This Sunday the 68th Annual Newton Women’s Boat Race will take place at Henley-on-Thames, with the Blues looking to improve their current record of 41 Cambridge victories to Oxford’s 26.
The Blues will hope to avenge an agonizing defeat in last year’s competition, losing to the Tabs by just a quarter of a length, the smallest winning margin ever recorded in the race. This loss ended a winning streak for OUWBC stretching the four previous Boat Races.
This year’s event will be umpired by four-times Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent, who will oversee the 2 kilometre course best known for its use in the Henley Regatta. The Women’s Boat Race is becoming increasingly significant since it has been announced that it will join the men’s race on the Thames in 2015.
The female equivalent of the more prominent male Boat Race was first competed for in 1927, but only became a permanent fixture in the rowing calendar in 1966. Since 1977 the race has been held at Henley alongside the Men’s Lightweight Boat Race. Recently the final addition of the Women’s Lightweight Race has been added to the programme.
For the first time ever this year the men and women weigh-ins were held together, with the Cambridge women’s crew weighing in on average 3.55kg heavier per woman than their Oxford competition.
At Stroke for the Blues will be 19 year old Maxie Scheske, a student at Magdalen College. Currently studying Biology, Scheske has an impressive rowing pedigree, having won Henley Regatta in 2011 and competed in the European Junior Championships.
The event is free to attend, with the programme kicking off with the Intercollegiate Boat Race at 1:30pm on the 24th March. The main event of the Women’s Boat Race is scheduled at 3:00pm, followed shortly by the Men’s Lightweight Race.
