Cambridge swept the Boat Race in 2025, the women’s crew taking an eighth straight win after a restart and the men’s crew defending their title by five and a half lengths.
Cambridge won both the men’s and the women’s Boat Race on the Championship Course, from Putney to Mortlake, on Sunday 13 April 2025.
The rivalry began when two friends from Harrow School, Charles Wordsworth of Oxford and Charles Merivale of Cambridge, arranged a challenge. The first Boat Race took place at Henley on 10 June 1829, and Oxford won it.
The race moved to London in 1836 and has used the Putney to Mortlake course since 1845. The women’s race was founded in 1927 and raced only intermittently until the mid-1960s.
The women’s race, the 79th, was halted after an oar clash. Umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent let it resume from a restart, and Cambridge won by two and a half lengths in 19 minutes 25 seconds, their eighth consecutive victory.
The men’s crew took the 170th race by five and a half lengths in 16 minutes 57 seconds. The win gave Cambridge 88 victories to Oxford’s 81.
Cambridge’s reserve crews, Goldie and Blondie, won both reserve races. It was the last Boat Race the BBC televised before Channel 4 took over.