Gusts, guts and glory: how the Chanel J12 Boat Race unfolded

The boat race began in 1829 after two school friends, Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet William Wordsworth), of Christ Church College, Oxford, and Charles Merivale of St. John’s, Cambridge, challenged each other to a race up the river. Since 1836, the men’s race has been held annually, apart from during the two World Wars and in 2020, when Covid-19 restrictions forced its cancellation.

The women’s boat race was founded a century after the men’s, in 1927 (next year will mark its…