The Lightweight Boat Races

The Lightweight Boat Races are a series of annual rowing races between men's and women's lightweight crews representing the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

The Lightweight Boat Races
Contested by
CUBC (formerly CULRC / CUWBC)	OULRC / OUWLRC
Lightweight Men	contested since 1975[1]
Lightweight Women	contested since 1984[1]
Lightweight Men's reserves	contested 2000–2009 and 2016–2019[1]
Lightweight Women's reserves	contested 2012 and 2016–2019
Course	The Championship Course[2] Formerly Henley Regatta course (downstream)[3]
Course length	4.2 miles (6.8 km)[2]
Number of wins[4]
CULRC	OULRC
28	18
CUWBC	OUWLRC
20	17
Note: Last races on 15 March 2020
Official website
www.lightweightboatraces.co.uk

The first men's race took place in 1975, being joined by the women's race in 1984. Both races are currently held on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake, although they previously formed part of the Henley Boat Races, along with various other rowing races between the two universities, including the openweight women's Boat Race. Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues or half blues and each boat as a Blue Boat. Competitors at the events have gone on to compete at international and Olympic levels.

History

Richard Bates, a Cambridge undergraduate, organised a Boat Race between lightweight men's crews of Oxford and Cambridge universities in 1975, to take place at Henley-on-Thames. The race was joined by the openweight women's Boat Race two years later, thus forming the Henley Boat Races, and the first lightweight women's boat race took place at the same event in 1984.[1] Reserve races have taken place on-and-off since 2000 for the lightweight men (Nephthys vs Granta) and since 2012 for the lightweight women (Tethys vs CUWBC Lightweight Reserves).

In 2019, the lightweight men's race moved to the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake, where it has been held since. The lightweight women's race made the same move the following year in 2020.[2]

The races receive annual press coverage,[5][6][7][8][9] and competitors from both Universities have gone on to compete at international and Olympic levels.[10][11][12][13]

Results

The history of the results of the races are as follows.[4][14][15]

Lightweight Men's Boat Race

• Cambridge: 28 wins
• Oxford: 18 wins

No.	Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
1	1975	Cambridge			-	1
2	1976	Oxford			1	1
3	1977	Oxford			2	1
4	1978	Cambridge			2	2
5	1979	Cambridge			2	3
6	1980	Cambridge			2	4
7	1981	Cambridge			2	5
8	1982	Cambridge			2	6
9	1983	Cambridge			2	7
10	1984	Cambridge		​1 ^1⁄3	2	8
11	1985	Cambridge		6 ft	2	9
12	1986	Cambridge		2	2	10
13	1987	Cambridge	6:09	​^1⁄2	2	11
14	1988	Cambridge			2	12
15	1989	Cambridge	5:51	​4 ^1⁄2	2	13
16	1990	Cambridge	6:40	​4 ^3⁄4	2	14
17	1991	Cambridge	6:39	​^1⁄3	2	15
18	1992	Oxford	5:40	​2 ^1⁄2	3	15
19	1993	Cambridge	5:39	​^1⁄2	3	16
20	1994	Oxford	5:35	​^3⁄4	4	16
21	1995	Cambridge	5:29	​^1⁄3	4	17
22	1996	Oxford	NRO disq		5	17
23	1997	Oxford	5:49	1	6	17
24	1998	Cambridge	5:45	​^1⁄2	6	18
25	1999	Oxford	5:31	​1 ^1⁄2	7	18
26	2000	Cambridge	5:40	2	7	19
27	2001	Cambridge	6:33	4 (raced at Holme Pierrepont)	7	20
28	2002	Oxford	5:21	2	8	20
29	2003	Oxford	5:55	​1 ^1⁄4	9	20
30	2004	Oxford	5:36	​^1⁄2	10	20
31	2005	Oxford	5:51	3	11	20
32	1 April 2006	Oxford	5:18	​2 ^1⁄4	12	20
33	1 April 2007	Oxford	3:44	1 (raced over a shortened course)	13	20
34	23 March 2008	Oxford	6:15	​2 ^1⁄2	14	20
35	22 March 2009	Cambridge	5:49	3	14	21
36	28 March 2010	Cambridge	5:28	2 ft	14	22
37	27 March 2011	Oxford	5:54	Canvas	15	22
38	25 March 2012	Cambridge	6:00	​^3⁄4	15	23
39	24 March 2013	Oxford	6:49	​1 ^2⁄3 (raced at Dorney)	16	23
40	30 March 2014	Cambridge	5:30	​3 ^1⁄2	16	24
41	5 April 2015	Cambridge	5:55	4 ft	16	25
42	19 March 2016	Cambridge	6:19	Easily	16	26
43	26 March 2017	Cambridge	6:07	​1 ^3⁄4	16	27
44	18 March 2018	Cambridge	6:26	​^1⁄3 (raced at Dorney)	16	28
45	24 March 2019	Oxford	17:43	​2 ^1⁄3 (first race on the Tideway)	17	28
46	15 March 2020	Oxford	18:50	​3 ^1⁄2	18	28

Lightweight Women's Boat Race

• Cambridge: 20 wins
• Oxford: 17 wins

No.	Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
1	1984	Cambridge			-	1
2	1985	Cambridge			-	2
3	1986	Oxford			1	2
4	1987	Cambridge			1	3
5	1988	Cambridge			1	4
6	1989	Cambridge	6:37	1	1	5
7	1990	Cambridge	7:35	​2 ^1⁄3	1	6
8	1991	Cambridge	7:48	​2 ^1⁄4	1	7
9	1992	Cambridge	6:35	3	1	8
10	1993	Cambridge	6:18	Easily	1	9
11	1994	Cambridge	6:23	1 ft.	1	10
12	1995	Oxford	6:19	2	2	10
13	1996	Cambridge	6:36	Canvas	2	11
14	1997	Cambridge	6:37	Canvas	2	12
15	1998	Oxford	6:36	Canvas	3	12
16	1999	Oxford	6:​01 ^1⁄2	​2 ^3⁄4	4	12
17	2000	Oxford	6:22	​2 ^1⁄2	5	12
18	2001	Cambridge	7:37	3 (raced at Holme Pierrepont)	5	13
19	2002	Oxford	6:06	4	6	13
20	2003	Oxford	6:51	2	7	13
21	2004	Oxford	6:08	​^3⁄4	8	13
22	2005	Oxford	6:55	​^1⁄2	9	13
23	1 April 2006	Cambridge	6:00	Canvas	9	14
24	1 April 2007	Oxford	4:11	1 (raced over a shortened course)	10	14
25	23 March 2008	Cambridge	7:01	​^1⁄3	10	15
26	22 March 2009	Oxford	6:30	​2 ^1⁄2	11	15
27	28 March 2010	Oxford	6:01	​2 ^3⁄4	12	15
28	27 March 2011	Cambridge	6:43	​1 ^1⁄2	12	16
29	25 March 2012	Oxford	6:48	​1 ^1⁄3	13	16
30	24 March 2013	Oxford	7:33	​4 ^3⁄4 (raced at Dorney)	14	16
31	29 March 2014	Oxford	6:08	​3 ^1⁄2	15	16
32	5 April 2015	Cambridge	6:26	3 ft.	15	17
33	19 March 2016	Oxford	6:54	Canvas	16	17
34	26 March 2017	Cambridge	6:45	3	16	18
35	18 March 2018	Cambridge	7:24	​^1⁄2 (raced at Dorney)	16	19
36	30 March 2019	Oxford	6:28	​2 ^1⁄2	17	19
37	15 March 2020	Cambridge	23:24	6 (first race on the Tideway)	17	20

Lightweight Men's Reserves (Nephthys vs Granta)

• Oxford: 9 wins
• Cambridge: 4 wins

Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
2000	Cambridge	5:50	​2 ^3⁄4	-	1
2001	Oxford	7	​^1⁄2	1	1
2002	Oxford	5:33	2	2	1
2003	Cambridge	6:19	​2 ^1⁄2	2	2
2004	Oxford	5:45	Canvas	3	2
2005	Oxford	6:07	​4 ^1⁄2	4	2
1 April 2006	Oxford	5:26	5	5	2
1 April 2007	Oxford	4:08	R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Lost to Old Boys.	6	2
23 March 2008	Oxford	6:29	R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Lost to Old Boys.	7	2
22 March 2009	Oxford	6:15	R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Beat Durham.	8	2
			Race in abeyance 2010 - 2015
13 March 2016	Cambridge	-	​1 ^1⁄4 (Raced in 4x)	8	3
26 March 2017	Oxford	6:19	​^1⁄2 (Raced in 4+)[16]	9	3
18 March 2018	Cambridge	7:24	​^3⁄4 (Raced in 4+ at Dorney)	9	4
22 March 2019	Oxford		1 (Raced in 2– from Mortlake to the Mile Post)[17]	10	4

Lightweight Women's Reserves (Tethys vs CUWBC Lightweight Reserves)

• Cambridge: 4
• Oxford: 1

Raced on the Friday before the main event in a 4+ in 2012, and incorporated into main race day in 2016.

Date	Winner	Time	Winning Margin (Lengths)	Oxford Wins	Cambridge Wins
2012	Cambridge		(Raced in 4+)	-	1
19 March 2016	Cambridge	8:55	​^3⁄4 (Raced in 2-)	-	2
26 March 2017	Cambridge		easily (Raced in 2-)	-	3
18 March 2018	Oxford	8:15	easily (Raced in 4+ at Dorney)	1	3
30 March 2019	Cambridge		​1 ^1⁄2 (Raced in 2-)	1	4

See also

• The Boat Race
• Henley Boat Races

References

1. "History". Henley Boat Races. 14 April 2015.
2. "The Lightweight Boat Races". Lightweight Boat Races. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
3. "Henley Boat Races - Course Map". Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
4. "Results". Henley Boat Races. 14 April 2015.
5. "Rowing: Day for Light Blue celebration as Cambridge sweep Henley Boat Races". The Independent. 22 March 1993. Retrieved 3 April 2016; "Women's Boat Race: Cambridge women pass examination of rowing prowess". The Independent. 21 March 1994. Retrieved 16 April 2015; "The Henley Boat Races". Cherwell. 31 March 2010.
6. "Natalie Redgrave helps Oxford win Women's Boat Race". BBC sport. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
7. "Rivals share spoils at competitive Henley". The Telegraph. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
8. "Clean sweep for Oxford over Cambridge at Henley Boat Races at Dorney Lake". The Telegraph. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
9. "Oxford Dominate Henley Boat Races 2013". Henley Herald. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2017; "Oxford Dominate in Last Women's Boat Race in Henley". Henley Herald. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2017; "Cambridge Win 3 out of 4 at the Henley Boat Races". Henley Herald. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2017; "Oxford and Cambridge Share Race Wins at Henley Boat Races". Henley Herald. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2017; "Oxford and Cambridge Share Race Wins at Henley Boat Races". Henley Herald. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018; "Cambridge University lightweights enjoy success at Henley Boat Races". Cambridge Independent. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019; "Cambridge Blues make light work of Henley Boat Races". Varsity Online. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
10. "The Other Boat Race". BBC sport. 30 March 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
11. "CULRC". CULRC Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
12. "Men's Lightweight Rowing Club". Oxford University Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
13. "International Success". Oxford University Women's Lightweight Rowing Club. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
14. "The Boat Race Lite". Hear The Boat Sing. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
15. "The Lightweight Boat Races: Results". The Lightweight Boat Races. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
16. OULRC [@OULightweights] (19 March 2017). "Final result for today's reserve race: Nephthys beat Granta by 1/2 Length #HenleyBoatRaces #LightweightBoatRace" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
17. Lightweight Boat Races [@lwtboatraces] (22 March 2019). "First blood of 2019 to Oxford in the Lwt Spare Pairs as they beat Cambridge by one length from the Boat Race start to the Mile Post" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links

• Official website