A COUPLE who help prepare Oxford’s crew for the annual University Boat Race are to tie the knot.

Denise Thomas, a university sports therapist who works with the boat race crew, thought her boyfriend – an osteopath for the rowing squad – was trying to make up for missing so many of her birthdays in the past.

It turned out he was giving her the best birthday present a girl could ask for – a diamond ring and a marriage proposal.

For the past three years, John Gibbons and Ms Thomas, who live in Wootton, near Abingdon, have missed out on her birthday because the pair are always in Putney preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

But this year, her 43rd birthday fell on Monday, so Mr Gibbons booked them into Oxford’s Malmaison Hotel and hired out a function room for a party, where he proposed.

Ms Thomas said: “I am still shaking. I thought I was having a birthday treat and he was making the effort to give me a nice birthday because it didn’t interfere with the Boat Race.

“It was a complete shock to me. I am not normally at a loss for words, but I was completely overwhelmed.”

Her first surprise was when she opened the door of the function room to find 16 of her closest friends waiting to celebrate.

Mr Gibbons, 41, said: “She started crying when she saw everyone because no-one had done a birthday party for her before and I thought ‘if she’s reacting like this for a birthday, how is she going to react in a few minutes?’ “I told her I wanted to show a little more commitment, gave her her birthday present and then when she opened it and saw it was a ring, I got down on my knee and proposed and she started crying again.”

Ms Thomas said it was a birthday present that could not be topped.

She said: “We had kind of dropped hints to each other that this would be it now, we would be together, but I didn’t expect a proposal, so it was a lovely, lovely surprise.

“It’s just unbelievable and the ring is perfect.

“It is always a bit mad in Putney, but I think it will be a double celebration and all the rowers will be really pleased for him as well.”

After a luxury night at Malmaison, complete with Champagne breakfast, it was back to work, with Mr Gibbons joining the team in Putney yesterday for Sunday’s Boat Race.