Charles Merivale and Charles Wordsworth founded which sporting event?

The Boat Race is a set of annual rowing races between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between eights on the River Thames in London, England. It is also known from 2015 as the University Boat Races and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races.

The tradition was started in 1829 by Charles Merivale, a student at St John's College, Cambridge, and his Old Harrovian school friend Charles Wordsworth who was studying at Christ Church, Oxford. Cambridge challenged Oxford to a race at Henley-on-Thames but lost easily. Oxford raced in dark blue because five members of the crew, including the stroke, were from Christ Church, then Head of the River, whose colours were dark blue. There is a dispute as to the source of the colour chosen by Cambridge.

The second race was in 1836, with the venue moved to a course from Westminster to Putney. Over the next two years, there was disagreement over where the race should be held, with Oxford preferring Henley and Cambridge preferring London. Following the official formation of the Oxford University Boat Club in 1839, racing between the two universities resumed on the Tideway and the tradition continues to the present day, with the loser challenging the winner to a rematch annually.