Henley Regatta was the scene for an unusual race when James Cracknell enlisted Olympic medalists Zac Purchase, Mark Hunter, Chris Bartley and GB Rowing’s Adam Freeman-Pask to form the Monsters University Rowing Team. To coincide with the release of Disney•Pixar’s Monsters University on Friday, the foursome challenged the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club to a race at the Regatta.
The Monsters University Rowing Team took to the river in their team kit, spurred on by the support of Mike and Sully, the popular Disney•Pixar’s Monsters Inc. characters whose student days are chronicled in the new film.
So who won? Monsters or Oxford? In an absolute first for Henley Royal Regatta, the Monster Team celebrated defeating the Oxford side as they issued a warning to the public that the monsters will soon be landing on British shores.
Olympic champion James Cracknell said, “It’s been a year since the public have really been able to get behind Team GB so it’s been great to get the boys together again on the water and race. Commiserations to the lads from Oxford. I don’t think the Dean of Monsters University would have been too impressed if we’d come in second.”
The race was also a final swan song for Olympic rower Mark Hunter who announced his retirement from the sport last week.
Disney•Pixar’s Monsters University, the prequel to 2001’s hugely successful Disney•Pixar’s Monsters Inc. is released in cinemas across the UK from Friday 12th July 2013.
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