On June 10th 1829 the first Oxford and Cambridge boat race took place, two miles from
Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge. It was won easily by Oxford. Here are 10 facts you may not know about the Boat race:
- It was started by two school friends from Harrow, Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and Charles Wordsworth, who'd gone on to Oxford. They challenged each other to a race. The second race was seven years later in 1836, after which it became an annual event. Both teams preferred different courses and the current course was decided upon in 1839.
- As of 2016 Cambridge has won the race 82 times and Oxford 79 times, with one controversial dead heat in 1877. The result was declared by that year's judge, John Phelps, but is disputed because not only was the weather bad, but Phelps was reportedly over 70 and blind in one eye. There were no finish posts back then either, although they were installed in time for the 1878 race.
- Before the race the clubs' presidents toss a 1829 sovereign and the winner of the toss can choose which station, or side of the river, their team rows on. Middlesex station is the north bank of the river and Surrey, the south, and each has different advantages depending on the weather and the form of the crew.
- The race can get very competitive as the crews compete for the fastest currents in the deepest parts of the river. It's not unknown for clashes to occur and crews can get warnings from the umpire (who will be either a former Oxford rower, or blue, or a former Cambridge one, alternating between the two). In these situations it's not only the rowers' shirts which are blue, but the cox's language can get pretty blue as well, which is why the "live" feed from microphones in the boats is delayed by a few seconds.
- The boat race traditionally goes ahead, even in weather so bad that an international regatta would be cancelled. The Water can get pretty rough if there is a strong wind from the west, and so it's not unknown for boats to sink. Cambridge sank in 1859 and 1978; Oxford did so in 1925 and 1951; in 1984 the Cambridge boat sank after colliding with a barge before the start of the race, which was rescheduled for the next day. In 1912 the weather was especially bad with high winds, and both crews sank.
- The fastest winning time is 16 minutes and 19 seconds by Cambridge in 1998. The slowest winning time was 26 minutes and 5 seconds by Cambridge in 1860. In 2012, no winning time was recorded because Trenton Oldfield swam between the boats to protest about spending cuts, so the race had to be stopped for half an hour for safety reasons.
- The main race may be over pretty quickly but there are other races on the same day. Since 2015, the women's crews also race on the same day as do the reserves for both men and women. The men's reserves are known as Isis for Oxford and Goldie for Cambridge. The Isis is a section of the River Thames which passes through Oxford, and Goldie is named after Boat Club president John Goldie, 1849–1896, after whom the Goldie Boathouse is named. The women's reserve crews are called Osiris for Oxford and Blondie for Cambridge.
- The rules state that rowers must be full time students of the universities they row for and will therefore have fitted their extensive training regimes around their studies. Training starts in September, six days a week, both in water and on land, and on rowing machines in the gym. Each member of the crew trains for approximately two hours for every stroke in the race. Famous participants include Lord Snowdon, Colin Moynihan, Hugh Laurie, TV presenter Dan Snow, Conspicuous Gallantry Cross recipient Robin Bourne-Taylor, four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent, and the Winklevoss twins – known as the disputed joint founders of Facebook, who sued Mark Zuckerburg for stealing their idea.
- At the end of the race, the boats come ashore at Mortlake Anglian and Alpha Boat Club near Chiswick Bridge. It is traditional for the winning side to throw their cox into the Thames.
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