Victory for Cambridge in the Women's Boat Race

Challenging conditions on Henley Reach, thanks to the stiff north-east breeze, forced a shortening of the course to less than 1500m after the start was moved downstream to Upper Thames.

The same wind which had caused the cancellation of the Head of the River Race in London on Saturday was bound to generate rough water down the regatta course, but an emergency meeting of coaches and presidents on Race Day quickly reached a consensus. The stakeboats would be moved downriver to a point off Upper Thames RC, which gave the flexibility for a rolling start further downstream if conditions worsened during the day.

Whether the course was fair given the rough conditions then became a matter for much towpath debate. The winners of the toss in each race chose the more sheltered Bucks station, but the results failed to reflect the theoretical advantage.

First race of the programme was the Men's Lightweights Reserves in which Nephthys simply had to row over to win the trophy after Cambridge were unable to boat a crew. The Oxford Reserves had earlier raced a crew composed of their own alumni who made the best of the rough water and moved out to a 1 1/2 length lead at the finish.

Blondie won the toss in the Women's Reserves race, and when both crews were attached to the stakeboats the wind suddenly abated, the river calmed briefly, and umpire Mike Sweeney used the opportunity to send the crews away early.

Osiris, on the Berkshire station, took a narrow lead and extended their advantage past the Farm, but Blondie never let them get away completely and the Oxford crew went on to win by just half a length.

Cambridge also won the toss for the Women's Lightweights race and chose Bucks, but Oxford went off strongly and made the best of the rougher water in the centre stream. At the Fawley signal there were just three seconds between the crews and the margin remained the same all the way to the finish, with Oxford winning by one length.

The Women's Boat Race was faced with drama before the first stroke had been rowed when the Oxford crew holed their boat after colliding with Blondie during their warm-up. Several strokes into the delayed start, and with Oxford competing in their spare hull, it was obvious they had more trouble. Olivia Rissland raised her hand in the cox's seat to signify equipment failure - her tiller cable had broken and the umpire stopped the race and ordered a re-row.

While the damage was repaired the Men's Lightweights race got underway, with Oxford on Bucks. After an even start the Dark Blues edged into a narrow lead and this time the more sheltered station seemed to work in their favour. They moved out to a one length advantage which Cambridge could not close and Oxford moved on to their sixth consecutive victory in the series.

With Oxford unsettled by their equipment problems it was evident that Cambridge would have the psychological advantage at the restart of the race.

The Cambridge technique was noticeably sharper through the rough, and they edged ahead, with Oxford relying on guts and willpower to fight back.

Despite two major pushes and with their cox hugging the bank Oxford couldn't get back on terms and Cambridge hung on to their half length advantage to record only their second win in the last six years.

A day of mixed emotions for Cambridge as Oxford took the Francombe Cup by four races to one, but the strength in depth in the squad bodes well for the future and the main race win was a good omen as attention now turns to the Tideway.