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The End of The Island at the 2024 Boat Race Crew Announcement
Fergus and Tom and live from the Crew Announcement for the 2024 Gemini Boat Races. Listen to their conversations with Cambridge Men’s President Seb Benzecry and Oxford Women’s President Ella Stadler after their crews were announced to the world.
Earlier in the week, Tom also caught up with Lenny Jenkins – who has just been announced in Oxford’s Blue Boat – to hear all about his rowing journey so far.
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The Crews
The crews for The Gemini Boat Race 2024 were officially unveiled at a spectacular crew announcement event held at the iconic Battersea Power Station this evening.
With preparations for The Gemini Boat Race 2024 entering their final stages, the university boat clubs of Oxford and Cambridge revealed the 36 student rowers who will compete in one of the world’s most famous annual sporting events.
The Gemini Boat Race 2024 takes place in Putney on Saturday 30th March 2024 – with the Women’s Race starting at 2:46pm and the Men’s Race at 3:46pm – renewing an intense rivalry which stretches back nearly 200 years. The event will be broadcast live on BBC One from 2pm BST.
It was the first time the annual crew announcement was staged as a public event and saw a throng of sports fans, families, shoppers and passers-by gather alongside VIP guests including Olympians, Boat Race alumni, university boat club members and the crews’ loved ones inside Battersea Power Station’s famous Turbine Hall B to witness the crews take the stage and show their support to the two universities.
The crews were joined on stage by BBC Sport commentator, Andrew Cotter, who held a Q&A with the rowers and their coaches, with both university boat clubs showing their fighting talk and exuding optimism ahead of the resumption of a bitter rivalry stretching back nearly 200 years.
The announcement capped off a celebratory evening for The Boat Race which kicked off with a Q&A, also hosted by Andrew Cotter, with well-known Boat Race alumni, including Team GB rowers Imogen Grant (Cambridge), Dave Ambler (Oxford), Tom George (Cambridge) and Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Cambridge) – all of whom will be competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics for Team GB, as well as Erin Kennedy (Oxford) – who will be competing in the Paralympic Games.
Siobhan Cassidy, Chair of The Boat Race Company, commented: “The annual crew announcement is always an exciting moment in The Boat Race season and we were delighted to make it a public event for the first time at Battersea Power Station.
“It was great to see so many members of the public getting behind the selected crews and enjoying photo opportunities with the Boat Race trophies. We’re looking forward to welcoming them and thousands more along the Championship Course for the ultimate Party on the River in two weeks’ time.”
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