Oxford and Cambridge have issued their traditional Presidents' Challenges ahead of the 2027 Boat Race, which will mark the Centenary of the Women's Boat Race, with the women's race set to close out the day's racing for the first time.
Oxford Men's President Alex Sullivan issued his challenge to Cambridge Men's President Simon Hatcher, who accepted. Sullivan is a Harvard graduate from Queensland, Australia, while Hatcher is studying for a PhD in nuclear physics. The pair will now lead their crews towards the 2027 CHANEL J12 Men's Boat Race, which will be raced first on the Championship Course at 15.40.
In the women's event, Cambridge President Eloise Etherington challenged Oxford's Kyra Delray, who accepted. Etherington leads the Light Blues after Oxford's historic victory in 2026, while Delray is a veteran of the CHANEL J12 Boat Race, having raced for Oxford in both 2025 and 2026.
The order of racing will be reversed for the Centenary edition. The CHANEL J12 Men's Boat Race goes off at 15.40, followed by the CHANEL J12 Women's Boat Race at 16.40, marking the first time the women's race will close the day's Championship Course racing. The switch forms part of a year-long celebration of the anniversary.
The first Women's Boat Race was held in Oxford in 1927, when crews were not permitted to race each other directly. Instead, they rowed separate races and were judged on style and speed.
A century later, the Women's Boat Race ranks among the biggest events in women's sport, and 2026 made that clear.
Oxford produced one of the performances of the day, rowing away from Cambridge in exceptionally rough conditions to secure their first Women's Boat Race victory since 2016. Cambridge responded in the men's race, holding off an aggressive Oxford challenge to claim a fourth consecutive victory.
The 2026 race also marked a new era off the water, with Channel 4 and Times Radio joining as broadcast partners. More than 200,000 spectators watched from the banks of the Championship Course, while the event reached a further 17 million people through its digital and broadcast coverage. The CHANEL J12 Women's Boat Race was the fifth most-watched women's sports production of 2026, including coverage of the Olympic Games.
The Centenary year will also bring two new CHANEL J12 Boat Race trophies, designed by the CHANEL Watch Creation Studio and crafted by Thomas Lyte, to be awarded to the winning men's and women's crews for the first time in April.
With the challenges now issued, the crews have six months to prepare. Cambridge will look to extend their recent dominance in both races, while Oxford return as defending Women's champions, in a year that marks a century of the Women's Boat Race.
