BOAT RACE CREWS ANNOUNCED

The crews for the CHANEL J12 Boat Race 2026 were unveiled at Somerset House on 12 March, as Oxford University Boat Club and Cambridge University Boat Club entered the final stretch of their preparations for the latest clash in their enduring rivalry.

Packed with a mixture of Olympic, international and home grown student rowing talent, the crews are just three weeks away from meeting on the iconic Championship Course, a 4.25-mile stretch of tidal Thames from Putney to Mortlake, on Saturday 4 April.

More than 200,000 spectators are expected to watch along the riverbanks of the free-to-attend ‘Party by the River’ as Oxford and Cambridge meet in the 2026 chapter of nearly 200 years of competition.

With Cambridge enjoying recent dominance in the event, Oxford will be determined to reverse their fortunes and hopes are high within their camp of an upset.

Oxford Women are led by Olympic bronze medallist Heidi Long and can count on the experience of three-time Blue Boat crew members Annie Anezakis and Sarah Marshall, who will hope their fourth contest on the Championship Course will bring them the win they are desperately seeking.

Up against them are a formidable Cambridge Women’s outfit who are on a winning streak stretching back to 2017. President Gemma King, whose sister Catherine represents Oxford, will have fellow two-time winner and fifth-year medic Carys Earl to count on, along with a sprinkling of new recruits such as Camille Vandermeer.

Oxford Men will be led by cox Tobias Bernard, who learned to row on the Tideway and will need every ounce of his intimate knowledge of the course to guide his crew to victory. Four-time under-23 world champion and Los Angeles 2028 hopeful Harry Geffen will be central to the cause, as will the international pedigree of Julian Schölberl and James Fetter.

Cambridge Men have their eyes on a fourth successive victory in the men’s race and will be led, like Oxford, by a French national, Noam Mouelle, marking the first time in Boat Race history that a pair of Frenchmen have led the two crews.

Both Men’s crews will feature first-year undergraduates in Patrick Wild and Fergus Pim, a rarity.

In addition to the crew announcement, Channel 4 confirmed the line-up for their debut coverage of the Boat Race will be presented by Clare Balding, who brings decades of experience in presenting coverage of some of the world’s most iconic sporting events, including the Summer Paralympic Games for Channel 4.

Channel 4’s coverage of the Boat Race will air from 13:30 to 16:30 on Channel 4 and Channel 4 streaming on Saturday 4 April.

Siobhan Cassidy, Chair of the Boat Race Company, said: ‘Congratulations to all those who have been selected for a Blue Boat seat this year. To make the start line is a remarkable feat in itself: more people have climbed Mount Everest than competed in the Boat Race, so those selected should be incredibly proud. We’re excited to witness more history being made on the Tideway as they seek to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the Boat Race.’

Heidi Long, Oxford Women’s President, commented: ‘I’m delighted to be able to line up once again in the Blue Boat. Competing in the Boat Race last year was one of the highlights of my rowing career and I’m determined to go one step further by being part of a winning Oxford Women’s crew. We’re confident we can put it all together on 4 April to take home the trophy.’

QUAD caught up with Oxford Men’s Chief Coach Mark Fangen-Hall, who explained how the Dark Blues are in the midst of a fundamental transformation that has involved root and branch reform, governance changes, a CEO model and the unification of four clubs (Women’s, Men’s, heavy and lightweights) into ‘One Club’ since 2022: ‘The race favours momentum – we’re building it.’

The Men’s crew is viewed as an underdog in 2026, owing to the incredible galaxy of talent on the Cambridge side, but anything can happen on the day. Meanwhile Mark says that the Oxford Women ‘have done an incredible job’.

‘We just need to win a race, to show a winning process. There is no problem selling Oxford to potential athletes who also have the academic ability. That’s the easy bit. Cambridge is currently a formidable competitor.’

2025 saw Cambridge University win both the Men’s and Women’s races, leaving the overall records as 88-81 in favour of Cambridge Men and 49-30 in favour of Cambridge Women.

Former Cambridge President and six-time umpire Mike Sweeney (St John’s, Cambridge, 1963) was very equable in his long-term prognosis of the race, offering that winning and losing streaks ‘go in cycles’.

To anyone going out to watch the race on a launch on the big day (he’s done it 48 times), his sage advice was to wrap up warmer than you think.

Seb Pearce (Pembroke, 2005), who sits on the OUBC Committee, echoes Mark’s comments to the effect that Oxford is building back a winning formula carefully and credibly.

‘When the pendulum swings, it swings hard.’

The crews selected for the CHANEL J12 Boat Race 2026 are as follows:

Cambridge Women:

Cox – Matt Moran

Stroke – Aidan Wrenn-Walz

7 – Mia Freischem

6 – Camille Vandermeer

5 – Antonia Galland

4 – Carys Earl

3 – Charlotte Ebel

2 – Isobel Campbell

Bow – Gemma King (President)

Oxford Women:

Cox – Louis Corrigan

Stroke – Heidi Long (President)

7 – Sarah Marshall

6 – Esther Briz Zamorano

5 – Kyra Delray

4 – Julietta Camahort

3 – Lilli Freischem

2 – Emily Molins

Bow – Annie Anezakis

Oxford Men:

Cox – Tobias Bernard (President)

Stroke – Harry Geffen

7 – Alex Sullivan

6 – Jamie Arnold

5 – Alex Underwood

4 – Fergus Pim

3 – James Fetter

2 – Julian Schöberl

Bow – Felix Crabtree

Cambridge Men:

Cox – Sammy Houdagui

Stroke – Freddy Breuer

7 – Will Klipstine

6 – Lexi Maclean

5 – Gabriel Obholzer

4 – Patrick Wild

3 – Kyle Fram

2 – Noam Mouelle (President)

Bow – Simon Hatcher