6 March 2025

By Tim Koch

Photographer Mel Brown was in the media launch and HTBS hack Tim Koch was on Barnes Bridge to cover the 2025 Cambridge Media Fixtures.

Boat Race Fixtures are races in which top British and foreign crews race potential Oxford and Cambridge men’s and women’s Blue, reserve and lightweight crews over the first and second halves of the Putney to Mortlake course as part of the Oxbridge crews’ Boat Race Day preparations. 

As shown here, Fixtures have been taking place since 27 January. Over the following month, eight days have been allocated to such contests but the most notable are the two days designated as Media Fixtures. While OUBC and CUBC will be racing on both of those days, a media launch and live stream focused on the potential Cambridge Blue Boats on 2 March and will do the same for the potential Oxford Blue Boats on 29 March.

CUBC has produced excellent full race reports and crew lists and posted them on the CUBC website. Oxford, please take note and do the same. The Blue Boat race reports are reproduced below in bold italics.

Cambridge Women’s ‘Blue Boat’ v Leander A: First piece to Leander by 2 lengths

The enthusiastic race report is by Sophia Hahn, “3” in the Cambridge boat.

The sun was shining and the vibes in the boat were absolutely loose! On the start line our smokin’ stroke seat Samy Morton hit us with some jazz hands to get us going.

When the flag dropped Leander ‘A’ shot off of the start line, taking 5 seats. While one might think this would be an absolute vibe-killer, it got the girls fired up! We love a challenge. Our blade work sharpened and our noble steed ‘Filippi’ cut through the water like a hot knife through butter— Yee Haw! 

We stuck to Leander ‘A’ like glue until Hammersmith, where they took another 3 seats. We did not let up. The girls and Jack were locked in and flying. Jack called for more glutes, and more glutes is what we gave! Splits were dropping left and right! We maintained our margin of 1 1/4 lengths until the 3k. Leander then crept away another 3/4 lengths, but that is all they got. We finished the first piece down 2 lengths with our heads still high ready to fight again.

Cambridge Women’s ‘Blue Boat’ v Leander A: Second piece to Leander by 1 1/2 lengths.

We took a quick gummy bear break, had a chat with Chief Women’s Coach Paddy Ryan, and let the legs recharge. Katy Hempson hit a couple of bicep curls in bow to psych out the competition.

For the second piece, Paddy started us 1/2 length up on Leander ‘A.’ The umpire called the start again and we got back to work. 

Eight sets of legs were pumping in unison, and we stayed neck and neck with Leander ‘A’ for the first 1k. They slowly took seats through the second 1k, getting up on us bow to stern. Jack, who is in the top 100 players in the world in E-racing, pulled out a couple of tricks from his sleeve to get us through the bridge in record time and into the final 800 meters. Leander ‘A’, however, could not break their 1 1/4 margin. 

We charged through the line hotter than a ghost pepper, but Leander ‘A’ maintained their lead. It was an excellent race, and three cheers were shared all round!

Cambridge Women’s Reserves v Leander ‘B’: First piece to Leander by 4 3/4 lengths, second piece to Leander by 2 1/4 lengths.

Cambridge Men’s ‘Blue Boat’ v The Dutch National Team: First piece to Cambridge by 4 lengths.

Race Report by Cambridge cox, Ollie Boyne.

On Sunday, 2nd March, the Cambridge Men’s provisional Blue Boat faced up against a team of Dutch national team trialists, as the second of CUBC’s fixtures in preparation for the Boat Race.

Clear, sunny skies, and 2 mph winds set the stage for an uncharacteristically pleasant river as the crews headed to the Boat Race start line for the first of the two fixture pieces. With both crews off to an aggressive start, Cambridge gained a small early lead on the Surrey station in the first minute of the race. As the crews headed past the black buoy and into the first bend, the Dutch on the Middlesex station seized their advantage and drew the crews level. The Tideway found a way to bring its usual charm despite the nice weather – crashing waves took the speed out of both boats around the bend.

As the boats entered the Crabtree reach, Cambridge had a small lead. Cambridge were able to find a better rhythm and continued to move on the Dutch, finding clear water by Harrods. From there on out, Cambridge continued to open up the lead around the Surrey bend and into the Eyot, finishing the piece with a final reported margin of 4 lengths.

Cambridge Men’s ‘Blue Boat’ v The Dutch National Team: Second piece to Cambridge by 2 lengths.

The crews then lined up at the end of the Eyot for the start of their second piece. Knowing that Cambridge had the early advantage, the Dutch came firing off the blocks, putting a lot of pressure on Cambridge as the advantage quickly swung to Middlesex for the long bend to the finish. 

Undeterred, Cambridge kept the rate high and responded well to the challenge, holding a ¾ length lead on the Dutch into Barnes Bridge, where Cambridge were then able to find their strong rhythm and move away. Umpire Sarah Winckless navigated other crews that found their way onto the racing course, and the crews had a clear run out to the finish, where Cambridge finished 2 lengths ahead of the Dutch.

Cambridge Men’s Reserves v Leander ‘A’: First piece to Cambridge by 1 3/4 lengths, second piece to Cambridge by a canvas.

Both men’s crews should be happy with their results, albeit against possible scratch crews in different stages of training. 

The Boat Race Company has a recording of the Cambridge Blue Boat races on their website. You need to fill in your name and email address to access this.

The Oxford crews raced away from the gaze of the media and the live stream, their turn in the spotlight will come on 29 March. OUBC is not as active on social media as CUBC so finding the results of their fixtures has not been possible. However, pictures to be posted tomorrow show the position of the crews as they approached Barnes Bridge and probably give a reasonably accurate idea of the winners and the losers. 

It was advertised that the Oxford boats would be racing Oxford Brookes boats but this did not happen for some reason and this is a shame. Brookes have the strongest student programme in the country and OBUBC crews usually beat the Oxbridge crews in fixture races. Not only does this teach the possibly pampered Blues some humility, it is arguable that coaches learn far more about crews and individuals by seeing how they react when losing than seeing how they react when winning. Further, if Cambridge race Brookes on 16 March as advertised, there will be nothing to compare the Light Blue’s performance then with Oxford’s showing on 2 March.

Boat Race Day 2025 is on Sunday, 13 April.