The Championship Course is a stretch of theRiver Thames betweenMortlake andPutney inLondon, England. It is a well-established course forrowing races, particularly theOxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches of the river often referred to as theTideway.
In 1845, it was agreed to stage the Boat Race (which had on five previous occasions been rowed fromWestminster Bridge to Putney) on a course from 'Putney Bridge toMortlake Church tower'.[1] The aim was to reduce the interference from heavy river traffic.
The following year, a race for the ProfessionalWorld Sculling Championship moved to the course for the first time. TheWingfield Sculls followed in 1861.
The course was later defined by two stones on the southern bank of the river, marked "U.B.R." for University Boat Race: one just downstream ofChiswick Bridge, close to The Ship public house, and the other just upstream of Putney Bridge. The course distance is 4miles and 374yards (6,779 m), as measured along the centre of the river's stream.
Races are always rowed in the same direction as the tide: fromMortlake toPutney on an ebb tide or from Putney to Mortlake on a flood tide.
Since the Boat Race moved to this course in 1845, it has always been raced on a flood tide from Putney to Mortlake except in 1846, 1856 and 1863. TheWingfield Sculls is also raced from Putney to Mortlake. Most other events race on an ebb tide from Mortlake to Putney.
In April 1869, theHarvard University Boat Club challenged theOxford University Boat Club to an "International University Boat-Race" of coxed fours on theBoat Race course. The race took place on 27 August 1869 and was narrowly won by Oxford. The new Atlantic cable allowed daily reports to be received by all major newspapers across America within 23 minutes of the finish. U.S. public interest in the event was huge, with more publicity than any sporting event to date, and within two years of the event the "newly awakened interest in rowing at many of the most noted seats of learning" doubled the number of boat clubs in the US, and led to the formation of theRowing Association of American Colleges.[2]
Principal landmarks, often used when racing, include (in order fromMortlake toPutney):
