Cambridge students' cardboard boat race sunk by insurers

Organisers said the decision to cancel this year's event was "not taken lightly"

The student organisers of a cardboard boat race said they had been forced to cancel this year's event after they were unable to get insurance.

The annual event has seen Cambridge University students make boats out of cardboard, tape and glue and race them on the River Cam.

At least 50 boats had registered to take part on Sunday afternoon.

Event co-ordinator John Brown, 22, said all the insurers they approached "declined to underwrite the event".

More than 300 participants had registered to take to the water on Sunday in 50 homemade cardboard boats

The race has been traditionally held to celebrate the end of exams and was revived last year following the pandemic.

Mr Brown, a member of the Cardboard Boat Race Committee, said it was "disappointing", but the decision had "not been taken lightly".

The fourth-year engineering student said: "We were told the underwriter had changed policy last year to this year citing that it was because we said the rafts were made out of cardboard on the application - which was perplexing as the same event was insured by same insurer last year."

Attempts to get insurance with other companies also failed.

• Smiling river bank seal becomes social media hit

• Cambridge University chapel to get solar panels

• City's historic water course still relevant - trust

Instead, the committee has been asking students to send in pictures of their designs, which will be showcased online and the winners announced on 19 June.

Mr Brown said the committee was keen to discourage any attempt to run the event informally.

"We really want to make sure that we are not seen to be endorsing any unofficial event as we hope it might be able to go ahead in the future," he said.