The Boat Race 1988
1988 boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities
The 134th Boat Race took place on 2 April 1988. Held annually, the event is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. Oxford won by 5+1⁄2 lengths in a time of 18 minutes 27 seconds, the equal-fourth fastest time in the event's history. The race was umpired by former Cambridge rowing Blue Mike Sweeney.
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie won, while Oxford won the Women's Boat Race.
Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1987 race by four lengths, with Cambridge leading overall with 69 victories to Oxford's 64 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The event was sponsored by Beefeater Gin and was televised in the United Kingdom by the BBC on its Grandstand sports programme.
The public source identifies “The Boat Race 1988” as 1988 boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Boat, Race and boat.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Boat Race 1988” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.