The Boat Race: Baby and Beans win Cambridge University Trial VIIIs showdown

Cambridge University took a stride closer towards shaping up their crews for The Boat Race 2026 in a testing Trial VIIIs battle on the famous course last week.

A tradition in The Boat Race seasons, both Cambridge and Oxford field matched crews to race side-by-side from Putney to Mortlake months before The Boat Race, which is set to take place on April 4 next year.

Once again, next year it’s down to Oxford to claw back ground that has been slipping away fast in recent years of Cambridge dominance. The Light Blues will go into the iconic varsity match as favourites once again and LondonWorld was present to get a sneak peek at this year’s athletes on a sodden Thursday morning.

Cambridge Women - Baby get better of Ginger in Spice Girls inspired battle

Cambridge Women named their matched crews ‘Baby’ and ‘Ginger’ after the Spice Girls, the latter inspired by the hair colour of cox Matt Moran. It was, however, Baby who triumphed in a largely one-sided battle.

Baby took the scalp by five lengths, a margin which grew easily down the course once the crew pushed ahead and were able to send rough water down to their club teammates. There was a moment of potential response from Ginger around the iconic Harrods but the damage was already done by that point.

The Baby crew was notably stroked by Eloise Etherington, who took part in the Reserve Race at The Boat Race 2025, with two-time Boat Race champion Carys Earl her opposite number. Women’s President Gemma King was at bow in Ginger but it remains too early in the season to infer crew selections for the spring at this stage with all 19 athletes still very much in with a chance of selection.

Speaking to LondonWorld after the race, Baby number seven Charlotte Ebel said: “Our goal was to get off the start hot and get the inside along the Surrey station. We’ve been feeling good about our starts in practice and did some pieces the other day to build confidence - even though there were some changes in our line-up, that was always the plan.

“It’s always exciting to race. The Tideway is such a unique body of water so it’s always really exciting to get that experience. There’s the additional excitement but also practicing your habits so you don’t feel uncomfortable on Boat Race day.

“It’s confidence building [for the whole squad]. Going out there and fighting with another crew is something we’ll take from it as a squad.”

The battle between the two coxes is certainly one to watch for the Cambridge Women’s race. Moran previously coxed at Durham University before moving to Thames Rowing Club, which sits on The Boat Race stretch of river. He has Henley Royal Regatta experience and was picked for the Head of the Charles recently.

Meanwhile, Baby cox Lidya Acar’s experience comes with the Oregon State First VIII but is a newcomer to the London stretch of water - not that it looked it with her aggressive line when ahead, prompting warnings from the umpire.

Ebel said: “It builds trust in the cox for us. Lydia hadn’t raced on the Tideway before, so we were all really excited to see her try and shorten the course for us. You never know what’s going to happen in The Boat Race with the lines, so it made us really excited to see her being aggressive in that way.”

Cambridge Men - Beans beat Slop in competitive Tideway tempest

The Cambridge Men’s crews opted for slightly less arts-inspired names in ‘Beans’ and ‘Slop’ - an ode to the cuisine most often consumed by rowers between sessions. That battle was a more close-fought affair.

Conditions had worsened even more by the time the two crews were on the start line, making it a physical and gritty battle along the water. Beans emerged winners by one and a half lengths, despite Slop being quicker out of the blocks and holding a marginal lead until Hammersmith.

It wasn’t until late that the Beans crew finally strode out in front, powered by the budding stroke-seven partnership of Patrick Wild and Gabriel Obholzer. Also in the winning crew was former Oxford man Felix Rawlinson, who lost The Boat Race 2025, but comes with pedigree and appears to have shaken off injury concerns.

The losing Slop crew featured names who tasted victory at The Boat Race this year in Simon Nunayon, Simon Hatcher and 2026 President Noam Mouelle. Speaking to LondonWorld after the race, Nunayon explained that all seats were still up for grabs.

He said: “One of the things I love about Trial VIIIs, you know every single guy in that crew, their habits and how good they are. Walking into that, we knew it would be a tough race. We thought we had a great chance at winning, there’s always tactics at play in The Boat Race, but there was never a moment when we thought we couldn’t win.

“The big goal is beating Oxford and, even just in our crew, we’ve learnt a lesson that those guys haven’t learnt - which is how painful it is to lose on the Championship course.

“Last year, I think there were five people in the losing trial VIII ended up in the Blue Boat [for The Boat Race]. This year, the squad is even deeper. Either trial VIII could be a Blue Boat and every man who raced today knows they have a chance to be in that boat on race day. The squad is deep and internal competition is high. It’s very far from over.”

When asked how much rest the athletes would get over the Christmas break, Nunayon replied: “I think we get 24 hours off, maybe 48 if Rob [coach] is feeling nice! Then we are back to training.

“Rob respects Christmas but I do know there’s a nasty erg waiting for me before we get home. I’m not going to be engaged in too many revelries! Oxford aren’t going to be sitting on their laurels and there’s no reason we should be too.”

In other news, Channel 4 takes Boat Race rights from BBC as Oxford challenge Cambridge in 2026 varsity showdown.