How Channel 4 made the BBC rue their decision to drop the 'elitist' Boat Race - despite the odd mishap from Jamie Laing and Co, writes JONATHAN McEVOY
Not for the last time, but perhaps for the last, the BBC unhinged itself from the Boat Race. Some of it was excellent, not least in presenter Clare Balding’s calm hands, and the Boat Race may reach a new audience. The BBC, meanwhile, almost airbrushed the Boat Race from its channels, unravelling an association going back, on and off, for a century with this great old event. Oxford won the women’s edition, ending a long period of subjugation by their varsity rivals, commandingly by three lengths. The night to which I allude is the one following the annual aquatic contest between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge - or, putting it another way, Boat Race Night.
Source: Daily Mail April 04, 2026 19:54 UTC
