Putney Bridge station in south-west London is overwhelmingly busy at 10am. What’s going on? Are Fulham playing at home in the Premier League just up the road? Is there a half-price sale on matcha green tea cream frappuccino blended beverage coffees with soya milk?
Nope, something different.
There are police officers everywhere, but they’re not armed with batons or riot shields, they’re in boats and on bikes, relaxed and chatting to the public.
On Putney Bridge itself, dozens of people hop off several buses and stride purposefully in the direction of a bar.
Many are wearing beige trousers and some are in brown blazers.
Yep, OK. Got it. Welcome to the Boat Race.
The exceedingly middle-class scene alongside the River Thames (Tim Spiers/The Athletic)
For the uninitiated, this is a true British — or more specifically, English — sporting event like no other.
Once a year, on a four-and-a-bit-mile stretch of the River Thames in this part of the UK’s capital, crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge do battle in two boats of eight rowers (with a ninth person called a cox, who guides and motivates them along the route).
The first race took place in 1829, with the men’s race run every year since 1856, while the women’s version started in 1927 and 10 years…
