The Gemini Boat Race 2022 Race Report
by Rachel Quarrell
The tensest battle of the Blues of recent years ended in a score draw for Oxford and Cambridge on the first Sunday in April, after Cambridge extended their winning run in the women's race and Oxford broke their losing streak in the men's. There was a win apiece in the reserve races too, again going Light Blue for the women and Dark Blue for the men.
Celebrating being back on the historic Tideway course after the 2020 cancellation and 2021 forced move to Ely, it was a superb day's racing with both women's Blue Boats going under the course record and none of the losing crews at any stage giving up, leading to narrow margins. Umpires John Garrett and Sir Matthew Pinsent had plenty to do, though the two races were very different in style. Arguably the strongest ever year for the race, all the top crews featured former Blues and Olympians, with double Tokyo medallist Grace Prendergast the most famous rower in the event for a Cambridge women's crew who were strong favourites.
Oxford won the toss for the women's race, choosing Surrey in the hopes that their experienced Blues could hold the power of Cambridge's talented eight from the start. The Light Blues claimed a short lead early on, but had to overrate Oxford during the first minute to carry on extending their advantage. Pushing hard against the Dark Blues to maximise his advantage in the first bend, Cambridge cox Jasper Parish was able to move up the rival crew and shortly before three minutes was sitting alongside the Oxford bow seat. This earned some warnings from Garrett, as Parish cut dramatically across into Oxford's water to shut the door on the race at his earliest opportunity, but it turned out to be the clinching moment for the race as from then on Cambridge's victory was never in doubt.
Oxford pushed repeatedly from the Milepost to Hammersmith Bridge to stay close to Cambridge's stern, earning Parish yet more warnings as the two crews briefly swapped stations while barely a few feet apart. However, by the time they passed Harrods' Depository Cambridge were back on Middlesex and had moved another half-length away. Despite more attacks the distance slowly widened, until by the line Cambridge won with a new Tideway record of 18 minutes 23 seconds and a finish margin of 2.25 lengths. Oxford also went three seconds under the previous course record. Oxford protested Cambridge's cut-across coxing after the finish, but Garrett allowed Cambridge's fifth successive victory to stand, saying, "It was aggressive steering, I agree with you, but it's not a disqualification offence."
Celebrating being back on the historic Tideway course after the 2020 cancellation and 2021 forced move to Ely, it was a superb day's racing with both women's Blue Boats going under the course record and none of the losing crews at any stage giving up, leading to narrow margins. Umpires John Garrett and Sir Matthew Pinsent had plenty to do, though the two races were very different in style. Arguably the strongest ever year for the race, all the top crews featured former Blues and Olympians, with double Tokyo medallist Grace Prendergast the most famous rower in the event for a Cambridge women's crew who were strong favourites.
Oxford won the toss for the women's race, choosing Surrey in the hopes that their experienced Blues could hold the power of Cambridge's talented eight from the start. The Light Blues claimed a short lead early on, but had to overrate Oxford during the first minute to carry on extending their advantage. Pushing hard against the Dark Blues to maximise his advantage in the first bend, Cambridge cox Jasper Parish was able to move up the rival crew and shortly before three minutes was sitting alongside the Oxford bow seat. This earned some warnings from Garrett, as Parish cut dramatically across into Oxford's water to shut the door on the race at his earliest opportunity, but it turned out to be the clinching moment for the race as from then on Cambridge's victory was never in doubt.
Oxford pushed repeatedly from the Milepost to Hammersmith Bridge to stay close to Cambridge's stern, earning Parish yet more warnings as the two crews briefly swapped stations while barely a few feet apart. However, by the time they passed Harrods' Depository Cambridge were back on Middlesex and had moved another half-length away. Despite more attacks the distance slowly widened, until by the line Cambridge won with a new Tideway record of 18 minutes 23 seconds and a finish margin of 2.25 lengths. Oxford also went three seconds under the previous course record. Oxford protested Cambridge's cut-across coxing after the finish, but Garrett allowed Cambridge's fifth successive victory to stand, saying, "It was aggressive steering, I agree with you, but it's not a disqualification offence."
Umpire John Garrett said, "It was aggressive steering, I agree with you, but it's not a disqualification offence."
The 167th Men's Boat Race finally ended a four-year drought for Dark Blue chief coach Sean Bowden, in a contest which gave Pinsent as umpire some worrying moments, but managed to avoid collisions or appeals. After a slight delay due to issues with the Oxford GPS equipment, it was a clean start with Cambridge, who had won the toss and chosen Middlesex, quickly taking two seats advantage. This time, however, Oxford's power as the heavier crew reversed the lead within the first 30 seconds. The warnings for both crews began before the end of Putney Embankment, Pinsent bellowing repeatedly for the two to stay apart as the Oxford advantage crept out very slowly, stroke by stroke on the outside of Cambridge's first bend but with the coxes fighting tooth and nail for the best water.
Passing the Milepost the river turned in Oxford's favour and they made the most of it, putting in a sustained attack which clawed more distance out of the Light Blues approaching Hammersmith Bridge, and took them out of range of possible collisions. Stroked by Tobias Schröder, bent on revenge for three losses in previous years, they started to move confidently away, matching Cambridge's pushes and capping them. "Oxford, turn the tide" called Dark Blue cox Jack Tottem as they passed St Paul's School, and they motored on, a full six seconds and two lengths ahead by Chiswick Steps, over half-way into the course. A testament to the tenacity of Cambridge that this barely varied for the rest of the race, and continued attacks from Cambridge at the end contributed to Oxford breaking the record from Chiswick Steps to Barnes Bridge by one second. The margin at the line was 2.25 lengths, the historic scores now reduced to 85 Cambridge victories to 81 Oxford with one dead heat, and Oxford equalling the third quickest time in history into a headwind.
Passing the Milepost the river turned in Oxford's favour and they made the most of it, putting in a sustained attack which clawed more distance out of the Light Blues approaching Hammersmith Bridge, and took them out of range of possible collisions. Stroked by Tobias Schröder, bent on revenge for three losses in previous years, they started to move confidently away, matching Cambridge's pushes and capping them. "Oxford, turn the tide" called Dark Blue cox Jack Tottem as they passed St Paul's School, and they motored on, a full six seconds and two lengths ahead by Chiswick Steps, over half-way into the course. A testament to the tenacity of Cambridge that this barely varied for the rest of the race, and continued attacks from Cambridge at the end contributed to Oxford breaking the record from Chiswick Steps to Barnes Bridge by one second. The margin at the line was 2.25 lengths, the historic scores now reduced to 85 Cambridge victories to 81 Oxford with one dead heat, and Oxford equalling the third quickest time in history into a headwind.
Oxford equalling the third quickest time in history into a headwind
The Gemini Boat Race 2022 Results
Women: Cambridge beat Oxford by 2.25L, 18min 23sec to 18min 30sec.
Men: Oxford beat Cambridge by 2.25L, 16min 42sec to 16min 48sec.
Women's reserves: Blondie (Cam) beat Osiris (Ox) by 2.75L, 19min 9sec to 19min 17sec.
Men's reserves: Isis (Ox) beat Goldie (Cam) by 3.5L, 17min 4sec to 17min 15sec.
All times are rounded to the nearest whole second.
Archive Results
Men: Oxford beat Cambridge by 2.25L, 16min 42sec to 16min 48sec.
Women's reserves: Blondie (Cam) beat Osiris (Ox) by 2.75L, 19min 9sec to 19min 17sec.
Men's reserves: Isis (Ox) beat Goldie (Cam) by 3.5L, 17min 4sec to 17min 15sec.
All times are rounded to the nearest whole second.
Archive Results
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