Oars across Oceans: Cambridge Alumni unite for The Boat Races 2025

"Once a Cantab, always a Cantab"

That’s how Grace Chou and Aníbal Gonzalez of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of the Netherlands summed up their experience after joining a 2025 Cambridge Alumni Boat Race watch party.

This year, 37 groups of Cantabs gathered in 34 cities across 15 countries to cheer on the Light Blues in one of the most thrilling and iconic events in the Cambridge calendar. We caught up with a few of them to hear their reflections on the day.

Oxford and Cambridge Society of the Netherlands

"This year’s Boat Race was more than just a thrilling, complete victory for Cambridge—it was a powerful reminder of the global community that rallies behind the Blue Boats."

As always, the excitement was palpable—especially with the race starts, which tend to be dramatic, and this year they certainly didn’t disappoint.

Adding a bit of friendly competition to the occasion, we played a prediction game before the races began—forecasting the winners of each race, with a tie-breaker based on guessing the women's finishing time. The room buzzed with speculation, but it was Aníbal Gonzalez who clinched the win by nailing the tie-breaker with a prediction of 19 minutes and 20 seconds, which was merely 5 seconds off from the real time of 19 minutes 25 seconds. A well-earned bragging right for the year ahead!

Finally, to our Dutch-based alumni: thank you for showing the strength of the Cambridge spirit abroad. Your energy and support helped turn a race into a celebration that reminded us all that once a Cantab, always a Cantab.

Grace Chou & Aníbal Gonzalez, Oxford and Cambridge Society of the Netherlands

A man in a striped Light Blue top cheers with his hands in the air, holding a bottle of fizz in his right hand. His Oxford counterpart claps and smiles, standing to his left.

📸 Oxford and Cambridge Society of the Netherlands

Shenzen Cambridge Society

"There's no better magic than sports that unite people together like the Boat Race."

It's the mixture of pride and pressure that brings such anxiety and excitement to the Boat Race, and that didn't fade away even over a distance of thousands of miles in Shenzhen, China.

The race garnered a crowd of alumni rowers to spectate and to cheer for team Cambridge from afar.

Witnessing Cambridge’s sweeping victory—an outcome that felt, to us, almost inevitable—was a truly exhilarating experience. As anticipation builds for next year’s race, we look forward to another opportunity to reconnect alumni and celebrate this storied tradition.

Shenzhen Cambridge Society

📸 Shenzen Cambridge Society

Mexico City Cambridge Alumni Association

Keeping with annual tradition, the Mexico City Cambridge Alumni Association welcomed alumni from near and far to cheer on the Light Blues at a British pub in the heart of Mexico City.

Whether visiting, recently relocated, or a life-long resident of Mexico, the alumni experience brings together people with a shared interest and background to rally around a common cause (...beating Oxford, of course!)

The stories and fond memories from Cambridge produced many smiles, and the Boat Race victories helped too.

The Mexico City association supports over 200 Cambridge alumni, and frequently partners with the Oxford Alumni Association of Mexico. We’re having a Quiz Night next week with the Oxford Alumni Association, which should be good fun and more camaraderie.