Boat Race 2025 delayed as Cambridge and Oxford forced to wait in bizarre incident

It was then suggested that there was another boat on the river that was causing an issue and that the race wouldn’t be starting until it was cleared.

Both Cambridge and Oxford rowers were forced to wait for the issue to be resolved, only adding to their nerves, with organisers rushing to clear the debris.

The 2025 Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford was delayed on Sunday following a bizarre incident beforehand

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Eventually, after a delay that lasted roughly 10 minutes, a piece of wood in the water was cleared with the race able to resume.

The incident took place after some chaos in the Women’s Boat Race earlier in the day.

Cambridge were quick out of the blocks and Oxford, in their desperation to catch up, then upped the ante with blades clashing.

Oxford, for a brief time, looked as though they’d be disqualified. However, the race resumed with Cambridge proceeding to secure glory.

Sir Matthew Pinsent was the race umpire.

On why he didn’t disqualify Oxford, he explained: “There was a clash between the crews that stopped the race.

“To my mind, I was warning Oxford. The clash was heavy enough to stop the race.

“At that moment there are a range of options. You could disqualify them straight away.

“That did pop into my mind but you can also see, after the restart, if it affected the outcome of the race. I’m convinced the better crew, the faster crew, won.”