The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, often referred to as The University Boat Race or simply The Boat Race, is an annual competition between the rowing clubs of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Teams must make their way along a particular bend of the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake (very rarely in the other direction, depending on the tides). Despite being held annually since 1856, The Boat Race has never once had a single winner as the boats invariably succumb to a variety of strange misfortunes. The most recent event (2025 at time of writing) was cancelled when an unfortunate tourist fell from a bridge along the route and landing on the Oxford coxswain, causing the race to be cancelled. Other misfortunes involve:
2020: The race was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An unofficial boat race was held, during which all sixteen rowers came down with COVID-19
2006: A bottlenose whale, believed to be lost, swam up the river and closed off all transport in the area.
1972: The Oxford boat team rowed beneath Hammersmith Bridge and did not emerge on the other side. They later emerged from a patch of fog in Northern Ireland, very confused.
1939-1945: Race cancelled because of the war. Attempts to broker peace with an alternative UK-Germany boat race down the Danube were rejected by high ranking Nazi officials (though Hitler himself was reportedly very keen).
1931: Race cancelled when a tiger escaped from London Zoo. The tiger was found later that day on the other side of the city.
1926: After supposedly winning, the Oxford team's notably boyish looking coxswain became inebriated during the celebrations and flashed the crowd, exposing herself as a woman both figuratively and literally. The team was disqualified and Cambridge were declared the winners until their cox guiltily removed her moustache.
1912: Both teams hit an unexpected iceberg along the route and were sunk. All competitors were rescued with only minor injuries.
1889: Mid-way through the race, the Cambridge team grew tired of their leader's abusive remarks and declared a mutiny, forcing the former leader to walk the plank. The team was disqualified and the race was cancelled.
1884: The Kraken.
1877: The only time in race history where both teams successfully crossed the finish line and neither team was later disqualified. They did so at the exact same moment, meaning no winner could be called.
1869: The Oxford rowing team was kidnapped by students of Cambridge and replaced by a fake reserve team in an attempt at sabotage. The plan was discovered when the fake team, deliberately rowing poorly, still won against the actual Cambridge rowing team, who were all secretly Oxford students pulling the exact same trick.
1856: The 1st Annual Boat Race (though the 13th Boat Race in total, which may be relevant to the subsequent events) this race was cancelled when both teams realised they'd sold their boats for drinking money the previous year when the river was frozen over.
More Fun Facts
