This website covers all aspects of the rich history of rowing, as a sport, culture phenomena, a life style, and a necessary element to keep your wit and stay sane.
The 2024 Boat Race poster pays homage to its 1924 predecessor.
30 March 2024
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch looks forwards and backwards at the same time.
Today, Saturday 30 March, sees the 78th Women’s Boat Race at 14:46 GMT and the 169th Men’s Boat Race an hour later. A visitor from the first Tideway University Boat Race of 1845 would have a few surprises but he or she would certainly recognise the event. If anything is the personification of the idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same, it is the annual Battle of the Blues. Pictorial evidence follows.
150 Years Ago: Cambridge 1874.100 Years Ago: Both crews, 1924.50 Years Ago: Both crews, 1974.Today: All four crews, 2024.Oxford’s Donkin (cox) and Gladstone (stroke) in 1908 and Oxford’s Gellett (cox) and Anezakis (stroke) in 2024.
Cambridge coming in, 1929, and Cambridge going out, 2024.
Oxford along Putney Embankment, 1898 and 2024.The launch Amaryllis with Oxford in 1929 and Cambridge in 2024. Why the Cambridge launch built in Henley in 1927 and now on its third engine was used by the Dark Blues in 1929, I do not know. A kind loan presumably.Boat transport: Oxford at Goring in 1930, Cambridge at Putney, 2024.Cambridge crew transport: Model T Ford, 1911, Peugeot minibus, 2024. Cambridge cox Brown and stroke Stobart in 1924, Oxford cox Denegri and stroke Kemp in 2024.
Hear The Boat Sing 