In 1926 a group of oarswomen at Oxford sat down and started a new university rowing club, with the express intention of challenging Cambridge on the water, to match the famous men’s event. Ninety-nine years later, and 12 months before celebrating the Women’s Boat Race centenary, a group of nine Dark Blue oarswomen finally broke a significant Light Blue women’s streak for the third time in the event’s history, with a row of which their 1926 predecessors would have been extremely proud.
It takes a monumental effort to break a chain of victories in this kind of derby event, where the same two clubs are always competing against one another. Years of pulling out every stop, only to lose again, take their toll. Eight years of defeat means almost no-one in the club has tasted victory, the shining exception being Osiris, the Oxford women’s reserves, in 2024 during coach Allan French’s first year. It was time for a new story to be told, and finally everything came right for Oxford.
“there was so much trust.”
Kyra Delray
The first shot of the day went to Cambridge’s women, who won the coin toss and promptly chose Surrey, an unsurprising decision given the chance of getting some shelter round the middle bend of the course. But it didn’t change Oxford’s options: since the 2025 loss they have spent all year working on a very fast start, which is needed if your opponents have the Surrey station in any Boat Race.
As umpire Clare Harvey’s flag dropped, both eights shot off the stakeboats, Oxford rating 49 to Cambridge’s 48. That ferocity did not falter, and as the wind-chilled crowds along the Embankment started to roar, the rate stayed high and Oxford rapidly took two, then three seats advantage. Cambridge were also belting it along but as the lactate started to burn, they were a half-length down. A warning to Oxford as the two moved out into the corner after the Black Buoy, and now the crews were down to rate 34, settling into rhythm.
“there’s more to come.”
Allan French
No time to relax however, with Oxford moving once more and a push starting. It was a merciless, ruthless push, a kill-them-off move of the type Oxford have found difficult to produce in recent races. Cox Louis Corrigan steered the corner beautifully as both eights had to swing a little to bowside, a classic Middlesex corner manoeuvre to seize the lead. One more warning, but it was starting to make no difference: Oxford were now two lengths up and still moving. Corrigan was being careful and had the freedom to do so, in no danger of clashing while Cambridge did everything they could to catch up.
The Light Blues are no slouches, but for the first time in nine years, there was nothing they could do. “Nine of us, and nine years,” called Corrigan, and still his crew was moving away. Now there was time for them to compose themselves before hitting what they knew would be bad water past Chiswick Eyot. On the banks, and from the Hammersmith pubs, shouts of “Oxford!” which haven’t been heard for years. The tables had well and truly turned. Oxford refused to give any quarter and as the water turned nasty, with their three-seat visibly tiring, they spurred on again, intent upon doing their best.
“Losing’s a new feeling, for us.”
Paddy Ryan
For a while there was a bit of cat-and-mouse, Oxford taking Cambridge’s station to seek shelter nearer the Surrey bank than usual, Cambridge trying to work out if that was costing them stream speed but eventually following. More rough water, and now Cambridge were visibly struggling, and Matt Moran, their cox, aimed them squarely at the inside of the next corner right beside Chiswick Steps. The camera for those watching on TV showed them apparently alongside Oxford, due to the parallax effect, but if the gap was closing, it wasn’t by much.
Cambridge rowed hard, through every bounce and with Moran catching every inch of shelter he could, tucking right under the bank after Barnes. By this point the gap was down to eight seconds. But that was a big enough buffer for any competent crew, and Oxford now knew victory was real: their phenomenal effort at the start had paid off, even if there was very little left. As they rowed to glory their energy was palpable and a final power move to rate 35 pulled them out to three lengths at the line, three lengths of suffering and pain turning into delight and a win for the ages. Ninety-nine years after a group of female students said “let’s do something special”, their heirs closed the circle with a royal dark blue win.
“we knew it would be quick off the blocks.”
Heidi Long
“Epic,” said Kyra Delray. “We were very motivated by the nine-year losing streak. With half of us having been in the boat last year, we know what it means to lose. You could feel how much everyone wanted it, and there was so much trust. We executed exactly what we had practised all year. We know this kind of race is about starting fast and going as hard as possible for as long as possible.”
Oxford president and stroke, Olympic bronze medallist Heidi Long, wasn’t thinking about victory during the race itself. “We just were staying exactly in our boat, on our process the whole way, listening to what Louis said and feeling the energy from the whole boat. And keeping our bow ball in front. There was a strong tide today, and a tailwind at the beginning, so we knew it would be quick off the blocks, but we stayed internal, focused on pushing off our feet, leaving the blade out there, and moved together the whole way through that race.”
“I’m proud of what [Cambridge] did,” said the Light Blue coach Paddy Ryan. “Losing’s a new feeling, for us. Last year we had a strong crew, this year we had a strong crew, we always talk about how it doesn’t matter. We always want that last [winning] emotion, but what we really want is to know we gave it everything we could. Oxford haven’t been shy about showing us how fast they are off the start, I feel we closed the gap on them, but they were able to hold onto it for longer than we were. The conditions made it an interesting race, and it’s certainly one we’ll look back on and wonder about. I know we did everything we could, they were a class crew.”
“It feels incredible,” said French. “Absolutely incredible for the club. The athletes we had this year, and who won that race, are a very special bunch, but they’re backed up by some incredible, incredible women and a massive team behind it. What they’ve done today is simply outstanding. They should all be immensely proud of themselves. The biggest thing this year is that we simply didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. We had positive results early but you can’t ever rest on that. We were up against a programme which has had it their way for a number of years. They’re a fantastic programme, complete respect to that. But we’re building something at Oxford which is really impressive. It takes time and there’s more to come.”
