BOAT RACE: NYC, 78th Dinner 2011

The following is posted for the record. See also: Current (2015) Boat Race Dinner information and The history of Boat Race Dinners in North America.

NEW YORK CITY BOAT RACE DINNER 2011

James Doty, Chairman, PCAOB

Toast to the Universities - James Doty, Chairman, PCAOB

Response from the Universities - Sir Martin Taylor, Warden, Merton College

Timing and Script

6:45-7:30 pm - OPEN WINE BAR

7:30 pm WELCOME – Dr. John Tepper Marlin (Trinity, Oxford). 

Welcome to the 78^th annual and uninterrupted New York City Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner.

GRACE

I call upon Mr. Paul Lewis of Balliol, Oxford and The New York Times to say the Balliol grace as mandated in the year 1282.

Mr. Paul Lewis (Balliol, Oxford):  Benedictus benedicat. Amen.

8:00 pm REPORT ON ALUMNI BOAT RACE 

I call now on Mr. Ian Hawkins of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. 

Ian has been a participant in the last three Oxford-Cambridge alumni boat races, which have been at the Saugatuck Boat Club in Westport, CT. He is launching a family-friendly alumni boating day in New Jersey. 

Mr. Ian Hawkins (Trinity Hall, Cambridge).

REPORT ON BOAT RACE

The Boat Race was held last week. Claude Prince of Kellogg College, Oxford, was there and will report on the race. I warn you that the news will not be good for some fine people in this room. Brace yourself.

Mr. Claude Prince (Kellogg, Oxford). 

8:30 pm TOAST TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

We try to balance the speakers between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Our next speaker is Dr. Christopher Oakley, has matriculated at both universities. He will give the Toast to the President of the United States. He is a physicist based in London who has found his comparative advantage responding to the calls of Wall Street firms on matters too complex for me to describe.

Dr. Christopher Oakley (Trinity, Oxford and Trinity, Cambridge). 

TOAST TO THE QUEEN

To introduce our next speaker, I invite Sally Fan of Green Templeton College, Oxford. A nationally recognized journalist in China, Sally is an active member of the Dinner Committee. 

Dr. Linda Gruendken (St. John’s, Cambridge). Introduced by Sally Fan (Green Templeton, Oxford). A rower for Cambridge, Linda has previously addressed the dinner on the race results.

TOAST TO THE UNIVERSITIES –

To give the Toast to the Universities, we are honored to have Jim Doty of Merton College, Oxford.  Jim has been named a “Washington Superlawyer” many times. He has recently accepted an appointment by the Securities and Exchange Commission to chair the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, having been General Counsel at the SEC a few years ago. 

If you remember, the two largest bankruptcies in history, Enron and then WorldCom, occurred within six months. In July 2002 the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed to prevent a recurrence of the systematic accounting and auditing lapses that led to the bankruptcies. As part of the Act, the PCAOB was created to answer the question: Who Audits the Auditors? Or as Juvenal asked, in a different context, in Satires VI, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” The first Chairman was Bill McDonough, who had been President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  Jim Doty is now the leader of the forces that are defending the capitalist system against its exogenous enemies. So to the question: “Quis custodiet?” We can answer: Jim does. 

Mr. James E. Doty (Merton, Oxford), Chairman, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Washington, DC.

Professor Sir Martin Taylor, Warden, Merton
 College, Oxford

RESPONSE FROM THE UNIVERSITIES 

To introduce our final speaker, I call on Herve Gouraige of Merton, Oxford,  an attorney at Sills Cummis and another active member of the Dinner Committee. 

RESPONSE FROM THE UNIVERSITIES – Professor Sir Martin Taylor, Warden, Merton College, Oxford. Introduced by Mr. Herve Gouraige (Merton, Oxford). A mathematician of note, Sir Martin is traveling with the famed Merton Choir.

CONCLUSION 

That concludes our 78^th Annual Dinner. Thanks again to our Corporate Dinner Sponsors, HSBC Bank and the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, and to our academic sponsors, who have been playing an increasingly important role in making the dinners run smoothly. Please note the date for the 79^th Annual Dinner – Thursday, April, 2012. If you are interested in supporting this dinner and the 80^th dinner in 2013, please let me know. Meanwhile, you are invited now to repair to the Algonquin Hotel, a few buildings to the west, where the conversation will continue. The drinks will be Dutch treat.  

9:30 pm AFTER-DINNER PARTY

***

The Boat Race Crews 2011

Oxford crew, from bow (GB unless stated):

Moritz Hafner (Ger), Ben Myers, Alec Dent, Ben Ellison, Karl Hudspith, Constantine Louloudis, George Whittaker, Simon Hislop, Cox: Sam Winter-Levy

Ben Myers is Oxford’s only rower from last year’s crew, which is boosted by the inclusion of Karl Hudspith and Constantine Louloudis, who finished seventh in recent GB trials.

Cambridge crew, from bow:

Mike Thorp, Joel Jennings, Dan Rix-Standing, Hardy Cubasch (Australia), George Nash, Geoff Roth (Can), Derek Rasmussen (US), David Nelson (Australia), Cox: Liz Box

Cambridge are the heavier boat by an average of 1.63kg (3.6 lb per man), with their average crew weight 92.58 kg (14 st 8 lb).

Oxford coach Sean Bowden is supervising his 17th Boat Race, having previously coached crews to nine victories (four with Cambridge). He said: ‘The crew has come together well and what it lacks in Boat Race experience, it more than makes up for in determination and track record. Because we lost last year we’ve had a chance to look back and see the stuff we could do better.

He added: 'We will benefit from a hunger for success, but I wouldn’t want to underestimate Cambridge’s determination.’

Medical student Simon Hislop is stroke for the Oxford crew, after being diagnosed with testicular cancer and undergoing surgery last year. He said: ‘Being in the Boat Race is a big deal for me because I’ve been rowing on the Tideway for years, watching these crews. I’m coming to the end of my rowing career and this will be a nice way to draw a line under it.’

Alec Dent also makes the boat, having earlier resigned the club presidency when he was suffering from a back injury and thought he would not recover in time for the race.

The rest of the crew consists of Moritz Hafner, Ben Myers, Ben Ellison, Karl Hudspith and George Whittaker, with Sam Winter-Levy selected as cox. At 18, Sam will be one of the youngest coxswains in the history of the race. Oxford will face a strong Cambridge crew which boasts three members of last year’s winning boat.

The Boat Race, which is sponsored by Xchanging, takes place on the River Thames on Saturday 26 March, beginning at 5 pm. It will be broadcast live on BBC One, BBC Radio Five Live and the BBC Sport website from 3.45 pm.