Oxford and Cambridge meet on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake every spring, a rivalry rowed on the Thames tideway since 1856, with the 2027 date confirmed for 11 April.
Oxford and Cambridge race on The Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake on Sunday 11 April 2027, a rivalry rowed on the Thames tideway since 1856.
Two school friends, one at Oxford and one at Cambridge, arranged the first Boat Race at Henley on 10 June 1829. Only the wars have interrupted it since.
The women’s race was first contested on 15 March 1927 and became annual in 1964. Since 2015 both crews have rowed the same course on the same afternoon. The course runs four and a quarter miles against the stream, around two long bends.
There is no league and no second chance. Two crews of students train through a winter for eighteen minutes on a tidal river, and the loser waits a year. More than 250,000 people watch free from the towpath most years, and 270,000 did in 2009.
The Boat Race Company stages the 2027 race as the CHANEL J12 Boat Race. Start times follow the tide rather than a broadcast schedule. A reserve race has been rowed ahead of the main event since 1965, and Cambridge won the men’s race in 2026.