The Boat Races 2024: Lightweight Races Review – View from The Bridge

Lightweight Women’s Race

Following a disappointing start to the Boat Race weekend for the Cambridge women, with a loss in the reserve fours race, the lightweights once again painted the Tideway light blue. Cambridge won the toss, and chose Surrey; a decision that – although not catastrophic – would come back to haunt them.

Alongside a well-executed start, Cambridge leveraged the initial Middlesex advantage well and began to edge a lead, seat-by-seat, over Oxford. This trend continued the flotilla neared Harrods, by which point Cambridge had opened up clear water between the two boats, though never quite enough of a margin for Cambridge to rest on their laurels, as evidenced by the warning issued by umpire Sarah Winckless as Crowley’s steering took her crew into Oxford’s line.

Perhaps benefiting from Cambridge’s rudder inputs, and certainly from calmer conditions around the Hammersmith bend, Oxford made a move to attempt to overturn Cambridge’s lead as the race neared the halfway point. Initially, these efforts seemed successful: Oxford began to erode their opposition’s lead and claw their way back into contention. As the conditions improved for Cambridge, however, it rapidly became apparent that Oxford would need to perform miracles to take the lead of the race.

It was Cambridge that crossed the line first, leading Oxford by some 17 seconds. A convincing margin, but one that somewhat belies what was one of the more closely fought lightweight races in the Tideway era.

Lightweight Men’s Race

I’ll be the first to admit: I got this one very wrong. Despite my pre-race faith in the Oxford offering, it was Cambridge that retained their title for the third consecutive year.

Oxford won the toss and chose Surrey, leaving the Cambridge crew to follow in the wake of their female counterparts on Middlesex. After a decisive start, Cambridge quickly opened up a compelling lead of some fire lengths, maintaining the lead throughout the remainder of the race.

Across the line, it was Cambridge leading Oxford by 20 seconds.

Conclusion

Cambridge’s hegemonic display of technical and strategic mastery is testament to the squads strength, depth and coaching expertise. Tomorrow will reveal if their openweight counterparts can emulate such a performance.