The crews for the 2019 Boat Race on the 7th April were officially announced this morning at City Hall in London. 

The big news in the Cambridge men's crew is the inclusion of 46 year-old James Cracknell, who will race in the 2 seat and in so doing will become the oldest ever Boat Race competitor. Cracknell, who is studying for a masters degree in human evolution, retired from elite rowing in 2006, after winning gold medals in the coxless fours at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Cracknell also won six gold medals in the World Rowing Championships between 1997 and 2002: three in the coxless fours and three in the coxless pairs.

The previous oldest Boat Race competitor was Andy Probert who was 38 when he coxed the Cambridge boat in 1992. Mike Wherley was 36 when he rowed for Oxford in 2008.

Speaking on his achievement, Cracknell said: "It's impossible to appreciate what getting selected for The Boat Race is actually like.  Training so intensively and competing with a group of guys for the same seats in a boat whilst studying hard at a top University, you could easily fall apart. The national team I was part of for so long could learn a thing or two from The Boat Race squads!  After a tough year, making the Blue Boat is arguably my proudest achievement in rowing.  But making the Boat is only the start, I and the other lads aren't there for the kit and being selected, it's about delivering on April 7th." 

CUBC President Dara Alizadeh was able to name an experienced crew, including returning Blues Matthew Holland, who coxed the women's team to Boat Race victory in 2017, and 2018 Boat Race winner Freddie Davidson. Cambridge's crew will also include 19 year-old music undergraduate Callum Sullivan, who was not born when Cracknell won the first of his World Rowing Championship gold medals. 

The Oxford men's crew includes two returning Blues, Felix Drinkall and Benedict Alcous, 

Oxford, at an overall weight of 719.6 kg, weighed in as the slightly heavier of the two men's crew, with the Cambridge crew weighing in at 718.3kg. 

On the women's side, Cambridge's crew features returning Blue Tricia Smith at Bow, who was part of last year's victorious Boat Race crew, as well as several members of last year's victorious reserve boat including Laura Foster and Larkin Sayre. 

The Oxford women's crew also features one returning Blue (Renee Koolschjin), as well as several members of last year's reserve crew including Olivia Pryer, Eleanor Shearer and Anna Murgatroyd. 

The Cambridge women's crew weighed in heavier than the Oxford crew at 578.3kg, compared to Oxford's overall weight of 568.8kg. 

All connected with Cambridge rowing will be hoping for a repeat of last year's Boat Race, where Cambridge won the men's race, the women's race and both reserve races. 

CUWBC: Tricia Smith, Sophie Deans, Laura Foster, Larkin Sayre, Kate Horvat, Pippa Whittaker, Ida Gortz Jacobsen, Lily Lindsay, Hugh Spaughton (cox) 

OUWBC:  Issy Dodds, Anna Murgatroyd, Renee Kooljschijn, Lizzie Polgreen, Tina Christmann, Beth Bridgman, Liv Pryer, Amelia Standing, Eleanor Shearer (cox) 

CUBC: Dave Bell, James Cracknell, Grant Bitler, Dara Alizadeh, Callum Sullivan, Sam Hookway, Freddie Davidson, Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk, Matthew Holland (cox) 

OUBC: Achim Harzheim, Ben Landis, Patrick Sullivan, Benedict Aldous, Tobias Schroder, Felix Drinkall, Charlie Pearson, Augustin Wambersie, Anna Carberry (cox)