Women's Boat Race

The Women's Boat Race The Newton Women’s Boat Race
Contested by
CUWBC	OUWBC
First boat race	1927
First competitive boat race	1935
Current champion	Oxford
Current course	The Championship Course River Thames, London (2015 onwards)
Course length	4.2 miles (6.8 km)
Current sponsor	Newton Investment Management
Previous courses	Henley (1977 to 2014 except 2013 on Dorney Lake); The Isis, Oxford and River Cam, Cambridge (1927, 1930 to 1976 with several gaps); River Thames, London (1929)
Number of wins[1]
Cambridge	Oxford
41	29
Official website
theboatraces.org

The Women's Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Women's Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. The race is rowed in eights. It is also known by the title of the Newton Women's Boat Race after its current sponsor Newton Investment Management.^[2]

History

The first women's rowing event between Oxford and Cambridge was held in 1927 on The Isis in Oxford.^[3] This was not an actual race in the years up to 1935, as the two boats were not on the river together and were judged mainly on their style and deportment. The next event in 1929 was held on the Tideway of the River Thames in London.^[4][5] Subsequently, with more than one gap of a year or more, the race alternated between the River Cam in Cambridge and The Isis. The Cambridge University Women's Boat Club (CUWBC) was founded in 1941, when Girton College became the second women's college to cater for rowing. Until that year, Cambridge was represented by Newnham College Boat Club. The first blues were awarded in 1941, when CUWBC raced against Oxford University Women's Boat Club (OUWBC).^[6][7] All of the Cambridge rowers in 1941 were members of Newnham. The following year, the first non-Newnham rower competed.^[8]

Following the 1952 race, Oxford rowed over a weir and OUWBC and CUWBC were disbanded for financial reasons. After a 12-year gap, the race restarted in 1964 and has been held annually since. The number of women rowers increased as more colleges started to admit women and reserve boats from each university began racing in 1966, later named Osiris (Oxford) and Blondie (Cambridge). In 1975, the men's lightweight race started at Henley-on-Thames and the women's Boat race was relocated there in 1977 creating the Henley Boat Races.^[4][5][6][9]

Oxford Women's Blue Boat at The Championship Course finish in 2015

The First VIII receive university blues, and are therefore more commonly known as the Blue Boat. The Second VIII receive university colours.^[10] In 2013, the entire Henley Boat Races was moved to Dorney Lake because of flooding on the river.^[11][12] Oxford won in 2014, on the Henley course, having beaten Cambridge by a distance of four boat lengths over two kilometres.^[13] On 11 April 2015, the 70th women's race was held on The Championship Course on the same day as the traditional male event for the first time,^[14][15] where OUWBC won by six and half lengths.^[16] The race has been won 41 times by Cambridge and 29 times by Oxford.^[1]

Henley Boat Races 2009: Oxford Women (dark blue) lead Cambridge Women

The Newton Women’s Boat Race 2015: Reserve Race – Osiris

Results

Women's Boat Race

• Cambridge: 41 wins
• Oxford: 29 wins

No.	Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
1	1927	Oxford	n/a	n/a	1	-
2	1929	Newnham	n/a	n/a	1	1
3	1930	Newnham	n/a	n/a	1	2
4	1934	Oxford	n/a	n/a	2	2
5	1935	Oxford			3	2
6	1936	Oxford			4	2
7	1937	Oxford			5	2
8	1939	Oxford			6	2
9	1941	Oxford			7	2
10	1942	Cambridge			7	3
11	1944	Cambridge			7	4
12	1945	Cambridge			7	5
13	1946	Cambridge			7	6
14	1948	Cambridge			7	7
15	1949	Oxford			8	7
16	1950	Oxford			9	7
17	1951	Oxford			10	7
18	1952	Cambridge			10	8
19	1964	Cambridge			10	9
20	1965	Cambridge			10	10
21	1966	Cambridge			10	11
22	1967	Cambridge			10	12
23	1968	Cambridge			10	13
24	1969	Cambridge			10	14
25	1970	Cambridge			10	15
26	1971	Cambridge			10	16
27	1972	Cambridge			10	17
28	1973	Cambridge			10	18
29	1974	Cambridge			10	19
30	1975	Cambridge			10	20
31	1976	Oxford			11	20
32	1977	Cambridge			11	21
33	1978	Cambridge			11	22
34	1979	Cambridge			11	23
35	1980	Oxford			12	23
36	1981	Oxford			13	23
37	1982	Cambridge			13	24
38	1983	Cambridge			13	25
39	1984	Cambridge			13	26
40	1985	Oxford			14	26
41	1986	Oxford			15	26
42	1987	Cambridge			15	27
43	1988	Oxford			16	27
44	1989	Cambridge	6:20	1	16	28
45	1990	Cambridge	7:17	3¼	16	29
46	1991	Oxford	7:29	3	17	29
47	1992	Cambridge	6:20	⅓	17	30
48	1993	Cambridge	6:10	4½	17	31
49	1994	Cambridge	6:11	1	17	32
50	1995	Cambridge	6:02	1⅓	17	33
51	1996	Cambridge	6:12	4	17	34
52	1997	Cambridge	6:26	1¼	17	35
53	1998	Cambridge	6:25	1¼	17	36
54	1999	Cambridge	6:01	1	17	37
55	2000	Oxford	6:18	2¼	18	37
56	2001	Cambridge	7:27	3 ft.	18	38
57	2002	Oxford	6:02	2½	19	38
58	2003	Oxford	6:35	3½	20	38
59	2004	Oxford	6:06	4	21	38
60	2005	Cambridge	6:27	2⅓	21	39
61	1 April 2006	Oxford	5:44	½	22	39
62	1 April 2007	Cambridge	4:03	½	22	40
63	23 March 2008	Oxford	6:39	½	23	40
64	22 March 2009	Oxford	6:24	1¼	24	40
65	28 March 2010	Oxford	5:56	4	25	40
66	27 March 2011	Oxford	6:24	1	26	40
67	25 March 2012	Cambridge	6:38	¼	26	41
68	24 March 2013	Oxford	7:21	1¾	27	41
69	29 March 2014	Oxford	5:50	4	28	41
70	11 April 2015	Oxford	19:45	6½	29	41

Notes

– The events until 1935 were not run solely as races, but were also judged on style merit marks. For the first two races, the crews were not allowed to be on the river at the same time.
– The course was shortened in 2007 due to rough water during the Henley Boat Races. It was reduced from 2000 metres to less than 1500 metres with the start between the Upper Thames Rowing Club and Old Blades.^[17]

Women's Reserves (Osiris vs Blondie)

• Cambridge: 23 wins
• Oxford: 20 wins

Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
1966	Cambridge			-	1
1968	Cambridge			-	2
1975	Cambridge			-	3
1976	Cambridge			-	4
1977	Cambridge			-	5
1978	Cambridge			-	6
1979	Cambridge			-	7
1980	Cambridge			-	8
1981	Oxford			1	8
1982	Cambridge			1	9
1983	Oxford			2	9
1984	Oxford			3	9
1985	Oxford			4	9
1986	Cambridge			4	10
1987	Cambridge			4	11
1988	Oxford			5	11
1989	Oxford	6:33	1	6	11
1990	Cambridge	7:34	1¼	6	12
1991	Cambridge	7:36	2¾	6	13
1992	Cambridge	6:32	3½	6	14
1993	Cambridge	6:22	1½	6	15
1994	Cambridge	6:22	Canvas	6	16
1995	Cambridge	6:08	1	6	17
1996	Cambridge	6:33	5	6	18
1997	Cambridge	6:36	¼	6	19
1998	Cambridge	6:32	4	6	20
1999	Oxford	6:09	1¾	7	20
2000	Cambridge	6:27	1¾	7	21
2001	Oxford	7:32	Easily	8	21
2002	Oxford	6:09	1¾	9	21
2003	Oxford	6:43	2	10	21
2004	Oxford	6:16	½	11	21
2005	Oxford	6:41	1¾	12	21
1 April 2006	Oxford	5:54	2½	13	21
1 April 2007	Oxford	NTT	1	14	21
23 March 2008	Oxford	7:09	Easily	15	21
22 March 2009	Cambridge	6:50	1½	15	22
28 March 2010	Oxford	6:10	3½	16	22
27 March 2011	Cambridge	-	Disq	16	23
25 March 2012	Oxford	6:57	3½	17	23
24 March 2013	Oxford	7:41	6	18	23
29 March 2014	Oxford	6:01.5	½	19	23
10 April 2015	Oxford	18:58	15	20	23

Sources:^[1][7]

See also

• Oxford–Cambridge rivalry
• Varsity match

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to University Boat Race.

• Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race official website
• The Boat Race course visualization on Google Earth/Maps (Italian)
• The story of the women's race BBC Sport video
• 1927 race footage British Pathé

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