Words: Tom Ransley

“Is it saltwater?” Alexia Lowe’s mum asked her as they walked away from the river. Lowe, who makes her Blue Boat debut this weekend, had just raced in her first novice regatta in the summer of 2022. The Oxford student turned to her mum with a quizzical look and shook her head. “So how come there are crabs in the water?”

Rowing is a peculiar sport with its own peculiar language.

For the uninitiated – which is most of those lining the riverbanks come Sunday – a crab, in rowing parlance, is when a rower loses control of their oar. Catching a crab in The Boat Race is uncommon but not unheard of, just ask the two-seat rower of the Cambridge men’s 2014 Blue Boat. The ‘ejector crab’ is a particular crowd-pleaser: it launches the unsuspecting rower out of the boat and into the water.

“When I signed up I never had the intention of doing The Boat Race,” says Lowe, who has never been ejected from any boat. “I’d watched all of The Boat Races with my dad. It was something I was super impressed by but never thought of doing.” It’s been a steep learning curve for Lowe (and some of her family) as she ascended “the quintessential Oxford sport”.

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduate is completing a one-year MSc in Economics for Development. “I grew up with a big Cambridge oar in my house,” says the Oxford women’s four-seat rower, who previously represented the university at tennis. Roger Lowe, Alexia’s dad, coxed the Cambridge Women’s Blue Boat to victory in 1987.

Despite her dad’s connection to the sport, Lowe’s first rowing strokes were taken as a fresher at Magdalen College Boat Club. “Before that I played a lot of different sports but rowing wasn’t one of them. I lived in Fulham, close to the Putney boathouses but not close enough for it to be convenient. I wanted to give it a go at Oxford. From the beginning I liked the rigour of the sport: it is intense and it is brutal. That’s what makes it so rewarding.”

Last year Lowe helped Osiris beat Blondie to win the Women’s Reserve Race. “Until then there hadn’t been an Oxford women’s win in either the Osiris or Blue Boat since 2016. It was nice to see the alumni get so excited. There has been change in the Oxford camp, a shift in the culture, so to have something that shows these changes are generating results is valuable.”

Lowe believes her winning experience will serve her well on race day. “Super valuable! It gives you confidence coming into the race.”

What next? “It’s a question I’ve been saving for after The Boat Race,” says the 22-year-old. “I’d potentially be interested in doing a PhD, but I won’t be back next year. I need to get some experience in the field. I’d like to continue rowing in some capacity. I’ve enjoyed it and I still have a lot to learn.”

Lowe is not alone in making the leap from college rower to Boat Race Blue. Cambridge’s Ollie Boyne is another soon-to-be-Blue who discovered rowing at university.

“I don’t think I knew anything about rowing before coming to Cambridge,” says the Downing College student, who is in his final year of a PhD in Computer Vision.

“The nature of the college scene is pervasive: everyone gives it a go. I tried rowing and coxing. I was on my own in the fourth novice boat; the left over guy. They sat me down and said, ‘you might do alright at one of these two things, and it’s not rowing!’”

The 26-year-old engineer says it’s the people and tight-knit team culture that keeps him coming back. “Each year I gain a bigger appreciation of The Boat Race. Speaking to the alumni I’ve learnt what it means not just to me and my previous crews, but to so many others. Old Blues still think about their race 20, 30, 40, even 50 years on. It drives home just how big the event is and how special it is to everyone who takes part.”

It will be fourth time lucky for Boyne. The Boat Race 2025 will be his first as the Blue Boat cox, but the former Cambridge Men’s President has a good record coxing the men’s reserve crew, wins in 2021 and 2023 sandwich a loss in 2022.

“Not making the Blue Boat is a tough experience. You put in just as many hours; and you put everything you’ve got into every training session; but it’s a binary decision, you’re either in the boat or you’re not. It can be draining and demoralising.

“Those times when I lost out and didn’t make the boat, well, they just make it all the sweeter now that I have made it. All the hard work has paid off. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to compete in the top boat on Boat Race Day.”

And for those who are asking: The Boat Race course is brackish (a mix of fresh and saltwater) and Chiswick Eyot, the unpopulated island which the crews race by, is infested by Chinese Mitten Crabs. Food for thought.