The crews for the Blues boats in the upcoming Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford were announced this morning. The Cambridge men are seeking to overturn last years defeat by two and a quarter lengths to return to their previous dominance of this event. The women will be looking for a repeat of last year’s performance, when they completed the course in a record time of 18 minutes and 23 seconds, and finished two and a quarter lengths ahead of Oxford.

The Men’s Blue Boat features two returning Blues from last year’s heavyweight crews (Ollie Parish and Luca Ferraro), as well as Jasper Parish, the cox of last year’s victorious Women’s Blue boat. Jasper’s move to the men’s side means he will cox his brother Ollie, a Great Britain u23 international. Elsewhere, Matt Edge makes the step up from the Lightweight crew to the Blue boat, and 2021 winner Seb Benzecry returns after spending last year in Goldie. The team is: Matt Edge, Brett Taylor, Noam Mouelle, Seb Benzecry, Thomas Lynch, Nick Mayhew, Ollie Parish, Luca Ferraro (stroke) and Jasper Parish (cox). They will face an Oxford boat without any returning Blues from last year’s winning boat.

In the Women’s Blue Boat, CUBC’s Women’s President Caiomhe Dempsey will be the sole returning athlete from last year’s victory. The boat will be coxed by James Trotman, a first year undergraduate at Sidney Sussex and stroked by Carina Graf who steps up from the women’s second boat, Blondie. There is a strong North American contingent in the Women’s Boat this year, with half of the rowers coming from Canada or the US. The team is: Carina Graf, Rosa Millard, Alex Riddell-Webster, Jenna Armstrong, Freya Keto, Isabelle Bastian, Claire Brillon, Caiomhe Dempsey (stroke) and James Trotman (cox). They are going up against an Oxford side without any returning Blues. Oxford’s women will be coxed by Tara Slade, a graduate Medic who learned to Cox at Cambridge, won May Bumps with Caius BC and coxed the lightweight women’s reserve four in 2018 for the Light Blues.

The Boat Race will take place on the 26th March 2023 from 4pm onwards on the River Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. It will be broadcast on BBC1.