Heidi Long and Claire Collins have competed against each other at world championships and Olympic Games, so it is testament to the continued allure of the University Boat Race that they describe it as a “bucket-list event”.
Having last met in the final of the Women’s Eight in Paris last summer, with Long winning bronze for Team GB ahead of Collins’s USA crew in fifth, they were reunited on the banks of the Thames in Putney this week in preparation for Sunday’s race.
The pair have led parallel lives on and off the water, competing against each other on 15 occasions in international, Olympic and American collegiate regattas, as well as sharing the same birthday – 29 November 1996 – but Sunday is likely to be a one-off. They are targeting the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 so may not return to a race where the result is the only thing that counts.
“The Boat Race has always been on my bucket list,” says Collins, who has added even more strength to a Cambridge crew that have won the past seven women’s races. “It’s an incredible event, with a unique mix of athletes in terms of their age and experience. You have athletes coming from the Olympics rowing alongside students who’ve learned to row at either Oxford or Cambridge in their colleges. And together we have to form a team, which is a real challenge and great fun.
“I’ve really enjoyed the whole experience, particularly meeting Heidi again and getting to know her over the past few days. There are usually 10 or 20 teams in the mix, but this time it’s just two teams so we’ve had time to talk properly. We didn’t even realise we had the same birthday until this year, things like that. It’s pretty crazy that we’ve had these parallel journeys, but it’s super‑cool.”
Oxford’s Long chips in: “I was looking back to see when we first raced each other and it was 11 years ago at the junior world championships in Hamburg. We probably learned to row around a similar time and made similar decisions to go to collegiate rowing programs, go for the Olympics and now come back to university.
“I want to continue representing Great Britain internationally and still dream of winning an Olympic gold medal, so that is going to be a priority the closer it gets to LA. But for now this experience has been unbelievable. I am super-excited to race and will take it where it comes after Monday morning.”
Talk of their first meeting in Hamburg reminds Long that when she first applied to Oxford as an undergraduate the women’s Boat Race did not take place on the same course as the men’s race and was hidden away in Henley with little media interest. Given the gradual move towards greater parity between the sexes in sport, it seems incredible that Sunday is just the 10th time the women’s race will be held on the Thames with equal billing and live TV coverage on the BBC.
While the 100th anniversary of the women’s event in two years’ time will be a cause for big celebrations, the smaller landmark this weekend should be the source of some embarrassment given how slow these old institutions were to adapt, although Long takes heart from how much has changed during her career.
“When I was applying to Oxford there was no women’s Boat Race on the championship course,” she says. “So in my university lifetime it has completely changed and women are now able to go out there and compete in exactly the same format as the men.
“I remember when I first watched the Boat Race you just watched the men. The sad thing was I didn’t realise there was anything wrong with that, it was just the norm. You just would go and watch men’s sport.
“But now I think, if on Sunday the women’s race didn’t happen, young girls around the river would notice and ask: ‘What’s going on here?’ Hopefully, we’re inspiring the next generation to go out there and give sport a go. Sport gives you so much more than just some physicality – the friends you make and the lessons you learn are one of a kind.”
Long’s friendship with Collins is testament to that, but while the rivalry between the crews is friendly enough Cambridge remain deeply aggrieved that Molly Foxell and Kate Crowley, plus Matt Heywood from the men’s club, are unable to race after Oxford successfully petitioned for a ban on students studying for postgraduate certificates in education, rather than degrees, competing.
All three have remained with the squad in London this week and will join the celebrations if Cambridge maintain their recent dominance. As well as winning seven women’s races in succession the Light Blues have won five of the past six men’s races and are seeking three in a row.
“At this point we’re really excited for the team, for the whole team, to be able to enjoy the whole day and compete,” Collins says of the controversy. “It really does take a whole team to compete, so while I’m quite sad that some people on our team can’t race it doesn’t mean they haven’t contributed to what’s going to happen on race day.
“It is sport, so what happens on the day is what people will remember, but the journey that gets you there is also important. Like in the buildup to an Olympics, the Boat Race is very much a journey, and those teammates of ours are very much a part of that.
“They’re very impressive athletes, they’re very impressive students, very impressive human beings. I feel very lucky to have been on a team with them, even if they can’t race.”
