Harvard–Yale Regatta

The Yale–Harvard Regatta
Contested by
Harvard Yale
Information
First boat race August 3, 1852
Annual event since July 26, 1859
Current champion Harvard
Downstream record Harvard, 18:22.4 (1980)
Upstream record Yale, 18:17.5 (2022)
Course Thames River,
New London, Connecticut
Course length 4 miles (6.4 km)
Trophy The Sexton Cup, The F. Valentine Chappell Trophy, The New London Cup, The James Snider Cup, and The Hoyt C. Pease and Robert Chappell Jr. Trophy
Number of wins
Harvard Yale
96 60

The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race (often abbreviated The Race) is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually since 1859 with exceptions during major wars fought by the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, pre-dating The Game by 23 years. It is sometimes referred to as the "Yale-Harvard" regatta, though most official regatta programs brand it "Harvard-Yale".

Originally rowed on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, it has since moved to the Thames River, near New London, Connecticut. Although other locations for the race have included the Connecticut River at Springfield, Massachusetts, and Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester, Massachusetts, the Thames has hosted The Race on all but five occasions since 1878 and both teams have erected permanent training camps on the Thames at Gales Ferry for Yale and at Red Top for Harvard.

The race has been exclusively between Yale and Harvard 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, although it lost to Cornell, Yale was deemed the winner of the Harvard-Yale race. Due to the COVID-19, there was no Yale-Harvard Regatta in 2020, the first cancellation since 1945.