Meet the 2017 Boat Races crews

Oxford and Cambridge announce their Blue Boat crews for the 2017 Boat Races, which take place on 2 April

The crews for the 2017 Boat Races have been announced, with the teams now having just three weeks to size each other up before the big Tideway races on 2 April.

Both the men’s and women’s Cambridge Blue Boats weighed in as the heavier crews, with the Light Blue men retaining only two of the rowers who won the race in 2016. Club captain Lance Tredell and Ben Ruble are the returning men for Cambridge, joined by seven new faces.

Eighteen-year-old engineering student Freddie Davidson is the youngest member of the Cambridge boat, entering the race off the back of his silver medal in the World Rowing Junior Championships (JM4+) in 2016. Cambridge also have the tallest and heaviest competitor in the shape of American James Letten, standing at 208cm.

>>> A guide to the University Boat Races 2017

Opposite Letten in Oxford’s three seat is Oliver Cook, a member of the GB Rowing Team’s World Championship winning coxed pair from 2016 and also a non-travelling spare for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Cook’s brother James returns to the Blue Boat for his third Boat Race, looking to repeat his win of 2015. Michael Di Santo in the six seat is looking for his third Boat Race win, having triumphed in bothe 2014 and 2015 before taking a year out in 2016 to compete at Rio 2016 for the USA.

Men’s Blue Boats

Seat	Oxford	Cambridge
Bow	William Warr Christ Church 25yrs/195cm/94.2kg	Ben Ruble Hughes Hall 26yrs/188cm/87.3kg
Two	Matthew O’Leary Keble 26yrs/180cm/74.8kg	Freddie Davidson Emmanuel 18yrs/189cm/81.9kg
Three	Oliver Cook Christ Church 26yrs/194cm/91.7kg	James Letten Hughes Hall 23yrs/208/106.4kg
Four	Joshua Bugaski Keble 26yrs/195cm/99.3kg	Tim Tracey Queens’ 22yrs/196cm/97.4kg
Five	Olivier Siegelaar Keble 30yrs/197cm/101.2kg	Aleksander Malowany Wolfson 23yrs/194cm/94.4kg
Six	Michael Di Santo Trinity 27yrs/185cm89.9kg	Patrick Eble Hughes Hall 22yrs/193cm/90.5kg
Seven	James Cook Keble 24yrs/187cm/84kg	Lance Tredell Hughes Hall 28yrs/194cm/94.3kg
Stroke	Vassilis Ragoussis Linacre 23yrs/194cm/86.6kg	Henry Meek Hughes Hall 24yrs/193cm/95.4kg
Cox	Sam Collier New 21yrs/172/55kg	Hugo Ramambason Trinity 20yrs/175cm/58kg

>>> Boat Races 2017: ‘Hopefully everyone understands how hard these guys have to work for it’

In the women’s race, Oxford will be looking for their fifth successive win and 14th since the turn of the Millennium. They will be doing so with a whole new team, however, while Cambridge have both Ashton Brown and Myriam Goudet returning from the 2016 boat that almost sank in the poor conditions.

At 19, Oxford’s Alice Roberts is the youngest competitor, while Canadian international Emily Cameron is the most experienced in the race at the age of 34.

Women’s Blue Boats

Seat	Oxford	Cambridge
Bow	Flo Pickles Pembroke 20yrs/169cm/67.5kg	Ashton Brown Fitzwilliam 28yrs/173/82kg
Two	Alice Roberts St Edmund Hall 19yrs/169cm/67.5kg	Imogen Grant Trinity 21yrs/168cm/58.2kg
Three	Rebecca Esselstein New 24yrs/170cm/70.8kg	Claire Lambe Homerton 26yrs/178cm/64.8kg
Four	Rebecca Te Water Naude University 20yrs/182cm/67.2kg	Anna Dawson Newnham 26yrs/180cm/78.6kg
Five	Harriet Austin Christ Church 28yrs/178cm/76.5kg	Holly Hill Downing 23yrs/183cm/75.1kg
Six	Chloe Laverack Green Templeton 24yrs/172cm/76kg	Alice White Homerton 24yrs/176cm/76.3kg
Seven	Emily Cameron Mansfield 34yrs/172cm/76kg	Myriam Goudet Lucy Cavendish 28yrs/183cm/77.1kg
Stroke	Jenna Hebert Brasenose 23yrs/165cm/67.1kg	Melissa Wilson Lucy Cavendish 23yrs/178cm/77.1kg
Cox	Eleanor Shearer Balliol 21yrs/155cm/48kg	Matthew Holland Gonville & Caius 19yrs/169cm/51.3kg

>>> Where to watch the 2017 Boat Races