Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race 2021 – the ‘Battle of the Blues’ returns

The 2021 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - the annual rowing contest between crews from Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs - will take place on the River Great Ouse at Ely, Cambridgeshire.

This year the Boat Race will be a 'closed' event, so spectators will be unable to access the event, but you can still catch all the action live on BBC One from 3.00pm to 5.30pm. The 75th Women's Race is at 3.50pm, and the 166th Men's Race at 4.50pm.

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Clubs were formed with the single mission to win the annual Boat Race, an event that began out of friendly rivalry and has grown to become an iconic British sporting event, attracting global interest.

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is a contest often between the fastest university crews in the world. The intense rivalry between the clubs has grown over nearly 200 years, and the annual 'battle of the blues' has long become a staple of the British sporting calendar.

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races

The races normally attract over a quarter of a million people to the banks of the River Thames, but with a combination of lockdown, social distancing, and repair work to Hammersmith Bridge, the organisers moved the event.

This year, the races will start at the Queen Adelaide Bridge and finish just shy of the Sandhill Bridge at Littleport, on a 3-mile bolt-straight stretch of the Great Ouse called the Adelaide Straight. All footpaths, the windswept banks and the start and finish bridges will be closed to spectators.

There are four races. The men's and women's Blue Boat races - the races shown on tv - are between the top crews or first boats from Oxford and Cambridge.

The other two races that take place during the event are for the 'Reserve Crews' or second boats from Oxford and Cambridge. These crews have different names. The Oxford men's reserve crew is called Isis, Cambridge men's Goldie, the Oxford women's reserve crew is called Osiris and Cambridge women's reserve crew is called Blondie.

The first Boat Race was held in 1829, but it did not become an annual event until 1856.

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race Course

The Boat Race course, known as the Championship Course, is 4 miles, 374 yards or 6.8 km long, between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in south-west London. The Boat Race starts downstream of Putney Bridge and passes under Hammersmith Bridge and Barnes Bridge before finishing just before Chiswick Bridge.

This course was first used for The Boat Race in 1845. It has been used for every race since - apart from 1846, 1856 and 1863, when The Boat Race was held in the opposite direction between Mortlake and Putney. The Fulham/Chiswick side of the course is known as the Middlesex side, and the Putney/Barnes side is known as the Surrey side.

There were interruptions during the two world wars. Notably, in 1944, the crews took to the Adelaide Straight, albeit unofficially and in the opposite direction, while World War Two raged across the globe. And more recently, the 2020 event was cancelled as a result of the global COVID pandemic.

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race Standings

As it stands, Oxford has won the men's race 80 times and Cambridge 84. In the women's race, Cambridge is ahead with 44 wins versus Oxford at 30. The record time over the course in The Men's Boat Race is 16 minutes 19 seconds, set by Cambridge in 1998, and for The Women's Boat Race is 18 minutes 33 seconds set by Cambridge in 2017.

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