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The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
Published or Updated April 1, 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Sport: Boat Racing
Level: College
Also Known As: The Boat Race;
Sport: Boat Racing
Level: College
Also Known As: The Boat Race;
Event Type: Race
First Held: 1829
Next Up: 4/7/2019-4/7/2019
First Held: 1829
Next Up: 4/7/2019-4/7/2019
When and Where: every spring in London, England
The annual sport calendar in Britain has many highlights, none so English however, as an event between Oxford men and Cambridge men.
The rivalry between the two schools in no secret, and they have met more than 150 times since 1829 to attempt to settle the smarter-than-thou score.
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It was March 12, 1829 when students from Cambridge and Oxford decided to compete. The University Boat Race has continued to the present day and the total scores are fairly even with Cambridge leading: 81 wins for Cambridge vs. 77 wins for Oxford through 2013.
The race in 1877 was declared a dead heat. Legend in Oxford has it that the judge, "Honest John" Phelps, was asleep under a bush as the crews came by leading him to announce the result as a "dead heat to Oxford by four feet."
Cambridge produced one of the legends of the Boat Race and of rowing worldwide, Stanley Muttlebury, whose crew won the race in the first four of the five years he was a member, 1886-1890. He was viewed as "the finest oarsman to have ever sat."
In 2002, the favoured Cambridge crew led with only a few hundred metres to go, when a Cambridge oarsman (Sebastian Mayer, who was later part of the winning 2004 Cambridge crew) collapsed from exhaustion and Oxford rowed through to win by three-quarters of a length.
An estimated quarter of a million people watch the race live from the banks of the river, around seven to nine million people on TV in the UK, and an overseas audience estimated by the Boat Race Company at around 120 million, which would make this the mos
Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat," with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue.
The course is 4 miles and 374 yards (6,779 m) from Putney to Mortlake, passing Hammersmith and Barnes; it is sometimes referred to as the Championship Course, and follows an S shape, east to west.
The competitors must be students of the university for whom they race. The training schedules each team undertakes are very grueling. Typically each team trains for six days a week for six months before the event.
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Quotes
"Obviously, being involved in the Boat Race is a huge opportunity and honour."
Adam Kosmicki, American oarsman
