175 years of rivalry on the Thames
between Oxford and Cambridge
The longest running rowing race in the
world, the Oxford and Cambridge Boat
Race, is 175 years old this year, and the
race on Sunday March 28 is the 150th. To
celebrate the occasion two replicas of the
boat which won that first race at Henley-on-Thames will be raced from Putney to
Mortlake an hour before the actual race
hand. There is an exhibition called Battle
of the Blues at the River and Rowing
Museum in Henley from March 13 until
the end of August, and a sumptuous book
of the same title has just been published
this month.
This is how competitive boat racing
arrived in Henley, in the year when the
first trials for steam locomotives were
held and at a time before Queen Victoria
was on the throne of England or Charles
Darwin had written his Origin of the
Species. Thereafter the Boat Race moved
to the tidal Thames, settling on the
present course in 1845 and becoming
annual in 1856. The events of 10 June
1829 led to the foundation of a regatta at
Henley ten years later. Little did
Wordsworth and Merivale realise what
they had ignited; much less how
recognisable their race would be a
hundred and seventy five years later.
the most important being the Harvard-Yale Race which introduced intercollegiate sport to America. Raced on a
tidal, bending course, it demonstrates
each year that weather and watermanship
are significant elements in its outcome. It
has served as a nursery of Olympians and
participants from many countries, all
students at either university. And
although still a private match, it attracts
thousands of spectators and hundreds of
millions of television viewers worldwide, putting rowing in the public eye
every year like no other event.
The Boat Race has been important to the
sport of rowing in several ways. It forged
rules of racing and a code of behaviour
for amateurs in sport. It has many copies,
Except for a dead-heat in 1877, the Boat
Race in 2003 was the closest ever verdict
– to Oxford by 1 foot (30 centimetres).
The Oxford and Cambridge boat race
came about because Charles Wordsworth,
a student at Christ Church, Oxford, and
his school friend Charles Merivale of
St John’s College, Cambridge, decided to
set up a challenge.
Christopher Dodd’s book Battle of the Blues is available
from event.manager@theboatrace.org
On 20 February 1829, Cambridge
University Boat Club wrote to Oxford
stating ‘that the University of Cambridge
hereby challenges the University of
Oxford to row a match at or near London,
each in an eight-oared boat during the
ensuing Easter vacation.’
“The Boat Race has been important to the sport
of rowing: it forged rules of racing and a code
of behaviour.”
A rich mixture of adventure and
controversy surrounded the first race.
Jonathan Toogood of Oxford saved his
place at Balliol College, Oxford, by
attending a logic lecture, as required by
the college’s master, at 1pm on the day of
the race before dashing to Henley.
Merivale wrote to his mother to deny a
newspaper report that the match was for
money. ‘It is not an exaggeration even,
but a lie. In fact I have not a sixpence
staked thereon.’ There were a hundred
opinions as to the best course to take
between Hambleden Lock and
Henley Bridge.
There was a clash of blades, a foul, a restart, some questionable decisions by the
umpires, and a riotous finale in the town
that night.
