It bills itself as the “oldest sporting event in the world” with a gruelling four-and-a-quarter-mile race down the River Thames.
The boat race which takes part between teams of students from the two oldest universities in the country (and possibly the world), takes place this Saturday 26th March from 5pm and will as always be televised on the BBC and watched by an average 7 million viewers.
Run over a course of 4 miles and 374 yards, the modern day course runs from Putney to Mortlake along the River Thames.
Statistics: Currently the statistics for the boat race stand at Cambridge 80 wins and Oxford 75 wins, with one dead heat declared. This year it will be Oxford trying hard to ensure that gap is closed a little more especially as Cambridge won in 2010.
Noteable results: Very often the race result is determined well before the finishing line, but there are occasions when the result is a lot closer. One such example was in 2003 when Cambridge lost by a mere one foot.
In 2002, one of the Cambridge oarsman Sebastian Mayer collapsed from exhaustion close to the end of the race even through Cambridge looked like favourites. This allowed Oxford to overtake Cambridge on the outside of the last bend, something which was last achieved in 1952.
Watching the race: If you want to get out from the TV and watch the actual race from the riverbank, there are plenty of pubs and other locations along the route.
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