Apr 2, 2024HTBS

See It To Be It

On 31 March, Daphne Martschenko (CUWBC 2015, 2016) put this picture taken at the post-race Cambridge dinner on X. She wrote: “The first 2 Black people to ever row @theboatrace repping the @CUBCsquad Light Blue. Eight years after I was the first Black person to row in the Boat Race, Noam (Mouelle, CUBC 2023, 2024) joined me in 2023 and became the first Black man. Congrats Noam on a repeat win yesterday!”

2 April 2024

By Tim Koch

While Daphne Martschenko is correct about her and Noam Mouelle being the first Black people to row in the Boat Race, in 2023, I wrote about the first person of colour to take part, Chaloke Komarakul-na-Nagara from Siam (Thailand) who coxed Oxford in 1933. 

Chaloke Komarakul-na-Nagara with the 1933 Oxford Crew.

I recently discovered someone who was probably the second person of colour to become a Blue, Arshad Said from Pakistan who coxed Oxford in 1957.

Arshad Said of Pembroke College and Peshawar University.
Oxford 1957

Unfortunately, I cannot find out anything more about Arshad Said. Said a very common surname and Pembroke College says data protection rules prevent them giving me any information. The press of the time was not covering the Boat Race in much detail and Said gets only a passing mention. 

As to the lack of people of colour in the sport in general, in 2020 I wrote a piece titled, Rowing & People of Colour: A Few of the Few.

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