Welcome to the Gemini Boat Race 2023

The last six months have been a time for the crews and their coaches to do everything they can to ensure they are in peak condition when the moment comes. And while the nation waits with growing anticipation, work behind the scenes has ensured the whole event is planned to the minute.

On Sunday 26th March 2023, 72 dedicated students – all brilliant athletes – representing 10 nationalities and led by Presidents Sara Helin, Tassilo von Mueller, Caoimhe Dempsey and Ollie Boyne and backed by four world class coaches Sean Bowden, Rob Baker, Paddy Ryan and Andy Nelder and their support teams, will take to the water. The crews racing for two ancient universities, in four epic races.

As interim Chair of The Boat Race Company I’d like to share a message received following the sudden death of our good friend and former Chair, Dr Tim Senior. It comes from David DeRuff and Marin Rowing in California, who knew Tim as a competitor. I think it highlights some of the most valuable tenets of our sport.

“It is devastating but we are grateful that we got to meet and race with Tim. The spirit of kinship and mutual respect is such an important part of our sport. We feel a special bond with you. This is a powerful reminder of how very fortunate we are to have each other, and this shared passion for rowing.”

One of the best things about the Boat Race is that when the umpires say Go! no one is neutral. Up and down the nation, people pick a Blue – Light or Dark – and get behind their colour, irrespective of whether they have a connection to the universities racing. Spectators watching at home, or in one of our fan parks, or from the riverbank are gripped by the drama of the races. I’m especially excited by the thought of our many younger spectators who’ll be watching the fantastic BBC coverage – led by Andrew Cotter and Clare Balding – that connects the many millions of people across the world with the drama of the race. Many young viewers will be inspired by watching the races.

The Boat Race community and our Principal Partner Gemini place great importance on widening participation in our sport, particularly across the UK. I’d like to thank Gemini and the Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Fund for working with us to secure the sustainability of this Fund and helping us to inspire young people to take up rowing. It is essential we play our part in helping to engage young people in sport. The Gemini Boat Race is delighted to provide funding support, and to highlight the inspiring work of our partner organisations.

To the women and men who are about to compete in the 2023 races I have no doubt they will enjoy a life-long association with the Boat Race. We also know that few things if any will compare to competing in the Boat Race. To be part of a crew and to sit on the start line is indescribably exhilarating. It is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. Whether our student athletes learned to row as teenagers at clubs or schools, or later at university, March 26th is what it’s all been for.

Boat Race Day will be a lifedefining experience for every one of the student athletes. To have been selected to represent their university is a tremendous achievement. The Boat Race demands excellence, passion and drive and they have displayed these qualities in spades. The Boat Race is also about a deeply felt rivalry which in the case of the men’s race goes back 194 years and in the case of the women’s race 96 years. This rivalry is an extra weight on the shoulders of all the crews as they carry the hopes and expectations of thousands of alumni and fellow students, and the wider university communities of Oxford and Cambridge.

The great thing about being part of a boat crew is that no one crew member carries that weight alone. The athletes will support one another making the crew more than the sum of its parts. They’ll spur each other on, enjoying every part of the process together. We know they will all deliver their very best on the day.

“One of the best things about the Boat Race is that when the umpires say Go! no one is neutral.”

The event’s rich history adds another layer of meaning to the Boat Race. 30 years ago, Cambridge won all the races, a result that became known as ‘The Clean Sweep’. 20 years ago, the men’s race was won by the closest of margins, just one foot, and prompted Sir Steve Redgrave to describe the race as the “greatest we will see in our lifetimes”. And 10 years ago, the women’s race secured a measure of funding which ultimately resulted – two years later in 2015 – in the men’s and the women’s races being staged on the same course, on the same day, over the same distance and in front of the same TV cameras. Long overdue, many of you will be thinking, and quite rightly!

I would like to thank the many people and organisations who support the Oxford and Cambridge crews and our races. Our stakeholders in London, British Rowing and the wider rowing community. It is a team effort and one that ensures the Boat Race remains one of the most watched sports events on free-to-view television.

The Boat Race would not be what it is without our fantastic family of Partners, led by our Principal Partner Gemini, which was founded by Oxford Boat Race alumni, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who have brought a very special relationship to the Boat Race. I would also like to thank our other Partners, Graduate Hotels, Hydrow, Chapel Down Wines, Rival UK, the BBC, RNLI and our newest partner T. Rowe Price. I’d like to thank them all for their invaluable support. Together they enable our student athletes to reach their true potential. Together they are part of making history.

It’s also been an honour to work with colleagues, Jonny Searle MBE, Sebastian Pearce, George Gilbert, Phelan Hill MBE, Sara Kushma, James Behrens, Fay Sandford, Rob Mason and Clare Nicholls, who all bring knowledge, drive and energy and work tirelessly to serve the Oxford and Cambridge clubs.

We all have a part to play, but when the Umpire yells Go! on Sunday the 26th, it really is all over to the crews. Let me end by congratulating them in advance and may the crews have their best performance yet. 

Siobhan Cassidy Interim Chair, BRCL writing on behalf of The Boat Race community

This programme is produced by Row360 for The Boat Race Company