Cambridge reign supreme in Boat Race 2024 as they clinch double win

The women's and men's races took place in London today

The Boat Race on the River Thames, London
Author: Dan MasonPublished 30th Mar 2024

Cambridge have retained the title of the winner of the Boat Race in a thrilling clash on the Thames.

This year marked the 169th men's and 78th women's races respectively, with thousands of spectators lining the banks between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in London this afternoon.

Cambridge beat Oxford by almost 5 lengths to retain the trophy, while in the women's event, Cambridge was able to retain its title by beating Oxford for the seventh year in a row.

There had been controversy in the women's race due to a bump that was attempted by the Oxford team midway through the race to throw Cambridge off their lead.

However, following a long conversation between Oxford cox Joe Gellet and the umpire, Cambridge's victory was upheld, beating the favourites to clinch a record-extending win.

For the men's race, both Oxford and Cambridge were warned by the umpire several times at the beginning of the clash as their oars hit against each other.

But after the first Middlesex bend in the race, Cambridge went on to dominate the rest of the event, pushing ahead around the Surrey bend to storm through to first place.

Oxford went on to finish in second place, some sixteen seconds after Cambridge crossed the finish line just before Chiswick Bridge.

Following the race, Cambridge's stroke Matt Edge required to be lifted out from the boat after using his energy entirely to push the team to victory.

Ahead of the event, Cambridge were aiming for double glory in both events as Oxford looked for a return to winning ways after last year's defeats in the men's and women's races.

However, despite the tradition, rowers were warned against jumping into the river Thames following their win due to threats of contracting E-coli from the water.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.