A rowing story spanning two universities, two shades of Blue and a world championship fitness title at nearly 73 has emerged ahead of The Women's Boat Race's centenary in 2027.
Celia Duff rowed for Cambridge in 1974 and 1975, then switched allegiance to Oxford in 1976 after moving there for her clinical medical studies. She won all three races. By her own account, she was the first person, male or female, to row at Blue Boat level for both universities.
"I believe I was the first person, male or female, to do this," she says. "I rowed at Blue Boat level for both Oxford and Cambridge, twice for Cambridge, once for Oxford. A man did it 10 years later."
That man was Bruce Philp, who rowed for Cambridge in 1982 and 1983, for Goldie in 1984, then switched to Oxford in 1985 and 1986, the latter as President. He died in 2022, having become one of the UK's foremost plastic surgeons, specialising in burns and trauma reconstruction. When newspapers celebrated his achievement, Duff wrote to the Daily Telegraph pointing out she had already done it a decade earlier. Her letter got a small mention. Nothing more.
"It was a sign of the times," she says.
Duff arrived at Cambridge's Clare College in 1972, part of the first intake of women admitted to the previously all-male college. She had already attended Marlborough College, the first boys' public school to admit girls, so the territory wasn't entirely new to her.
"Moving to a male college seemed like a natural step for me," she recalls. "I was always a bit... prepared to take risks, maybe."
When she moved to Oxford's women's boat club, Cambridge had won 12 consecutive women's Boat Races, including the two in which Duff had competed. Her new crewmates had their own theory about the new arrival.
"I remember when I rocked up to OUWBC, they felt that I was their secret weapon," she says. Oxford won that year. Duff waves away any credit. "Nothing to do with me. Nothing, nothing to do with me."
She puts the win down to the Oxford crew's hunger rather than her own presence. "I really think that the Oxford crew had fire in its belly that year," she says. "They were fed up with being beaten."
After rowing, Duff built a career in public health medicine and medical education, working across different levels of the NHS, including regional and national roles. She later volunteered during the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination rollout after retiring.
A new sporting chapter began almost by accident after her daughter and son-in-law became early adopters of HYROX, the fitness racing format combining running with strength and endurance challenges. She had started running again during lockdown in 2020 and was encouraged to enter a competition herself.
At her first event in October 2022, she broke the world record for her age group. She went on to become a two-time solo world champion, and in 2024, having turned 70, broke the over-70 world record again, by seconds, only for a Danish woman, Kirsten, to break it three weeks later.
"If you can't beat them, join them!" she says, explaining how she spent around a year persuading her former rival to compete alongside her instead. The pair went on to win the World Championships and set a new age group world record in Stockholm in June 2026.
Her outlook across the decades, from Clare College to HYROX podiums, is remarkably consistent. "Girls can do anything," she says. "I grew up feeling I can do, I can stand alone, I can achieve, I have support."
