The Boat Races 2015

The Boat Races 2015
Oxford Men's VIII celebrating victory
Date	11 April 2015 (2015-04-11)
Men's race
Winner	Oxford
Margin of victory	6 and 1/2 lengths
Winning time	17 minutes 34 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	81–79
Umpire	Boris Rankov (Oxford)
Women's race
Winner	Oxford
Margin of victory	6 and 1/2 lengths
Winning time	19 minutes 45 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	41–29
Umpire	Simon Harris (Cambridge)
Reserves' races
Men's winners	Isis
Women's winners	Osiris
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The 2015 Boat Races took place on 11 April 2015. Held annually, The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between male crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. For the first time in the history of the event, the men's, women's and both reserves' races were all held on the Tideway; in the men's reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie faced Oxford's Isis after the women's race, as a preliminary to the main men's race, while the women's reserve race, held the day before, saw Oxford's Osiris race against Cambridge's Blondie.

Oxford's women won the first running of the Women's Boat Race on the Tideway, and the 70th overall, by six and a half lengths, to take the overall record in the event to 41–29 in Cambridge's favour. Oxford also won the men's reserve race, with Isis winning by three lengths. In the main men's race, umpired by the six-time Blue Boris Rankov, Oxford won by six and a half lengths in a time of 17 minutes 34 seconds, taking the overall record in the event to 81–79 in Cambridge's favour. The women's reserve race was won by Oxford's Osiris by fifteen lengths, making the overall record 21–20 in Cambridge's favour.

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course, between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in south-west London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the race as champions, having won the 2014 race by a margin of eleven lengths, but Cambridge led overall with 81 victories to Oxford's 78 (excluding the "dead heat to Oxford by five feet" of 1877).