CAMBRIDGE won the university boat race across the English Channel.

The first cambridge crew, from St John's College, reached the French coast in three hours 37 minutes.

Six teams from Cambridge and Oxford universities, as well as one from the event sponsors Deloitte, took part in the race which set off from Dover early on Monday morning.

The crews were escorted by pilots from the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, and some of them were using boats supplied by the rowing clubs in Dover, Deal and Folkestone.

Among the Deloitte team was Simin Unter, 23, former head boy of Kent College, Canterbury, and James Livingston, who was a member of the Cambridge team in the 2002 and 2003 annual boat race on the River Thames.

Event co-ordinator Leonnard Lee, who is a student at Cambridge, said only 20 successful rowing attempts had been made across the Channel.

As well as thanking the local rowing clubs for their support, he said they were also grateful to Deloitte, crew sponsor Focus DIY, and JL and Crew Room.

The event was in aid of Cancer Research UK and the University Sports Complex.

Wayne Pommen, former captain of the Cambridge University crew which beat Oxford in the 2004 boat race, said: "A cross-Channel race between Oxford and Cambridge colleges takes elements of the traditional Boat Race, which I’ve experienced firsthand, and places them in a new and more unpredictable environment - the sea.

"This was a unique occasion and it was interesting to see how the crews handled the length of the race as well as the conditions on the open water."