Rivalry defines sport. Partisanship is what keeps us engaged. Without a sense of jeopardy – innate and investible, something that spectators and speculators can absorb alike – sport becomes fickle, fallible, a force that flatters to deceive. The collectiveness of cities rising up to meet each other on the field, around the track or up and down the river is inherently addictive; it brings credence to the notion that sport remains relevant in a world where economic and political pain seem the order of the day. Tribalism, insignia, mottos and mantras, chanting and singing and shouting and hollering – these are the ingredients of true sporting heritage. The colours of each faction bleeding into the very fabric of the event. Red, white, black – and blue.
The Boat Race is one of the oldest and most venerable sporting events, and the feud between Oxford and Cambridge – two of the UK’s most prestigious educational institutions – has dictated the cut and thrust of this iconic duel since 1829. Now in its 170th year for the men and 79th year for the women, both Light Blue and Dark Blue will once again take to the water with the weight of expectation heavy on their shoulders. There is no purer reflection of naked sporting drama than The Boat Race; physical strain laid bare across an unforgiving 6.8km course that charts a pathway through the beating heart of south-west London.
To fully understand the gravity of today’s events for all of these athletes, it’s important to reflect upon the journey that has led us to this tussle on the Thames. Endless miles clocked up on the water, training relentlessly through a long and cold winter, whilst balancing studies at two of the most demanding universities in the world. Fixtures and trials, internal and external, to assess pecking order and grind out every last ounce of speed. Returners branded and modified by loss, fixated on the redemptive qualities of victory. Newcomers, blinking into the intense blue blaze of Boat Race day, stepping out into this aquatic amphitheatre for the very first time. Coaches whose philosophy has been imprinted upon their crews and whose work product will be judged not in time or effort but in the fleeting glimmer of victory. A heightened sense of intra-collegiate tension with a ruling levied mid-season that certain athletes were not able to partake due to ineligible criteria. Now, these two heavyweights of the academic world meet in unholy matrimony with one goal etched painstakingly into their mind – to win the 2025 Boat Race.
Like their female counterparts, Oxford again won the toss and President Tom Mackintosh – elected to lead the squad in his first-ever Boat Race campaign – selected to race on the Surrey station. One notable change from the earlier race was the appearance of darker clouds, pregnant with the changing weather front and the intensifying weight of expectation. After a female contest once again controlled by Cambridge, all eyes turned to the men’s edition and the storm brewing in the sky and down on the water.
After a slightly delayed start due to debris on the course, both crews got away cleanly under the watchful eye of Sarah Winckless, taking charge of the men’s race for the first time on the Tideway course. Rating above 40 strokes a minute, both crews used the opening phase to unshackle all of the tension built up during a near-ten minute delay. It was impossible to tell between the two boats initially, as Winckless warned both crews approaching Craven Cottage. The slightest of advantages was perhaps in Cambridge’s favour, as Winckless bellowed instructions at both coxes. With the Light Blue advantage unfurling its true value around the opening bend, it was Cambridge – stroked by the impervious Douwe de Graaf – who began to open up a more decisive advantage of five seats.
Critical to Oxford at this stage was any ability to hang in there – Cambridge were in the ascendancy and threatening to break clear of their opponents. The campaign that the Light Blues had put together across the season – including trumping Oxford at the Head of the Charles in October – looked indicative as Cambridge continued to truck away. Could the Dark Blues – with that sensational stern three – find a way back into the contest as their long wieldy Surrey bend began its curve?
As the crews crept up towards Hammersmith Bridge though, it was Rob Baker’s Cambridge who had finally established clear water and were beginning to creep into Oxford water by virtue of their advantage. In eerily similarly fashion to the women’s race, Oxford were in a situation where they either had to find deeper reserves of strength to claw themselves back into the contest or resign themselves to fight again another day – or year. This was perhaps the decisive moment of the race; Cambridge were straining to snuff out any chance of Oxford reclaiming the momentum, an intangible turbocharge that so often determines elite sporting contests.
Stroking Cambridge, De Graaf looked imperious approaching Chiswick Eyot, with the familiar beat of the victory drum impacting every aspect of their rhythm. The river was unforgiving in this section of the course and the Light Blue style was paying clear dividends; their longer, smoother stroke appeared far more effective in comparison to the punchier, racier Dark Blue style.
With a third of the contest left to run, it was clear that Cambridge – enabled by generations of former winners and a programme that seems to only recognise victory – were in complete control. Oxford cox Tobias Bernard was heard imploring his athletes to ‘believe’ but belief is a scarce resource in the scrappy and unforgiving arena of Boat Race duels. Despite Oxford’s remarkable pedigree and changed coaching line-up, the crushing nature of Cambridge’s margin demonstrates that the Dark Blues have a long way to go to reclaim equal footing in this match.
The remainder of the race was played out in unremarkable fashion; Cambridge were able to relax into a rhythm that had won them the race whilst Oxford were left to pick up the shattered pieces of a broken dream. Rob Baker and his bold band of Blue-bled boys can collect yet another Boat Race trophy, whilst Oxford, whose heads fell in similar fashion to the rain that had begun to cascade down from the grey heavens, must begin the soul-searching, the sense seeking and a new approach to rebalance an ever-strengthening perception that this is Cambridge’s race to lose.
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