Oxford’s women won the Boat Race for the first time since 2016 in 2026, on a rough and windy Thames, while the Cambridge men held on to their title.
Oxford’s women beat Cambridge on the Championship Course, from Putney to Mortlake, on Saturday 4 April 2026, ending a run of eight Cambridge wins. The Cambridge men kept their title.
The Boat Race Company Ltd stages the races each year on the Thames. The 2026 races were the first broadcast on Channel 4, with Times Radio alongside, and ran on a Saturday rather than the Sunday of the year before.
Conditions were rough and windy. The women’s race, the 80th, went to Oxford by three lengths in 19 minutes 15 seconds, their first victory since 2016.
The men’s race, the 171st, went to Cambridge by three and a half lengths in 17 minutes 57 seconds. It was their sixth victory in seven years.
The Festival of Rowing, a procession of traditional Thames boats, opened the afternoon. Oxford’s women won the first of four races, and Cambridge took the other three, its reserve crews Goldie and Blondie winning theirs.
The results left Cambridge on 89 men’s wins to Oxford’s 81, and on 49 women’s wins to Oxford’s 31. The documentary series Turning the Tide told the build-up in episodes.