Bow-ing out at the top (From Swindon Advertiser)

Bow-ing out at the top

7:00am Monday 31st March 2008 in

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A JUBILANT Nick Brodie insists it is time to hang up his lifejacket after finally sealing Boat Race glory - but has left the door slightly ajar for a future Olympic medal.

The Oxford cox shrugged off three years of individual heartbreak to guide the Dark Blue boat to a comprehensive six-length win on Saturday, before all but calling time on his rowing career.

Brodie, from Bourton near Shrivenham, described University Boat Race success as the "ultimate dream" but revealed it would take an "amazing offer" to tempt him out of rowing retirement.

The majority of a highly impressive Oxford crew are now being tipped as potential Olympians but Brodie insists he is not planning to follow suit - unless an offer is made he can not refuse.

He said: "I am hanging up my lifejacket, putting on some weight and eating normally. I want a job and a career now.

"London 2012 is a little bit far away and it would mean me spending another four years starving.

"It would be a job in itself and so I could not do anything else while doing it.

"At Oxford you train to a high level but at the same time there is the academic stuff as well and that is a great combination.

"I could not find that with GB and I think it is time to get a job.

"Having said that if I am asked and made an offer I can't refuse then of course I would have to think about it."

Exclusion from the 2006 race at the 11th hour and defeat in 2007 leaves Brodie, now president, struggling to come to terms with finally laying his Boat Race ghost to rest.

He said: "At the moment I am just feeling totally relieved but I am sure in the next few days and weeks that will change to joy.

"I don't think I have ever smiled so much with a big hangover.

"This was the ultimate, the dream has come true."