Acer Nethercott, Olympian and Oxford coxswain, passed away today aged 35. I first saw Nethercott won the 2004 University Boat Race from the Crabtree, the Putney boathouse of the University of Cambridge Boat Club.
A year later, already a novice bow and also coxswain for HSBC Rowing Club, I saw him raced, and won, the same race against Cambridge. Nethercott was reported to have succumbed to brain cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2010.
For those of you who followed GLUE from the start, you would have known about what cancer meant to me and my family. Nethercott was an inspiration to many coxswains. An accomplished athlete, he also participated in marathons and triathlons. He tried to qualify for the Team GB for the London 2012 Olympics, but did not make it because of his illness.
I don’t want to yack anymore about Nethercott. But as a tribute to this son of the Tideway, who also coxed the boathouse of my alma mater, University College London Boat Club, I hope you’ll enjoy the series of reportage below, taken using my very first Nikon. I was just about to embark on a career as a photojournalist.
This is how I would like to remember Acer Nethercott.
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