Putney Embankment was buzzing this afternoon in the final countdown to the big meet this weekend. In amongst the TV lighting crews & media photographers were all the crews from both universtities on & off the water.



Including the history making women's crews, as 2015 heralds the first Newton Women’s Boat Race on the tideway instead of their historical racing on the Thames at Henley.

The two Cambridge crews received a visit from Putney's Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Justine Greening who was dwarfed by the women in 'duck egg blue'. The Blondie crew (Cambridge's 2nd women's crew) are staying with a West Putney family for the 10 day pre-race training period.

Members of 'Blondie' explained about their training regeime, diet and how they found their 'slot' in the boat - the science between balance, experience and technical know how. Aftwerwards Justine told PutneySW15:
"It's fantastic to see the women's race happening at the same time as the men's race. It's taken 162 years so it's definitely time to do it. I hope both teams have a great race and make it back safely. It’s also great to see Putney as the centre of attention for such a high profile sporting event that is covered all over the world, especially this year when the women’s crews are finally competing on the same day as the men’s."

Blondie & Osiris (Oxford's 2nd women's crew) will start their race on Friday afternoon at 4.05pm, this will be the first of many races between the two crews this year. On Saturday the women's first crews will race from Putney at 4.50pm (currently Cambridge lead by 40-29 races) followed by the Isis V Goldie (the Oxford & Cambridge 2nd men's crews) at 5.20pm and finally the men's first crews will race at 5.50pm -currently Cambridge leads by 81-78 races.

CUWBC crews share a laugh on Putney embankment with Justine Greening

April 10, 2015