They showed in front early on and looked the more settled unit.Loathing, on the Middlesex station, were stroked by Philip Beard, in his fourth year but dismissed in the past as too slight, had another 19-year-old, Andrew Dunn, at No 7 behind him with Toby Ayer at No 6.The crews clashed just beyond the Mile Post, but, once separated, steered and raced well through Hammersmith Bridge before a series of clashes were exacerbated by the umpire, Fred Smallbone, instructing both to go the wrong way with the result that in a tangle of oars Andrew Dunn, at No 7 in Loathing, sheared his foot stretcher, and the race was stopped.After repairs Smallbone restarted the race, with Loathing fractionally in front, and they maintained the lead past Barnes Bridge. He was backed by Leonard Diplock, a Canadian lightweight world medallist, and Alex Reid, who has stroked Yale, with Daniel Snow, a Blue last year in the No 5 seat. Fear and Loathing, more Kierkegaard than Hunter S Thompson on the gloomy, wind-tossed Tideway, were offered a good test. They started in relative calm for the first two miles followed by atrocious conditions from Chiswick Eyot to Barnes Bridge and then better water again for the finishing sprint. Michael Bonham, a 19-year-old who earned his spurs winning the Princess Elizabeth Cup with a famously gutsy Radley School crew, stroked Fear, taking up where he left off in 1998. "But now, with the addition of these top athletes, the women's race will definitely be something special.". THE OXFORD campaign to reverse seven years of Boat Race defeats began yesterday with a tense Trial Eights race from Putney to Mortlake which, after four-and-a-half miles and a restart, ended with a dead heat. Scotland's Liz McColgan, victorious in 1996, will also make her return following the birth of her second child."We have been talking about the much-anticipated battle between Tegla Loroupe and Joyce Chepchumba," said David Bedford, the race director.

Mexico's Adriana Fernandez, who won in New York this year after finishing runner-up in London, and Manuela Machado, Portugal's double European and former world champion, will also run on 16 April. The trio join a field that includes the Kenyan duo of Tegla Loroupe, the fastest female marathoner ever, and Joyce Chepchumba, the winner in 1997 and this year. CATHERINA McKIERNAN will attempt to regain her Flora London Marathon title next year. The Irishwoman, who won the race in 1998 but was unable to defend her title because of injury, was one of three major additions to the women's field announced yesterday. Samaranch, for the time being at least, will note be questioned about the Salt Lake City bribery scandal."If the FBI wants to meet with me, I am ready, but not on this occasion," he said.. Reebok was to be the official sports brand of the Sydney Olympics and the exclusive supplier of sports brand products to SOCOG. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the International Olympic Committee president, is confident that he will not be interrogated by FBI investigators when he is in Washington next week testifying before Congress about the organisation's reform efforts. Keith Forbes, the general manager of Reebok Australia, said the company had terminated a deal reportedly worth around A$15m (pounds 5.7m) because SOCOG had struck deals with competitors. THE AMERICAN sportswear company Reebok International have dropped a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with the Sydney Olympic organisers (SOCOG) and has launched legal action seeking damages for an alleged breach of contract.

The two countries now go into a five-match series of one-day international matches, the first in Bulawayo on Saturday.(Final day; Sri Lanka won toss)ZIMBABWE - First Innings 218 (K R Pushpakumara 5-56)SRI LANKA - First Innings 231 (R P Arnold 104 not out)ZIMBABWE - Second Innings(Overnight: 48-2)G W Flower c Dilshan b Vaas 13C B Wishart b Vaas 9M W Goodwin c Arnold b Muralitharan 38N C Johnson c Dilshan b Wickramasinghe 9*A Flower not out 70A D R Campbell c Jayawardena b Vaas 27G J Whittall c Arnold b Muralitharan 9R W Price run out (Jayasuria) 4E A Brandes not out 1Extras (b4 lb4 nb9) 17Total (for 7 dec) 197Fall: 1-14 2-28 3-51 4-93 5-151 6-174 7-184.Bowling: Vaas 22-5-48-3; Pushpakumara 21-5-39-0 (nb3); Wickramasinghe 21-6-30-1 (nb1); Jayawardena 2-0-12-0; Muralitharan 35-11-52-2 (nb5); Jayasuria 8-4-8-0.SRI LANKA - Second InningsM S Atapattu c A Flower b Brandes 6S T Jayasuria not out 16R P Arnold not out 14Extras 0Total (for 1) 36Fall: 1-7Bowling: Olonga 4-1-11-0; Brandes 4-0-20-1; Strang 1-0-5-0.First Test: Drawn.Second Test: Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets.Sri Lanka win series 1-0. Hendriks had earlier spoken to Sri Lanka's captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, after a period of frenzied appealing.The Sri Lankans won the series courtesy of their victory in the second Test in Harare, having drawn the first in Bulawayo. Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell and Murray Goodwin were each fined 30 per cent of their match fees by the referee, Jackie Hendriks, for sledging. After a day-and-a-half was lost to bad weather, there was not enough time for either side to snatch victory, and Sri Lanka had reached 36 for 1 before a halt was called after half of the available 18 overs had been bowled.There was a sour end to the match for three of the Zimbabweans.