This year the race returns to its traditional home in south west London. Starting from the stone under Putney Bridge baring the initials UBR travelling 6.8km to another stone with the same initials at The Ship pub in Mortlake.
Last year it was held in Ely on the Great Ouse void of spectators during the pandemic, which was the second time at this location, with the other being 1944 whilst WWII was going on.
As at today Cambridge lead 84 to Oxford’s 80.
It usually takes around 18 minutes to travel what is known as the Championship Course. The north side of the river in the borough of Chiswick is known as the Middlesex Station and the south in Putney is the Surrey Station. The race travels upstream setting off when the tide is at its strongest making it as hard as possible to row.
At the start there is an advantage to being at the Surrey Station, which becomes clear by the time they reach Hammersmith Bridge. If you are leading at this point you have an 80% chance of winning the race. If the crews are closely matched by the time they get to Chiswick Eyot (pronounced ‘Eight’) one will make their decisive move.
These boys train around 4hrs per day, 6 days per week for over 7months, whilst trying to keep up with their studies. There are around 600 stokes of the blade during the whole race for one boat.
The pressure is on. We want another win. It’s all been building up to this moment.
COME ON CAMBRIDGE!!!!!!
If you are not on the banks of the river watching the race in London where is the best place in Cambridge to watch it?
Our suggestion would be to go down to the Cam and visit The Fort St. George in Midsummer Common. For more information visit https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/cambridgeshire/fort-st-george/ . It’s special to watch rowers out of the window whilst having the actual race on tv. They don’t serve a bad pint either.
One well known rowing pub is the Old Spring but it’s not known if a tv will be available on the day. https://www.theoldspring.co.uk/
A pub with a lot of rowing history that does show the race is the Champion of the Thames on King Street and although you can’t see the river from the window it is very central. https://thechampionofthethames.com/
Wherever you are watching the race feel free to scream to the screen and cheer on Cambridge.
Article by Anthony Dean
Sources:-
https://www.theboatrace.org/
https://www.varsity.co.uk/sport/21187
https://cubc.org.uk/
