The best spots along the Thames to watch the 2024 Boat Race

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This Saturday (30 March) will see the annual Boat Race stream by way of the Thames, whereas spectators eager to catch a slice of the sporting motion might be lining the banks of London’s river.

The famed novice sporting occasion between crews from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge weaves by way of 4.25 miles of west London Thames on a course rowed upstream between Putney and Mortlake.

An estimated 270,000 spectators are anticipated to be bankside on the towpath on both aspect of the action-packed stretch of the Thames.

The 2024 occasion marks the 169th Men’s Boat Race and the 78th Women’s Boat Race in the Oxbridge rivalry’s sporting calendar.

Eight crews are competing in the occasion – Cambridge crews racing in mild blue and Oxford in navy – to win the Aberdeen ‘Quaich’ and Newton trophies.

If you aren’t watching from SW15’s London Rowing Club as a part of the occasion’s hospitality packages, there’s free entry to fan zones that includes road meals, drinks and large screens in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Furnivall Gardens in Hammersmith hosts race followers in the pageant spirit from 11am to 6pm for a vantage level of crews as they navigate the river bend.

At Fulham Football Club’s Riverside Stand, 14 screens, stay music and Chapel Down English glowing wine make it an amazing spot to watch the first leg of the race and, offered the Easter weekend is blessed with good climate, festivities spill into Grade II-listed Bishop’s Park.

For a view of the begin line below Putney Bridge, pedestrians can pitch up on Putney embankment to watch the ‘The Coin Toss’ between Oxbridge presidents.

To see the tense closing leg of the rowing race go to pubs on the southside of the river in Barnes together with the White Hart or head to the splash zone Ship pub by the Mortlake end line under Chiswick Bridge.

Due to numerous street closures – together with each Hammersmith and Barnes Bridge closed from 10am till 5pm – public transport hyperlinks to west London tube and bus stations might be the best means to entry spectator areas.