The Boat Race LIVE: Oxford and Cambridge face off in prestigious annual duel

This match up looked to be severely one-sided before the race began but Oxford have given it a good go in rough conditions.

Cambridge haven’t hit their heights yet despite being ahead.

It feels as though the Light Blues will only get stronger from here but Oxford are in contention at Chiswick Eyot.

Cambridge are now ahead by over three seconds and are making the bend after the Hammersmith Bridge.

This is where the wind picked up and the water got really choppy during the women’s race.

It looks to be similar here as well.

After the near misses of the two crews it is Cambridge who look to be pulling ahead as the race comes to Hammersmith Bridge.

80% of the leaders at this bridge go on to win. That is the Cambridge crew.

Oxford aren’t too far behind them though.

“Oxford, move to Surrey now!”

That’s the call from the umpire as both crews position themselves in the middle of the river to get into the faster water.

Oxford have moved away from their starting position.

The boats are so close they’ve almost clashed with each other.

Cambridge edge ahead at the mile post.

Oxford are warned a couple of times for drifting towards the Cambridge boat.

Cambridge are edging ahead but Oxford have stuck with them strongly.

That force and pushing from the Dark Blues could hinder them towards the back end of this race though.

The flag drops for the men’s boat race to begin and rowers kick into action.

Oxford have the Surrey section but Cambridge are the heavy favourites.

Both teams set off in furious fashion. Cambridge are off at 47 strokes per minute.

Cambridge have won the past three races and seven of the past 10 races.

They lost the toss, however, and Oxford will have the Surrey station meaning a slightly easier race and a better line.

Will that be enough for Oxford to end their run of defeats?

It’s almost time for the second boat race to get underway so here’s a look at the two men’s teams:

Oxford: Tobias Bernard (Cox), Harry Geffen (Stroke), Alex Sullivan, Jamie Arnold, Alex Underwood, Fergus Pim, James Fetter, Julian Schöberl, Felix Crabtree

Cambridge: Sammy Houdaigui (Cox), Frederik Breuer (Stroke), William Klipstine, Alexander McClean, Gabriel Obholzer, Patrick Wild, Kyle Fram, Noam Mouelle, Simon Hatcher

The women’s race threw up a few different tactics than we usually see and Matt Moran, the Cambridge cox, explained why he took their boat closer to the shoreling on a couple of occasions.

He said: “I think the conditions were bad and we discussed beforehand that if it was that bad and was disrupting what we were doing we would try to give ourselves the best opportunity to define our rhythm.

“We had so much faith in what we practiced and the rhythm we could generate and we thought that would give us the better opportunity to do that.”

Cambridge president in the boat, Gemma King, spoke to Channel 4 after losing to Oxford and was bitterly disappointed.

She said: “Obviously it isn’t the outcome we wanted but I’m so proud of our crew and everyone in the squad this year. I think they were crazy conditions out there and we knew they had a strong start but we gave it our all and did our best in the crazy wind.

“I’ve loved every part of this journey with everyone in the team and I’m glad we got to race out there. We’ll be back.”