2 weeks Ago By James Gray
You know those “road to the final” graphics you always get in football tournaments, detailing the brave challengers who have been cut down en route to this showpiece event?They never do one at the Boat Race. They couldn’t, of course, because there are no qualifying races or semi-finals. It’s Oxford vs Cambridge in the final, every year, since 1829.
And not particularly deservedly so either.if(window.adverts) { window.
adverts.addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }Neither Oxford or Cambridge men’s or women’s crew is the best student boat in the country, not by a long shot – even with numerous Olympians on a post-Paris post-graduate course in their numbers.#color-context-related-article-3619962 {--inews-color-primary: #8BC419;--inews-color-secondary: #F6FBED;--inews-color-tertiary: #8BC419;} Read Next square SPORT .
inews__post__label__explained{background-color: #0a0a0a;color: #ffffff;}ExplainedBoat Race 2025: What time it is, how to watch, route map and crews in fullRead MoreIn the men’s, Oxford are not even the best university crew in the city. That would be Oxford Brookes, the former polytechnic with a trophy cabinet almost as big as its boathouse.Cambridge are the favourites in both main races on Sunday, but they would probably not make the final if this were a real competition.
So why not abandon the madness of giving the same two teams the biggest annual platform in rowing every year, and create a season-long knockout competition that would represent a true meritocracy, as opposed to the elitism of the 19th century in which this event was founded?if(window.adverts) { window.adverts.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }The first defence of the race’s format offered is tradition.“It wouldn’t be the Boat Race if it wasn’t Oxford and Cambridge,” says Siobhan Cassidy, the chair of the Boat Race Company.“I know University of London would love to take part, or Imperial even, but that’s not the Boat Race, is it?”Why not? As many have been at pains to point out this week, the rules of the race are decided between the two clubs and they are regularly reviewed and changed.
The original location of the race was much further up the river in Henley, and its length much shorter. Women did not race for the first 98 years, and they were only deemed worthy of joining the men on the Thames in 2015. The Boat Race has evolved – but it is still confined to just two teams.
The race takes in some of London’s most iconic views (Photo: PA)“It’s brought these young people here to race,” Cassidy adds. “They have got experience with national teams in the States or in the British team, and they still want to come and do it, because it is that bucket list event. It’s fantastic, but you have to earn your place academically.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }She adds: “All the students here have earned their place at university by academics alone. They’ve worked incredibly hard in the classroom.”It’s true – although academic ability is not the only criterion for entry.
There is the small matter of paying the tuition fees, which for the post-graduate courses that most Boat Race participants study on are eye-watering. The one-year MBA, for example, which a number of Cambridge’s athletes are reading, costs a staggering £74,000, plus expected living expenses of nearly £20,000 and a cheeky application fee of £165. There is not much equality of opportunity there.
#color-context-related-article-3619097 {--inews-color-primary: #8BC419;--inews-color-secondary: #F6FBED;--inews-color-tertiary: #8BC419;} Read Next square SAVE BRITAIN'S RIVERS .inews__post__label__exclusive{background-color: #e33a11;color: #ffffff;}ExclusiveBoat Race rowers 'at risk of sepsis and kidney failure' from dirty Thames waterRead More“You can see that it’s a great opportunity to shine a light in west London, there’s some huge positives,” says Cassidy, pulling another lever of defence.“Last year we did a study with Nielsen, and it brings in between £13m and £15m worth of investment into this part of London.
Nearly 200,000 people come down to watch it. That’s appealing to a lot of people in London.”Would those 200,000 come to watch the race if it were Oxford Brookes against Durham? Or Reading against Queen’s Belfast? Of course they would.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l3"}); }They might even go to the semi-finals too. And they might actually get a better race more often because of it. (There hasn’t been a men’s race closer than a length for decades.
)Sport is supposed to be the great leveller. On race day, the fastest, strongest and best win out. That’s what draws us to it, and it enrages us when that natural order is broken.
And if the Boat Race is to profit from a protected space in the Great British Sporting Calendar, as it proudly says it does, then it should reflect modern Great Britain, a place that purports to be a meritocracy.But the Boat Race is no meritocracy. It’s a Victorian relic of Britain’s obsession with the class system, a competition with arbitrary rules between two institutions determined to remind us that they are better than us.
What a load of nonsense..
