After Oxford’s victory in the women’s race came three in a row for Cambridge, the reserve races going Blondie and Goldie’s way by the startling combined total of 28 lengths, and the Men’s Boat Race yielding the predicted Cambridge victory albeit after more of a struggle than had been expected. For Noam Mouelle, beating compatriot Tobias Bernard to win the first battle between two French club presidents, it was a fourth victory in a row. For his coach Rob Baker, a fourth consecutive victory, and his sixth win as men’s head coach since taking charge in 2018. It is starting to look rather tricky to beat Mr Baker’s crews.

The stumbling blocks for the Light Blues were not insuperable, but a combination of Oxford’s gritty persistence and the rollicking waves from Chiswick Eyot to halfway round the final bend made life difficult for Baker’s stars, arguably one of the strongest squads in the club’s history. Cambridge dealt with the problems beautifully, outlasting Oxford’s repeated attacks, and picking their way through North Sea conditions to claim the CHANEL J12 race trophy once more.

The reserves race before the main event looked like a harbinger, Goldie (CUBC reserves) having 12 seconds in hand by Hammersmith Bridge and nearly a minute at the finish. The verdict for the men in yellow of 19 lengths beats by six the previous record reserve men’s margin, set in 1995. With several Goldie rowers who in any other year might well have made the blue boat, Cambridge’s strength in depth on the men’s side is phenomenal, and it would have been no surprise if the main race had gone a similar way, especially after a near-perfect season of fixtures for Baker’s boys.

However, Oxford’s men had won the toss, choosing Surrey, and in retrospect that might have been the catalyst for one of their best starts. It was a hard battling attack from the drop of the flag, to counteract the possibility that Cambridge might just swipe the race in the first minute. The Light Blues did sprint out, but took longer to wind to top rate and though they seized a quarter of a length, that’s where they stuck, Oxford taking the fight to them. The first warning came 35 seconds off the start, Dark Blue president and cox Tobias Bernard being urged not to crowd Cambridge past Imperial College’s boathouse as both crews slid off the main stream, to Oxford’s advantage.

Bernard did move, but by a few millimetres, and proceeded to hound Cambridge off the quickest water along the moored boats and Embankment. Umpire Ciarán Hayes refused to give up, and kept warning Oxford for a protracted time, each time forcing Bernard to give a little ground, which only spurred his men on to greater efforts. By the end of the Embankment the Light Blue lead had been trimmed to just two seats, largely through Tideway-bred Bernard bagging more of the quick stream than his rival, Cambridge cox Sammy Houdaigui.

But the Middlesex corner was coming, and with it a great chance for Houdaigui to grab a few seats before the next straight stretch. The Cambridge rate went up a pip, and on good water the Cambridge quality pulled out another two-thirds of a length, using their corner beautifully. Although Oxford were still pushing the steering hard, and being warned almost continuously, the two stayed separate enough to avoid a clash. The race wasn’t done yet, with a massive Oxford-favouring bend approaching by the stroke. Cambridge had one job to do: clinch an unassailable lead before that bend started to make an impact, and by now Houdaigui was steering very tightly as the two boats came back onto the deepest water, intent on going clear. He wasn’t there yet though.

Four minutes gone, the first bend had put Cambridge a few feet short of a length up, but that meant the Light Blue strokeside blades moving within inches of the Dark Blue bowside blades once each stroke. Hayes warned both, then Cambridge, then Oxford again, nervous of a race-shattering clash. Slowly Cambridge pulled out of danger and started to take control, washing Oxford down despite Bernard’s efforts to stay clear, and far enough ahead that the chance of a clash was now remote despite Hayes’ warnings. As the bumpy water whipped up by Storm Dave’s SSW winds began to make life difficult, Cambridge’s biggest threat now was the conditions rather than their rivals.

The sixteen oarsmen pounded through oceanic rolling waves, the coxes trying to judge when to duck into the bank — out of the useful stream but also out of the dreadful wind — a decision held off for several minutes. Oxford were bashing on grimly, but now lagged by over two lengths, while Houdagai took Cambridge into smoother water near the bank, Bernard following. They had to come out for Barnes Bridge, to fulfil the rule that both crews must shoot its central arch during the race, then tucked back in until the last Middlesex corner turned, the wind eased, and finally offered Cambridge a victory parade on smoother water into sudden afternoon sunlight, and over the line to celebration.

“It’s mission accomplished,” said Mouelle after the race, “so now we’re just relaxing, enjoying the moment. It feels great. That was literally the hardest race we could have had, the Oxford guys stuck with us for a really long time. At the end of the day they stayed very close to us for a lot of the race, the real challenge was to make absolutely no mistake in the most difficult conditions you can have on the Tideway.”

“That was one for the ages, that was absolutely brutal,” said Houdaigui afterwards. “Ciarán was riding both of us, it was that sort of race. With the conditions, we were just getting pushed together a little bit more, Oxford definitely steered an aggressive line for the first half.” Talking of the moment where he started to fight back, he said, “I’ll be frank with you, it got to a point (when Ciarán first warned us) where I had to make a decision with the conditions ahead and where we were, and how we were giving space. We responded.”

Harry Geffen, the Oxford stroke, was phlegmatic afterwards. “Oh, we left it all out there,” he said. “We knew we’d have to.” Coming round the Eyot he felt was crucial to the Cambridge win. “I think they handled [the conditions] better than us. It goes that way sometimes.”

“[Oxford] did a great job, they pushed us really hard,” said Cambridge coach Rob Baker. “We had the speed to be somewhat in control, so I think [my crew] did a really good job, and I think Sammy coxed really well, with difficult decisions. We had a good season and did enough to get it done.”

Back to the drawing board for Oxford, another year’s celebrations for Cambridge. But a race of heroics in vile conditions, of which both crews should be proud.

2026 Digital Souvenir Programme