President's daughter rows to win in boat race

President Mary McAleese and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, watched their daughter row to victory in the Oxford versus Cambridge Lightweight Women’s Boat Race today.

The President was in London in a private capacity to cheer on her daughter, a keen rower, after a 12-day state visit to Japan and Korea.

Sara McAleese, who is a second year biochemistry student at Oriel College, Oxford, was one of a team of eight crew and a cox who won the 2,000 metre race at Henley by half a length.

She rode in the number two seat for the Dark Blues to beat Light Blue rivals Cambridge in one of five races between the two universities today.

The lightweight race – for competitors who meet the international weight restrictions for rowing – has been part of the Henley Boat Races since 1984.

Today Oxford won four of the races, but Cambridge scooped a win in the day’s main event, the Women’s Boat Race.

Crowds of between 10,000 and 12,000 people turned up at Henley to enjoy the spring sunshine and the old rivalry between the two universities.

Many more are expected to line the banks of the Thames in London for the Men’s Boat Race tomorrow.