So Cambridge women ended Oxford’s four-year winning streak in record time before Oxford responded by securing their 80th victory in the men’s race. That’s all from me, thanks for reading.
Cambridge president Lance Tredell speaks: “Bitterly disappointed not to get the win today. We were pushing the whole way. Congratulations to Oxford on the win, but Cambridge will be back.”
James Cook clambers back down the Oxford boat to embrace his brother, Oliver. The celebrations are pretty muted, due to the intense fatigue rather than any lack of emotion, and it shows just how hard Cambridge pushed them.
Oxford win the 163rd men's boat race!
Cambridge stay in touch right to the line, even closing the gap slightly, but it’s not enough and the win is Oxford’s.
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Oxford pass under the central arch of Barnes Bridge and the banks around them fill up with fans again as they power towards the finish. Their lead is still more than a length and it doesn’t seem to be closing.
A mile of the 4.2 to go and Oxford have squeezed out a little more of an advantage. This might be too much for Cambridge to recover now.
Oxford remain slightly in front on the approach to Barnes Bridge, but this is not over yet – and Cambridge will have the inside line into the finish.
Oxford are turning the screw, taking advantage of the Surrey station as the river bends south towards Barnes Bridge. They have pushed hard in the past couple of minutes and opened up a lead of perhaps two lengths.
Another minor clash of blades as both crews battle for the middle ground. Oxford remain half a length ahead. Cambridge cox Hugo Ramambason is forced to steer his boat away from Oxford under warning from the umpire and, as he does so, his boat lose a little more ground.
Matthew Pinsent bellows a warning towards Cambridge as blades nearly clash. Cambridge had the inside line at the start of the race and have managed to settle and close most of that initial gap. However Oxford will have the tighter track once they pass under Hammersmith Bridge.
Oxford are the favourites and they have quickly built up a lead of a nearly a full length as they approach Craven Cottage and turn north.
The 163rd men's boat race is under way
Race umpire Matthew Pinsent drops his red flag and they are away – this time both boats are off to a smooth start.
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The men’s race is almost ready to go here. The crews sit and wait. In the Cambridge boat is the tallest ever competitor, James Letten at 6ft 10in. In the Oxford boat sits William Warr, only the third to have switched allegiances having rowed for Cambridge in 2015. He said before the race: “It hasn’t been that easy. Guys that I’ve been very close with I barely speak to anymore. Some guys didn’t respect the decision at all and said they hope I lose for Oxford.” Here we go...
“How is the Cambridge women’s team cox a man (Matthew Holland)?” emails Monica Suter. “I would have assumed the men’s team have to be made up of men and the women’s team of women - are coxes exempt from this?” They sure are.
Hard to argue, Harry.
Hey @lawrenceostlere, why are we going along with this light blue nonsense. Cambridge are quite blatantly wearing mint.
— Harry Phillips (@Yes_IAmHarry) April 2, 2017
🏆🍾 Celebration slow-mo for your newly-crowned 2017 Women's Boat Race Champions - Cambridge! pic.twitter.com/shuF9KxQeF
— The Boat Races (@theboatraces) April 2, 2017
“In response to the ‘bold proposed rejig’,” emails Theodora R with a smiley emoji, “Andrew Benton might be interested to know that in fact there already exists a weekend of university racing - BUCS regatta, the UK’s largest student regatta.”
Cambridge’s win has gone down, officially, as a time of 18min 33sec by 11 lengths. Not quite the 24 lengths they lost by in last year’s dramatic race but a huge margin all the same.
Moments after the Cambridge women receive their trophy, the men’s crews march their boats out to the Thames. It’s around 20 minutes until the start of their race.
Contrasting emotions at the finish:
A bold proposed rejig by Andrew Benton via email: “After Oxford’s Oary McOarface-gate start, I did wonder why this traditional Oxbridge jamboree hasn’t yet entered the 20th century and encompassed other universities. A day or two of elite university racing would go down a treat - and good for the telly audiences too.”
The Cambridge boat’s time – 18min 34sec – is a record in the three-year history of the women’s race on the Thames, the first to break 19 minutes, and beats several of the recent winning times in the men’s contest too.
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Oxford come in some half a minute later and they are in tears. It was, unfortunately, a disastrous start which denied them a fair crack, although Cambridge may well have won by a decent distance anyway given the lead they eventually opened up.
Cambridge win the 2017 women's boat race!
For the first time since 2012 it is the Light Blues who come in first. They drop their oars and punch the air.
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The crowds are packed as the river bends round towards the finish at Mortlake. A high camera angle shows the Cambridge boat gliding down the centre of the course – with no Oxford crew in shot.
The Cambridge women’s crew approach Barnes Bridge in a brilliant rhythm. In fairness to the Light Blues, they have extended their lead by some way since Oxford recovered from that terrible start, and now they look in total control.
Oxford’s four-year winning streak is almost certainly over, but they continue to battle on. Last year’s margin was 24 lengths and that might be Cambridge’s target now.
Cambridge pass under Hammersmith Bridge with a huge lead and as they approach the halfway point the Light Blues look unbeatable.
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A replay of the start reveals all. Oxford’s four-seat, Rebecca Esselstein, got her oar stuck as she dug a little too deep on her first stroke. She missed two or three strokes as she battled to regain control, by which point Cambridge were well clear.
Oxford have so much ground to make up and this is already looking like a near-impossible challenge. As they pass Craven Cottage and head towards Hammersmith Bridge, Cambridge lead by at least three lengths.
The 72nd women's boat race is under way
And it’s a disastrous start by Oxford! They barely move, losing huge early ground to Cambridge and they are several lengths down almost immediately.
The women’s boats are sitting quietly on the start line. It’s tense. Will Cambridge put last year’s horrors behind them?
“It’s a heavenly day down at Thames Rowing Club, which is the HQ for this year’s Boat Race,” writes our man on the ground, Barry Glendenning. “Clare Balding is conducting her BBC business on a balcony with her back to the river, interviewing various rowers I kind of half-recognise although a former interviewee of mine, Katherine Grainger, is among them. Down below on the riverbank, there are no shortage of people milling around, many of them half-cut, wearing garish striped blazers and shorts. It’s a perfect day for drinking beside the Thames and the fact that there’s some kind of regatta on is an added bonus.”
Here’s Andy Flintoff on email: “Hi Lawrence, how many of the rowers today are actually undergraduates? It’s a farce that both universities ensure that they get the best talent by offering them places on one-year Masters courses in joke subjects, and I say that as an Oxbridge graduate...” There are six or seven in the upcoming women’s race by my reckoning, so perhaps more than you might think? The average age of the Cambridge women’s boat is 25; Oxford’s is 24.
Around 15 minutes until the start of the women’s race. The boats are in the water.
To get you in the mood, here’s Simon Burnton’s pre-match feeler:
Last year’s women’s Boat Race was literally rough for all involved, rowed as it was in extremely trying conditions and with Cambridge, on their way to a fourth successive defeat and their eighth in the past nine years, only just managing to remain afloat as their boat took in water. But for Ashton Brown, who returns for her third Boat Race this year as their president, it proved particularly trying: a few days later she developed pneumonia.
“Last year we got a little bit wet,” she said, “then I got ill partway through the following week and I was having trouble breathing, so I went to A&E and they did some chest x-rays and they told me I had pneumonia. They patched me up and I was sent home within the day, so I was quite lucky. I took some time off and it probably wasn’t until September that I was back in the swing of things.”
It is something that neither Brown herself nor her coach, Rob Baker, had ever encountered before, but illustrates the physical strain the athletes place themselves under. “They go through a really vigorous training programme, the race is very stressful on the body and the mind and going through those conditions as well you are susceptible to illness,” Baker said. “It was definitely a very odd and rare exception, but we had a very exceptional race.”
You can read Simon’s full piece here:
Some essential and less essential facts and figures
Oxford colours Dark blue
Cambridge colours Light blue
Course 4.2 miles (6.8km) from Putney to Mortlake
Starting stations Surrey to the south, Middlesex to the north
Record 16min 19sec by Cambridge men, 1998
Largest win 35 lengths by Cambridge men, 1839
Men’s race wins Cambridge 83, Oxford 79
Women’s race wins Cambridge 41, Oxford 30
2017 umpires Olympians Matthew Pincent and Sarah Winckless
❔ With just hours until The Cancer Research UK Boat Races, get the lowdown on the key statistics from all four crews #TheBoatRaces pic.twitter.com/gtTl1LncR0
— The Boat Races (@theboatraces) April 2, 2017
There were fears this morning that the races might be called off following the discovery of an unexploded second world war bomb found near the start line, but it has since been safely removed. Here’s the full story:
Cambridge won the women’s coin toss, and Oxford have won the men’s. Both have chosen the favoured Surrey station to the south which offers the inside line under Hammersmith Bridge.
COIN TOSS | The Cancer Research UK Boat Race coin toss is won by Oxford, who choose Surrey. #TheBoatRaces pic.twitter.com/AUzb5d7TxA
— The Boat Races (@theboatraces) April 2, 2017
Preamble
The 163rd Boat Race is here! If you missed the previous 162, let me catch you up: in 1829 a couple of old Harrow School chums challenged each other to a rowing race on the Thames, and a British tradition was born. Oxford won the first race but coming into the 2017 edition it is Cambridge who lead the men’s tally, 82-79, with one dead heat in 1877 called by the partially sighted John Phelps (by most accounts Oxford had won. They weren’t happy).
His great-great-great-great nephew called the 2012 men’s race which also ended in controversy after a clash of oars. There have been sinkings, close calls, mutinies and protesters in the water, all adding to the rich tapestry of Boat Race history. The women’s race has been going since 1927, which Cambridge lead 41-30. It was first judged on “style and rhythm” and was finally moved from Henley to the Thames in 2015 in a belated stand for equality. There have also been reserve races run since 1965.
What’s new this year? Well the whole of Oxford women’s personnel for starters, who go up against a more experienced Cambridge boat led by president Ashton Brown and looking to put last year’s traumatic experience behind them, as detailed in this excellent race report. The weather is set to be a little less dramatic this time around. Cambridge’s men ended a run of three-year streak of Oxford wins last year and their head coach Steve Trapmore declared a “turn of the tide”, but they begin this race as the underdogs.
The buildup has had plenty of bite, including a frosty stare-down at the men’s weigh-in between the rival captains, Oxford’s Vassilis Ragoussis and Cambridge’s Henry Meek. It is a battle as much with the pain barrier as the opposite boat, a hugely demanding 4.2 miles which, for one Sunday each year, means absolutely everything to both sides. There are no prizes for second place in the Boat Race*.
Women’s race: 4.35pm BST
Men’s race: 5.38pm BST
*There is actually something handed out to everyone who competes, but you know.
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