And here’s our report on today’s races. That’s all from me – thanks for reading!
Oxford cox Jack Tottem: “Everything we’ve talked about, everything we’ve worked towards, it’s been six, seven months with this team and it’s been a dream for all of us. I’ve been watching the Boat Race for 10 years so to put in that kind of performance means a lot.”
Tobias Schroder: “I’ve spent a lot of years trying a lot of years failing. The plan was always to go out hard and win the race from the start. I had nothing left eight minutes in, so the people behind me pulled me along.”
Oxford win the men's race!
Tottem’s men grit their teeth and heave through the last few pulls, eventually cruising past the finish post and bending double to catch their breath. Once they have, much screaming and fist-pumping ensues – and even some tears of joy too. Cambridge are dejected.
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The dark blues are well ahead now as they steam under Barnes Bridge, with cox Jack Tottem preaching calm. About a kilometre to go.
Little more than five minutes to go now, and Oxford’s lead sits at a good couple of lengths. It should be straightforward from here.
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Chiswick Beach comes and goes, and Oxford stay in control, even able to send a bit of dirty water the way of their toiling rivals.
Oxford lead going into the first bend, Hammersmith Bridge nearing, and it’s a bend that will favour them on the Middlesex side. Cambridge need to stay on their coattails here – Oxford have put daylight between the boats as they hurtle under the bridge.
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The boats couldn’t be much closer together – the umpire is keeping the crews apart as best he can – and the wind over the Thames has picked up. Oxford still a nose ahead.
The men's race is underway!
We’re off! The red flag drops and 16 sets of limbs begin their synchronised pumping. It’s neck and neck as the boats accelerate away from Putney Bridge and along Fulham Reach, Cambridge are pointing notably in-river and towards the Oxford bank, but Oxford inch ahead – just – as the teams pass Craven Cottage.
Cambridge win the coin toss and choose Middlesex, which gives them a smaller advantage than Surrey, but it comes earlier in the race.
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Now we meet, Oxford men’s crew, perhaps even better-spoken and more lusciously-haired than their Cambridge counterparts, whose members range from 18 to 29, and features two Swiss members as well as an Estonian-British cox. The bow Liam Corrigan espouses the benefits of Nutella and butter bagels. Coach Sean Bowden – blad, softly spoken, quietly intense – says the race means everything. Pundit Ollie Cook likens him to “Professor X … from the X-Men”.
The BBC turn their focus to Cambridge men. Charlie Marcus reckons a cox is always more noted for losing a race than winning one: many a goalkeeper will sympathise. Coach Rob Baker calls them the fastest crew he’s coached. “If we’re billed as underdogs, that’s great for us,” he says.
The women’s team, by the way, set a new record at 18mins 22secs, the victory taking their tally of wins to 46 to Oxford’s 30.
Cambridge’s Bronya Sykes is giddy: “It was insane, it was fast, it was emotion, all in one go. Jasper did a phenomenal job coxing there.”
And the cox makes no apologies for his tactics: “I took a risk early on that paid off as the race went on. Full credit to them, they race really well. There’s not a person in this crew I don’t love to bits and I’m so proud to be here.”
Cambridge win the women's boat race
They hare over the finish line in record time, quickly followed by an Oxford team whose cox Joe Gellet lodges a dutiful protest against the Cambridge boat “cutting right across in front of us”, as he puts it. Umpire Josh Gallagher delivers his verdict: “It was aggressive steering, I agree with you, but that’s not a disqualification offence.” Cambridge’s win, inevitable since the opening moments, is confirmed.
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Oxford are chugging gamely along, and to their credit the gap has now been halted at around the two-length mark. But Chiswick Bridge and the finish line now beckons for Cambridge, who in a few seconds will be toasting a convincing victory.
The BBC camera cuts to young Jasper Parrish, who promptly turns the national broadcaster’s airwaves blue with a four-letter flurry. Jolly good, old boy. His team, zipping under the central arch of Barnes Bridge, are escaping into the distance.
Oxford need something special with the gap now 1.7 lengths as the scoot past Chiswick Beach but they haven’t got it. Their only hope is for Cambridge to, in the words of Alex Ferguson, “do a Devon Loch”.
Cambridge, holding a nice steady rhythm, aren’t giving up any ground and the gap now is nearly a length. The only factor now, you’d think, is their stamina.
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Oxford are now playing catch-up. Cambridge overlap – catching the attention of the umpire, who lets it go – and escape an extra few feet ahead as the boats pass under Hammersmith Bridge.
Cambridge’s lead is opening up, with cox Jasper Parrish barking orders in a manner that belies his 18 years. At this race there will be clear water between the boats.
The women's race gets going!
And we’re away. Oxford get off to a quick start but Cambridge open up a sliver of a gap as the boats as the boats steam along Fulham reach and towards the first bend.
The BBC coverage introduces us to the Oxford women’s team. “Just because I’ve been to the Olympics, doesn’t mean I’m above anyone else in this team,” says Gabrielle Smith, semi-convincingly. Anastasia Posner reckon they could pip Cambridge today. They’ve had a visit from George Clooney, who judging by the photo is at least three feet shorter than every team member. One minute till the race starts…
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Matthew Holland – no, not the former Charlton and Ipswich midfield workhorse but the cox who has has won the Boat Race with both Cambridge teams – has stuck his neck out and gone for Cambridge to win the women’s race. Over on the bank, Oxford win the toss and elect to race on the Surrey side.
Today’s course:
In inter-sport news, the future of the Boat Race has been plunged into doubt by … the redevelopment plans of Fulham FC. MP for Putney Fleur Anderson told the Commons that plans by Fulham to build a pier extending into the Thames outside the club’s stadium, Craven Cottage, could be dangerous for people boating on the river including those participating in the Oxbridge race.
Here’s the Oxford cox Jack Tottem, making his Boat Race debut today: “It is certainly Cambridge’s to defend, they’ve got a lot of momentum. We’ve hopefully put together something really strong that’ll take that on.
“I’m really confident with where we are at the moment but they’ve obviously got a really good track record over the last few years.
“The Boat Race is probably one of the most high-pressured scenarios for the cox to be in. It’s about those split-second decisions, knowing the guys really well, putting them in the best position.”
Preamble
Dust off the gilet, iron those red cords, crack open the strawberry punnets. We’re back on the Thames!
After the 2020 Boat Race was cancelled and last year’s event was moved to the Great Ouse for the first time since the war, this year our team will be once again ploughing their way down the traditional 4.2-mile route from Putney to Mortlake – and with 250,000 spectators expected to line the river. There will be bubbly.
As for the rowers, Oxford have a burgeoning monopoly to break. Both Cambridge’s teams won last year’s contest by less than a length, the fourth win on the trot for the women and the third for the men. A men’s team containing two Olympic medallists, in the form of Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith, do well to keep that run going today against an Oxford team featuring the British U23 medallists David Ambler and Tobias Schröde.
The women’s team will be clear favourites: Grace Prendergast, who won a gold and a silver in Tokyo, may well be the world’s best bowsider, while Ruby Tew – fourth place in Rio – and Team GB’s Imogen Grant, who has medals from world and European championships, also feature in a team that make Oxford’s task look a daunting one.
Today’s tides dictate that the 76th women’s race will get going at 2.23pm and the 167th men’s race starts at 3.23pm.
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