Young rowers will be taking to the Thames next week in the first Youth Boat Race, four days before the annual Oxford v Cambridge race arrives.

Staged on the same stretch of water, the new event is on Tuesday and involves seven schools from west London.

Mixed crews of boys and girls will take part in the first race of the day at 11.45am, pitting the rowers of Cardinal Vaughan in Holland Park against Aldridge Academy of North Kensington.

The second race, at 12.45pm, features mixed school and gender crews from Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith; Hammersmith Academy; Fulham Boys’ School; West London Free School; and Holland Park School.

Spectators are encouraged to gather downstream of Putney Bridge for the races, which are rowed over the first part of the Boat Race course on a low-water flood tide, umpired by rowing legend Sir Matthew Pinsent and Judith Packer, who is umpiring at the 2024 Olympics.

Hammersmith & Fulham’s Mayor, Cllr Patricia Quigley, will present the medals at Thames Rowing Club on Putney Embankment.