Harvard-Yale Regatta
The
Yale-Harvard Boat Race or
Harvard-Yale Regatta is an annual
rowing race between
Yale and
Harvard universities. First contested in
1852, annually since
1859 except major wars,
The Race is the oldest American
collegiate athletic competition, predating
The Game by 23 years. Originally rowed on
Lake Winnipesaukee,
New Hampshire, it has since moved to the
Thames River,
New London, Connecticut. Although other locations for the race have included the
Connecticut River at
Springfield, Mass. and
Lake Quinsigamond at
Worcester, Mass., the Thames has hosted The Race on all but 5 occasions since
1878 and both teams have erected permanent training camps on the Thames at
the Ferry for Yale and at
Red Top for Harvard.The race has been exclusively between Harvard and Yale except for
1897 when the race was held as part of a three boat race with
Cornell on the
Hudson River at
Poughkeepsie, New York, where, athough it lost to Cornell, Yale was deemed the winner of the Harvard-Yale race.
The first race was held over 2 miles (3.2 km) but this was changed to 3 miles (4.8 km) for all the races up to 1875, when both universities agreed on the current length of 4 miles (6.4 km).
Originally the race occurred between just the
varsity crew but now there are 3 races held on the day, the 2 mile (3.2 km)
freshmen race, the 3 mile (4.8 km) junior varsity and finally the 4 mile (6.4 km) varsity match.
Typically the day before the freshman, junior varsity and varsity races, there is a 2 mile (3.2 km) race between the spares for both crews. These "combination" boats are made up of second freshman boat and third varsity boat rowers (i.e. the "combi" or "combo" race). The winner of this race gets the
James P. Snider Cup, as well as the right to paint its school's colors on the "rock" at Bartlett's Cove near the north end of the race course.
Currently Harvard leads the varsity series at 88-53, the second varsity (JV) at 68-36, and the freshman series at 63-39-1.Harvard also holds the upstream record with its time of 18:41.9 in 1995. Yale's fastest upstream time (18:45.5) was also posted that year. The Crimson set the downstreammark of 18:22.4 in 1980.
See also
The Boat Race between
Oxford and
Cambridge.
*Harvard: 88 wins
*Yale: 53 wins
This is an incomplete list compiled from various sources [
1] [
2].
| Date | Winner | Time | Direction |
|---|
| 1852 | Harvard | (2 lengths) |
| 1855 | Harvard | 22:47 |
| 1859 | Harvard | 19:18 |
| 1860 | Harvard | 18:53 |
| 1864 | Yale | 19:01 |
| 1865 | Yale | 18:42.5 |
| 1866 | Harvard | 18:43.5 |
| 1867 | Harvard | 18:12.75 |
| 1868 | Harvard | 17:48.5 |
| 1869 | Harvard | 18:02 |
| 1870 | Harvard | 20:30 |
| 1872 | Harvard | 16:57 |
| 1873 | Yale | 16:59 |
| 1874 | Harvard | 16:56 |
| 1875 | Yale | 17:05 |
| 1876 | Yale | 22:02 |
| 1877 | Harvard | 24:36 |
| 1878 | Harvard | 20:44.75 | Downstream |
| 1879 | Harvard | 22:15 | Downstream |
| 1880 | Yale | 24:27 | Downstream |
| 1881 | Yale | 22:13 | Downstream |
| 1882 | Harvard | 20:47.5 | Downstream |
| 1883 | Harvard | 25:46.5 | Downstream |
| 1884 | Yale | 20:31 | Downstream |
| 1885 | Harvard | 25:15.5 | Downstream |
| 1886 | Yale | 20:42 | Upstream |
| 1887 | Yale | 22:56 | Downstream |
| 1888 | Yale | 20:10 | Downstream |
| 1889 | Yale | 21:30 | Upstream |
| 1890 | Yale | 21:29 | Downstream |
| 1891 | Harvard | 21:23 | Upstream |
| 1892 | Yale | 20:48 | Downstream |
| 1893 | Yale | 25:01.5 | Downstream |
| 1894 | Yale | 23:45.5 | Downstream |
| 1895 | Yale | 21:30 | Downstream |
| 1897 | Yale | 20:44 |
| 1898 | Yale | 24:02 | Upstream |
| 1899 | Harvard | 20:52.5 | Downstream |
| 1900 | Yale | 21:12.8 | Downstream |
| 1901 | Yale | 23:37 | Downstream |
| 1902 | Yale | 20:20 | Downstream |
| 1903 | Yale | 20:19.8 | Downstream |
| 1904 | Yale | 21:40.5 | Upstream |
| 1905 | Yale | 22:33.5 | Upstream |
| 1906 | Harvard | 23:02 | Downstream |
| 1911 | Harvard |
| 1925 | Yale |
| 1934 | Yale |
| 1947 | Harvard |
| 1952 | Harvard |
| 1954 | Yale |
| Date | Winner | Time | Direction |
|---|
| 1955 | Yale |
| 1956 | Yale |
| 1957 | Yale |
| 1958 | Yale |
| 1959 | Harvard |
| 1960 | Harvard |
| 1961 | Harvard |
| 1962 | Yale |
| 1963 | Harvard |
| 1964 | Harvard |
| 1965 | Harvard |
| 1966 | Harvard |
| 1967 | Harvard |
| 1968 | Harvard |
| 1969 | Harvard |
| 1970 | Harvard |
| 1971 | Harvard |
| 1972 | Harvard |
| 1973 | Harvard |
| 1974 | Harvard |
| 1975 | Harvard |
| 1976 | Harvard |
| 1977 | Harvard |
| 1978 | Harvard |
| 1979 | Harvard |
| 1980 | Harvard | 18:22.4 | Downstream |
| 1981 | Yale |
| 1982 | Yale |
| 1983 | Yale |
| 1984 | Yale |
| 1985 | Harvard |
| 1986 | Harvard |
| 1987 | Harvard |
| 1988 | Harvard |
| 1989 | Harvard |
| 1990 | Harvard |
| 1991 | Harvard |
| 1992 | Harvard |
| 1993 | Harvard |
| 1994 | Harvard |
| 1995 | Harvard | 18:45.5 | Upstream |
| 1996 | Yale | | Downstream |
| June 1, 1997 | Harvard | 22:06.8 | Upstream |
| June 6, 1998 | Harvard | 20:32.3 | Upstream |
| June 5, 1999 | Yale | | Downstream |
| June 10, 2000 | Harvard | 19:44.4 | Upstream |
| June 3, 2001 | Harvard | 18:55.6 | Upstream |
| June 8, 2002 | Harvard | 19:02.5 | Upstream |
| June 7, 2003 | Harvard | 18:54.4 | Upstream |
| June 12, 2004 | Harvard | 18:42.1 | Upstream |
| June 11, 2005 | Harvard | 19:20.4 | Upstream |
| June 11, 2006 | Harvard | 23:22.6 | Upstream |
*
The Harvard-Yale Regatta - on Harvard Crew website
*
Yale Crew