Boat Race 2024 LIVE: Start time, TV channel and latest build-up to Oxford vs Cambridge races
Follow all the live action from the 2024 Boat Race in the blog below
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Oxford and Cambridge’s best rowers will take to the Thames for the 2024 Boat Race on Saturday afternoon.
The race itself was first held in 1829 and has been an annual fixture since 1856. Last year Cambridge, the Light Blues, were triumphant in both the men’s and women’s races.
The boats start at Putney and travel upstream to Mortlake, 4.2 miles (6.8km) away. The crews were announced on 13 March, and have been preparing for the race for many months.
The immediate build up to the race however has been dominated by concern over the Thames’ water quality, especially given the tradition to throw the winning cox into the river in celebration.
Follow all the live action from the Thames in the blog below and get the latest odds and tips here.
Boat Race 2024: Oxford vs Cambridge
Cambridge Women’s President Jenna Armstrong (left) and Oxford Women’s President Ella Stadler
(Joe Giddens/PA Wire)
(AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 13:27
Boat Race 2024: Oxford and Cambridge rowers warned to not enter water after E coli discovery
Boat Race organisers have warned rowers to not enter the water on safety grounds after high levels of E coli bacteria were found on the River Thames course.
The new safety guidance could see the end of the traditional celebration for the winning team, where team members jump into the river and the cox gets a ducking. The 78th women’s race and 169th men’s race are still due to take place this weekend.
Last year, Cambridge men’s cox Jasper Parish was thrown into the Thames at Mortlake, as is the tradition at the end of the race. But a repeat is now unlikely after the River Action campaign group found an average of 2,869 E coli colony-forming units (CFU) per 100ml of water in 16 tests around Hammersmith Bridge.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 13:17
Boat Race 2024: Best places to watch Oxford vs Cambridge races on the Thames
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 13:07
Boat Race 2024: Coin toss for women’s race
Cambridge won the coin toss for the women’s race and cox Kate Crowley has chosen Middlesex.
Oxford will race on Surrey.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:57
Boat Race 2024: Coin toss for men’s race
Oxford won the coin toss and chose Surrey, which means Cambridge men will race on Middlesex.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:48
Boat Race 2024: Bookies backing Oxford for double victory over Cambridge
Here are the latest odds for the race:
Women’s Race
Oxford 3/10
Dead heat 100/1
Cambridge 9/4
Men’s Race
Oxford 8/15
Dead heat 100/1
Cambridge 11/8
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:40
Boat Race 2024: Thames course for Oxford v Cambridge races
The Boat Race course, known as the Championship Course, is four miles and 374 yards (6.8 km) long. It stretches between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in south west London.
The race is rowed upstream, but starts during the incoming tide to ensure that crews are rowing with the fast stream.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:30
‘Massive water advocate’ Annie Sharp excited for Boat Race on Thames
Annie Sharp is only half-joking when she predicts she will be the only rower as excited about starting the Boat Race in close proximity to the Thames’ new ‘super sewer’ as she is about the chance to snap a six-year winless stretch for Oxford’s women.
The 24-year-old’s enthusiasm for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.5 billion, 25km-long sewage structure which saw its final piece lifted into place this week, makes more sense when you learn that Sharp is a MSc water science, policy & management student at St Antony’s College.
Oxford last won the women’s Boat Race in 2016, the same year work began on the sewer, but might not be able to partake in the traditional celebratory dip should they win the 78th women’s edition this Saturday after high levels of E. coli were found along the Championship Course.
Speaking before the findings were announced, Sharp, who will occupy the six seat, told the PA news agency: “We are working with water and unfortunately against it sometimes with the flooding that we’ve had at Wallingford this year.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:20
Boat Race 2024: Cambridge bid to defy odds again in men’s race
While Cambridge’s men boast vastly superior Boat Race experience with five survivors from last year to Oxford’s one, the Dark Blues do have Harry Glenister – a member of the British senior team from 2018-23 – in the two seat and 2022 Belgrade World Cup winner Lenny Jenkins in the seven seat.
As well as having the slightly heavier crew, Oxford have been superior in the build-up. In late February, they got the better of a stormy struggle with Leander Club in which umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent stopped the race after Oxford four James Doran lost his oar in a clash between the boats.
When Leander moved out to a lead of three-quarters of a length following the restart, the boats clashed again with Oxford – at fault this time – moving in front before the finish. As it turned out, Pinsent had already decided to disqualify Leander for the first clash of a somewhat unsatisfactory affair.
Cambridge faced Leander earlier this month in a two-piece race. After an even first, Leander opened out to one and a half lengths by the finish. Perhaps significant is that Cambridge have made numerous seat switches ahead of Saturday’s showpiece with only stroke Matt Edge, seven seat Luca Ferraro and three seat Thomas Marsh staying put. Meanwhile, Oxford have retained the same line-up as their Leander meeting.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 12:00
Boat Race 2024: Oxford women on track to end long drought
Perhaps the most notable result from the pre-Boat Race fixtures was a win for Oxford’s women over Oxford Brookes, one of the UK’s top rowing universities, in late January. The race on the Championship Course was split into three contests of approximately five minutes apiece.
Race commentator and Olympic gold medallist Martin Cross said beforehand that “maintaining contact” – ie. staying within a length – of Brookes would represent good results for Oxford in the first two. They in fact finished three-quarters of a length behind on both occasions with the second more impressive given Brookes had the advantage on the Surrey bend (the longer south curve on the course).
In the final piece, Oxford had the bend advantage and used it to full effect to power clear by an eye-catching one-and-a-half lengths with European U23 bronze medallist Annie Sharp, all six-foot-four (1.94m) of her, gaining admirers. That they have made two changes to the boat since, with Claire Aitken and Julia Lindsay boosting the number of Boat Race veterans to six (including cox Joe Gellett), bodes well for their chances of ending a run of six consecutive defeats.
Jack Rathborn30 March 2024 11:50
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