Women's Boat Race 1927

1st Women's Boat Race
1st Women's Boat Race
	The Cambridge crew in 1927 on the day of the race
Date	15 March 1927
Winner	Oxford
Winning time	3 minutes 36 seconds
Overall record ; (Cambridge–Oxford)	0–1
Umpire	T. H. Henn (Cambridge); J. G. Geoffreys (Oxford)
	1929 →

The inaugural Women's Boat Race took place on 15 March 1927. The contest was between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and held on The Isis in Oxford.

Race

The Times reported that "large and hostile crowds gathered on the towpath", while The New York Times stated "a crowd of fully five thousand persons was on hand as a willing cheering section".^[1]^[2]^[3] The crews were forbidden from racing side-by-side, and the winners were judged "rowing down stream for style and back again for speed" along the course "from the Free Ferry from the top of Iffley Reach to the Keble barge",^[4] a distance of approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km).^[5] The Cambridge crew wore "white jumpers and chocolate shorts and stockings" while Oxford sported "white and dark blue shorts".^[3]

The judges for the contest were T. H. Henn (representing Cambridge) and J. G. Geoffreys (representing Oxford). Reports differ as to the judges' opinions on style: one suggests they failed to agree on a winner,^[5] another indicates that they deemed the style of each crew to be equal.^[3] As a result, the judges based the result on speed:^[5] the race was won by Oxford in a time of 3 minutes 36 seconds, beating Cambridge by 15 seconds.^[4] The next Women's Boat Race would take place two years later.^[6]

Crews

Seat	Oxford		Cambridge
Seat	Name	College	Name	College
Bow	D. Morely	Oxford Home-Students	A. M. Walmsley	Newnham
2	C. S. Joris	St Hilda's	W. Leverton	Newnham
3	D. E. Gibbs	Somerville	V. Brown	Newnham
4	S. Longmore	St Hilda's	P. M. Havers	Newnham
5	L. Shaw	St Hilda's	B. Hutchinson	Newnham
6	D. G. Cullen	St Hilda's	P. K. Rich	Newnham
7	M. Winder	St Hilda's	E. Rickey	Newnham
Stroke	M. H. Brown	Christ Church	C. D. England	Newnham
Cox	H. G. Wanklyn	St Hilda's	T. Rhys	Newnham
Source:^[4]

References

^ "Pulling Together". Cambridge Alumni Magazine (74 Lent 2015): 12. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
^ "Origins – The Women's Boat Race: The Early years". The Boat Race Company Limited. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Women's Boat Race at Oxford – a novel competition". Cheltenham Chronicle. 19 March 1927. p. 11.(subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c "Boat Race Practice – An Oxford victory". The Times. 16 March 1927. p. 7.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Women's Boat Race – Confetti, Streamers, and Toy Trumpets". Western Daily Press. 16 March 1927. p. 5.(subscription required)
^ "Boat Race – Results". The Boat Race Company Limited. Retrieved 15 April 2015.