Throughout the 1800s, 'modern' rowing races were held frequently between the ferry and water-taxi servicemen on the River Thames, London.
Two students (one each from the respective colleges) challenged each other's college to a race at Henley, with victory going to Oxford.
After numerous unofficial and irregular boat races on the Henley reaches of the River Thames, the first formal Henley Royal Regatta was held - initially in a single-day format, before expanding gradually to the current 5-day format.
The 1896 Athens Olympic Games were set to be the first year that rowing was included as an Olympic sport. Unfortunately, bad weather conditions forced racing to be cancelled.
Following the cancellation of rowing due to bad weather in 1896, rowing was finally contested at the Olympics - although not without controversy! In the quest for lightweight coxwains, adult team members were replaced with local boys for the racing. The identities and ages of these boys were not recorded, leading to speculation that they may be the youngest ever Olympic competitors.
The first Rowing World Championships are held in Lucerne, Switzerland. Notably, East/West Germany were only able to compete as one country.
Despite many other sports allowing female competitors much earlier, women were only allowed to compete in Olympic rowing for the first time at the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal.
After initially experimenting with a bicycle wheel and chain assembly bolted to the floor, Pete and Dick Dreissigacker released their first model of ergometer to the public for a price of $600. Rowers have had a love/hate relationship with them ever since!
The UWA Boat Club (located in Perth) set a new record for the most number of State Championship events won in a single year by the club, taking out 23 events of a possible 56. The club also won the Rowing WA overall pennant, and the A, B, and C grade pennants. Widespread speculation suggests that this remarkable achievement was due to the all-star coaching team recruited for the 2010 season.
Oxford take out the most recent Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. The current tally of wins stands at: Cambridge - 80 wins Oxford - 76 wins
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