Nov 15, 2024HTBS

The 2025 Boat Race: Under Starter’s Orders

Hail to the Chiefs. The 2025 Boat Race season began on 14 November with the Presidents’ Challenge. On Boat Race Day, 13 April 2025, the Oxford University Boat Club Men’s President, Tom Mackintosh (bottom left) and OUBC Women’s President, Annie Anezakis (top right) aim to Make Oxford Great Again. Trusting that their crews’ swing will put them in states of continuing success are the Cambridge University Boat Club Men’s President, Luca Ferraro (bottom right) and CUBC Women’s President, Lucy Havard (top left).

15 November 2024

Pictures and captions: Tim Koch. Italicised main text: Boat Race Company press release.

Tim Koch balances camera and canapés at the formal start of the run up to the CHANEL J12 Boat Race, the event retitled following the announcement of a long-term partnership between the Boat Race and Chanel, the luxury fashion house founded by Coco Chanel in Paris in 1910.

The Women’s Trophy (left) and the Men’s Trophy (right) frame the gathering for the Presidents’ Challenge for the Chanel J12 Boat Race. Chanel J12 is the name of a collection of the brand’s high-end watches.

The Presidents’ Challenge traditionally sees the Presidents representing the losing teams of the previous year’s races formally challenge those from the winning teams, marking the renewal of an intense competition which stretches back nearly 200 years.

This year’s event, held at the iconic Somerset House in London, saw the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs come together in celebration of one of British sport’s most enduring rivalries and to launch the next edition of the world-famous sporting event… 

The Umpires were confirmed as Sarah Winckless MBE and Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE for the Men’s and Women’s races respectively. Winckless becomes the first woman to umpire the Men’s Race on The Championship Course.

CUBC’s Lucy Havard (r) accepts the challenge of OUBC’s Annie Anezakis to “an eight-oared-race over the Championship Course on Sunday, 13 April 2025.”
CUBC’s Luca Ferraro (r) accepts the same challenge from OUBC’s Tom Mackintosh.

The CHANEL J12 Boat Race 2025 will take place on Sunday 13 April, with The 79th Women’s Boat Race to be followed shortly after by The 170th Men’s Boat Race…

Last year saw Cambridge complete the double across both the Men’s and Women’s Boat Races, leaving the overall records as 87-81 in favour of Cambridge Men and 48-30 to Cambridge Women.

The River and Rowing Museum displayed a rudder used in the 1877 Race, the only one to be declared a “Dead Heat.” Pictured with the rudder is Richard Phelps, who is a multiple Boat Race winner and umpire, and whose ancestor John Phelps was the finish judge for the 1877 dead heat. John was criticised for the decision and nonsensical stories about his conduct on the day were repeated so often that they were long accepted as fact. However, I and a few others have effectively proved that John was right.

The make-up of the squads will be more diverse than ever in 2025, with 157 student rowers spanning 18 different nationalities from countries such as Nigeria, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Sri Lanka and China. Oxford’s Luisa Fernandez Chirino, should she be selected to face Cambridge, would be the first Mexican woman to compete at The Boat Race.

There will also be six Olympians within the squads. 

For Cambridge, this includes two-time Olympian Claire Collins, alongside reserve athlete for the 2024 British Olympic team, James Robson. 

For Oxford, this includes Paris men’s eight bronze medallist Nick Rusher, Paris women’s eight bronze medallist Heidi Long, Tokyo men’s eight gold medallist Tom Mackintosh, as well as Paris Olympian Nicholas Kohl. Meanwhile, Harry Brightmore, Paris gold medallist in the men’s eight, has joined Oxford as an assistant coach.

Tim adds:

Somerset House was a very appropriate venue for the aquatic occasion. It is situated on the south side of the Strand in central London overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. It stands on the site of a 16th century palace and was rebuilt between 1776 and 1801 as government offices. Most famously, from 1837 until 1970 it held public records for births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. It is now a visual arts centre and includes the Courtauld Gallery, the Gilbert Collection and the Hermitage Rooms.

Somerset House viewed from Waterloo Bridge in 1850. Until the Victoria Embankment was built in the 1860s, it stood directly alongside the river. The “Great Arch” acted as a watergate entrance, allowing boats access straight off the Thames.
A contemporary view of Somerset House and the river from Waterloo Bridge. The Victoria Embankment now separates Somerset House from the Thames. The dome of St Paul’s Cathedral is visible in both pictures, middle centre right.
The “Great Arch” watergate entrance to Somerset House before the building of the Victoria Embankment.
The sad remains of the “Great Arch” watergate today. Even the addition of Old Father Thames on the keystone is of little compensation.
Canaletto’s 1750 view of the Thames from the terrace of old Somerset House, before the rebuild of 1776-1801 moved the building to the river’s edge.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.