Oxford women and Cambridge men seal Boat Race triumphs in choppy waters

Oxford’s women ended eight years of Cambridge dominance in their Boat Race with a sensational performance led by the Olympic medallist Heidi Long, while Cambridge overpowered their dark-blue rivals in the men’s race after a fiercely contested opening.

On a breezy and largely overcast day in London, Oxford’s women forged an early lead as the first race of the day sped away from Putney and they led by about six seconds by Hammersmith Bridge. Tens of thousands of fans cheered the boats on from the riverside, lining the 6.8km course all the way.

The water was exceptionally rough in the later part of the course and Matt Moran, the Cambridge cox, steered into calmer waters on the left-hander by Chiswick Eyot, taking the inside line and forcing Oxford to respond.

Racing into a strong wind and in exceptionally choppy waters beyond Hammersmith Bridge, Cambridge threatened to close the gap at times in the second half of the race, again heading for the inside line on the right-hand bend by Barnes Bridge. But Oxford stubbornly refused to cede the advantage and sealed a first triumph in the women’s race since 2016. The celebrations from Oxford team members on the riverside waiting at the finish in Mortlake – and from the athletes in the boat – were loud and passionate.

In contrast, the mood was sombre among Cambridge’s group after their dominant run of eight victories was ended in emphatic fashion. Oxford thus took their 31st women’s race win since its inception in 1927, with Cambridge having won 49.

Long, a bronze medallist in the women’s eight at Paris 2024, told Channel 4: “I’m just so proud. Everyone’s put in so much effort. It was the nine of us in the boat today, and Allan [French, the coach], and I wouldn’t have done it with anyone else.

“It was just incredible, every single stroke this year, for the whole year. Well done to Oxford University Boat Club, this was amazing.”

French said: “I’m so immensely proud of what they’ve done, what the whole team’s done and what everyone’s done before this. This takes time, it’s years in the making.

“These girls are incredible. What they do every day, they’re absolutely full-time students who do this in their spare time. And they train hard. They put their life and soul into this, it’s a brutal race, and today they made everybody so proud. Immense, absolutely immense.”

Annie Anezakis, who was Oxford women’s president last year, and along with Sarah Marshall has finally tasted victory at the fourth attempt, said: “This is the best feeling in the whole world.”

In the men’s race, Oxford put up an impressive fight against what some believed is the finest crew assembled by Cambridge. The light blues were made to work, but made their superiority count in the second half of the race after Oxford had been repeatedly warned for steering into their opponents, with a clash of oars looking highly likely in the first five minutes.

Cambridge were attempting to power away when it came to Hammersmith Bridge and the wind picked up, but led by less than a length. By Barnes Bridge they had assumed full control and won by four lengths, an advantage of 10 seconds.

“It was a super hard race,” said the Cambridge men’s president, Noam Mouelle, after their 89th win – and a seventh in eight years. “Everyone was blown. We have done the job early, so no problem. We just had to make no mistakes and that’s what we did.”

Sammy Houdaigui, the Cambridge men’s cox, said: “That was a fantastic race. All credit to Oxford, all credit to the eight rowers. We knew we had the right athletes in the boat. I’m just glad I got to be a part of this, that I got to sit in the ninth seat for this one. I love these guys, I love Cambridge. Hats off to Oxford, they were fantastic.”