Women's Boat Race name of its official charity, '"The Cancer Research UK Boat Race", its sponsor, Newton Investment Management, having donated the title to the charity. The race is rowed in eights and the cox can be of any gender. The course covers a stretch of the Thames in West London, from Putney to Mortlake. Members of both crews are traditionally known as "blues" and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue. As of 2018 Cambridge have won the race 43 times and Oxford 30 times. Cambridge has led Oxford in cumulative wins since 1966.
The Boat Race 1846 was rowed on the ebb tide, from Mortlake to Putney. For the first time in the history of the race, both boats used outriggers. Cambridge "rowed in an outrigger built by Searle, 60 ft in length, 2 ft 8 in in breadth", while Oxford's boat was "expressly built for this match by King of Oxford" and 58 ft 6 in long. Both crews had professional coaches: Oxford used John Noulton while Cambridge were trained by Robert Coombes, a champion sculler. It marked the start of the debate over the use of professional coaches which was not resolved until the 1852