TEN overseas representatives and four Blues produced a remarkable Cambridge Trial Eights contest on the Thames at Putney yesterday. The crews, named Kaha and Whakamanawa, following a Maori theme after Cambridge’s September trip to New Zealand, provided a no-holds-barred battle.

Whakamanawa, meaning honour, went off the start faster on Middlesex and led by just under a length in a minute with their favourable Fulham bend ahead. Race over? Well, no. Kaha, meaning strength, stroked by Matthias Kleinz, of Germany, with Tom James, the Great Britain Olympian, behind him, let them get no farther and the difference was the same at the Mile, reached in a fast 3min 31sec. A strong push from Kaha, with both crews striking 35, saw them draw level by Hammersmith Bridge (6min 27sec) and then take a length’s advantage by the start of Chiswick Eyot.

Race over once again, one might have thought. But this time it was the turn of Whakamanawa to show resilience. Stroked by another German, Bernd Heidicker, they came back to be within a canvas at Chiswick Steps (10min 18sec), level at the Crossing, and were just over a length ahead by the Bandstand and another half a length up by Barnes Bridge (13min 54sec).

They stayed that way and just five seconds separated Whakamanawa from the chasing Kaha at the finish, reached in a swift 16min 41sec.

CREWS: Whakamanawa: Bow, E Sherwood (Malbank and Jesus); 2, C Scott (RGS Worcester and Trinity Hall); 3, J Goulet (Holy Cross and Christ’s); 4, V Utesch (Reinoldus Schiller and St Edmund’s); 5, S Schulte (Dilthey, Wiesbaden and Caius); 6, S Buschbacher (McCallie and St Catharine’s); 7, L Walton (Poway HS and Hughes Hall); Stroke, B Heidicker (Gymnasium Eickel and Hughes Hall); Cox, R Glenn (Moorpark HS and Darwin). Kaha: Bow, K Coveny (Warsaw Central and Hughes Hall); 2, M Nicholson (Lancaster RGS and Homerton); 3, H Adams (St Edward’s, Oxford and Christ’s); 4, T Edwards (The Friends, Hobart and Caius); 5, A Shannon (Loretto and St Edmund’s); 6, O de Groot (The Westgate, Winchester and Caius); 7, T James (King’s, Chester and Trinity Hall); Stroke, M Kleinz (Tilemannschule, Limburg and Caius); Cox, P Rudge (King’s, Chester and Hughes Hall).