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Cambridge did the double over rivals Oxford in the annual Boat Race on Saturday (30 March), winning both the men’s and women’s races, as BBC News reports.

And there was an Irish connection with the winning men’s squad via Irish-Canadian rower Thomas Lynch, who is reading for a PhD in engineering at Hughes Hall.

The result adds to a triumphant era for Cambridge in the near 195-year rowing tradition, with the university winning five of the last six men’s races and seven straight in the women’s event.

This year, however, they were considered the underdogs in the 169th men’s race — making their domination of Oxford by three-and-a-half lengths all the more impressive.

The 2024 event was also dogged by warnings over elevated levels of E.coli in the River Thames which hosts the racecourse.

And the Oxford team’s number seven has excused their poor performance on Saturday as a result of illness from the poor water quality.

"It would be a lot nicer if there wasn't as much poo in the water,” Leonard Jenkins said. “It’s not to take away from Cambridge, as we may not have beaten them even if we were all on top form.”

BBC News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Cambridge won the 2016 men’s Boat Race on the Thames today. Oxford started well, but in extremely difficult conditions, Cambridge established an early lead and kept a good rhythm down the long course, even as Oxford never gave up. 

 The women’s race was extraordinary. Oxford won, but in what Oxford women’s boat club president Maddy Badcott called “insane conditions”, Cambridge took in so much water that they almost sank. They somehow kept going and finished.

Published in Rowing

# COASTAL ROWING: The univsersities celebrated as the oldest rowing rivals will celebrate the oldest traditional regatta when crews drawn from Oxford and Cambridge alumni compete at Killarney Rowing Festival on Lough Lein on July 28th. The boat used will be the Killarney Six, a wooden boat with a fixed seat which was originally designed and built by Salters in Oxford. The event is part of ‘The Gathering’ and Queen Victoria’s stay in Killarney in 1861 will be marked. The Killarney Regatta itself is set for June 30th.

Published in Coastal Rowing

The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The  K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier. 

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years. 

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.

At A Glance – K2Q (Kingstown to Queenstown) Race 2024

The third edition of this 260-nautical mile race starts from the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay on July 12th 2024 finishes in Cork Harbour.

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