Cambridge and Oxford ready to renew rivalry for Boat Race 2024
Both men's and women's crews take to the water this afternoon
Last updated 30th Mar 2024
As this year's Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford takes centre stage this afternoon, we're hearing how this can inspire the next generation of rowers.
Cambridge are going for double Boat Race glory this weekend, while Oxford will look to get back to winning ways.
The Cambridge women's crew are on a six-race winning streak stretching back to 2017, while the men's team are looking to defend the title they won last year.
Thousands of spectators are expected to line the banks of the River Thames in London this afternoon, with millions more due to tune in on television for the races between Putney and Mortlake.
"You have to know every person is in that fight with you"
Women's president Jenna Armstrong believes the team shouldn't rest on their laurels.
"We've got a new group of athletes coming in who have unique needs both physically and technically on the water, and so every year we're adjusting the programme to make sure it's optimised for our athletes and the group we have," she said.
"I think what's the most important is the trust you develop over the course of the season; you have to know every single person is in that fight with you for the entire length of the course.
"It's a long race, it's around 18 to 20 minutes; you have to know in your heart of hearts that every one of those girls is pushing as hard as they can."
Boat Race can act as an inspiration
This year marks the 169th men's and 78th women's boat races respectively.
Jenna hopes the history of the event has a wider meaning other than winning.
"A group of women that are training and racing alongside the men, it's something that certainly inspired me when I took up rowing and I hope it's something that inspires girls in future generations to give it a go," she said.
Seb Benzecry, Cambridge men's president, thinks the occasion is massive.
"You never really get anything close to the scale and excitement of the Boat Race - there's hundreds of thousands of people on the bank and that's an exhilarating thing for us," he said.
"The sport in general is moving on and has moved on a lot in the last 10 years; we're always trying to be progressive and push the sport in as progressive of a direction as we can because I think that's our responsibility."
Oxford's year for the double?
Oxford will be looking for retribution this year after both the men's and women's teams failed to win last time out.
The women's team have failed to win in any of the last six boat races and will no doubt be looking to settle the score.
We've been catching up with Julia Lindsay and Annie Anezakis from the women's team this week to find out if they think they've got what it takes to secure the win.
Speaking ahead of the race Annie said: "I think there is a lot of trust and faith in what we've done this season and the programme has taken a lot of steps forward under our new coach and we've put ourselves in the best possible place to have a good race on the day."
However teammate Julia believes it's not all about winning: "The reason I'm doing this is because I love the training and I love the community that surrounds the sport, it makes me feel strong and empowered."
On the men's team, we spoke to cox William Denegri who shared some of his earliest memories about the race.
"My school used to be invited to the boat race to sell the official programmes and we would use that as funding for activities, so it's something I've grown up watching," he said.
We also spoke to Jelmer Bennema who gave an insight into the teams mood inside camp: "I think momentum is a massive factor, we've had lots of momentum over the last month and we want to carry that into the race and give our best performance."
The women's race is due to begin at 2.46pm, followed by the men's at 3.46pm.