiliated student, and is the first student from the College to be elected to the prestigious post.

The last American to be President of Cambridge was Ethan Ayer in 1997. His crew beat Oxford by two lengths.

The 2009/10 campaign will begin at Goldie Boathouse by the River Cam on Tuesday 22 September, when all aspiring Blue and Goldie (reserve crew) oarsmen and coxswains will meet in the historic Captains’ Room to hear Deaglan’s 2010 Boat Race campaign strategy.

The following morning a series of gruelling ergometer time trials will begin which any eligible student can enter, as Chief Coach Chris Nilsson, in his second year in charge of the Cambridge coaching staff, begins to select a squad to take on Oxford on the Tideway in six months’ time

The 156th Boat Race will take place at 4.30pm on Saturday 3 April 2010.
 

The total of Boat Race wins stands at 79 for Cambridge and 75 for Oxford, with a dead-heat declared in 1877.

Xchanging, the fast-growing pure play global business processor with many blue chip customers, is in its sixth year of sponsoring the Boat Race, which is broadcast in more than 150 countries worldwide and will be screened live in the UK by the BBC.
 

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