The Boat Race: A centuries-old tradition that typifies British love of sport - or a relic of elitism?

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Naomi Baker/Getty Images Share full article“It’s a fabulous tradition,” says Elizabeth Stoneman from Texas, as she makes her way towards the Thames Rowing Club on Putney Embankment. Stoneman, who has travelled to London especially for the event, is one of an estimated 200,000-plus spectators who lined the River Thames on Saturday afternoon to catch a glimpse of an age-old English tradition known simply as The Boat Race. “This grudge match that has gone on for 171 years, and the dedication of the athletes, is fantastic to watch,” she says. The 4.2-mile rowing race – which always sees its fair share of sweat, tears and even vomit – starts in Putney, southwest London, and heads westwards along the Thames finishing in Mortlake. The exhaustion-inducing race itself is between two of the most prestigious universities in the world, Oxford and Cambridge, and dates back to 1829 when two friends, both called Charles, first organised it. It features two boats made up of eight crew and one cox (the vocal leader directing the eight’s every stroke). The men’s race, which has taken place annually since 1856 and was won this year by Cambridge, is now in its 171st edition. It is the 80th edition of the women’s race, which was won by Oxford for the first time since 2016, just as the clock hit 19 minutes at the Chiswick Bridge finish line. “Where much of sport has become wrapped up in money and prestige from a stardom standpoint, rowing continues to be that principled sport,” Stoneman says. “I just have such admiration for the British and their love of the sport.” The men’s race was heard on BBC radio in 1927 and first televised by the BBC in 1938. The women’s race was shown live for the first time in 2015, the same year they moved to race on the same day and same Thames Tideway course as the men. When it was shown last year in the UK on the BBC (which has broadcast the majority of races over the past century), it drew in an audience of 2.5 million. Now being shown on Channel 4, which has the broadcast rights until its 200th year in 2029, the event is also being streamed around the world on Overnght – a streaming platform mostly home to rowing and water polo events. To some, the race is an iconic tradition. It is either an important riverside day out or an afternoon perched in front of the TV for the three-hour coverage beginning at 1.30pm. Others view it as a relic, a regatta of elitism and something which feels exclusive for the wrong reasons. To some, it is outdated, to others it is an opportunity to put bunting up, eat from a picnic hamper, get drunk on Pimm’s by the river and cheer on the light blue of Cambridge or the dark blue of Oxford. Ade Adepitan, 53, is a presenter for Channel 4 and former Paralympic athlete who won bronze in men’s wheelchair basketball for Great Britain at the 2004 games in Athens. He moved from Nigeria to east London aged three, and after growing up in a working-class background in east London, Adepitan says the Boat Race is not as prominent in the lives of those outside of west and southwest London for various reasons. “When you hear about the Oxford and Cambridge boat race and you come from east London, you’re like: ‘How does this even work?’ “You’ve got people from universities that are not even from London having a race on the Thames and you get all these people cheering them and it’s rowing, which we don’t do at school. “It’s as far from who we are or our lives as you could imagine,” Adepitan says. “The way we break that down is by bringing new faces, different faces, trying to make it more accessible to the audiences, telling the stories of the athletes.” That is something Channel 4 and production company FilmNova, which also produced last year’s show for the BBC, are trying to do. This year, it brought in TV personality and presenter Jamie Laing. The short documentary series Turning The Tide, which was shown on YouTube, was another way to try to draw in a new audience. Laing found fame on the reality show Made In Chelsea, which centres on the affluent lives of young people from west London. So how much the 37-year-old broadens the appeal to a new audience is debatable, though his role as a presenter on Radio 1, the BBC’s flagship music station, may have brought in new viewers. Laing’s brother, Alexander, rowed at Oxford but not in the Boat Race, which is perhaps why Laing can be forgiven for accidentally announcing Cambridge men as the “losing crew” on live TV. “You have to dig behind it and show that no matter where people come from or their social background, we have things in common,” Adepitan says. “We’re all human. We all cry, we feel joy and pain. So we have to try and tell those stories and try and make it more human.  “We are at a fascinating point in UK history where we’re trying to work out who we are identity-wise. There’s a lot of crazy culture clashes with people saying who belongs to this country, who can be British, who can be a part of this country. And the way we take control of that narrative, is we take traditions and we open it up to everybody. That’s the only way this country is going to progress and move forward.” Kath Pocock was captain for Cambridge when they won the women’s race in 1984 with British Sugar as their only sponsor. Over four decades on, the main differences she notices between her team and the one skippered by PhD student Gemma King are in sponsorship deals, kit, equipment and media coverage. This is the second year with French fashion house Chanel as lead sponsor alongside partnerships with 18th-century retailer Fortnum & Mason, Chapel Down wine and Le Chameau, which produces Wellington boots, just some of the luxury, high-end brands involved. “The essence is still the same, if you’re with Cambridge, the idea is to beat Oxford and if you are Oxford, it is to beat Cambridge,” Pocock said, before boarding a boat to watch the race from the water for the first time since rowing in it. “I hope it doesn’t get all gimmicky. It is a race between two highly competent crews, that is the main thing. I don’t want it to go like you have to be doing handstands to get in the boat.” Should it keep getting the same level of coverage on TV and in the media? “I think it should,” said Pocock. “It’s an institution. A lot of people watch it. It’s Easter weekend and they see it as a part of the calendar.” For those who take part, it is clear what it means at the finish line near to The Ship pub where the last of the crowds are revelling in their prime positioning. Oxford’s Annie Anezakis raced in her first Boat Race in 2022. For the past five years, she has balanced life as a medical student alongside rowing. Her reward for countless early mornings on the water and late nights studying was victory at the fourth time of asking in high winds and choppy conditions. “I’ve had a few big wins in my rowing career, but this one has definitely been the hardest-fought,” the Australian said, clutching a half-empty magnum of champagne moments after the trophy presentation at Mortlake Anglian and Alpha Boat Club. “It has taken the most hours, the most sacrifice, so yeah, it means the most. I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight.” Simon Hatcher from Portland, Oregon, and his winning Cambridge crew were not planning on getting much sleep either. The 25-year-old engineering student was part of the Cambridge team that won last year and added to the overall tally of 89 wins with their seventh in eight years this year. “It’s just the greatest feeling in the world,” Hatcher said, with sparkling wine dripping off him. “You put in so much time into a campaign like this and you really become brothers with every person in your boat and every person in the club and to deliver like that and to be a part of the history, I mean, it’s just everything.” Being from the United States, where college sports can be as well-watched and attended as major professional leagues, this is the only comparable event in the UK that gets a slice of that same scale of attention as U.S. college sports like basketball and football enjoy. “Even in the U.S., as a rower, you know about the Boat Race,” Hatcher, who started rowing when he was 13, added. “There’s so many guys in the U.S. who are aware of this race and this is where intercollegiate rowing started. This is the greatest, the oldest, the strongest tradition in rowing.” The influx of international students like Hatcher continues to grow. There are also Olympians involved, including Oxford’s winning president, Heidi Long, who won bronze for Great Britain in Paris in 2024. Carys Earl, who was president for Cambridge, studies medicine and was helping to deliver babies on her hospital placement in the lead-up to the race. Earl, a former rugby player, only started rowing after joining Cambridge. “There are lots of elements like the history, the heritage and the Cambridge and Oxford-ness of it that will be very similar,” Earl said, looking to the future of the race. “But in terms of the viewership and the people it attracts – both to race it and to view it – will continue to evolve.” “It’s so much fun to think about people around the world watching. I think of friends and family back Stateside or elsewhere just watching this race and people I’ve never met before who are rooting for Cambridge or even rooting for Oxford or not rooting for anyone in particular,” Hatcher says.  Whatever people think of the race, Hatcher is right, they will see you next year — but maybe just not all of you. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Caoimhe O'Neill is a Sports Writer for The Athletic who covers a variety of sports including football, golf, tennis and more. ​She is a University of Liverpool graduate who started her journalism career at her local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo. Caoimhe​ (pronounced kee-va) joined The Athletic as a Liverpool writer in 2020 and relocated to London to cover sports more generally in the summer of 2023. ​Her passion is telling stories about where sports meets culture. In 2026 she was promoted from Staff Writer to Sports Writer​. Follow Caoimhe on Twitter @CaoimheSport