7 hours ago Oct 2, 2026HTBS

The 2027 Boat Race: Going For Silver

On the left, Oxford’s CS Joris (with headband) shakes hands with CD England of Newnham College, Cambridge, prior to the first Oxford Cambridge Women’s Boat race in 1927. On the right, Cambridge President Eloise Etherington (left) and Oxford President Kyra Delray (right) at the 2027 Race Presidents’ Challenge on 30 September. Colour Picture: The Boat Race Company/Row360.

2 October 2026

By Tim Koch

Tim Koch sees challenges made and accepted.

Since the first Oxford Cambridge Boat Race in 1829, there has been an annual formal challenge from one club to another. At London’s Somerset House on 30 September, the 2026-2027 student Presidents from the 2026 losing clubs challenged their winning opponents to The Boat Race 2027. 

The Oxford men’s president, Alex Sullivan (right), and the Cambridge men’s president, Simon Hatcher (left), practice offer and acceptance.

Alex: “On behalf of Oxford University Boat Club, I hereby challenge Cambridge University Boat Club to an eight-oared race over The Championship Course on Sunday, 11 April 2027.”

Simon: “On behalf of Cambridge University Boat Club, I accept your challenge.”

The women’s presidents then undertook the same brief ritual save that Cambridge women’s president, Eloise Etherington, did the challenging and the Oxford women’s president, Kyra Delray, did the accepting.

In their centenary year, the women will close the show on the Thames Championship Course for the first time and will row the final race of the day. The men’s Blue Boats will race at 15.40 on 11 April, followed by the women at 16.40.

In February 1829, Cambridge University Boat Club challenged the University of Oxford to “row a match at or near London, each in an eight-oared boat during the ensuing Easter vacation.” Rather randomly, the invitation was in a letter that was sent to an Oxford boat builder with the request that it be placed “in some conspicuous part of his barge.” Henley Reach was eventually agreed upon as the venue for that first race (pictured).

Main sponsors Chanel J12 (referencing the famous French fashion house’s unisex sports watch) have created two near identical silver trophies for the winning men’s and women’s crews and they were unveiled at the Challenge. A press release explains:

Arnaud Chastaingt, who leads Chanel’s watch creation studio, designed the new trophies which Thomas Lyte made in London. Each combines a sterling silver cup in a traditional style and an aluminium frame, rectangular in shape, that runs through its centre.

The women’s trophy is enclosed by a polished white frame marked with matte black lines; the men’s frame is polished black and also has matte black lines. Chanel’s J12 watch’s black and white ceramic is reflected in these colours, and its name is also used for the race. 

These are Chanel’s first sporting trophies. 

The men’s trophy.
The silver gilt medallion at the centre of the women’s trophy.
The Presidents of last year’s winning clubs keep a tight grip on the trophies that they hope to win again in 2027.

The 2027 Boat Race will see Chanel’s third year of sponsorship and it was perhaps overdue that new trophies should be produced as the existing ones referenced previous sponsors, Aberdeen Asset Management for the men and Newton Investment Management for the women. 

The idea of a trophy for the Boat Race only came in with sponsorship. Before that, the relevant University Boat Club gave each winning crew member a silver medal, though certainly not on the day and possibly with little ceremony when they did.

In 2021, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge put on a display of Boat Race trophies. Here, that year’s CUBC Presidents, Charlie Marcus and Bronya Sykes stand guard.

In the picture above, the then current Men’s Boat Race Trophy, The Aberdeen “Quaich”, awarded 2000 – 2026, is top left. All the men’s race sponsors after Aberdeen i.e. Xchanging, BNY Mellon and Gemini retained this prize. 

The then current Women’s Boat Race Trophy, The Newton Trophy, 2014 – 2026 is top right. Again, the subsequent sponsor of the women’s race, Gemini, kept this trophy.

The lower shelf of the cabinet holds three more modest prizes. On the right is the Francombe Cup, the first Women’s Boat Race trophy, named after its donor, Betty Francombe. It was presented from 1936 until some point before 1989. On the left is the Men’s Reserve Boat Race Trophy (The Isis-Goldie Cup) first presented in 1977 and also the Women’s Reserve Boat Race Trophy (The Osiris-Blondie Cup) which was commissioned by the 1991 Blondie Crew.

The trophies are now on permanent display at the neutral Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall, London.

The Fitzwilliam Museum website quotes David Searle, one-time Executive Director of The Boat Race Company Ltd, on the origins of Boat Race trophies: 

As far as I am aware, until 1977, there was no trophy for The Men’s Boat Race. There was no ceremony after the Race and the crews simply got out of the boats and a few individuals were interviewed. The first trophy was commissioned by the betting and leisure activities group Ladbrokes, the first Boat Race sponsors. They started their sponsorship in 1977, after giving the event £5,000 in 1976. For the 1977 Boat Race (their sponsorship had gone up to £10,000), they commissioned a trophy and medals for both the winners and the losers.

The Cambridge winning crew of 1986 with the Ladbroke Trophy which was awarded between 1977 and 1986. The slumped oarsman image depicted is somewhat peculiar.
When Beefeater Gin took over sponsorship in 1987, they naturally commissioned their own trophy. Here it is the hands of the 1988 Presidents, Oxford’s Chris Penny (left) and Cambridge’s Jim Garman (right).
The victorious 1997 Cambridge women’s crew clutch the winner’s shield, a prize more appropriate to a pub darts match than a top-class rowing race. The unavoidable implication was that the women’s contest was a second class event.
To complete the record of Boat Race trophies, this 2020 picture shows the Lightweight Boat Race prizes. The men compete for the evocative Spirit of Ecstasy on the left, while the splendid trophy for the women’s race on the right was especially commissioned in 2014.

The 1990s women’s shield is currently lost and the Boat Race Company would like this albeit tacky piece of history back. I think that the Ladbroke and the Beefeater trophies may be missing as well. Would Old Blues please check under their beds?

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