page_title: Bristol Boat Race
section_title: The Course
hierarchical_section_title: Bristol Boat Race / The Course
context_page_description: The Bristol Boat Race is an annual event between the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol, held on the historic Bristol Harbour, Bristol, England. It is usually held in the summer term after the Easter break, often the week before, or the week after British Universities and Colleges Regatta, although in the first years of the event was often held in February. Founded in 1995, it has been claimed to be the second oldest university Boat Race in the United Kingdom, after The Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge, although the Scottish Boat Race between Glasgow and Edinburgh universities dates back to 1877.
  In the early years of the event the University of Bristol dominated, but in recent years UWE has become a much greater force and the event has become hotly contested. It has become instrumental in improving the calibre of both boat clubs, of which are now regarded as two highly competitive university rowing institutions in the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: The course runs from the Cumberland Basin towards the Bristol City Centre and finishes 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) later at Canon's Wharf Amphitheatre. Several course changes have been proposed in recent years, due to the nature of the bends providing each side with significant advantages at different stages of the course.
caption: The SS Great Britain marks the third distance mark in the varsity race
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "2900", "Image YResolution": "2900", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2005:04:01 17:45:50", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5410", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "750", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "531"}