Background

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course, between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in south-west London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; the race is followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as champions, having won the 2018 race by a margin of three lengths, and led overall with 83 victories to Oxford's 80 (excluding the 1877 race, a dead heat).
It was the fourth time in the history of The Boat Race that all four senior races – the men's, women's, men's reserves' and women's reserves' – were held on the same day and on the same course along the Tideway. Before 2015, the women's race, which first took place in 1927, was usually held at the Henley Boat Races along the 2,000-metre (2,200 yd) course. However, on at least two occasions in the interwar period, the women competed on the Thames between Chiswick and Kew. Cambridge's women went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 2018 race by seven lengths, and led 43–30 overall.
The autumn reception, where the previous year's losing team challenges the winners to a rematch, was held at the Guildhall in London on 8 November 2018. As Cambridge's women had won the previous year's race, it was Oxford's responsibility to offer the traditional challenge to the Cambridge University Women's Boat Club (CUWBC). To that end, Eleanor Shearer, President of Oxford University Women's Boat Club (OUWBC), laid down the gauntlet to Abigail Parker, her Cambridge counterpart. Cambridge's victory in the men's race meant that Felix Drinkall, President of Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC), challenged Dara Alizadeh, President of Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC).
The 74th women's race was umpired by Richard Phelps, a former rower who successfully represented Cambridge in the 1993, 1994 and 1995 races. He had previously umpired the men's race once, in 2014. The 165th men's race was umpired by Rob Clegg, who rowed for the Dark Blues in the 1994, 1995 and 1996 races. He umpired the women's race in 2016. The women's reserve race was overseen by Tony Reynolds, while the men's reserve race was umpired by multiple Olympic gold-medallist Matthew Pinsent. As well as rowing for Oxford in the 1990, 1991 and 1993 races, he was assistant umpire in the 2012 race before umpiring the 2013 men's race and the 2018 women's race.