The Boat Races 2016

The Boat Races 2016
Men's race winner's trophy
Date	27 March 2016 (2016-03-27)
Men's race
Winner	Cambridge
Margin of victory	2+1⁄2 lengths
Winning time	18 minutes 38 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	82–79
Umpire	Simon Harris
Women's race
Winner	Oxford
Margin of victory	24 lengths
Winning time	21 minutes 49 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	41–30
Umpire	Rob Clegg
Reserves' races
Men's winners	Isis
Women's winners	Blondie
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The 2016 Boat Races (also known as The Cancer Research UK Boat Races for the purposes of sponsorship) took place on 27 March 2016. Held annually, The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. For the first time in the history of the event, the men's, women's and both reserves' races were all held on the Tideway on the same day.

Trials for the race took place on the Championship Course in December 2015, and the selected crews took part in several practice races in the build-up to the main event. The weigh-in for the men's and women's races took place on 1 March 2016 with both Cambridge's men and women the heavier crews. Pre-race betting on the men's and women's event had Cambridge's men and Oxford's women as favourites to win.

In the men's reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie were beaten by Oxford's Isis by two lengths, their sixth consecutive defeat. In the women's reserve race, Cambridge's Blondie defeated Oxford's Osiris by three lengths, their first victory since the 2011 race. In the women's race, Oxford won easily as Cambridge nearly sank in rough conditions. It was Oxford's fourth consecutive win, and their eighth in nine races. The men's race was won by Cambridge by two and a half lengths, their first victory since the 2012 race, taking the overall record in the event to 82–79 in their favour.