THE BOAT RACE

Mid April · Putney to Mortlake · An Afternoon · Since 1829 · Sport

Arranged by the Court

The two eights racing past Hammersmith Bridge on the Championship Course at The Boat Race, London, the spring fixture on the Tideway — I · Hammersmith Bridge

Dates: 11 April 2027
WherePutney to Mortlake, London
DressCountry attire
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn April London reaches about 15°C by day and 6°C at night, and rain falls on about one day in three.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at The River Café, Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, Hammersmith, London (rivercafe.co.uk).
Of noteThe race is free to watch from the towpath on either bank, over four and a quarter miles from Putney to Mortlake.
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

The Boat Race is four miles and three hundred and seventy-four yards of tidal Thames, from Putney to Mortlake, rowed by two universities on an afternoon in early April.

Nobody pays to watch it. More than two hundred thousand people line the banks.

The Blue Boat crew photographed in the shallows of the Thames before The Boat Race, London — II · The Blue Boat

The Challenge

On 10 February 1829 a meeting of the Cambridge University Boat Club resolved to challenge Oxford, and a letter went at once proposing a match, eight oars a side, on the Thames. It was rowed at Henley that June. Oxford wore dark blue and won. Cambridge wore white with pink waistbands and did not adopt light blue until the second race, seven years later.

Twenty thousand people came out to Henley to watch. The town, having seen what an afternoon’s rowing could bring, decided to organise a regatta of its own. That became Henley Royal Regatta, which is to say that one of the great fixtures of the English summer exists because two universities held a private argument in public.

The tradition established that year still governs the fixture. There is no season and no schedule. Each year the losing university formally challenges the winner to a rematch, and the race happens because the challenge is accepted.

It moved to London, to Westminster, and then in 1845 upriver to what was then the village of Putney, because Westminster had grown too crowded. It has been annual since 1856, interrupted only by two wars and a pandemic.

The women’s crews level below Hammersmith Bridge at The Boat Race, Oxford against Cambridge on the Thames, London — III · The Bend

The Tideway

The course is neither straight nor still.

The race is rowed on a flood tide, with the incoming sea pushing the crews upriver, and the fastest water does not run down the middle. It follows the outside of each bend. The course turns twice, which means the advantage passes from one station to the other and back again, and a cox who takes the wrong line loses lengths that no amount of rowing will recover.

Station is decided by a coin toss before the start, and that toss matters more here than at almost any other race in sport.

In nearly two hundred runnings there has been one dead heat, in 1877. The narrowest result was a foot, in 2003.

A light blue eight at full stroke on the Thames in training before The Boat Race, the Oxford and Cambridge fixture in London — IV · The Training

What to Know

It is free. This is the most open engagement on the calendar and none the poorer for it, and the banks from Putney to Chiswick fill with people who have no connection to either university.

The nineteenth century made it a London festival rather than a university one. Ribbons in light or dark blue went on costermongers’ donkeys, on dust carts, on cab drivers’ whips and round the necks of match boys. The city took sides.

The men’s and women’s races have been rowed on the same course on the same day since 2015, which was a long time coming and is now simply how it is done.

Hammersmith Bridge and the Chiswick bend are the places to stand. Both sit on the outside of a turn, which is where the boats come closest to the bank.

April on the Tideway is cold and frequently wet, and nobody watching is under cover.

Questions

When is the Boat Race 2027?

The CHANEL J12 Boat Race is on Sunday 11 April 2027. In the centenary year of the Women’s Boat Race the order is reversed: the men’s race starts at 15.40 and the women’s at 16.40, the first time the women’s race is the last on the Championship Course.

Do you need tickets to watch the Boat Race?

No. The Boat Race says no tickets, QR codes or memberships are needed: spectators go to the riverbank, early for a good view, and watch free. Paid hospitality packages are offered for those who want them.

Where is the best place to watch the Boat Race?

The course has 4¼ miles of free towpath on both banks. The Boat Race’s guide describes Putney for the coin toss and the start, the Fulham and Hammersmith Fan Zones, Chiswick Pier, Barnes Bridge for the final minutes, and Mortlake for the finish, though the finish area at the boat clubs is closed to the public.

Is there a dress code for the Boat Race?

The Boat Race publishes no dress code; it is watched free from the open riverbank. Its spectator guide warns that the banks at Mortlake can be very wet and suggests wellies or waterproof boots. The Court wears country attire.

Where can you watch the Boat Race on TV?

Channel 4 and Times Radio became the Boat Race’s broadcast partners in 2026, when the race reached 17 million people through its broadcast and digital coverage.

How long is the Boat Race, and where does it start?

The Championship Course is four and a quarter miles on the Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. The race starts at Putney, after the coin toss, and finishes at Mortlake, though the finish area at the boat clubs is closed to the public. In 2027 the men’s race starts at 15.40 and the women’s at 16.40.

The winning crew lifting the trophy and drinking champagne after The Boat Race on the Tideway, London — V · The Trophy

The Court

The Boat Race is not the Court’s own. Places aboard following launches, club balconies along the river and tables afterwards are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the day around it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. The launches are the difficult part and there are very few of them.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.