Three days before the official Boat Races, the secret heroes of the squads – the spares – take to the Thames in a shortened version of the Boat Race course, battling head-to-head in order to gain valuable information for the Blue Boat crews. This year’s spares racing has already provided some of the most dramatic racing we’ve seen at the Boat Races in recent years.
Normally, these races would consist of four races of pairs: men’s spare pair, men’s lightweight spare pair, women’s spare pair and women’s lightweight spare pair. However this year, the Oxford women felt that – due to the flooding – they would be unable to produce a spare pair with enough practise to race, so both universities joined the spare women and spare lightweight women with their spare coxes to create the spare women’s coxed fours category that first raced in 2023.
The racing was originally scheduled to commence at 09:45, with the pairs starting at the mile post, the four starting at Harrods Depository and both finishing just before Putney Bridge. However as crews started to warm up, comments began to flood in in from the crews and launches on the water about the change of conditions around the Hammersmith bend towards the start of the course.
Some claimed the waves were swamping crews and coming over the shoulders of those in the boat. Umpire Mathew Pinsent thus declared the conditions unrowable. After a brief meeting at 09:45 to discuss the plan of action, it was decided that they would wait for the tide to turn and run the races in the opposite direction: the races would now start at 12:00, 12:15 and 12:30 from Putney Bridge.
The Lightweight Men’s Spare Pairs
The racing started with the lightweight men’s spare pairs who, after their near miss in the warm-up lane, marshalled rapidly to begin the race slightly ahead of schedule. The Oxford pairing of Whitehead and Williams had the better start of the two, storming off the line, holding an advantageous line in the stream and overrating Cambridge to secure an early lead.
Staying long and powerful in their stroke proved beneficial to Cambridge, however. Liu and Morley deviated from the racing line early in the race to seek shelter, a move that paid dividends as they rejoined the channel ahead of Oxford, who had attempted to follow Cambridge into shelter, but were warned for their steering.
It was from this advantage that the Cambridge duo pulled away from Oxford – faltering only once in the harsh conditions to take an almighty four length win.
The Openweight Men’s Spare Pairs
The second race of the day was the spare men’s pair, who also started their race two minutes early. Again it was Oxford who were cleaner and sharper off the start, giving them an almost immediate lead of half-a-length. The Cambridge pair may not have had the best of starts, but settled into a stronger race rhythm, walking past the Oxford crew to a one length lead.
Just as the crews had settled down into their race rhythms, the red flag was raised and the shout from the launch came for the crews to stop rowing and move to Middlesex immediately. An RNLI lifeboat was storming towards the crews, sirens a blast and lights flashing, likely responding to reports of a person in the water at London Bridge. Regardless, the lifeboat was kicking up wash greater than those shoulder-height waves reported earlier, which led to the near capsize of, not the pairs, but the umpires launch itself.
After the river had calmed, the crews were aligned just before Fulham Football Club with Cambridge given the one length lead they had gained prior to the race being suspended. By the time both crews were ready, the course was essentially a 500m straight sprint to the line which for both crews pushed to the max to finish the job. Using their lead to their advantage, Cambridge flew out the blocks and stormed to a three length victory, never giving Oxford the opportunity to close them down.
The Women’s Spare Fours
The final race of the day was the most anticipated: the women’s four. Delayed further after Oxford bottomed-out in a shallow part of the Thames during the warm-up, resulting in some minor damage that necessitated a return to the boathouse for a quick repair job. Once finally underway, the race proved to be well worth the wait.
It was dead level off the start with no obvious lead for either crew; Cambridge made the first move and used their advantage on the Middlesex Station to gain a short-lived lead, but were soon reeled back in by Oxford. Unperturbed, the Cambridge crew composed themselves and made a second push – this one awarding them a half length advantage at the mile post, but Oxford were not done yet.
The change of conditions around the bend heavily favoured Oxford’s Surrey Station and they drew back onto the struggling Cambridge crew, eventually pulling a length clear of their opposition who were forced to tuck into Oxford’s calmer waters. Passing Crabtree Tavern, it became clear that Oxford were not giving their lead back and used their clearer water to pull ahead to cross the line over two lengths clear of Cambridge. It was a close and well-fought battle between both crews, and gives Oxford their first win of Boat Race week after Cambridge’s 2023 clean sweep.
Looking ahead
It really is all to play for in the races on Friday and Saturday. These early results could suggest the Oxford men will adopt a more aggressive start, whilst Cambridge will look to move with unnerving consistency throughout the race to take the win. On the women’s side, I would expect a much closer race and one that will easily come down to conditions on the day.
Find all the JRN boat race previews here.
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