The Lightweight Boat Races

The Lightweight Boat Races are a series of annual rowing races between men's and women's lightweight crews representing the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

The first men's race took place in 1975, being joined by the women's race in 1984. Both races are currently held on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake, although they previously formed part of the Henley Boat Races, along with various other rowing races between the two universities, including the openweight women's Boat Race. Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues or half blues and each boat as a Blue Boat. Competitors at the events have gone on to compete at international and Olympic levels.

History Richard Bates, a Cambridge undergraduate, organised a Boat Race between lightweight men's crews of Oxford and Cambridge universities in 1975, to take place at Henley-on-Thames. The race was joined by the openweight women's Boat Race two years later, thus forming the Henley Boat Races. The first lightweight women's boat race took place at the event in 1984. Reserve races have taken place since 2000 (except 2010–2015) for the lightweight men (Nephthys vs Granta) and in some years since 2012 for the lightweight women (Tethys vs CUWBC Lightweight Reserves).

In 2019, the lightweight men's race moved to the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake, where it has been held since. The lightweight women's race made the same move the following year in 2020.

For the men's race the average weight of the crew must not exceed , with no rower weighing over . For the women's race, no rower can exceed .

The races receive annual press coverage,; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and competitors from both Universities have gone on to compete at international and Olympic levels.

Results The results of the races are as follows.; ; ;

Lightweight Men's Boat Race Cambridge: 33 wins Oxford: 19 wins

No. Date Winner Time Winning Margin (Lengths) Oxford Wins Cambridge Wins 1 1975 Cambridge 6:18 - 1 2 1976 Oxford 6:32 1 1 3 1977 Oxford 6:19 1 2 1 4 1978 Cambridge 5.48 2 2 5 1979 Cambridge 5.39 2/3 2 3 6 1980 Cambridge 6:15 2 4 7 1981 Cambridge 6:21 2 5 8 1982 Cambridge NTT 2 6 9 1983 Cambridge 5:53 2 7 10 1984 Cambridge 5:40 2 8 11 1985 Cambridge 6:00 6 ft 2 9 12 1986 Cambridge 6:24 2 2 10 13 1987 Cambridge 6:09 2 11 14 1988 Cambridge 5:50 2 12 15 1989 Cambridge 5:51 2 13 16 1990 Cambridge 6:40 2 14 17 1991 Cambridge 6:39 2 15 18 1992 Oxford 5:40 3 15 19 1993 Cambridge 5:39 3 16 20 1994 Oxford 5:35 4 16 21 1995 Cambridge 5:29 4 17 22 1996 Oxford NRO disq 5 17 23 1997 Oxford 5:49 1 6 17 24 1998 Cambridge 5:45 6 18 25 1999 Oxford 5:31 7 18 26 2000 Cambridge 5:40 2 7 19 27 2001 Cambridge 6:33 4 (raced at Holme Pierrepont) 7 20 28 2002 Oxford 5:21 2 8 20 29 2003 Oxford 5:55 9 20 30 2004 Oxford 5:36 10 20 31 2005 Oxford 5:51 3 11 20 32 1 April 2006 Oxford 5:18 12 20 33 1 April 2007 Oxford 3:44 1 (raced over a shortened course) 13 20 34 23 March 2008 Oxford 6:15 14 20 35 22 March 2009 Cambridge 5:49 3 14 21 36 28 March 2010 Cambridge 5:28 2 ft 14 22 37 27 March 2011 Oxford 5:54 Canvas 15 22 38 25 March 2012 Cambridge 6:00 15 23 39 24 March 2013 Oxford 6:49 (raced at Dorney) 16 23 40 30 March 2014 Cambridge 5:30 16 24 41 5 April 2015 Cambridge 5:55 4 ft 16 25 42 19 March 2016 Cambridge 6:19 Easily 16 26 43 26 March 2017 Cambridge 6:07 16 27 44 18 March 2018 Cambridge 6:26 (raced at Dorney) 16 28 45 24 March 2019 Oxford 17:43 (first race on the Tideway) 17 28 46 15 March 2020 Oxford 18:50 18 28 47 23 May 2021 Oxford 14:19 (raced at Ely) 19 28 48 20 March 2022 Cambridge 18:01 5 19 29 49 20 March 2023 Cambridge 18:18 11 19 30 50 29 March 2024 Cambridge 20:15 5 19 31 51 12 April 2025 Cambridge 17:34 4 19 32 52 3 April 2026 Cambridge 18:33 7 19 33

Lightweight Women's Boat Race Cambridge: 25 wins Oxford: 17 wins

No. Date Winner Time Winning Margin (Lengths) Oxford Wins Cambridge Wins 1 1984 Cambridge - 1 2 1985 Cambridge - 2 3 1986 Oxford 1 2 4 1987 Cambridge 1 3 5 1988 Cambridge 5:50 3 1 4 6 1989 Cambridge 6:37 1 1 5 7 1990 Cambridge 7:35 1 6 8 1991 Cambridge 7:48 1 7 9 1992 Cambridge 6:35 3 1 8 10 1993 Cambridge 6:18 Easily 1 9 11 1994 Cambridge 6:23 1 ft. 1 10 12 1995 Oxford 6:19 2 2 10 13 1996 Cambridge 6:36 Canvas 2 11 14 1997 Cambridge 6:37 Canvas 2 12 15 1998 Oxford 6:36 Canvas 3 12 16 1999 Oxford 6: 4 12 17 2000 Oxford 6:22 5 12 18 2001 Cambridge 7:37 3 (raced at Holme Pierrepont) 5 13 19 2002 Oxford 6:06 4 6 13 20 2003 Oxford 6:51 2 7 13 21 2004 Oxford 6:08 8 13 22 2005 Oxford 6:55 9 13 23 1 April 2006 Cambridge 6:00 Canvas 9 14 24 1 April 2007 Oxford 4:11 1 (raced over a shortened course) 10 14 25 23 March 2008 Cambridge 7:01 10 15 26 22 March 2009 Oxford 6:30 11 15 27 28 March 2010 Oxford 6:01 12 15 28 27 March 2011 Cambridge 6:43 12 16 29 25 March 2012 Oxford 6:48 13 16 30 24 March 2013 Oxford 7:33 (raced at Dorney) 14 16 31 29 March 2014 Oxford 6:08 15 16 32 5 April 2015 Cambridge 6:26 3 ft. 15 17 33 19 March 2016 Oxford 6:54 Canvas 16 17 34 26 March 2017 Cambridge 6:45 3 16 18 35 18 March 2018 Cambridge 7:24 (raced at Dorney) 16 19 36 30 March 2019 Oxford 6:28 17 19 37 15 March 2020 Cambridge 23:24 6 (first race on the Tideway)17 20 38 18 May 2021 Cambridge 18:08 (raced at Ely)17 21 39 20 March 2022 Cambridge 19:59 15 17 22 40 20 March 2023 Cambridge 23:34 6 17 23 41 29 March 2024 Cambridge 23:04 5 17 24 42 12 April 2025 Cambridge 19:08 3 17 25

Lightweight Men's Reserves (Nephthys vs Granta)

Oxford: 11 wins (inc. 3 R/O) Cambridge: 10 wins

Date Winner Time Winning Margin (Lengths) Oxford Wins Cambridge Wins 2000 Cambridge 5:50 - 1 2001 Oxford 7 1 1 2002 Oxford 5:33 2 2 1 2003 Cambridge 6:19 2 2 2004 Oxford 5:45 Canvas 3 2 2005 Oxford 6:07 4 2 1 April 2006 Oxford 5:26 5 5 2 1 April 2007 Oxford 4:08 R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Lost to Old Boys. 6 2 23 March 2008 Oxford 6:29 R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Lost to Old Boys. 7 2 22 March 2009 Oxford 6:15 R/O due to no Cambridge crew. Beat Durham. 8 2 Race in abeyance 2010 - 2015 13 March 2016 Cambridge - (Raced in 4x) 8 3 19 March 2017 Cambridge 6:19 (Raced in 8+) 8 4 18 March 2018 Cambridge 7:24 (Raced in 4+ at Dorney) 8 5 22 March 2019 Oxford 1 (Raced in 2– from Putney to Mile Post) 9 5 14 March 2020 Oxford Canvas (Raced in 2- from Putney to Mile Post) 10 5 23 May 2021 Oxford 1 (Raced in 2- at Ely) 11 5 18 March 2022 Cambridge 2 (Raced in 2- from Putney to Mile Post) 11 6 18 March 2023 Cambridge 5 (Raced in 2- from Harrods to Putney) 11 7 27 March 2024 Cambridge 4 (Raced in 2- from Putney to Mile Post) 11 8 10 April 2025 Cambridge Easily (Raced in 2- from Putney to Mile Post) 11 9 31 March 2026 Cambridge 16 (Raced in 2- from Mile Post to Putney) 11 10

Lightweight Women's Reserves (Tethys vs CUBC Lightweight Women's Reserves) Cambridge: 5 Oxford: 2

Raced on the Friday before the main event in a 4+ in 2012, and incorporated into main race day in 2016. Date Winner Time Winning Margin (Lengths) Oxford Wins Cambridge Wins2012 Cambridge (Raced in 4+, CUBC had open weight rowers who did not weigh-in, OUWLRC had a lightweight crew) - 119 March 2016 Cambridge 8:55 (Raced in 2-) - 226 March 2017 Cambridge easily (Raced in 2-) - 3 18 March 2018 Oxford 8:15 easily (Raced in 4+ at Dorney) 1 3 30 March 2019 Cambridge (Raced in 2-) 1 414 March 2020 Oxford 7 (Raced in 4+ from Putney to Hammersmith) 2 418 May 2021 Cambridge Oxford unable to field a crew 2 519 March 2022 Oxford Cambridge unable field a crew 3 5 18 March 2023 Cambridge 3 (Raced in 4+ from Harrods to Putney, CUBC boat had 3 openweight rowers who did not weigh-in) 3 6

See also The Boat Race Henley Boat Races List of British and Irish varsity matches

References

External links Official website