Red Flags, Restarts, Booms, and yes, Racing | row2k Feature Coverage: Henley Royal Regatta Red Flags, Restarts, Booms, and yes, Racing Thursday, June 30, 2016 Rachel Quarrell and row2k Given that the regatta that is both webstreaming and televising every stroke of every race, it might be a while before anyone says "rowing is boring" after today. Any thought those with Thursday-morning hangovers might have had of a crafty nap in the deckchairs was shredded with race 11, one of the most controversial of recent years. Norwegian club Oslo (steered by Northeastern coxswain Alex Gass) were being leaned on hard by Sydney, coached by former international Donovan Cech, when they clearly decided they'd had enough of the Australians blatantly encroaching on their station. On went the Oslo rudder, up went Gass's hand, and contact was forced by Oslo steering into Sydney, who were being warned by umpire Boris Rankov, he of Boat Race fame, at the time. Red flag time.

"I warned Sydney several times for drifting over, and then they actually hit Oslo while I was warning them," said Rankov. "Oslo were on their own side all the time." "Sydney had been warned from the very first stroke of the race pretty much," said Gass. "Eventually they came too far into our lane, blades clashed, and because they were in our lane, they got disqualified." We-ell, that's a little disingenous, since the whole world can now watch the replay and see that contact wasn't initiated until Oslo swerved noticeably across to the right-hand side of their waterspace. It was, of course, entirely justified. Oslo had been right beside their booms with Sydney hogging most of the rest of the water and Sydney had been warned at least six times before Oslo got fed up. It might have been possible to force the bump with a tad more subtlety, but it's hard to blame them for making the poor steering absolutely plain. However, when Rankov's red flag came out, waved twice in a semi-circle over his head, neither crew stopped. "We didn't stop because they hadn't - in the heat of the moment we weren't sure so kept on racing," said Gass.

"When my stroke man told me to move over I moved straight away," said Sydney cox Kendall Brodie. She said she hadn't heard the umpire's shouts. "It shouldn't be up to the stroke man to see flags wave," she added. "If I'm driving the ship and I can't hear the call, I won't know when to move over." Cech later lodged an appeal proposing that it had been Oslo who hadn't "held their proper course" because of the sharp steer, but this was rejected and the original decision upheld. And the whole damn lot is now on YouTube, although note that the overhead view doesn't show the Sydney-side boom position clearly through the trees so estimating degree of encroachment isn't easy. Another hiccup threatened immediately after the race, when Oslo stuck hands up to ensure their protest was noticed. When Rankov confirmed Sydney's disqualification, the Aussies decided to argue. A tetchy discussion with Rankov ensued (all audible in the YouTube video clip), and he briefly threatened to turn the interference DSQ into one for unsportsmanship. You can see the whole race here , and the testy exchange and unfortunate hand gesture here (as noted above).

That wasn't the end of the cranky steering: five races later (and with Rankov in the hot seat again), Thames B and Tideway Scullers were stopped soon after Temple Island after clashing badly in mutual water – see the full video here . As is often the case with coxless boats the race was simply restarted, and Scullers won but with no times taken. The Yale lightweights also benefited from a boom clash by Nottingham, a bit of which you can see here , while Germania were lucky to tweak the buoys rather than the booms in the Fawley. But these are just taps compared to Christiana's encounter with the booms - there's steering issues, and then there is this – put down your coffee cup before watching . Christiana's boom plant ultimately caused the race to be declared "not rowed out." Several coxed and coxless crews were warned sternly for poor steering, and a couple of winning coxes taken aside later to be told that veering around would no longer be tolerated from now on. Wayward rudder use, sometimes deliberate, is way more common than romantics would like.

However, sometimes the problem is just generic steering trouble: Leander's women's club quad proved a problem to steer for retired international Debbie Flood (steering from the three-seat, not an easy task) although they beat the Wallingford/Glasgow composite handily. The head-wind remained sharp all day, but a bit of sunshine brightened Henley moods and there were only a couple of very light showers. One cheerful international was Mahe Drysdale, who is attempting to match Sam Mackenzie's record six Diamonds win, but was held up both before and after his flight from Ljubljana to the UK. Diverted from Stansted to Luton he was locked in the landed plane for ages waiting for a return to Stansted ( which he describes here ), but did eventually get to Henley. There he was drawn against the unlucky Cédric Berrest, who could have hoped for a more enjoyable draw as a fully fledged international, albeit one who didn't manage to reach the FOQR final. Berrest slammed it for the first quartermile but then folded, knowing he couldn't outgun the big Kiwi. See the full video here .

Elsewhere in the Diamonds race-off winner Tom Graves met fellow unsuccessful Olympic triallist Greg Ansolabehere for the third time this season. Ansolabehere confirmed the results from qualifiers with a one-length win over Graves and set up a Friday match against Belgian Hannes Obreno. See the full video here . The best race however was that between Germany's Runge and Slovenian Hrvat, who kept swapping the lead before Hrvat eventually got the upper hand; see the full video here . [There were several red faces in HRR on Wednesday night, as it has emerged that qualification times — for the successful crews — were published online for half an hour. Naughty naughty. They were rapidly taken down, but not before loads of rowers had got busy with the notepads. Tempting to wonder why the many coaches who always claim they time qualifiers accurately have suddenly fallen silent...] George Washington duffed up Cambridge's development four in the Visitors on their first visit to the Royal Regatta, and Grand Valley State had a class win against Durham in the Prince Albert coxed fours, where Yale and Drexel also won reasonably comfortably.

And so on to day three, and the little red boxes are starting to feel as if they're coming just a bit closer.... Notes from the course: Intelligence on your competition can be hard to come by at Henley, and even when you get some info, it can lead you astray; in one event, a coach of a contending crew had heard that the "B" crew they were to race had been trading pieces with their "A" crew, so prepared his squad for a close race and a full go. As the race developed and the margin went from one to two and then to three lengths, the coach was whispering to those around him, "I hope the coxswain thinks to drop the rating," not only to save the athletes some effort, but so not to run up the margins needlessly against an honest B crew. The crew from yesterday's report that had hit the booms, spiked an oar, and then recovered so quickly as to lose only a few seats ALSO went on to win the race ! Never quit.

The official race commentaries had gravity: "Newcastle hung on grimly..." And pith: an interesting way to say someone was overstroking the other crew: "Fulham with 3 more strokes in the first minute soon moved into a commanding lead…" The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race People Connected to Oxfordshire Top Surnames history The Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Thames in London, England. It is also known as the University Boat Race and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, from 2010–2012 for sponsorship reasons as the Xchanging Boat Race, and from 2013 as the BNY Mellon Boat Race. It usually takes place on the last Saturday of March or the first Saturday of April. The Boat Race founders were Charles Merrivale and Charles Wordsworth References: Foundations of The Boat Race The race came about when two friends from Harrow School, Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet William Wordsworth), of Christ Church College, Oxford, and Charles Merrivale of St.

John’s, Cambridge, met during the vacation in Cambridge, where Wordsworth’s father was master of Trinity. Wordsworth went rowing on the Cam, and the two school fellows decided to set up a challenge. On February 10 1829 a meeting of CUBC requested Mr Snow of St John’s to write immediately to Mr Staniforth of Christ Church stating ‘that the University of Cambridge hereby challenge the University of Oxford to row a match at or near London, each in an eight-oared boat during the ensuing Easter vacation.’ Staniforth and Snow had been schoolfellows and boating comrades at Eton. Consequently some of the arrangements changed so the first race eventually took place on 10 June 1829 at Henley on Thames. Oxford won this first race easily, their winning boat can still be seen in the River & Rowing Museum in Henley. For the next 25 years contests only happened on an irregular basis, moving to London for the second race in 1836. 1830 - 1855 Following the first race in Henley in 1829 the next twenty five years only saw irregular races.

The second race in the series was rowed between Westminster to Putney as were the next five up to 1842. The course was altered for the next race in 1845 which saw the first Putney to Mortlake race, though three subsequent races, 1846, 1856, 1863 were rowed on the ebb tide from Mortlake to Putney. The last of these 12 irregular meetings was in 1854 prior to the race becoming an annual event in 1856. In 1849, after a gap of two years and for the only time, there were two races. The first in March from Putney to Mortlake was won by Cambridge ‘easily’. Oxford felt that their craft was a major factor in their defeat and challenged Cambridge to a further race in December. This second race of 1849 is the only time in the series to date that the boat race was decided by a disqualification, following a foul by Cambridge at the finish. The eleventh race in 1852 saw the great Oxonian Joseph Chitty as president and stroke.

This race was at the height of the argument which had started in 1846 about the use of professional coaches and steersman and which was the biggest factor in the decision to settle for amateur coaches (mainly old blues), a decision which held for more than a century. Cambridge were coached by the waterman Bob Coombes, who instructed his crew to take the inside arch under Hammersmith Bridge. Oxford a technically excellent crew, were coached by Thomas Egan, the Cambridge amateur coach who had offered his services to Oxford because of the Cambridge employment of Coombes. Oxford took the traditional centre arch. Cambridge lost the stream and a considerable margin by this manoeuvre, and lost the race by six lengths. Egan of Caius and Arthur Shadwell of Balliol exerted a great influence on university rowing. They developed the longer smoother style used by early amateurs as opposed to the choppy stroke of the professional waterman. Racing was still undertaken in cutters and gigs with fixed seats. Limited sliding was sometimes achieved by oarsmen greasing the seats of their trousers or the use of sheepskin covers on the seats.

The oars had heavy square shafts and narrow blades, some only about two inches wide which could easily break. There was no button to hold them into the rowlocks which consisted of two thole-pins projecting from the gunwale. These were subsequently incorporated into the boat itself for greater strength. The benefit of long leverage on the oars was recognised early, and the boats were broad in beam to allow the oarsmen to sit on the opposite side of the boat to their rowlocks and reach past the man in front at the start of the stroke. In 1846 the introduction of outriggers allowed boats to become much narrower. The twelfth and final race of this irregular period took place in April 1854 and again resulted in a win for Oxford. Of the twelve races thus far, Cambridge had won seven and Oxford five. Famous Oarsmen Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE - perhaps the most distinguished oarsman ever to compete in The Boat Race. He was in the Oxford Blue Boat in 1990, 91 & 93, winning twice but was losing President in 1993.

In 1992 he missed out on a Blue to take time to win his first Olympic Gold with Steve Redgrave at the Barcelona Olympics. He went on to win 3 more golds, two with Blues; in 2000 with Oxford's Tim Foster and in 2004 with Oxford's Ed Coode. In 2011 Pinsent returned to the Boat Race appearing in and winning his first Veterans Race. He also umpired that years Isis/Goldie race. Hugh Laurie Actor and Comedian Cambridge 1980 Hugh Laurie rowed in the Cambridge Blue Boat in 1980. His father Ran Laurie had stroked Cambridge to victory between 1934-36 and won a Gold at the 1948 London Olympics. Laurie had been a GB Junior International while at Eton, however his Cambridge crew narrowly lost in an exciting race featuring clashes of blades and the collapse of the Oxford bow man. This was Laurie's only Boat Race before the lure of the 'footlights' led him into his distinguished career.

Lord (Colin) Moynihan Chairman of the British Olympic Association Colin Moynihan was a double blue coxing the victorious Oxford crew in the 1977 Boat Race and boxing against Cambridge in the Bantamweight division. He beat Benazir Bhutto to win the Presidency of the Oxford Union in 1976. In the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games he was cox for the GB men's VIII winning a silver medal. Moynihan became an MP in 1983 and was MInister for Sport between 1987-1990. He is an hereditary Peer but was elected to stay in the House of Lords in 2000 where he has been a Conservative spokesman on Sport and Foreign Affairs. In 2005 The 4th Baron Moynihan became Chairman of the British Olympic Association for the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Boris Rankov rowed in more Boat Races than any other athlete Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (MA 1980, DPhil 1987), Boris Rankov is best known for leading Oxford to victory six times between 1978 and 1983, three times in the 4 seat and three times in the 5 seat. This led to the establishment of the so-called Rankov Rule, which states that oarsmen will compete in the race no more than four times as an undergraduate and no more than four times as a graduate. Rankov has however, umpired the race in 2003, 2005 and 2009. He is currently a professor of Roman history at Royal Holloway, University of London. Sue Brown The first woman to compete in the Boat Race On April 4th 1981 Sue Brown became the first woman to participate in The Boat Race, as cox of the Oxford Blue Boat, a task she repeated in 1982, winning on both occassions. Since then both clubs have used female coxes to steer their crews.

The first woman cox in the Cambridge Blue Boat was Henrietta Shaw in 1985. The first time both crews were coxed by women was 1989, the dark blues with Alison Norrish, the light blues with Leigh Weiss. Legendary Oxford coach Dan Topolski Dan Topolski as an oarsman won the 1967 and lost the 1968 Boat Race, he was also a highly successful lightweight international. He is best known as the Oxford coach between 1973-1987. Of his fifteen Boat Races in charge, Oxford won twelve including an unbroken run of ten victories between 1976 and 1985. This run of success and its continuation after Topolski's departure brought Oxford to a point in 1992 where they had won sixteen of the last seventeen races and were within one victory of equalling Cambridge's overall total of wins. He departed in 1987, sparked by the infamous 'mutiny' and inspiring his book True Blue. He is currently Oxford's coxing advisor and provides analysis for the BBC on Boat Race day.

Dan Snow author & TV historian - Dan Snow won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships prior to studying at Balliol, Oxford. He appeared 3 times in the Oxford Blue Boat between 1999-2001. He was the losing President in the controversial 2001 race where the umpire stopped the crews following a clash of blades. His father is TV journalist Peter Snow but Dan has carved out his own highly successful career in TV following his double first in Modern History. He is well known for his appearances on The One Show and for presenting numerous history programmes. He is the author of Death or Victory: the Battle of Quebec and the birth of Empire and has won a number of BAFTA and Sony Awards. The Winklevoss twins Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss, identical American twin brothers rowed in the 2010 losing Oxford Blue Boat. They had rowed in the 2008 Olympic Games coming 6th in the coxless pair and had distinguished careers at Harvard. Their chief claim to fame however is as the disputed joint founders of the Facebook social network. Having founded a Harvard based network with the assistance of Mark Zuckerburg they saw Zuckerburg's Facebook take off.

Litigation followed and it is reported that the Winklevoss brothers settled for upwards of $50 million. The tale of their part in the launch of Facebook plays a large part in the film The Social Network, where the twins are played by one actor Andrew (Sandy) Irvine Mountaineer & Adventurer - Sandy Irvine was mountaineer George Mallory's summit partner on the ill-fated British Everest Expedition of 1924. It is thought likely that he and Mallory were the first men to reach the mountain's peak, but died during the descent. An outstanding oarsman, he rowed for Merton College, Oxford and in the losing Dark Blue Boat of 1922 and the winning Boat in 1923. He was also a wild boy with a streak of fearlessness that exasperated his parents and delighted his friends. He had a passionate love affair with his best friend’s step mother, made the first crossing of the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in 1923 and perhaps, just perhaps climbed to the top of the world 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary. Irvine's story is told in the book Fearless on Everest by Julie Somers.

Stanley Muttlebury Cambridge produced one of the legends of the Boat Race and of rowing worldwide, Stanley Muttlebury ("Muttle"), whose crew won the race in the first four of the five years he was a member, 1886–1890. Contemporaries writing to The Times to add to his 1933 obituary called attention to his extraordinary physical prowess and natural aptitude for rowing, traits accompanied by mildness, good manners, and natural kindness. R.P.P. Rowe wrote: Muttlebury had a natural aptitude which amounted to a genius for rowing, and, as he was not only massively large and full of courage but herculean in muscular strength, it was inevitable that he should be an outstanding exponent of oarsmanship. Added to this, he came to his prime when rowing was in a transitional stage, when the old methods of the straight back and the body catch suited to the fixed seat and the short slide, had necessarily to be superseded by methods required by the long-slide. I consider that long-slide rowing sprang suddenly to perfection in Muttlebury, that on him this new (or partially new) art was built...

W B, John and James Close, who founded Close Brothers, the financial institution, were all former Blues. W B was part of the Cambridge crew adjudged to have finished in a dead heat with Oxford in 1877. Sir Robert Walmsley, KCB, was cox of the 1962 Cambridge crew. He joined the Navy in 1958 and earned the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1990. He was appointed Chief of Defence procurement in 1996. Lord Bruce of Melbourne, who rowed for Cambridge in 1907, embarked on a career in politics, becoming Prime Minister of Australia between 1923 and 1929. He was descibed as "the most English of Australians". Rupert Obholzer is perhaps best known for his controversial decision, as umpire, to re-start last year's race, but he also created a stir when he made gestures to the opposing crew after stroking the 1991 Oxford crew to victory. He is a top London-based surgeon.

1997 (Oxford) Luka Grubor 1998 (Oxford) Ed Coode 1999, 2001, 2006-07 (Cambridge) Kieran West Boat Race 2015: Jargon busting – a list of the lingo used in the Oxford and Cambridge universities rowing event - Telegraph Boat Race 2015 Boat Race 2015: Jargon busting – a list of the lingo used in the Oxford and Cambridge universities rowing event Know your crab from your spoon? Or your Goldie from your Blondie? Telegraph Sport looks at the unusual words spoken by Boat Race folk Giving it some welly: Oxford women burn rubber, kind of Photo: GETTY IMAGES By Rachel Quarrell, Rowing Correspondent and winning 1991 Oxford women's cox 7:00AM GMT 13 Mar 2015 Blade – the rowing term for an oar. Blondie – the name for the Cambridge women’s reserve crew, named to match Goldie, the men’s equivalent.

The women’s reserves will race over the same course the day before the main event, their contest acting as the TV dress rehearsal for commentators and techs. Blue – the university colours awarded to those who take part in the Boat Race . Oxford's are dark blue, Cambridge's are light blue. Bow – Two meanings: a) the front end of the boat, and b) the oarsman who sits nearest that end. Catch – the perceived start of the stroke, when the oars enter the water and the rower start to push with their legs. 'Sharp' catches are when the oars disappear fast and simultaneously below the water. Cox – (not coxswain unless you're in an archaic mood). Steersman of the crew, who also coaches within the boat, motivates the athletes, and calls for pushes. Chiswick Steps – the line of steps opposite Chiswick Wharf which mark one of the mid-race timing points, just upstream of Chiswick Eyot, the midstream island. Crab – getting one's oar stuck so firmly in the water that the oarsman lets go of, and can even be knocked over by, the handle.

A bad crab can lose a crew 1-2 lengths before they get going again. An 'overhead crab' is the worst and can stop a boat. In a small crab the oar just catches briefly in the water. Crew – what rowers call it. Don't use the word 'team' if you want to look like you know what you're talking about. Clashing – the contact between oars/blades which slows both boats, and can lead to a disqualification if one crew is in the wrong place. Drive – the stroke phase when the rowers' legs are pushing and the oars are being propelled through the water. Engine room – the oarsmen in the middle of the crew, traditionally the strongest rowers. Finish – in terms of the stroke, the point where the oars are knocked clear of the water. A crew's strokes must finish together (a 'clean' finish) or the boat is slowed down. Foul – in the Boat Race, a clash or interference of one crew by the other, which materially affects the outcome of the race.

There has only been one disqualification, of the Cambridge crew in 1849, although Oxford reserves Isis were disqualified for fouling in 1990. Fulham Wall – the wall along the northern embankment at the start of the Boat Race. Participants do not earn their Blue until they have rowed past the end of this wall, and equipment mishaps before the wall's end would necessitate a re-row. Goldie – the Cambridge men’s reserve crew, named after legendary four-times Cambridge stroke John Haviland Dashwood Goldie (Blue 1869-72). Isis – the Oxford men’s reserve crew, named after the river Thames as it passes through Oxford. Middlesex – the northern station. Favoured during the start and finish of the race. Milepost – the large obelisk marking one mile from the start of the Boat Race, beside the Barn Elms water works and reservoir. Osiris – the Oxford women’s reserve crew, named after the brother of the goddess Isis. Push – the short-term lift in rate and effort which may allow one crew to move past the other.

Coxes often 'kill the push', by calling one of their own just as the other crew's lift comes to an end. Even in a 4.25 mile race, crews only have enough energy to push a few times. Putney to Mortlake – the boat clubs’ name for the race course. Most of the other races on the Tideway are run from Mortlake to Putney on an outgoing tide. The Boat Race Company Limited used to be called P2M Ltd. Rankov Rule – the rule that a student may only race four times in the Boat Race as an undergraduate and four times as a graduate, named after Boris Rankov, who competed six times in all during his time at Oxford. Rate/Stroke rate – number of strokes taken per minute. The starting rates are around 44 for the first few seconds, then settle to 37-38 for a short while before dropping in to a race pace for Boat Race crews of around 34. Watch out for rates of 36 in mid-race: that means the crew is pushing to try and gain ground. Ratio – literally, the ratio of recovery to drive. A good ratio has more time on the recovery.

Red flag – the Boat Race umpires wave a red flag to start the races, and it should not be used again unless there is a foul or they wish to stop the race halfway. A white flag is used for warnings and to denote a clean race when they cross the finish. Recovery – the part of the stroke when the oars are out of the water and the oarsmen compress their legs. Rudder – a credit-card sized piece of metal under the stern of the boat, attached to strings so the cox can steer. Spoon – the painted end of the blade which dips in the water. Good crews just bury the spoon in the water, and not the loom/shaft of the oar. Stakeboat – the moored boats from which the crews start. Stern – the back end of the boat, where the cox sits. Stream – the incoming Boat Race tide is fastest at the point of deepest water, which may not be in the middle of the river. This area is the stream, and is around 2.5 crew-widths wide (about 20 metres).

Stride – the change in rhythm which often comes around 15-25 strokes, at which point the crew settles in to its base racing rate. Stroke – two meanings: a) the action of rowing and b) the sternmost rower, who sets the rhythm and determines race tactics for the whole crew. Surrey – the southern station of the race. The "Surrey bend" favours its crew for most of the middle of the race. University Post – the large post marking the finish line. University Stone – a 2.5-foot high stone on the Putney Embankment behind an orange-painted fence post, marking the start line. Water – the crew's station on the river. 'Taking water' is the term for when a crew has gone far enough ahead of their rivals to be able to move directly in line ahead of them. The Boat Race: Facts and Figures | Hexjam Instagram The Boat Race: Facts and Figures As Oxford and Cambridge square up to each other for another year, we take a look at some facts surrounding the UK’s most famous boat race.

Sophie Hines - 25 March 2011 The current course record is just 16 mins and 19 secs, set by Cambridge in 1998. The slowest winning time was nearly 10 minutes longer, at 26 mis 5 secs (Cambridge 1860). The lightest ever coxes both weighed just 5 stone 2 lbs (32.66kgs). They were Francis Archer (Cambridge 1862) and Hart Massey (Oxford 1939). There is now a 55kg minimum weight limit for the cox. There have been two crew ‘mutinies ’ in Boat Race history, both involving the Oxford team. In 1959 a group of dissidents rebelled against the strict methods of their coach, before returning to the crew and claiming victory by six lengths. In 1987 a number of US oarsmen refused to row after a fellow American was dropped from the crew. Oxford went on to win with a team made up partially from the reserve squad.

The tallest ever oarsmen, Josh West, was a whopping 6ft 9.5in (that’s 2 metres 7 cm!) He rowed for Cambridge every year from 1999 to 2002. In 1999 the Cambridge crew had an average height of 6ft 7in. The competition was halted during WW2 , although there were a number of unofficial races in Henley-on-Thames (1940), Sandford-on-Thames (1943) and River Great Ouse, Ely (1944). The closest finish in Boat Race history came in 1877 when the event was declared a dead heat. However, the smallest winning margin occurred in 2003, when Oxford beat Cambridge by just one foot. There have been six sinkings in Boat Race history. On 31st March 1921, both boats sank and the race had to be held again on 1st April. In 2003, two sets of brothers competed in the Boat Race: Matt Smith and David Livingston for Oxford, and Ben Smith and James Livingston for Cambridge.

All four had been pupils together at Hampton School in south-west London. The record for taking part in the most races is held by Boris Rankov, who rowed six times for Oxford between 1978 and 1983. He is now a Boat Race Umpire. It takes approximately 600 strokes to complete the race. For every one stroke, each crew member trains for an average of 2 hours. Ouch. Robert Ross became the youngest person to ever take part in the Boat Race when he rowed for Cambridge in 1977, aged just 18 years 200 days. The phrase ‘Boat Race’ has entered Cockney rhyming slang to mean ‘face’. The heaviest competitor ever to take part was 17st 6lbs Thorsten Engelmann, the stroke man of the 2007 Cambridge team. Famous faces to have taken part in the Boat Race include Hugh Laurie (Cambridge 1980), Lord Snowdon (Cambridge 1950) and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Oxford 2010), the American twins who sued Mark Zuckerberg after he allegedly stole their idea for Facebook.

Overall, Cambridge have won the race 80 times and Oxford 75. Boat Race 2015: Oxford women humiliate Cambridge by winning first event held on same day as the men - Telegraph Boat Race 2015 Boat Race 2015: Oxford women humiliate Cambridge by winning first event held on same day as the men Hot favourites romp to a comfortable victory by six and a half lengths – about 19 seconds – as the women strike a telling blow for sporting equality Winning feeling: Oxford women celebrate their easy – 19-second – win Photo: REUTERS Image 1 of 2 Away they go: Oxford established an early lead in the women's Boat Race and it proved too much for Cambridge Photo: GETTY IMAGES Follow Congratulations to the occupants of the red-brick apartment on Lower Mall, next to Hammersmith Bridge. On this long-awaited moment for sporting equality, the first women’s Boat Race on the Tideway, the majority of the British public were content to arrive an hour earlier with their Pimm’s and their hampers. For them it was business as usual, only with a little extra shouting.

But this one flat on the biggest bend of the race, halfway around the course, managed to put out a statement banner. “Women 1st at last,” it read: an apposite message, if not a particularly militant one. That was the overall flavour of the event: there was a sense of historical inevitability, as if we were all acknowledging an ancient injustice with a wince of embarrassment. Away they go: Oxford established an early lead in the women's Boat Race and it proved too much for Cambridge (GETTY IMAGES) So many women have already dedicated their undergraduate careers to bring us to this point. They were the ones who slogged through the dark winter mornings, investing their own money in training and equipment so that an extraordinarily powerful Oxford eight could surge through the headwind and the waves to finish in 19mins 45seconds and then embrace in their dark blue wellies on the shores of Mortlake. Oxford president Anastasia Chitty and her crew were the beneficiaries, enjoying the sunshine in every sense as Clare Balding narrated their boatie masterclass with undisguised excitement.

This new element of the boat-race pageant, according to Oxford’s coach Christine Wilson, is about “strong women, stubborn women, passionate women”. It is also about international-class athletes such as Caryn Davies, the 32-year-old New Yorker who stroked the Oxford boat. With her four world championships and two Olympic gold medals, Davies made history yesterday as the most decorated rower – male or female – ever to take part in this event. Afterwards she admitted that she would never have come to Oxford in the first place had it not been for this historic opportunity. • Famous Boat Race alumni “I’d followed the story about the boat race maybe being on The Tideway, and that solidified my decision,” Davies told Telegraph Sport. “To me the most special part of it is that there are so many other women watching that can be inspired by our performance and our participation. That also happens in the Olympics, but not to the same extent.

We don’t have the same viewership, and women have been participating in the Olympics a lot longer, so it’s not the same.” As she quaffed a glass of fizz at the finish line, Davies acknowledged that Oxford’s training schedule had been more gruelling than anything she had experienced in her undergraduate days at Harvard. Yet when it comes to sporting equality, the American universities stand almost half-a-century ahead. “Ideally I’d like to see in this country the same kind of legislation we have in the States with Title IX,” said Davies, alluding to a federal law that dates back to 1972. “It mandates equal funding for men’s and women’s sports at public universities. I don’t follow British politics closely, but from what I understand there already has been some talk about that. So I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few years something happens.” Davies was assured and articulate in the wake of Oxford’s six-and-a-half length victory. Such qualities, together with the MBA that she will complete in the summer, will surely come to the fore as she finally draws to the end of 14 years’ worth of full-time education.

“I’ve got to get a job!” she announced, in the slightly panicky tone of a career sportswoman. “I’ll still do fun races, but I won’t compete again. “I’m very proud of this [as a way to finish],” Davies added. “It’s the toughest race I’ve ever rowed. It’s long, we had a headwind today, and there’s never a point where you can relax and say ‘I’ve got this’ because it’s so unpredictable. You’re pretty much going at Olympic 2k pace off the start – and then you just keep going, for another 5k. But there’s always less suffering when you’re winning. I could hear so many people cheering – it didn’t matter who they were cheering for.” Trophy time: Anastasia Chitty lifts the silverware As the Oxford crew sprayed the champagne, their opposite numbers were being consoled by family and friends. The Cambridge crew seemed unmoved by the chorus of support they received from the bank as they moored at Mortlake. Some wept. Boat club president Caroline Reid managed a few words for the BBC’s broadcast, emphasising her pride in her crew’s performance, but was too distraught to speak to the press.

“It was a huge experience,” said Fanny Berlais, the bow oarswoman. “We had a good race but Oxford was faster. The whole thing is huge. We gave our best but we’ll always wonder what might have been.” In terms of times, no-one quite knew what to expect, but the organisers had allocated 22 minutes as a best-guess as they worked out the logistics of returning umpire Boris Rankov from Mortlake to Putney: the first time such a manoeuvre had been required. In the event, Davies and company shaved more than two minutes off that figure, despite what Reid referred to as a “horrendous” head-wind, and Cambridge were only fractionally outside the 20-minute mark. "It's a really special moment, something I've been working towards for three years," Chitty told the BBC.

"It's even more special because so many women [have] not had this opportunity so it’s really humbling." BOAT RACE RESULTS MEN'S BOAT RACE: Oxford beat Cambridge in the 161st Boat Race by 6.5 lengths Times Milepost: Oxford 3min 44sec; Cambridge 3-45 Hammersmith Bridge: Oxford 6-43, Cambridge 6-44 Chiswick Steps: Oxford 10-42, Cambridge 10-49 Barnes Bridge: Oxford 14-28; Cambridge 14-42 Finish: Oxford 17-34, Cambridge 17-54 WOMEN'S BOAT RACE: Oxford beat Cambridge in the 70th Women's Boat Race by 7 lengths Times Milepost: Oxford 4-08, Cambridge 4-13 Hammersmith Bridge: Oxford 7-25, Cambridge 7-33 Chiswick Steps: Oxford 11-56, Cambridge 12-10 Barnes Bridge: Oxford 16-12, Cambridge 16-30 Finish: Oxford 19-45, Cambridge 2

0-06 MEN'S RESERVES RACE: Isis (Oxford) beat Goldie (Cambridge) in the 51st reserves race by 3 lengths Times (* denotes loser leading at this point) Milepost: Goldie 3-48*, Isis 3-51 Hammersmith Bridge: Goldie 6-55*, Isis 7-00 Chiswick Steps: Goldie 11-09*, Isis 11-11 Hammersmith Bridge: Isis 15-00, Goldie 15-03 Finish: Isis 18-11, Goldie 18-21 In the women's reserves race on Friday 10 April Osiris (Oxford) beat Blondie (Cambridge) by 15 lengths.

Question: Boris Rankov was on the winning side six times in which famous event?
Answer: University Boat Race