Cambridge Men’s Blue Boat has won The Boat Race for the fourth time in a row.

More than 200,000 spectators lined the banks of the Thames in London on Easter Saturday as Oxford and Cambridge met in the 2026 chapter of nearly 200 years of competition.

Conditions were expected to be challenging, with a south-westerly wind causing choppy conditions, and so it proved – particularly towards the end of the course.

In the Men’s race, Oxford won the toss and selected arguably the most advantageous side of the river, the Surrey station. But it was in fact Cambridge who took the advantage, getting off to a strong start. Despite strong challenges from the Dark Blues in the first two thirds of the race, the Light Blues pulled clear in the final third, claiming victory by 11.02 seconds for a seventh win in eight years.

The result meant that it is the fourth time Cambridge Men’s President Noam Mouelle (Hughes Hall), has won the Boat Race, the first Cambridge man to win four consecutive Boat Races in the 21st century and the first since Christopher Baillieu MBE in 1970, 71, 72, 73. Interestingly, both rowed in the 2 seat.

He said: “This was the most difficult race we’ve had in years.

“In these conditions we knew we had to get the job done early on in the race, which we did, but Oxford put some very good pushes in and made it as hard as possible so props to them for that.

“At the moment my main feeling is one of relief! We didn’t make any mistakes in such rough water and now I’m just going to relax and enjoy the moment. Tonight we’ll have a great dinner then take a step back and reflect on what we have achieved.”

Cox Sammy Houdaigui (Fitzwilliam) said: “We talked a lot before the race about what that first half would look like.

“Given that we were on the Middlesex [station], and given the way the race was playing out – and knowing the conditions were going to get biblical in the second half – we really wanted to make sure we had a margin and that we could be in the water we wanted to be in the second half and not be forced to stay wide into the rougher water.

“Oxford were leaning fairly hard on us in the first quarter but at a certain point, with the conditions we had, I had to put the bow ball where it needed to be for these guys to drive us out and ahead. There were some risky moments in that of course, but I had complete confidence in the crew to come out on top. It just feels fantastic.”

Earlier in the afternoon Cambridge Women’s President Gemma King (St John’s) had won the toss and selected the Surrey station. But Oxford made a strong start to the race in the tricky conditions.

Cambridge’s Women’s Blue Boat cox Matt Moran (Emmanuel), who had honed his skills on the Tideway while a member of Thames Rowing Club, tried everything to bridge the gap, but Oxford managed to hold onto their lead.

It was better news for the reserve crews, with both the women’s boat Blondie and the men’s boat Goldie winning their respective races. Blondie won by nine lengths and Goldie won by a massive margin of 58 seconds.

And on Friday both the Women and Men’s Lightweight Crews won their respective races and also both the Women’s and Men’s Veterans Crews won their races.

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “It was brilliant. It was rough out there on the water, it was really crazy in the middle of the course, and I’m so impressed with what both sides did.

“It’s delightful that Cambridge have won the Men’s race again, as well as both reserve races. The women in the Blue Boat rowed well, it was a tough course, they did everything they could to win. They rowed with real heart and we are proud of them.”

Today’s results mean the records currently stand as 49-31 in the favour of Cambridge Women and 89-81 in the favour of Cambridge Men.

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source: cam.ac.uk