Women's Boat Race
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The Women's Boat Race The Cancer Research UK Boat Races |
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| Contested by | |
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| CUWBC | OUWBC |
| First boat race | 15 March 1927 |
| First side-by-side race | 1936 |
| Annual event since | 1964 |
| Current champion | Cambridge |
| Course record | Cambridge, 2017 (18 min 33 sec) |
| Current course |
The Championship Course River Thames, London (2015 onwards) |
| Course length | 4.2 miles (6.8 km) |
| Sponsor | Newton Investment Management (since 2011) |
| Official charity | Cancer Research UK (since 2016) |
| Trophy | The Women's Boat Race Trophy (since 2014) |
| Previous courses |
Henley (1977 to 2014 except 2013 on Dorney Lake); The Isis, Oxford and River Cam, Cambridge (1927 to 1976 with several gaps); River Thames, London (1929, 1935) |
| Number of wins | |
| Cambridge | Oxford |
| 42 | 30 |
| Official website | |
| theboatraces |
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The Women's Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Women's Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. First rowed in 1927, the race has taken place annually since 1964. Since the 2015 race it has been rowed on the same day and course as the men's Boat Race on the River Thames in London, taking place around Easter. The combined event of two races is known as "The Boat Races", or by a title that includes the name of its official charity, '"The Cancer Research UK Boat Races", its sponsor, Newton Investment Management, having donated the title to the charity. The race is rowed in eights and the cox can be male or female.
The course covers a 4.2 miles (6.8 km) stretch of the Thames in West London, from Putney to Mortlake. Members of both crews are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue. As of 2017 Cambridge have won the race 42 times and Oxford 30 times. Cambridge has led Oxford in cumulative wins since 1966. The women's race has received television coverage and grown in popularity since 2015, attracting a television audience of 4.8 million viewers that year. The 2017 race was won by Cambridge in a record time on the new course.
The first women's rowing event between Oxford and Cambridge was held on 15 March 1927 on The Isis in Oxford. This was not solely a race in the years up to 1935, the two boats were not on the river together and were judged on both their speed and their "steadiness, finish, rhythm and other matters of style". The Times reported that "large and hostile crowds gathered on the towpath" and The New York Times stated "a crowd of fully five thousand persons was on hand as a willing cheering section". The race covered a distance of approximately 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) over which the crews were judged on their style while rowing downstream and their speed while rowing back upstream. Reports differ as to the judges' opinions on style: one suggests they failed to agree on a winner, another indicates that they deemed the style of each crew to be equal. As a result, the judges based their decision on speed: the race was won by Oxford in a time of 3 minutes 36 seconds, beating Cambridge by 15 seconds.
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Wikipedia