The Boat Race

With the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race a few days away, why not find out about the history of the event, read about this year's crews, find the best place to watch the race and eat and drink away the rest of the day ...

History of the race

Facts

Where to watch the race

www.theboatrace.org

History

The idea for a rowing race between the universities came from two friends - Charles Merival, a student at Cambridge, and his Harrow schoolfriend Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet William Wordsworth), who was at Oxford.

On 12 March 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford and thus the tradition was born which has continued to the present day, where the loser of the previous year's race challenges the opposition to a re-match.

The first Boat Race took place at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire and contemporary newspapers report crowds of twenty thousand travelled to watch. The race was stopped soon after the start and, following the restart, Oxford were clear winners.

The event was such a resounding success that the townspeople later decided to organise a regatta of their own which duly became Henley Royal Regatta. After the first year, the early Boat Races took place at Westminster in London, but by 1845, when Westminster had become too crowded, the Boat Race moved six miles up-stream to the then country village of Putney.

In 1856 the race became an annual event (excepting only the war years).

Facts

Heaviest and Lightest
The heaviest oarsman ever was Christopher Heathcote, 17 stone 5lbs (110.22 kilos) - Oxford 1990

The lighest oarsman ever was Alfred Higgins, 9st 6.5lbs (60.1 kilos) - Oxford stroke 1882

The heaviest ever crew was Cambridge with an average weight of 14 st 13 3/8 lbs (94.9 kgs) in 1998

The lightest ever coxes were Francis Archer (Cambridge 1862) and Hart Massey (Oxford 1939) - both weighed in at 5 stone 2 lbs (32.66 kilos).

There is no minimum weight for coxes in The Boat Race

Youngest and Oldest
The youngest oarsman ever was Matthew Brittin, 18 years - Cambridge 1987 and the youngest winning oarsman ever was Matthew Smith, 18 years - Oxford 2000

The oldest oarsman ever was Donald Macdonald, 31 and three months - Oxford 1987 but the oldest ever to compete was Andy Probert, 38 years - Cambridge cox 1992

Tallest
The tallest oarsman ever is Josh West 6' 9.5" (2 metres 7 cm) - Cambridge 1999, 2000 and 2001

The tallest ever crew was Cambridge with an average height of 6ft 6 9/32" in 1999 Winning margin The smallest winning margin on record is just one canvas - approximately four feet - Oxford 1980 (in 1952, when Oxford also won by a canvas, the boats were bigger and a canvas was approximately six feet)

Course Record
The current Course Record is 16 mins 19 secs - set by Cambridge in 1998

Sinkings
There have been six sinkings but the race result has only been determined by a sinking on three occasions: Cambridge twice (1859 and 1978) and Oxford once (1925).

On 31 March 1912, both boats sank and the race was held again on 1 April.

On 24 March 1951, Oxford sank and the race was rescheduled for 26 March, when Cambridge won

First Race
The first Boat Race was held in 1829 at Henley on Thames.

The first Boat Race on the current course from Putney to Mortlake took place in 1845 Women

In 1981 Sue Brown (Oxford cox) became the first woman to participate in the Boat Race.

1989 was the first year both Blue Boats were coxed by women

The Boats
The international class eights boats weigh 96kg (211lbs) and are 19.9m (62ft) long Training

Every member of The Boat Race crews trains for approximately two hours for every stroke in The Race. It takes about 600 strokes to complete the course

Famous Blues
Internationally acclaimed photographer Lord Snowdon (Cambridge 1950); former MP and now peer Colin, Lord Moynihan (Oxford 1977), comic actor and playwright Hugh Laurie (Cambridge 1980)

Olympic gold medallists include: three time Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent (Oxford 1990, 1991 and 1993), 1992 Olympic champion Jonny Searle (Oxford 1988-90), Sydney Olympic gold medallists Tim Foster (Oxford 1997), Luka Grubor (Oxford 1997), Kieran West (Cambridge 1999 and 2001), Andrew Lindsay (Oxford 1997-99)

from www.theboatrace.org