The Beatles and All You Need Is Love very apt after Cambridge University Boat Club complete Boat Race clean sweep over Oxford University Boat Club

It was The Beatles that sang ‘All You Need Is Love’ – the number one hit released in the summer of 1967.

Fifty-seven years later, it would be a fitting anthem for Cambridge University Boat Club.

That is because love – according to men’s president Luca Ferraro – is one of the key components behind the Light Blues’ all-conquering machine. And it was hard to argue with that assessment when what must have been a number approaching 100 people, including athletes, coaches and members of the backroom team, came together as one on the winners’ podium to pose for photographers with the two trophies glistening. That moment alone showed that it is very much a club with everyone pulling (pun very much intended) in the same direction.

In the build-up to Sunday’s two Boat Races, there was a suggestion that the contests would be tight and tense affairs. After all, the Oxford crews were a determined bunch, no doubt reeling from the statistic that they had won just one men’s or women’s Boat Race in the last six years.

But in reality both contests were over at their respective halfway points as the Cambridge boats reached the finishing post just before Chiswick Bridge with plenty of clear water between themselves and their opposition in Dark Blue.

For good measure, Cambridge triumphed in the two reserve races alongside the pair of lightweight duels 24 hours earlier – just as they did in 2023. Right now, there appears to be chasm between the two programmes. So what is Cambridge’s secret?

Ferraro, who was also part of winning Blue Boats in 2023 and 2024, said: “Each year is so different so it’s impossible to put it down to some kind of secret or some kind of trick.

“We take each year and each race as it comes, but I think the results – and certainly the ones today – are a testament to the environment that we have.

“There’s a real sense of love – love for the club and love for each other. It’s palpable.”

The women were dominant from the very first stroke – and not even an Oxford-caused clash after just two minutes could derail them. Umpire Matthew Pinsent conceded after the event that he could have disqualified Oxford – given the final outcome, they may well have wished he had done.

Cambridge eventually finished almost eight seconds and two-and-a-half lengths ahead of Oxford, who have now tasted defeat during their last eight attempts on the Tideway.

“It feels amazing. There is a huge team around the team, so it’s every person on and off the water that helped this happen,” said Cambridge’s two-time USA Olympian Claire Collins.

“We are really proud, but it was also great competition from Oxford, we respect them a ton and are just glad we got some good racing in.”

Regarding the controversial early collision, Cambridge’s Samantha Morton, who was in the stroke seat, added: “You prepare for a clash but you never really think it is something that is going to happen.

"You can probably count on two hands how many times it's happened in the history of the Boat Race. When it happened I was honestly shell-shocked. I am feeling dazed.”

The start of the 170th men’s race, meanwhile, was much more even. Both boats shot out and for a period appeared to be in tandem, matching each other stroke for stroke.

But it was at the first bend that Cambridge made their first significant move, to which Oxford had no response. The gap continued to widen, to the point where Cambridge wrapped up a Boat Race weekend to savour seven-and-a-half lengths ahead.

What men’s chief coach Rob Baker does not know about rowing – and in particular the Boat Race – simply is not worth knowing. So when he brands the eight men and their cox as the ‘best crew’ he has ever had under his tutelage, you have to take him at face value.

“It’s the best crew I’ve ever coached without question at Cambridge,” said Baker, who was appointed to his current role in 2018.

“Maybe that made me a bit more nervous because I knew what they were capable of doing.

“You want them to fulfil what they are capable of doing and I think we were a bit under the radar somehow. We have no Olympians – Oxford have three stars in the boat – so I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Baker was also quick to pay tribute to those that were prevented from taking their place in the boats.

The weeks leading up to race day were overshadowed by an eligibility row that resulted in 2024 British Olympic gold medallist Tom Ford and former under-23 world champion Matt Heywood ruled out of competing for Cambridge, as were Kate Crowley and Molly Foxell. Such is the unity that exists at the Goldie Boathouse, they were made to feel a part of the post-race celebrations.

Baker added: “The noise (has) just been motivation, frankly and we treated it pretty sensibly.

“There are two guys who could have been in the boat today and didn’t get that opportunity, so they’re rowing for them as well.”

Oxford certainly have a lot of work to do over the next 12 months if they are to bridge the gap, but for Cambridge – to borrow a line from Messrs Lennon and McCartney – ‘Love is all you need’.