| The Boat Race 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 26 March 2023 | ||
| Men's race | |||
| Winner | Cambridge | ||
| Margin of victory | 1 1/3 lengths | ||
| Winning time | 18 minutes 18 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) | 86–81 | ||
| Umpire | Antony Reynolds | ||
| Women's race | |||
| Winner | Cambridge | ||
| Margin of victory | 4 1/2 lengths | ||
| Winning time | 20 minutes 29 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) | 47–30 | ||
| Umpire | Matthew Smith | ||
| Reserves' races | |||
| Men's winners | Goldie | ||
| Women's winners | Blondie | ||
| |||
The Boat Race 2023 was aside-by-side rowing race which took place on 26 March 2023. Held annually,The Boat Race is contested between crews from the universities ofOxford andCambridge, usually along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of theRiver Thames, known as the Tideway, in south-west London. This was the 77th women's race and the 168th men's race. Cambridge led the longstanding rivalry 85–81 and 46–30 in the men's and women's races, respectively.
The crews for both men's and women's boats were announced on 6 March 2023. The women's race was umpired by Matthew Smith who rowed forOxford University Boat Club in the Boat Race four times in the 2000s. The men's race was umpired by Antony Reynolds who rowed forCambridge University Boat Club in1984.
The women's race was won by Cambridge with a winning margin of four and a half lengths, which took the overall record in the women's race to 47–30 to Cambridge. Cambridge won the men's race an hour later by one and a third lengths, resulting in the head-to-head record being 86–81 to Cambridge. Cambridge'sGoldie won the men's reserve race whileBlondie secured victory for Cambridge in the women's reserve race. These contributed to a Cambridge clean sweep of all the 2023 Boat Races, including the openweight,lightweight and veteran races.
The Boat Race is an annualside-by-side rowing competition between theUniversity of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues")[1] and theUniversity of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues").[1] First held in 1829, the race usually takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km)Championship Course, betweenPutney andMortlake on theRiver Thames in south-west London.[2] The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; the race is followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide.[3][4]
Taking place on 26 March 2023, it was the sixth time in the history of the Boat Race that men's and women's races were held on the same day and on the same course, this time along the Championship Course on the tidal stretch of the Thames, known as theTideway.[5] Before 2015, the women's race, whichfirst took place in 1927, was usually held at theHenley Boat Races along the 2,000-metre (2,200 yd) course. However, on at least two occasions in theinterwar period, the women competed on the Thames betweenChiswick andKew.[6]
The women's race was umpired by Matthew Smith who rowed forOxford University Boat Club (OUBC) in the Boat Race four times, in2000,2001,2002 and2003. The men's race was umpired by Antony Reynolds who rowed forCambridge in the1984 race, he was Goldie/Isis umpire in2021 and Blondie/Osiris umpire in2020 and2022.
The autumn reception, at which the previous year's losing team challenges the winners to a rematch, was held on 30 November 2022. As Cambridge's women had won the previous year's race, it was Oxford's responsibility to offer the traditional challenge to Cambridge. To that end, Sara Helin, president of Oxford University Women's Boat Club (OUWBC), challenged Caoimhe Dempsey, her Cambridge counterpart. Oxford's victory in the men's race meant that Ollie Boyne, president ofCambridge University Boat Club (CUBC), offered a challenge to Tassilo von Mueller, president of OUBC.[7]
Sean Bowden was the chief coach for OUBC, having been responsible for the men's crew since 1997, winning 13 from the previous 19 races. A former Great Britain Olympic coach, he led the Light Blues in the1993 and1994 Boat Races. Bowden's assistant coach was Brendan Gliddon, a South African who formerly coached under-23 and Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) teams for both South Africa and Great Britain.[citation needed] The OUWBC chief coach was Andy Nelder, who previously worked with Bowden and OUBC for eleven years. He was assisted by James Powell.[citation needed]
The Cambridge men's crew coaching team was led by their chief coach, Rob Baker, who had previously coached Cambridge's women to victories in both the2017 and2018 races. Cambridge women's chief coach was Patrick Ryan who joined as CUBC's women's assistant coach in 2013. CUBC's assistant coaches included Bill Lucas, Autumn Mantell and Nick Acock, with Henry Fieldman as thecoxing coach and Donald Legget,James Cracknell andMarko Banovic performing supporting roles.[citation needed]
The crews for both men's and women's boats were announced on 6 March 2023, atApothecaries' Hall, London.
| Seat | Oxford | Cambridge | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Nationality | College | Name | Nationality | College | |
| Bow | Laurel Kaye | American | Worcester | Carina Graf | German | Emmanuel |
| 2 | Ella Stadler | British/American | Exeter | Rosa Millard | British | Trinity Hall |
| 3 | Sara Helin (P) | British | St Peter's | Alex Riddell-Webster | British | Murray Edwards |
| 4 | Freya Willis | Australian | Magdalen | Jenna Armstrong | American | Jesus |
| 5 | Alison Carrington | British | Hertford | Freya Keto | American/British | St Edmund's |
| 6 | Claire Aitken | British | Oriel | Isabelle Bastian | American | Jesus |
| 7 | Sarah Marshall | British | Jesus | Clare Brillon | Canadian | Fitzwilliam |
| Stroke | Esther Austin | New Zealand | St Anne's | Caoimhe Dempsey (P) | Irish | Newnham |
| Cox | Tara Slade | British | St Peter's | James Trotman | British | Sidney Sussex |
| (P) – Boat club president | ||||||
| Seat | Oxford | Cambridge | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Nationality | College | Name | Nationality | College | |
| Bow | James Forward | British | Pembroke | Matthew Edge | British | St Catharine's |
| 2 | Tom Sharrock | British | Magdalen | Nick Mayhew | British/New Zealand | Peterhouse |
| 3 | Freddy Orpin | British | St Catherine's | Noam Mouelle | French | Hughes Hall |
| 4 | Alex Bebb | Canadian | St Peter's | Brett Taylor | British/Taipei | Queens' |
| 5 | James Doran | British | Oriel | Thomas Lynch | Canadian/Irish | Hughes Hall |
| 6 | Jean-Philippe Dufour | Swiss/Canadian | Lincoln | Seb Benzecry | British | Jesus |
| 7 | Tassilo von Mueller (P) | German | Hertford | Ollie Parish | British/Canadian | Peterhouse |
| Stroke | Felix Drinkall | British | Wolfson | Luca Ferraro | British | King's |
| Cox | Anna O'Hanlon | Australian | Somerville | Jasper Parish | British/Canadian | Clare |
| (P) – Boat club president: Ollie Boyne was the President of CUBC and raced in Goldie | ||||||
The women's race was won by Cambridge with a winning margin of four and a half lengths, in a time of 20 minutes 29 seconds. Cambridge won the men's race an hour later by one and a third lengths, in a time of 18 minutes 18 seconds.
CUBC'sBlondie beat Oxford'sOsiris in the 51st women's reserve boat race by three lengths, in a time of 21 minutes 20 seconds. In the 58th men's reserve race, CUBC'sGoldie secured a one length victory over OUBC'sIsis in a time of 18 minutes 23 seconds.
In theLightweight Boat Races, raced on Monday 20th March, CUBC Women beatOUWLRC by 6 lengths in the 40th Lightweight Women's Boat Race. In the 49th Lightweight Boat Race, CUBC Men beatOULRC by 11 lengths.
Cambridge won all the University Boat Races; openweights, reserves and lightweights. This completed a 'Clean Sweep' only previously achieved in1993 and2018.
