Double win for Cambridge over Oxford in annual Boat Race

LONDON (AP) – It’s four of five wins for Cambridge at one of England’s oldest sporting events after it cruised to victory over Oxford in Sunday’s men’s boat race.

And it was a bold move by Cambridge helmsman Jasper Parish, whose mother is Canadian, on the Thames that proved the difference in the annual competition between the two universities that began in 1829. Cambridge now lead the rivalry 86-81.

Cambridge struggled with rowing before the race and Oxford moved forward with the weight advantage. But Parish’s decision to steer his crew closer to shore at Fulham to find friendlier waters ultimately paid off as Cambridge took a half-length lead.

While Oxford didn’t let their opponents get away, it turned out to be an inspired move by Parish as Cambridge carried their advantage across the finish line.

The victorious Cambridge men’s boat consisted of Thomas Lynch, who was born in Ireland but raised in Vancouver, and brothers Jasper and Ollie Parish, who were born in England and whose mother Zoe is from Toronto. Jasper, the younger brother, guided the Cambridge women to victory last year.
Lynch rowed for the Cambridge reserve team in a losing cause last year.

The Oxford crew consisted of Alexander Bebb from Vancouver and Swiss-Canadian Jean-Philippe Dufour, whose mother is Canadian and has family in Toronto and Kingston, Ontario.

Bebb, 25, made the Oxford reserve crew in 2020 only to see the race canceled by the pandemic

Bebb became President of the Oxford University Boat Club in 2021, following in the footsteps of Canadian Malcolm Howard, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, who was President of Oxford in 2014. Bebb and Dufour were both contested in the lost Oxford boat on the River Great Ouse near Ely, Cambridgeshire in 2021 when the race took place.

Bebb took a year off last year to focus on his studies. In 2018 he finished fifth in the Canadian eight at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland.

Last year Oxford had halted their rivals’ streak of three straight wins, but it proved a temporary break in Cambridge’s recent dominance.

In the women’s, Cambridge claimed six straight wins after beating Oxford in another dominant performance in the 77th edition.

Oxford got off to a strong start but Cambridge recovered. At half-time, the defending champions were well ahead and heading for victory.

“I’m just so proud of the girls,” said Cambridge Women’s President Caoimhe Dempsey. “It was a tough race, there was so much going on and they handled it so well.”

Montreal’s Claire Brillon was in the winning Cambridge women’s boat. So does the German Carina Graf, a graduate of the University of British Columbia.

Brillon, 26, represented Canada at the 2018 World University Championships in Shanghai and the four at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic, and moved to Cambridge immediately after.

She began rowing in 2015 in her freshman year at UBC, where she was a five-time academic All-Canadian.

Brillon is studying music cognition/psychology, specializing in how music is processed and perceived in the brain. She hopes to return to rowing internationally after completing her masters degree.

Cambridge also won the women’s reserve race against an Oxford crew that included Winnipeg’s Kate Friesen.

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The Associated Press