Cambridge v Oxford: Boat Races 2021 – live!

“The wind is blowing across the course and the teams are having difficulty lining up,” says Cracknell. Aside from the aforementioned wind, it’s a beautiful sunny day in Cambridgeshire, 16C with a clear blue sky.

Pre-race reading courtesy of Giles Richards:

School friends Katie Anderson and Sarah Portsmouth will put their bond aside for the duration of this year’s unique event –

The women’s crews are making their way to the start. There is a bit of a westwards crosswind with a hint of tailwind, observes the BBC commentator, Andrew Cotter.

Speaking a few minutes ago, during the BBC’s course preview alongside Cotter, James Cracknell said: “If you get to 500 metres and you feel comfortable, you haven’t gone out hard enough.”

We’re just 10 minutes away from the beginning of the women’s race.

If you’d like to send me any thoughts on the races, including intelligent insight on the rowing that I can pass off as my own, feel free: Email or tweet @LukeMcLaughlin

Apropos of the BBC coverage, if you are wondering what the music they’re using is, it’s called “Music For a Found Harmonium” by Penguin Cafe Orchestra:

Here’s our graphic of the course:

“The wind from the Fens is cold and relentless,” says the BBC pundit Matthew Holland. “The banks and reeds provide some shelter, but it’s not consistent, so the danger is that the cox becomes engrossed in the race and gets caught by a gust of wind, which could blow his boat into the other crew or into the bank, and that could have fatal consequences for the race.”

Dramatic!

“I don’t think it’s a big disadvantage for Oxford [to be racing ‘away’],” adds Holland. “They’re coming into enemy waters, they know the race will be moving back to London, and they will be motivated to be the crew that beat Cambridge at their home.”

Dry ice, flashing disco lights and abysmal repetitive music: no, it’s not student night at the club in town, it’s just the women’s teams being presented by the BBC’s host today, Clare Balding.

3:50 Women’s Boat Race starts
4:10 Men’s Boat Race Crews take to the water
4:50 Men’s Boat Race starts
5:15 Women’s Boat Race Presentations
5:20 Men’s Boat Race Presentations

Katherine Maitland, Oxford’s ‘Boat Captain’, says their motivation is to win on Cambridge’s home territory. “It would make it all the sweeter … it’s just going to dig the knife in a little harder, and that’s what’s going to get us down the course today.”

Spicy.

Cambridge women’s team have won the toss and chosen the ‘railway side’ of the river. Sophie Paine, their president, says: “Being on the railway side means there’s slightly less wind for us us today … we have a tiny bend about 2km in which hopefully will be an advantage for us … I am so excited to line up and get started.”

History is being made today, no matter what eventually unfolds in the world-famous Boat Races between crews from Oxford and Cambridge. Following last year’s cancellation, the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic have prompted organisers to move the event from its famous home on the River Thames to the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire, as also happened during the second world war.

The change of location will ensure that today’s races are somewhat unique, but that is not all: the men’s race will also have a female umpire for the first time with Sarah Winckless (an Olympic double sculls bronze medallist and multiple world champion) taking charge of proceedings, while Judith Packer will be the umpire in the women’s race, which comes before the men’s.

Covid-19 restrictions, meanwhile, have ensured an unconventional period of preparation for all those taking part: a regime of home sessions and training via Zoom has been the order of the day, with the participants and their support teams only being permitted to meet and to train on the water in the past couple of weeks. That factor also brings an entirely new kind of unpredictability to this afternoon’s contest(s).

There will, of course, be no spectators along the 4.89km course which runs from Queen Adelaide Bridge to Victoria Street Bridge and anyone trying to sneak a view of the action in person faces the prospect of a £200 fine. Better to watch on TV and read the Guardian’s live coverage right here. So a different location, a new course, an absence spectators and the first female umpire of the men’s race combine to make this a Boat Race day with a significant difference. Strap yourselves in and let the rowing commence.